Ron, I never had to turn it on. Well, you do have to press the button once.

But it stays. cheers.

 

Ron, I never had to turn it on. Well, you do have to press the button once.
But it stays. cheers.

When you say it stays, do you mean that it will be in ECO mode the next time you start it, and you don't have to push it again each time you go driving? The reason I ask, is my wife has a heavy foot, and I deviously want to have it in ECO mode for her driving and my benefit, as I do the gas refilling...

 

no.

also, it's very temperamental as in - it will not turn on under many conditions and in various air flow settings. it's quite complicated and as a result - quite useless.

 

It stays on for me as you start car next time. But if Mrs. Ron put pedal to the medal, Eco or not, it's gonna go.

 

on 2007 TCH it will always be on until you hit the MAX heat or MIN cold buttons on the AC (at this extreme settings ECO will be disabled)

 

I have had my new XLE hybrid now for 4-weeks. I pressed the ECO button once as I drove it home from the dealer. Lots of driving and am at 1200 miles now and the ECO indicator shows it's in the ECO mode all the time. I also found out you can press the EV button and it will put you in the EV mode only if your traction battery is fully charged or 50% charged. The MID window will tell you if it won't switch to the EV mode.

I find this is nice to switch to the EV mode when in large parking lots. (even if the ECO is set) Reason being with the engine running you only get around 5 mpg due to the slow driving. If you traction battery is charged enough, the ECO will auto switch you to EV once it sees your driving slow.

 

I have had my new XLE hybrid now for 4-weeks. I pressed the ECO button once as I drove it home from the dealer. Lots of driving and am at 1200 miles now and the ECO indicator shows it's in the ECO mode all the time. I also found out you can press the EV button and it will put you in the EV mode only if your traction battery is fully charged or 50% charged. The MID window will tell you if it won't switch to the EV mode.

Thank you. That is good to know. I'll tell my wife that the light beside the ECO button means she is earning money for her next shopping trip...

I wondered how they kept you from parking and shutting the engine down with a flat battery, so you may not be able to start again -- especially in cold weather.

 

ECO Mode

I have driven over 2000 miles now with a one button push on the ECO mode and the display is on ALWAYS.

BTW, logged in 47.01MPG on a fill-up with a manual calculation. The car thought it was 43.5MPG. Resetting (DISP) after every fill-up.

50% highway driving.

 

EV/ECO Modes

I also see the EV light come on under 30 and sometimes over 30MPH. Personally I want to use all economical means provided by this car.
I never took off ECO but I have passed many a car on two lane roads and the power is more than adequate.

 

On my 12 TCH, I pushed it once while leaving the dealership and it has not been out of ECO since. You must not have a 12

 

I did the same thing with my '12 XLE TCH.

 

Iwannagolf wrote:
I'm always in ECO mode and keep questioning myself as to what is the point of hitting the EV button?

I pretty much keep it in ECO mode myself, especially after trying to drive in EV mode a few times. But today I found a time where I will use the EV mode. I wanted to move my car up 20 feet without the motor coming on. I eased the gas peddle but the motor still came on. Probably to bring the ICE up to temperature. I pressed EV mode and then did the move. Later when I went to move the car back I noticed the EV was out when I pressed the button to start so pressed it to put it back in. So EV will not stay in when you shut the car off. That is the way I would prefer it anyway.

 

Correct, the engine must warm up first. The traction battery must be charged up around 50% or higher for the manual EV to work. The manual says you can't drive over 25 mph when using the manual EV. Easy to see it won't come on above that speed even if you use the button. If the engine is warm then it would be great for moving the car without starting the engine. I like using it leaving a red light and immediately having to climb up a overpass using the EV feature.

 

I don't mean to piggyback this thread, but is there an indicator for the '07 tch to signify when I am in Eco mode? And for that model year, what things will prevent the Eco mode from working? I think from reading this thread my first mistake is I've had my climate controls set to LO instead of a median temp, as well as the recirculator and ac buttons on, on head and foot fan mode. Tomorrow I will turn the temp up mildly, and the recirc and ac off to see. And what differences should I see/feel when Eco kicks in? Again, sorry for the hijack, but hopefully the answers to my questions will help others!

Thanks,

Derek

 

Is there an indicator for the '07 tch to signify when I am in Eco mode? And for that model year, what things will prevent the Eco mode from working? What differences should I see/feel when Eco kicks in?

Thanks, Derek

Yes, the '07 has the ECO indication in the center of your AC/heat window. That is only if you have the ECO button pressed once to activate it. I think it will be on ever time you drive. Changing the AC temp would shut it off on my '07 TCH. I would feel for the button next to my left knee and press it on again. I learned to keep the AC and recirculate on, then set the temp to 79 or 80 degrees and leave it so the ECO would stay on.

The ECO setting when on may make your accelerator feel a little more mushy, but is helping you get better gas mileage. The ECO helps you engine shut down a few seconds after you stop at a red light, saving gas. If the traction battery is charged around 50% the engine will also shut off when your driving slow like in a large parking lot. This is another way the hybrid saves gas and gives you higher gas mileage.

You already know to keep your temp settings off LO and HI. This turns off the ECO setting. I have found with my new '12 XLE TCH that the ECO stays on even if you choose the LO or HI temp settings.

In this picture below the ECO indication you will see on you car, in small letters in the window just under the word, Plasmacluster.

 

Derek,

FYI, Owner's Manual is available in PDF format for 2007 Hybrid - make sure you enter year/model info with CHOOSE YOUR TOYOTA pull-down in upper right corner of that link.

It is great to have the the manuals in PDF format for electronic searching and those time you don't want go get the hard copy out of the car.

 

Thanks for the help guys, good to know about ECO, finally figured it out on way to work, mine was kicking out because I had temp on LO but I adjusted to about 70* and works perfect now with Eco light on display. I did notice a different feel to the pedal and a difference in behavior and already my computer mpgs are up to 39.3 from my prior 37.6, so this is great.

And thanks for the PDF, I'm going to download that ASAP because that will make life a millions times easier than going for the book for every query.

Thanks guys again, and sorry again for the hijack

Derek

 

Thanks guys again, and sorry again for the hijack

No problem with the hijack. I got my answer (Yes) many posts back! I like that it stays in ECO by default in the 2012 after you just set it once. It overrides automatically with a heavy foot and returns to ECO by itself. Really hot weather might be the only circumstances for manually taking it back out of ECO. Not usually an issue in this part of Canada!

 

I was curious about that, too, when I first saw the title. Mine ('12) stays in Eco mode all the time. Even on the interstate, it has pretty good acceleration.