my other car would have been sitting on the side of the road with a totally dry gas tank almost 100 miles ago, and it has a 21 gallon tank. With the TCH I've barely used 10 gallons of gas and the car is telling me I can drive it past 600 miles, and that will still leave me with 3 gallons to spare. If I really wanted to (which I don't) I estimate I could hit 700 miles, and still have over a gallon to spare.

I know there are some who are not impressed. They're looking for a car that can drive from New York to Hawaii on a cup of sea water. But I'm amazed by what this car (and some of the other hybrids) can do.

 

The thing that impresses me the most is the number of situations where you can get extreme FE (60+ range). Sure, in the end it usually nets to high 30s, but when you do get a run of bad FE due to driving conditions you also get periods of extreme FE to more than make up for it. I have spent some time trying to drive my Sienna with hybrid techniques, sure it helps a bit. But when you get a bad FE run it's next to impossible to have a really good run to makeup the difference.

 

Marc,

You made me go back to the Owner's Manual to check gas tank capacity. It's 17.2 gal and, at 39.8 MPG, you have a maximum range of about 685 miles.

This leads me to believe that the "Cruising Range" screen on the multi-information display is very conservative. In my first two tanks (I am working on the second right now), I have an average of about 40 MPG. But when I add the miles driven on the tank to the range shown on the "Cruising Range" screen, I come up with a tank cruising range of just over 500 miles.

The OM says ( p. 136) that the cruising range is calculated "based on the quantity of remaining fuel and past fuel consumption." Not exactly a detailed description. It also says it is "the approximate distance you can drive until the fuel gauge reaches 'E'."

Does this really mean that you would have over 100 miles left in the tank when the guage shows empty? I have never "drained" the tank to find out and don't plan to. Anyone else care to share on "true" tank range?

 

I have a loaded 2006 Sienna LTD FWD and I tried to beat my previous record of 26.6 MPG in highway... and indeed a couple of days ago I did hit the 30.0 MPG in the digital display and I was thrilled. I usually get 18-20MPG in the city. As an FYI, I put 100% fully synthetic Mobil 1 Super Syn oil and I know that helps a lot...

 

Ah, but you're assuming that I'm still getting the same mileage. That average was built up before I learned how to get the most of it AND I had the A/C on. As of lunch time the TCH showed my tank average to be 45.0 mpg. I know that's about 1 mpg high, so I'm definitely getting at least 43.5 mpg. I'll also assume that I started with the tank at 17 gallons (rather than 17.2). So if I keep up the same mileage I should hit about 740 miles (43.5 mpg x 17 gallons).

Try to wait until your miles to empty goes to zero and then fill up. That will tell you how much of a reserve you have. Most people report about a 3 gallon reserve.

 

Marc,

Well, I wasn't really assuming anything...I was working with the only FE information you provided, which was in your signature mileage block.

But now that I know that your current MPG is way better, all I have to say is GOOD ON YA!!

 

Right you are. I had implied my mileage, mentioning 440 miles in the title of the post and almost ten gallons of gas in the body. But it wasn't very explicit at all. Anyhow, I wasn't posting to say how good I'm doing; plenty of people have better mileage. It just hit me that at a little over 1/2 a tank of gas I was already 100 miles beyond what I could hope for from my other car.

 

I also have a loaded 2004 Sienna LTD and have recently pumped up the tires to 38 PSI & have been using my digital display to monitor the current fuel consumption... with just a bit of careful driving I have raised my average from 22.9 to 27 MPG... also less likely to get any speeding tickets!!

 

Here's a couple of links to the same subject:

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...-gas.9629.html

 

Right now I've got over 280 miles on my current tank, which with my old car would have ment I needed to get to a gas station pretty soon, but now that's not even half. Given, the tank was smaller, at 10 gallons, but I love love love being able to go so far on one tank. That could be my favorite thing about my HCH, infrequent fill-ups.