Hybrid Real World MPG (iForce Max) - post your model, specs, general driving conditions, results:

[HVLA]

I'm curious why you're using a premium fuel mix. Premium fuel or higher octane does not increase gas mileage or power on a vehicle not built for it. Are you running a different tune then stock? That would be the only way premium fuel would be beneficial.

Higher octane absolutely increases the power in these vehicles. Multiple Tacoma dynos posted prove this. It will also likely improve mpg due to added power and the ecu not dumping fuel to prevent knock with lower octane.

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[John2112]

We will just have to disagree. Usually there is a placebo effect where people think they're getting more power when in fact it's not even noticeable. Getting a couple of extra horsepower is not worth the extra cost of the fuel and it would be minimal at best. Your ECU is not going to magically advance the timing required for premium fuel. The only thing higher octane is good for is keeping the engine from knocking in high performance high compression engines.

 

[kekecarioca]

I'm about 400 miles on othe ODO (600 kms) and am getting a dismal 16 MPG combined city and highway (14.8 L/100 km). Off Road Premium hybrid. Light on the gas pedal, driving in Normal mode, 87 octane, 37psi tires, stock. On my second tank...hopefully things improve after the break in period.

I notice the engine always turns on almost immediately when I begin moving from a dead stop. I've also been trying to accelerate slowly to engage the battery off the line but the slightest touch of the throttle and the engine turns on. This is my first hybrid of any kind...is this the same experience for others? Or are you able to give it normal/easy throttle and the battery gets it up to about 5-10 mph before the engine kicks in? Would save so much fuel if the battery consistently did the initial push.

IF you roll out one an easy throttle I noticed mostly the engine kicks in at about 7-8 mph from dead stop. If you roll a stop you can coast it up to 12-15 mph before engine kick in.
I also notice the engine shutting off coasting at 45 mph and even 65-70.

This Hybrid system is unlike any other out there (besides taco, Tundra, Gx & LC Prado) It's a relatively new setup by TOYOTA in their truck platforms. So it cannot compare at all with gen 5 hybrid seen on a current Prius or Camry. It is designed for initial power and torque rather than efficiency. Trust me : you can feel the difference significantly vs a non-hybrid. Toyota has been singing that song for a while now.

Your milage should get better. I'm averaging currently overall on my Trailhunter @ 2490 miles aprox. 20.5 mpg. Whatever epa ratings came up as, we got to remember this vehicles weight A LOT, so factoring that in the mpgs are not that bad for the power delivery they produce. It leaves a 5th gen in the dust with worse mpg numbers. So overall it is an improvement.

Don't get me wrong I wish we were getting closer to 30 mpg!

 

[JRunner]

This is a fascinating thread with such a large range of results. I'm posting mine at ~750 miles (middle of third tank - mostly 87 but put plus in at last fill for grins). This is going exclusively by the numbers the system gives - no external calculation.
I'm kind of making it a game to see how much improvement in MPG I can get via eco mode, driving conservatively and using higher octane gas. The first tank (from dealer) started around 12 MPGs (maybe from me idling while playing with features in the lot before buying it? (note that I purchased it with 7 miles on the odo and at least 5 of that was my test drive). By the end of the tank it was up around 15 MPG and I was disappointed. But on my first slightly longer trip (second tank) it bounced up 21.0 MPG. Then a week (5 days) of my 2 mile commute and it was down to 20.0 MPG (I think it was Normal mode for this week after taking off the battery to install cargo lights). After the third fill (second for me) with Shell Plus (89 octane?) and my 170 mile weekend round trip (mostly interstate & 55 mph state highways) and its up to 22.3. Still hoping I can get it up at least to the 23 mpg combined spec value - but so far my short "city" commute looks like <20 MPG.
Note: One thing I am now trying to do is accelerate slowly and keep the hybrid drive engaged as long as possible (meter on left goes up blue when hybrid is engaged).
One last thing in this way to long post: my hybrid battery has been between 3 and 6 bars (out of 8). I can follow the decrease when I "use" it more and the increase with lots of light braking. But wonder if it will ever get up above 6 bars. It SEEMS I'm able to get more "hybrid boost" when its at a higher level. (might be my imagination).
Might come back and post again if I see continued improvement. Am curious about others perceptions of the "hybrid boost".

I read somewhere that the battery is designed to stay at about half full give or take as it maximizes the life of it. So far for me it's stayed been between 3 and 6 bars.

 

[Fishing]

3 bar seems to be the minimum for me very rarely do I have a chance to build up to 7 but not sure if 8 is achievable still trying

 

[HVLA]

We will just have to disagree. Usually there is a placebo effect where people think they're getting more power when in fact it's not even noticeable. Getting a couple of extra horsepower is not worth the extra cost of the fuel and it would be minimal at best. Your ECU is not going to magically advance the timing required for premium fuel. The only thing higher octane is good for is keeping the engine from knocking in high performance high compression engines.

How would you disagree with recorded dyno sessions? This isnt like a disagreement on opinions. It is based on actual verifiable data.

 

[HVLA]

We will just have to disagree. Usually there is a placebo effect where people think they're getting more power when in fact it's not even noticeable. Getting a couple of extra horsepower is not worth the extra cost of the fuel and it would be minimal at best. Your ECU is not going to magically advance the timing required for premium fuel. The only thing higher octane is good for is keeping the engine from knocking in high performance high compression engines.

Also, 11.0 to 1 is high compression.

 

[LARIN]

15 dollars extra to fill up your tank with premium is not with it, that is 60 a month extra for 4 fillups, 720 a year, that is extra 3600 dollars in 5 years that is wasted

 

[Coldwiz]

I stretched this tank a little further than I'd like to but in typical Toyota fashion, when it says you have 0 miles of range you really have closer to 30 miles of range. But the reserve is a lot smaller than with any other Toyota I've owned it seems. It took 17.4 gallons when it said my range was only 5 miles.

I'm at 5 and 1/2 Weeks of ownership and 5500 MI and the fuel economy is still hanging out between 21 and 23 miles per gallon. 350 Mi on a tank is pretty easy but I did just go 400 miles on a tank. And I removed the front spoiler at 5,000 MI because it was in my way when I was doing the oil change and I knew it fall off sooner or later anyways.

And yes I know my screen is dirty but that's what it looks like after the back window is down for 30 seconds lol. It seems to get more dirty faster in this 4Runner versus any of my previous 4Runners but none of those were brand new either and maybe I didn't care as much.

 

[John2112]

I stretched this tank a little further than I'd like to but in typical Toyota fashion, when it says you have 0 miles of range you really have closer to 30 miles of range. But the reserve is a lot smaller than with any other Toyota I've owned it seems. It took 17.4 gallons when it said my range was only 5 miles.

I'm at 5 and 1/2 Weeks of ownership and 5500 MI and the fuel economy is still hanging out between 21 and 23 miles per gallon. 350 Mi on a tank is pretty easy but I did just go 400 miles on a tank. And I removed the front spoiler at 5,000 MI because it was in my way when I was doing the oil change and I knew it fall off sooner or later anyways.

And yes I know my screen is dirty but that's what it looks like after the back window is down for 30 seconds lol. It seems to get more dirty faster in this 4Runner versus any of my previous 4Runners but none of those were brand new either and maybe I didn't care as much.

I'm 500 at 5 weeks as well, don't drive quite as much as you do and I'm still under 500 miles. Hopefully I get that mileage up above 17 MPG. I'm ignoring the computer MPG and doing it by math. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get the mileage that Toyota claims, since I have the trail Hunter with all that extra weight I'm sure that makes a difference.

 

[Coldwiz]

I'm 500 at 5 weeks as well, don't drive quite as much as you do and I'm still under 500 miles. Hopefully I get that mileage up above 17 MPG. I'm ignoring the computer MPG and doing it by math. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get the mileage that Toyota claims, since I have the trail Hunter with all that extra weight I'm sure that makes a difference.

For the first 1,000 miles I was at under 18 miles per gallon. At some point after 1,000 or 1200 miles is when my mileage improved.

 

[John2112]

For the first 1,000 miles I was at under 18 miles per gallon. At some point after 1,000 or 1200 miles is when my mileage improved.

Thanks, good to know. I only drive 300 miles a month unless going on vacation. Can't wait to get some mileage on this thing.

 

[kekecarioca]

3 bar seems to be the minimum for me very rarely do I have a chance to build up to 7 but not sure if 8 is achievable still trying

Same observation here. That is a good sign of good battery management to extend longevity. Keeping it between 30% & 75%

 

[kekecarioca]

I stretched this tank a little further than I'd like to but in typical Toyota fashion, when it says you have 0 miles of range you really have closer to 30 miles of range. But the reserve is a lot smaller than with any other Toyota I've owned it seems. It took 17.4 gallons when it said my range was only 5 miles.

I'm at 5 and 1/2 Weeks of ownership and 5500 MI and the fuel economy is still hanging out between 21 and 23 miles per gallon. 350 Mi on a tank is pretty easy but I did just go 400 miles on a tank. And I removed the front spoiler at 5,000 MI because it was in my way when I was doing the oil change and I knew it fall off sooner or later anyways.

And yes I know my screen is dirty but that's what it looks like after the back window is down for 30 seconds lol. It seems to get more dirty faster in this 4Runner versus any of my previous 4Runners but none of those were brand new either and maybe I didn't care as much.

Great update! thx!

 

[JRunner]

I'm about 400 miles on othe ODO (600 kms) and am getting a dismal 16 MPG combined city and highway (14.8 L/100 km). Off Road Premium hybrid. Light on the gas pedal, driving in Normal mode, 87 octane, 37psi tires, stock. On my second tank...hopefully things improve after the break in period.

I notice the engine always turns on almost immediately when I begin moving from a dead stop. I've also been trying to accelerate slowly to engage the battery off the line but the slightest touch of the throttle and the engine turns on. This is my first hybrid of any kind...is this the same experience for others? Or are you able to give it normal/easy throttle and the battery gets it up to about 5-10 mph before the engine kicks in? Would save so much fuel if the battery consistently did the initial push.

Just an update: I reset the fuel average / trip counter at 400 miles. I'm at 600 miles (1000 kms) now and MPG has improved to 18.5 (12.6 L/100 kms) with mostly city driving during that span and still in the break-in period. So things are improving...and it seems like the actual MPG is better than what the computer is saying but that's just a gut feeling at this point.

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