Congratulations JMV! I opted for the desert sand as I own a horse. The desert sand hides the dirt and my TCH still looks sharp after I go horseback riding! If I had the blue ribbon I would be washing the car every day

I think you will find the displayed mpg averages about 1mpg higher than the old manual method of calculating it. Your distance (22 miles) allows the TCH to warm up and really deliver the mpg. Check your tire pressures. Toyota recommends 35psi for hiway driving. I have mine at 42 front, 40 rear and find the handling and braking noticably improved. I've gone 3K miles and so far have averaged 43mpg using the manual calculation method. My drive is about 35 miles, about 6 miles are 35 to 40mph roads, the rest is gently rolling 65mph freeway.

 

MagcamyH,

Why don't you tell us a bit about your commute. What kind of roads, speed, hills or flat, etc. I find I do best either above 55 on the highway or at 35 or below so I can use EV. If I'm doing a bunch of miles between 40 and 50 that's where I do the worst. Also, if you do a bunch of small trips you're going to hurt your mileage.

So let us know about your drive and hopefully we'll be able to help.

 

I do about 22 miles in the morning. about 9 miles stop and go (35 MPH posted) and about 13 on the freeway (60-65 MPH posted) in Houston that goes up and down over major crossroads. Same thing in the afternoons. (You can see why I bought a hybrid with the # of miles I'm doing, and this is just commutes, not including errands, which is a similar percentage of the same kind of mileage) All in all, I'm putting about 50 to 80 miles a day like this on my TCH.

I can't complain because I'm averaging 33 MPG whereas my '05 Sequoia (wife's now) was getting about 13.4 MPG around town and even my '02 Avalon that I traded in on this car was only getting 20-21.

I'm just super goal oriented on this now that I've got my mind reprogrammed to economy instead of power, handling and luxury. I'm also completely envious of those of you getting 38 to 43 MPG's avg.!

 

You may be getting what you expect. Stop and Go is not necessarily bad for fuel efficiency since you can run in EV mode, but 9 miles of it may have the ICE on at low speeds just to recharge the batteries. And during the summer you'll run the batteries down a lot quicker because of the A/C.

Regarding the highway speed I notice that you wrote 60-65 posted without stating your actual speed. In spite of what other people say I find my best highway mileage occurs between 55 and 60. If you're doing 70 - 75 then that will probably get you about 35-40 mpg (my guess). If you're going slower because of traffic, having to slow down/speed up with traffic could adversely affect your mileage also.

My commute is about 17 miles each way. About six miles are local roads with 35 - 45 mph speed limits with the rest highway with a 55 speed limit (and many cops). I go against traffic so it's pretty light. On the highway I set the cruise somewhere between 55 and 60 and the rest of the trip I can use a lot of EV mode. Under those conditions I get in the 38-39 mpg range. The weather has cooled off this past week so I've been running without A/C a bit and have seen my average go up.

However, based on what I get and the conditions you drive in you may not be able to get much above the mid-30s. But look at the bright side. It's a lot better than most cars would get in the same conditions.

 

I find my best highway mileage occurs between 55 and 60

I'm getting excellent results in this range as well. It appears when I'm going up hill the ICE is charging the battery with excess hp and downhill I'm at 60mpg FE Instant reading. It's averaging out in the 40 to 42 range on rolling hills (with steady non-stop driving)