It'll improve as it and you get broken in.

 

no, for some of us it doesn't.

 

Measure over many tank fills using a spreadsheet or an app like fuelly (fuelly.com).

If your tank is filled and the pump shuts off early, you will think that the miles you drove were achieved using a less than average amount of gas.

OTOH, if you fill beyond the auto fill and actually slightly overfill the tank, you would think you achieved those same miles but used more gallons.

I plot my tanks using fuelly and often a 60 MPG tank will be followed by a 30 or vice versa. But my average is 37.9 over almost 2 years and 13k miles of very varied driving. 102 to 2F. More than half my miles at 65-75 highway speeds which give lower MPG than city MPG. That is pretty typical as you can see from looking up your vehicle on fuelly which will allow you to see the typical MPGs of both new owners and owners who have many fill ups.

It is winter, gas formulations change in many areas. tire pressures change, air density change, we use heaters more so the ICE runs more. MPG will change as the weather warms and your use changes.

Check your tire pressure, my car was delivered with 50 PSI, pretty far over what it should be.
Use the display that shows the flow of electrons between the system components. It helps train your driving habits.
Use ECO for the drive train and ECO on the HVAC.

 

Measure over many tank fills using a spreadsheet or an app like fuelly (fuelly.com).

If your tank is filled and the pump shuts off early, you will think that the miles you drove were achieved using a less than average amount of gas.

OTOH, if you fill beyond the auto fill and actually slightly overfill the tank, you would think you achieved those same miles but used more gallons.

I plot my tanks using fuelly and often a 60 MPG tank will be followed by a 30 or vice versa. But my average is 37.9 over almost 2 years and 13k miles of very varied driving. 102 to 2F. More than half my miles at 65-75 highway speeds which give lower MPG than city MPG. That is pretty typical as you can see from looking up your vehicle on fuelly which will allow you to see the typical MPGs of both new owners and owners who have many fill ups.

It is winter, gas formulations change in many areas. tire pressures change, air density change, we use heaters more so the ICE runs more. MPG will change as the weather warms and your use changes.

Check your tire pressure, my car was delivered with 50 PSI, pretty far over what it should be.
Use the display that shows the flow of electrons between the system components. It helps train your driving habits.
Use ECO for the drive train and ECO on the HVAC.

Thank you! It's up to 33 mpg now. I was freaking out because it had 182 miles on it when we bought it--dealer had to made a swap out of state--and the average mpg was 28.5 and didn't seem to be improving quickly. Hopefully it will continue to increase. We'll see. I'll also be tracking with Fuelly to ensure accuracy.

 

I don't know where you live. But if you live in a cold climate be aware hybrids don't excel in these conditions or high speed driving. They're still better than the same gas only drivetrain but not their ultimate. When we bought ours, unlike you ours had 3 miles on it. We literally bought it off the truck and without even test driving it. (We had driven others same model but not the one we bought).
Once in our hands MPG throughout warm weather months remaining averaged high 40's to low 50's depending on who drove it. IMO very commendable.
Now it's winter. Cold weather, early darkness, winter blend fuel and like any other car hybrid or gas (our 2011 Highlander gas included) MPG drops off minimum 25%. Colder = even worse maybe 30%. 25% to 30% of a car that can potentially get 50+mpg is A LOT of MPG. On a Highlander that at BEST sees 22 mpg not so many. I see a drop of about 6mpg on the highlander and shrug my shoulder. I see a drop of 15 or MORE MPG on the RAV and it's scary.
Batteries don't like cold, your engine doesn't like cold (from an efficiency standpoint). Also being mostly computer controlled the vehicle has to acclimate to your driving as well. As you've seen you got a nice little increase.
Resist doing dumb things like over inflating tires and other weird stuff. Just keep everything to spec. Once warm weather arrives and the car "breaks" in you will easily see low to mid 40's and higher depending how you drive.
BTW this past summer thanks to a few factors (me driving it exclusively, easy driving weather not overly hot not cold, etc) I saw a couple tanks avg 55mpg.
So try not to worry

 

Using fuelly may be interesting but I doubt hand calculating MPG will be anywhere near as accurate as what the car itself actually shows you for both instant and average. When hand calculating you have to take into account, (which you cannot) differences in ambient temps at time of fueling, differences in pump performance (how quickly does the pump respond to back pressure and shut off) along with many other things. The vehicle itself can tell you exactly how much fuel is actually flowing through it. You cannot do that hand calculating.

 

Actually fuelly and the car give quite similar results as I have never reset the car's odometers. And I'm not interested in the nth decimal place.

 

I don't know about having a breaking in requirement. Mine had less than 30 miles on it new and initially got 41.3 mpg out of the box on Summer blend gas with careful Eco minded small town, highway and mountain driving just to see what it was capable of.

Now at over 4K miles I usually get 38+ in normal driving. Sometimes I have fun by kicking the crap out of the scooter on back road teacup hills and hairpin turns often in Sport mode and ECU says I still had 35.6 mpg as the worst mileage......with crapo Winter blend gasoline.

And got a good one my "J" car.........without topping off I still get the full 14 gals with the gas gauge reading past "F".......so no replacement gas tank or gauge forseen in my futuree.

 

I don't know about having a breaking in requirement. Mine had less than 30 miles on it new and initially got 41.3 mpg out of the box on Summer blend gas with careful Eco minded small town, highway and mountain driving just to see what it was capable of.

Now at over 4K miles I usually get 38+ in normal driving. Sometimes I have fun by kicking the crap out of the scooter on back road teacup hills and hairpin turns often in Sport mode and ECU says I still had 35.6 mpg as the worst mileage......with crapo Winter blend gasoline.

And got a good one my "J" car.........without topping off I still get the full 14 gals with the gas gauge reading past "F".......so no replacement gas tank or gauge forseen in my futuree.

Yeah same here. Right outta the box I was seeing mid to upper 40's and with practice easily able to see mid 50's tanks. No fillup issues either "J" car as well. And yes when you want that little SUV can really scoot

 

I got a 2019 XSE Hyrbid in very late Sept 2019. First tank was about 41 mpg. Shortly thereafter I was getting low to mid 30s. Then something changed - the weather! Once it warmed up, I was getting 40+ mpg regularly. Now that it's cold again, I'm back to low/mid 30s. So if you're in a cold weather climate, expect that wild swing. I find that my MPG on the freeway is a lot better in winter than in summer (relative to "city" driving. Not a lot better but better ...)

 

OK here is the TSB and the process they use to test if you are one of those needing the fuel fill fix and what portion of the fix you need. Also some pretty explicit VIN numbers.

Measure the MPG over several tanks to start seeing a trend. Because measuring from the first is impossible because you can't tell how much gas was in the tank.

 

looks like this TSB only refers to RAV4s made in Japan (based on the VIN ranges listed). SO ... Toyota is saying that the RAV4s made in Canada and/or US aren't affected by this??? (I find this very hard to believe - I'm def affected but mine was made in Canada and the VIN doesn't appear here.) I've not received anything in the mail from Toyota since that heads up letter from them in spring 2020.

 

Yeah not affected either with our "J" car.

 

Well, I’ve gotten it up to 34 mpg, but that seems to be where it’s gonna stay (at least until it gets warmer, maybe). I might be grasping at straws here, but any opinions about whether the lane departure system (steering assist and lane centering assist) negatively impacts fuel economy? Especially with the lane centering function and all the micro adjustments in lane position it makes, just wonder if that could affect mpg.

 

Seriously doubt it. That's kinda grasping at straws, compared to where the real issue is. Once under 30F the batteries lose about 40% (give or take) of their power, combine that with a 25% loss in engine efficiency thanks to the cold and winter blend gas that's foisted off on us and you have disappointing numbers. Now take that and have the car driving at it's least efficient state even under "normal" conditions, say high freeway speeds (over 60 mph) against strong winds and they drop like a rock. Last night for instance I had to do a long drive in very cold weather, at high speed (75mph), and with an extremely strong headwind. Avg on the dash went from 36mpg to 28mpg. You could watch the predicted rage drop by 2 mpg for nearly every mile driven until the computer figured it out. So given my tank averages were in the mid 40's just over a month ago and are now the last week or so in the low 30's you can see the differences distinctly

 

I'm stuck with a poorly performing 2020 RAV4 XLE Hybrid with 4500 miles, and after months (since August purchase) have just (finally) recorded my first MPG properly using fuelly.com result: 22.7 mpg (we will continue with future refills.)

Until now I've been using the system computer to get my results, and was told on forums that the computer is not accurate; one must do the math at the pump.

It isn't the cold that has caused US to get low MPGs, we were getting 27-30 before the cold weather came.

Now, less than 23mpg. Driving PROPERLY, keeping the tach in the blue range and no hard breaking.
Coasting to stop signs, yada yada.

We plan to bring in the vehicle at 5k miles for service and I need input to get results from dealer/Toyota.

I do NOT want to hijack this thread, but I'd also like to stay on this thread to learn what might be the possibilities that cause this.

RAV4 Hybrid XLE (Toyota RAV4) | Fuelly

 

I'm stuck with a poorly performing 2020 RAV4 XLE Hybrid with 4500 miles, and after months (since August purchase) have just (finally) recorded my first MPG properly using fuelly.com result: 22.7 mpg (we will continue with future refills.)

Until now I've been using the system computer to get my results, and was told on forums that the computer is not accurate; one must do the math at the pump.

It isn't the cold that has caused US to get low MPGs, we were getting 27-30 before the cold weather came.

Now, less than 23mpg. Driving PROPERLY, keeping the tach in the blue range and no hard breaking.
Coasting to stop signs, yada yada.

We plan to bring in the vehicle at 5k miles for service and I need input to get results from dealer/Toyota.

I do NOT want to hijack this thread, but I'd also like to stay on this thread to learn what might be the possibilities that cause this.

RAV4 Hybrid XLE (Toyota RAV4) | Fuelly

Looking at your fuelly entry, the way you are filling may be sending the sensor haywire. And fuelly needs more than 2 fills to start displaying some more meaningful data.

Next time you see the needs fuel warning, take a picture of the gauges showing the needle and the odometer.
Set the pump handle to the slowest setting and let it shut off automatically. Do not squeeze the handle again.
Take another picture of the gauges after the fill.
Take a picture of the receipt.
Look at the needle and see if it is sitting on the F mark.
Enter in fuelly with a note about how you filled and the temperatures and speeds you were driving using that tank and where the needle was.

Do this for several fillings and make notes with what it is telling you and you'll have documentation to show to the dealer:
1. You need the gas tank fuel fill fix CSP because the tank isn't filling completely and displaying correctly.
and/or
2. There is something else wrong with the car.

If you look at my fuelly charts, you will often see a very high MPG fill followed by a very low MPG fill. 65 to 25 MPG before I realized what was causing the spikes by alternating low fillings (thought I had gone lots of miles using little fuel) and high fillings (more gas and less miles). I then began always slow filling until I got the fix and the variations were reduced. Now all full speed fillings result in the needle being in the same place. And in my notes the variation is often explained by the way I filled before I got the fix. Even with these variations, my average MPG over many fill-ups was pretty consistent.

My recent fill up is atrocious because of speed, a driving rainstorm (tires forcing their way through puddles on the road), cold temps, heating, defrosting plus load.

Now my MPG results are explained by the driving conditions (temps, storm, speed, load, etc) and not by variations on how I filled the car up.

Now since I got the fix, I fill to the same point at full speed every time so my readings are more consistent.

Another thought. Do you know anyone else who has a Rav4 hybrid? Could you have them drive with you and note all your settings?

 

Don't use fuelly it's archaic and inaccurate. There is NO WAY you will get anything more accurate than the ACTUAL fuel flow being measured at the engine. If you go to a different pump within even the same gas station, a different brand, a different station, ambient temps all throw the old fashioned way of measuring out the window ESPECIALLY in a modern high tech vehicle like the RAV Hybrid. Trust the computer. You will never exceed or even come close to it's accuracy.

 

It could be the fuel formulation in CA. You guys there have some very strange stuff. Fuel formulations are WAY different than we get in the midwest. Also how are you actually measuring your MPG? If you're trying to do it by seeing how many gallons you put in divided by your miles you're not getting a truly accurate measure. Really the car's own readout is FAR more accurate than hand calculation. Because even at my car's absolute worst (brutal cold, snow, ice and, lots of wind what you're reporting is about as bad as mine gets. Even if our weather moderates just a bit (temps near 40 or slightly over, less wind, no snow and ice) mine will improve markedly showing mid to upper 30's easily and even reaching low 40's depending on how my wife hammers it. (Yes she hammers it so her economy is not as good as mine). So it also begs the question. How hard do you drive it? Just because you call yourself godmother does not make you gentle on it LOL. My wife is a gramma and she's rough on cars. I am too for that matter but I treat it much more smoothly. She does not drive nearly as fast as I do but she drops the hammer when the light turns green and she drops the anchor..........hard when it turns red. She hasn't learned the concept of "smoothness". Perhaps this is an issue?

 

I use the cars dash readout for the most part but we have also done the calculation on fill ups. Even in the ECO screen it shows it being low. I only drive about 2 miles a day to and from work, and occasionally we go out and drive further but with COVID we are mostly staying home. I might add that my freeway MPG is much better. I'll get 40 MPG when we go on road trips. So could it be the short trips doing my mileage in? Thanks for helping me figure this out. The dealer was ZERO help when we took it in.

 

You're not driving enough to charge the batteries or fully warm the engine. There ya go. You answered your own problem

 

The sticker said it was supposed to get 41 in town and 38 on the freeway with a combined total of 40. On the ECO screen it shows the battery as charged. We bought it because most of our driving is in town. How can it be 27 - 29 MPG and be working properly?

 

I can't answer your fully charged remark. I have never once in owning ours seen our battery show fully charged. You said yourself you're only running around maybe 2 miles or so. You're not running it long enough. You even mentioned when you ran the car longer you see 40 or so. Hybrids NEED to be driven. If they sit a lot or don't run much it's hard on the battery system and not good for economy. We see something similar but for a different reason. We live in the upper midwest and so we see pretty brutal winters. Truly you just need to drive your car more. You're running it almost exclusively on the gasoline engine

 

I get 35 to 45 all summer and im getting 29 mpg right now, AND ITS 30 FOR A HIGH AND 10 FOR A LOW.. 45 DEGREES AND UP IS WHEN YOULL SEE 35 TO 45MPG RANGER, TRY USING THE HEAT LESS!, AS THE ENGINE NEEDS EXTRA TIME TO WARM UP, AND TO HEAT YOUR CABIN. ITS BASIC MATH.
still 29 COMBINED. BETTER THAN ANY GAS ONLY SUV ANYWHERE EVER. TRY 13 MPG IN ANY OTHER SUV, I REMEMBER I GAD A VR6 GTI I GOT 9MPG IN THE WINTER 93 GAS LOL

MY SATURN WOULD GET 20MPG IN THE JAN FEB MONTHS AND 45 IN THE SUMMER, SO DONT GET ALL WHINEY ABOUT BAD MPG IN THE COLD, ITS REALISTIC.

sorry about the caps im lazy

 

Some one should experiment with a Warm air intake or grill blocking where it gets cold alot and see how that helps your milage. old school Saturns react with insanely good mpg if you take air from over their exhaust manifold. I would get 45 to 50 mpg in a 5speed easy.

so in the new 2019 + rav 4 hybrid, on the rpm/voltage combo gauge on the left of your info speedometer rpm cluster (I guess?) each line represents a gear, try to maintain speed in the lowest gear possible, 10 lines 10 speeds 10 spd cvt transmission.. youll see huge improvement there in mpg if you try to stay in the 3rd gear while you accelerate

 

shell only everyone

 

80% of the time youll get 40mpg 20% probably 30-35, something like that. from march to december I get 35 to 40mpg jan feb 30 Im in the north east, maybe your in Minnesota

 

Yep even with low 20 avg temps I am averaging mid 30s to upper 30s most of the time. Another issue is at high speeds the benefits of hybrid tend to fall off. So if you don't drive enough to charge the batteries and when you do you're hammering it on the freeway not the most efficient way to use a hybrid. Lastly quit trying to measure economy by calculating manually. It's impossible to get close to accurate

 

like I said stay in 3 or 4th gear tops.. and out of sport mode, keep the heat off and stay below 70mph for better mpg

 

There are no "gears" watch this and learn

. Also the heat has NO BEARING on MPG. Hell in the this vehicle even the AC really doesn't. The ONLY thing you mentioned that has an ounce of sense is staying under 70 mph.

 

Made a youtube video playlist to try to show you how to get good MPG in your Rav4 Hybrid

I easily acheive 42 mpg over 15 miles in the city 2 round trips

Its a little glitchy, but really no good way to show mpg and other gauges while I was driving.

 

���
Here is our 2020 RAV4 Hybrid's poor MPG:

fill date miles driven gallons MPG cost/gal mostly local

5	2/14/21	274.90	11.731	23.43	2.299	90%
4	1/26/21	315.90	11.850	26.66	2.239	90%
3	1/17/21	225.10	9.400	23.95	0.240	90%
2	12/27/20	276.00	12.140	22.74	2.050	90%

 

���
Here is our 2020 RAV4 Hybrid's poor MPG:

fill date miles driven gallons MPG cost/gal mostly local

5	2/14/21	274.90	11.731	23.43	2.299	90%
4	1/26/21	315.90	11.850	26.66	2.239	90%
3	1/17/21	225.10	9.400	23.95	0.240	90%
2	12/27/20	276.00	12.140	22.74	2.050	90%

I think in your 3rd tank entry the price per gallon is incorrect. Short of driving with you and observing the many variables, I have no idea why I get 10 to 15 more MPG than you do. I'm sure you have observed the electrons flow gauge and figured out what it could be telling you. I presume you follow other cars at a distance and start stopping by coasting and then lightly braking with the pedal. What does your efficiency gauge (the one that scores your acceleration, braking and one other I can't remember tell you?

 

If you're trying to hand calculate you will NEVER get anything near accurate

 

Except… our math parallels the system computer.

Never say “never”.

 

Simply NEVER reset long term mpg gauge. In about a year of driving, after 4 season cycled, you will have true mpg. The rest is idle exercise in mpg obsessiveness.