Try to coast as much as possible.

Keep the "instaneous" mpg reading visible ... be aware of under which conditions you are maxing it out (downhill obviously but when else?) When you aren't at max, see if you can let up on the accelerator just a bit and still maintain momentum but gain FE... That's about all I've been doing and my last 3 tanks were 30, 30.4, and 29.6 mpgs

 

Stay on the back roads when you can. I changed my route to work from main roads to back roads and went from 27 to 30 mpg. The HH seems to get the best mileage on hilly terrain for some reason. It also does best below 40 mph. On the highway, try to stay around 65 mph and use cruise control when you can. I keep my tires around 42 psi cold. On short trips, I keep the ignition on during short stops to avoid the ICE from coming on for the mandatory 30 second warm up.

I drive the HH sort of like I ride a bike. I charge the hills and coast as much as I can. When accelerating, I push the pedal down enough so the ICE and the electric both come on. I may be wrong, but I figure it is more fuel efficient to have the ICE helped out by using the electric motors. I also try to glide when ever possible. It takes a while to get good at applying just enough pressure to the accelerator so that no energy is flowing in either direction.

I have just under 5k on my HH. I think the break in period along with learning how to drive the hybrid have helped improve my mpg.

 

good definition... ride it like a bike... you accelerate (pedal) up to speed... then you let momentum glide you as far as possible, (neutral or in the highlander's case put enough pedal pressure to turn off regen since you'll never get back what you spent so might as well go as far as conditions allow you to go) because you don't want to keep pedaling... your feet are going to get tried. (more gas burned when momentum could have covered the same distance! Trust me city traffic will always allow this rule to be true.) So when you coast until to a point that you feel its too slow then pulse up to speed again. That's what the air in the tires are for, pump them up at max tire sidewall pressure for maximum coasting distance. Although when the battery is low I don't know how painful payback (when FE takes a hit to charge the battery) will be? (in payback state the engine won't turn off even when stopped and it forces regen on the battery pack until its at a acceptable level to go back in stealth mode)

Do this as many times as you can and your FE will soar!

 

Getting the tyres filled is a real help to MPG. Mine were steadily dropping (which is depressing) but once we worked out I was driving with almost flats and filled up the MPG rose by about10. Always turn off any fans, heaters, even radios if you can help it.

 

I'd like to point out that everyone should have a verified accurate tire gauge. I've found they can be off by up to 5 pounds per square inch and that will make a huge difference in gas mileage. The pencil gauges are usually not very accurate. I purchased a digital gauge the other day and it corresponds very closely with one gauge and not the other. I also found some tires down on both vehicles. I'm going to be more vigilent about checking air pressure in the future.

Obviously, high speeds are going to seriously cut into fuel mileage. No one should drive at reckless speeds and expect to get good fuel mileage; even with a hybrid.

 

Some good gauges here at a reasonable price. I like the liquid filled one, but thats a personal choice. http://www.quickcar.net/tire_mgmt/tire.html

 

i too have a highlander hybrid. we are averaging 21.4 mpg over the first 6000 miles. not exactly the 31 city, 27 highway, but its still 50% better than my 2003 subaru outback wagon gets.

 

Great points made by many here. The fuel savings payback model is a rounding error compared to what we spend on wheels, navigation, stereo, leather, finance charges, wasted trips...............

More MPG than what you were driving, along with less polution of the environment, is a great start. One of things that seems to impact our budget is the ability to purchase fuel more predictibly. and in a location of our choice. Not being forced to fill up in South Orange County all the time is saving me another 7-15%.

In my FEH, the energy display looks like it will pay for itself fairly quickly. The visual feedback really makes a difference in my driving style. I do find that I must be careful with the distraction factor. Eyes should be mainly on the road!

 

We'd been getting 27-28 in our HiHy, which we're perfectly happy with (since we can drive carpool and get more mpg than our 95 Saab did). But we've been doing even better since we started driving on the highway mostly at 60 instead of 65 (staying in the right hand lane, when necessary). It makes a big difference (in mpg, not in time--a difference of about a minute and a half over 20 miles).

I'd be willing to bet that slowing down would help a lot of the people who are disappointed in their mpg. Just because the speed limit says a certain speed, you're not required to go that, as long as you're driving safely and stay out of the fast lane. And how many people tend to go faster than the limit?

 

Stuart,

I'm curious to understand why your FE is relatively low. Even when my wife did the Mario Andretti along Interstate 5 between LA and SF, we got 22.4 mpg.

After some trial and error and reading lots of post from this site, I've found a practical way of getting typically 25-26 mpg (actual, not inflated Energy Monitor measurements) without having to feel that I was driving like old Granny. I find the car schematic "Power Flow" monitor a bit too distracting and ultimately frustrating. Instead, I use the Energy Monitor time history chart of the FE and then go by "feel". You can "feel" when you're goosing the ICE a lot by the level of grumbling under the hood. There's a zone where you're still getting excellent acceleration, pressing the ICE and electric but not over-driving the ICE. I call it the "smooth zone"...

The other trick I discovered was finding an alternate route to work that used an expressway (speed limit of 50 mph) and a very short freeway section. Ironically when I compare the times, it turns out it takes about the same time (and many times less time) than my original route, which consisted on getting on a couple of freeways.

-Han-