Have a 2021 camry hybrid le. I have taken 3 trips from seattle down the coast almost to Calif. First two trips 58 mpg, Third trip started out good but coming back mileage dropped to 52. Same driving and second trip at 58mpg we even had 4 adults in the car. After getting back from last trip we then headed to AZ. The mileage continued to drop a couple more mpg till we got down to 46,1 mpg and the last 200 miles it did come up to 46.7.. A drop of 11mpg tells me something not right, same driver, same habits. So yesterday I took it in to Toyota, also for it's 5000 mile maintenance checkup, total miles 6203, and told them about problem. Was told that it's still within rated fuel mileage so there's no problem, the fact that I had been getting way better mileage was great but don't count on it. Anyway they did check it out and ran a "health" check on the car and all was fine. I see I'm not the only having this same problem. Just seems like to much inconsistantcy for no real reason. Any concrete thoughts?

 

I fillup at pretty much the same station. Last time after mileage drop I filled up at Texaco and still no better mileage.

 

You're comparing vastly different drives and drive conditions. Are you keeping track of mileage of every fill-up with miles traveled divided by gallons added, or are you just using the reported mileage?

 

First three trips down the coast were pretty much the same except second one we had two more adults that time. Drive to Az should have been better or certainly as good. Yes I do my own math also If you don’t find 11 mpg change unusual that’s fine but to me that’s doesn’t seem right to me.

 

Do you do it by the tank?

https://fueleconomy.gov/feg/PowerSea...=1&rowLimit=50

EPA rated is 51/53 with two users reporting 41 and 54.

The drag on the car increased by the square of speed, so 75mph has 33% more drag on the car than 65mph and that translates to significantly higher fuel consumption.

For the mileage values you are comparing, were they all at the same speed?

Elevation changes destroy mileage and driving style (even if same driver) in those conditions can account for huge changes. We take a 3.5 hour drive within AZ that involves a LOT of elevation changes during the drive (lots of hills) with a total elevation difference between the two to be a little over 5000 ft. We drive our Gen2 Prii that route every 2-6 weeks. We routinely lose 8-9mpg and get LESS THAN 40mpg vs. our normal commute driving a mix of Phoenix freeway and surface streets (48mpg),and it is the same both ways, i.e., we don't get better mileage "coming down the hill" because there are dozens of hills between the high point and the low point. Now if it was a steady decline of 5000 ft over 186 miles, sure, we'd see a difference. But it's up and down big 6-7% grades.

For the mileage values you are comparing, did they all involve the same elevation changes?

Use of climate control consumes additional energy. Did all driving have the same climate control needs?

My guess is that your answer to all three questions is "no."

Until you make an effort to conduct some reasonably controlled test in reasonably consistent conditions, you're comparing apples to rambutans. The dealership is correct in dismissing your concerns based on anecdotal comparisons of results in varying conditions.

 

Ya, I think the mountains all changed elevation and I think coming back on the third trip it was all up hill climb, elevation was over 12,000 feet when I got home this time, but don’t worry it’s back to normal now. Next time please read thread. What part of three same trips don’t you understand

 

Don't worry. I'm not worried. It's not my car, and as you've discovered, now that your back to your normal driving, you're seeing results consistent with your normal driving, and comparisons of your non-normal driving to your normal driving are futile, and again, the dealership was correct in dismissing your concerns. You invented them. You've now discovered that your intuition that a "11 mpg change" is "unusual" is wrong. As I listed there are SEVERAL influences on mpg. It's more complicated than just noticing that you're getting different mileage.

What I don't understand is that you don't understand the concept of a controlled test. It's pretty simple. Unless you can document that the drives you're comparing were very nearly identical in every way: speed, # of stops, where stopped, rate of acceleration, ambient temperatures, HVAC load, weight, tire inflation, etc., you are comparing apples to oranges, and 10-20% variations may be normal.

Do a little experiment using only your mpg readout:

Select a 50 mile stretch of highway with as little elevation change as possible and no traffic influence.
Make note of ambient temperature.
Avoid use of HVAC if at all possible.
Accelerate to 65mph
set cruise
reset mpg meter
Make note of mpg meter just prior to hitting the 50 mile mark.
Repeat process in the reverse direction.
Average the to mpg reading - that's your baseline mpg for those conditions. No, we're not controlling the crap out of everything, but we're only measuring based on a consistent course and at 65mph hopefully with comparable ambient conditions. Averaging the two helps negate the influence of wind/small elevation changes.

Do it again at 75mph. You'll see a notable mpg drop.

 

It’s irrelevant now, the mpg has dropped to below 50 and so far nothing, city, highway, cruise control, 35 mph or 55 mph, over inflating the tires, no ac, heat, windows up, or everything else I have done seems to make the mpg improve. So why did I get 57-58 mpg for the first 5000 miles and then a dump and can’t even get close to 50 now no matter what. So you can’t accept that something is wrong but after over 50 years of working in this field I have learned that a significant sudden change indicates a problem and further inspection, diagnostic procedures and tests need to be done

 

I have a 2021 Camry Hybrid, and I do believe there is a mpg issue with this vehicle. Yes. I have read all the above posts, and I agree with all the suggestions for better gas millage. This is my 3rd Camry Hybrid, and I am very familiar with driving a hybrid. When I first purchased this vehicle in March of 21' I was getting between 48-56 mpg, in winter when temps were cold still. I even took the vehicle to the Pocono Mountains, and was getting great gas millage. Then at about 7,500 miles the vehicle started to drastically decline in mpg, I am now down to about 34 mpg. I took the vehicle to the dealer, and the dealer says they can't find anything wrong. With my past Camry Hybrids the most I ever saw the mpg drop was about 7 mpg in the winter months. There are definitely issues with the 2021 Camry hybrid, but I will not get into that here since this is mpg issues. Has anyone else experienced mpg issue with the 2021 Camry Hybrid??

 

Thanks, let’s just hope that Toyota will take it seriously enough to at least research the problem rather than just dismiss it like we don’t know what we are talking about. Have a 1999 Dodge Dakota I bought new. At about 7000 miles it got hard to start after sitting a little while and then the idle went up and down between 800-3000 rpm until it warmed up then everything was fine. Dealer could find nothing wrong. Finally at around 80000 it quit on me and I towed it home. After some troubleshooting I changed the temperature sensor, which had totally corroded away, and it started right up and no longer is hard to start after sitting and idles like it is supposed to idle.