with 5 adults and 200 pounds of gear in the trunk. See his post over at Edmunds about halfway down the page:

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX?14@@.efeaca1/2183

We have a new benchmark to shoot for, guys and gals !!!

 

While 64.7 MPG isn't too bad, nobody has yet reported beating my 80+ MPG sustained for over 15 minutes in city driving. With uninterrupted flat road driving at 65 MPH, this thing will do 60 MPG all day long. Now, if we could only eliminate those pesky hills... <scratching head>

 

Do you really get that kind of mileage? I live in a very flat area, if it weren't for overpasses there would be no hills. I find that at 55 my mpg gauge is staying between 35 and 50. At 60 it's a little lower so I assumed that 65 would be even lower. I haven't set the cruise and kept it at 65 since the speed limit is 55 here and that would get a little too close to ticket zone. I'll try setting it just below 65 (should be safe) and see what it does.

 

As you can see by my tank averages (two so far, and about to add the third), I'm about average overall for mileage, because my driving circumstances are such (hilly terrain, short-distance driving, and eager-to-go-faster passengers) often don't allow the kind of numbers that could be produced otherwise.

I should move back to Oklahoma, aka Camry country, where the land is flat, and the people are sloooow.

 

I suspect 55 mpg or so may be possible IF you don't use the AC or have any significant wind. I often see the instant mpg between 50 and 60 when the cruise control is set between 60 and 65 mph. Turning on the AC drops it to 45 mpg.

 

I have not found any noticeable drop by using AC. It will be interesting to get more feedback from others about AC-usage vs. fuel economy.

 

A/C drops the MPG no doubt about it, when the compressor is being powered by the gas engine. That's unavoidable. Apparently, however, the TCH and other newer HSD vehicles CAN power the A/C with the Hybrid battery.

THAT is a situation when the mpg would NOT take a hit. Any other time it will.

Toyota's engineers are dang good, but they cannot cool air in a car 100% of the time without using gasoline (or diesel as the case may be) - that little trick has YET to be invented !!!

 

Nash,

Do you have the ECO switch set to ON? Setting that will cause the electric compressor to only run on the electric motor under most circumstances, and not the ICE.

 

Yes I have ECO on. What I've observed is when the SOC (state of charge) of the hybrid battery is "average" ie: typically 4 to 6 bars, and I am on a level stretch of freeway with cruise control set to 65mph or so - turning on the AC causes the instant mpg to drop from ~ 55/60mpg to ~45mpg after a few seconds. Turning off the AC raises it back to ~55/60mpg.

The TCH has only an electric driven AC compressor, the power has to come eventually from the ICE. If it always came from the battery, it would run the SOC down after a while.

 

Nash,

I understand that the power comes from the ICE, but I'm assuming the ECO switch must do something or Toyota would not have put it there. I'm going to try and see the difference in mileage I get with the A/C turned off.