Just filled up for the second time. Ran it down to the 1/4 tank left level. Went 426 miles and put in 13.7 gallons resulting in 31.1 mpg. Very disappointed. Have read the posts and have been pulsing and coasting. Using EV mode where possible. Its been 100 in tucson lately and the air has been on. Have it in Eco mode for the air. What am I doing wrong?

 

Try increase tire pressure to 41/40. Accelerate slowly and coast to stop light. Tuscan is relatively flat, assuming you are driving on city street, not over the foothills.
AC will drop drop 1-2 mpg.

MPG eill improve when car breaks in.

 

bedrock8x is correct. Your TCH should break in around 5000 miles or your first oil change. My TCH did not fully break in till I had 8200 miles on the clock. I switched to the 0W-20 full synthetic oil which gave me 1 1/4 extra mpg. That may be why it took longer for it to break in. At that time I saw a final jump in my gas mileage and could feel a little more zip in the engine.

Your 2009 may come with the OW oil. If you have the michelin tires you can easily run 40/41 psi in them after they have cooled. They still ride good even at that pressure.

It's best to use a top tier gas in your new car from toptiergas.com/ Check out each of the links and use a gas from the Retailers list.

It may take a while to get more used to the car. It took me a full year to learn to pick up a extra 8 miles per gallon.

I never had much luck with the pulse and glide. I thought it may be due to the TCH weight over the prius. I do coast a lot, like up to a red light or coast down to make a turn in town. I do lightly use the brakes to help recharge the batteries. I drive about 45 when I can and 37 in town. I use the cruse control a lot. I'm slow on takeoffs as that's where the gas guzzling really starts. Glance at your mpg indicator when you accelerate from a stop and you will see what I mean.

Let us know how you do.

 

Hey Doug,

Welcome to the TCH family! I found that it takes a while to get used to driving a TCH for the best MPG. I suggest you do some research here on the driving tips and also give your TCH a chance to break in. The weather, type of terrain, trip duration and the traffic patterns you drive in will all affect your mileage.

I am "only" averaging 34.6 MPG over 11K miles in my TCH. But that is a real number in metro Atlanta traffic. I occasionally have to remind myself the high MPG numbers being claimed here are either under ideal conditions or achieved using "Wall Street" math. I know there is no way a TCH could get those type numbers on my commute...

I have also discovered two unusual things that directly impact my personal MPG score. First, if I drive when I 'm ticked off my mileage for that trip suffers accordingly...usually around 5-7 MPG. So I now work at trying to chill out before I drive and play the TCH "Video Game" on the Multi-Function Display to achieve the best MPG. Second, if I turn on my radio my MPG goes down. I like hard rock and at some subconscious level I must drive to it (read Aggressive) as my MPG is 2-3 MPG higher with the radio off....strange but true...

You should see your MPG go up as your TCH breaks in and you become more familiar with it...

 

See the FAQ in my signature for answers to this frequently and discussed topic.

 

I have had my Camry Hybrid for a little over a week now. I am still on my first tank of gas but so far, my tank average is a hair over 35 MPG. My daily commute is very short (under 5 miles each way) and the terrain here is very hilly. I did hit the highway once, and very briefly, and I saw millage for that trip in excess of 40 MPG. My car has under 200 miles so it is still not "broken in" and my short hilly commute means that I will never see fantastic millage on any car, but so far I have been extremely happy with the car and I am very happy with the millage I've been seeing.

I have been exercising a mild pulse & glide strategy, but it is hard in town with all the stop lights and stop signs.

I am sure my millage will decline as it gets colder out, but over all, I am very very happy with the car, even if I don't get the 40 MPG people on this board boast about. Last week there was some road construction and I was stuck in 20 minutes of stop&go bumper to bumper traffic. I was on full-electric mode for practically the whole time! People should understand that the main advantage of this car relative to other cars comes in the worst stop and go traffic, that is all too common here in the NYC metro area. Even a Honda Fit would see 10 MPG in that traffic and I still managed to see excellent MPG. So perhaps the TCH should be judged as much by the millage it sees under terrible conditions as it is by the millage it sees under ideal conditions.

 

Can you give us an idea of what car the TCH replaced and gas mileage you were getting under the same driving conditions. This may shed some light on your observed FE.

 

I see two things that might hurt your mileage on the TCH.

Excessive use of EV mode, especially with the AC running will hurt the mileage. EV mode makes sense when coasting, or moving slowly in traffic. I find I get better mileage if I "manage" my EV mode by accelerating modestly with the ICE. It normally takes more energy to recharge the HV battery than to run the ICE. The exception is stop and go traffic, or congested traffic keeping your speed slow.

I find the TCH doesn't respond well to pulse and glide. I get better results from more of a pulse and gently coast down to my desired speed and maintain it.

For example: Starting from a light in a 45mph zone, I accelerate modestly with traffic (instant mpg reads 15 to 20mpg after I get past 25mph) past my target speed to say 50mph. Then I back off (instant mpg 50mpg or so) and slowly coast down to my target speed (say 47mph) and hold it. I often can keep the instant mpg readings in the 45 to 55 mpg range on the flat with AC running with this method.

As others have mentioned - I recommend running the tires at 40psi. The tires wear much better, handle and stop better, and give a slight mpg improvement.

 

My TCH has only 2900 miles, I am averaging 39-40 mpg so far. I hope better after 5000 miles.
As Nash mentioned, excessive EV mode driving does not improve city driving because the battery has to be recharged by the ICE.
My daily trip from home to work is 2 miles to the freeway, 26 miles freeway and 4 miles to work place, for a total of 32 miles. I cannot use EV for the first two miles when the ICE is warming up. I found the best FE for freeway is 68-70 mph. The 4 miles to work is difficult to use EV because the speed limit is 45. I don't like to be tailgated.

The only time I can really use the EV mode is when I return home the last 2 miles, the speed limit is 40mph. The battery is used up but it will be charged up the next morning during the ICE warm up and so very little lost of FE.

I agree pulse and glide does not work with TCH because TCH cannot get into glide mode with no arrows between wheel, ICE and battery like the Prius. If you lift the accelerator, regen will occur, ie arrow from wheel to battery. No warp stealth either.

 

That is why it is best to feather touch the gas peddle when gliding because this prevents regenerative breaking.