Hi all, Hoping you can give me some feedback. I have a 2016 rav4 hybrid and my understanding is that the drive train is mostly the same as the Prius 4th gen awd. I was wondering if you'd all be inclined to help me squeeze more mpg out if my hybrid. So far I run the stock 18" tires inflated to 30psi. It's winter here in Wisco so I have the grills fully blocked and using hybrid assistant app and a carista obd my coolant temp still reaches 70-80C and holds steady most of the time. (Not lately because it's been -3F here). I stay in ECO mode and try to keep my throttle in the upper half of the ECO range while accelerating and then back off throttle and cruise/glide. I'm having trouble finding the ICE sweet spot for accelerating and coasting at speed. I'm a fast food delivery driver but I frequently have my car resting for only a few minutes so my ICE stays at the optimal operating temp pretty much all day. Traffic is light but stop lights every few blocks or so. Any suggestions appreciated as well as resources I can read through here on prius chat. I already watched Bob's hypermiling video for the gen 3 prius.
What does the decal in the drivers door say for tire pressure; I’m guessing a bit higher? Maybe try 33~35 psi; that’s not extreme, and might improve your coasts. Be careful with “full” grill block: the small radiator for inverter coolant is somewhere in that array, maybe at top, or bottom, and you don’t want it blocked. ECO doesn’t magically improve mpg. Try normal for a tank or two; you might find the throttle response easier to modulate and no detriment to mpg.
I'll check into where the inverter radiator is, can't find any info online but in assuming I could trace the house from the inverter overflow tank down to the correct radiator. FWIW Hybrid Assistant shows my inverter temps as "green" (or safe) all day. Again I'm new to hybrid so this is all learning to me (so glad to have a group of dedicated people to ask questions to!). Door jamb says 30psi but interestingly the 2019 models are 34psi with the same tires size 235/55/18. I'll try bumping it up a tad. I'll try normal as well. I don't know if the Prii have this problem but for the Rav ECO has this weird tendency to stay in the lower half of the ECO bars no matter how hard you press the accelerated and then at some point the tachometer shoots into power. So I kind of see what you're saying about different modes providing better modulation of the accelerator. I'll give it a shot! Thanks for the input fellas. P.S. I'll look into Tony Schaefer.
Looks like it! I took the cover off that area. For simplicity sake I just used 1/2" pipe insulation as a grill blocker so removing it was a two second job haha Went for a few errands and I immediately like the pedal response of normal mode better. Seems much easier to get into the range I want. Tachometer feels less "sticky". Can't see any MPG benefit but I was just running some errands and it's -3F today so...
Yeah I used ECO for the first 6 months of ownership, with our 2010. Tried normal and never went back. Was getting royally sick of the super long pedal travel needed. If anything it’s HARDER to modulate, and tiring.
100% agree. In fact I almost wonder if for people like me it LOWERS mpg because you're too busy fiddling with pedal position to maintain a certain range resulting in more "feathering".
OTOH ECO is sometimes a “package deal”; besides pedal travel it mods AC behaviour with aim to improve fuel efficiency, and maybe some other tweaks. But yeah, not worth it for me.
They fixed that up dramatically in Gen4. ECO is fine for everyday pedal use. But with DRCC, I prefer NORMAL or PWR if the traffic is tight.
I haven't used PWR much, is the goal to go into PWR on the tachometer to reach cruising speed? I was lead to believe the second half of the ECO range was best for trade off.
Do you have a tachometer? I didn't realise TOYOTA put them on a Hybrid - I can't see the point of one if so.
I refer to it as a tachometer for lack of a better term. I guess it could be called the power guide? For the Rav4 it's a circle split into chg/eco/pwr like the Prius but it's a gauge instead of a digital display. Looks like this...
With the HSI, try to keep acceleration in the ECO zone, with just momentary spikes into PWR, if you have to. If accelerating on an uphill grade that likely won’t be possible though; just do what’s needed to get up to speed in a semi-timely manner. And hey, don’t speed.
Of course the 2019+ RAV4H is 40 MPG EPA, which is amazing considering tire/vehicle size. I don't know the potential to use smaller tires, but that might help.
I hadn't considered that but I'll look into it because I know the 4th gen had multiple tire sizes, limited just happened to have the largest. For my year I believe hybrid only came in limited trim. Would have to do more research though. Truth be told I'm not 100% sure which HSD generation is in the 2016 but everything I read lead me to believe it's the most current gen.
fyi we have the new 2020 RAV4H after our 2006 Prius batt died a year ago. You now have even better choice of 2021 RAV4 or the newer Venza Hybrid, or the RAV4 Prime, but the RAV4 Prime PHEV is expensive at the moment due to shortages. But on paper the RAV4 Prime plug-in is a $40k car, and if you live in a state with big incentives, you can get the cost down to cheaper than the cheapest RAV4 gasoline model, in certain states, assuming the RAV4 Prime profit margin reverts to normal at some point.
