Hey all -- back just before the anniversary, with my '24 XW60... Mostly, just notes on things noticed and learned. -- running 89 octane vs. 87, at least in is the move. Lots of in-town, but also lots of highway (and all graded since I live on the slopes and isthmus of two volcanoes). Peak hi mpg = 64.78. If you're getting better mpg, probably live in cooler, drier weather and flatter topology. -- since have only owned ICE-only Toyota in past (and gotten great mpg w/ ahem, rather spirited methods of maintaining momentum )... have become aware of more and more techniques that simply faceplant w/ the XW60 vs. say, a 1.5L Toyota Echo (which in non-squiddish hands / feet, can easily attain 40s mpg): don't feather the throttle everywhere, it isn't worth it like it is in an ICE-only vehicle. Initially, found ECO mode greatly improved mpg, before learning the car's foibles more closely. For a time, NORMAL mode seemed to increase mpg more often on my sorties than ECO, which was fine as it allows us not to trigger impatient Zoomers in their Rios and 13-yo Altimas. But as time passed, more about ECO mode seemed to make sense -- which demanded chg in driving style honed 40 yrs by sub-2.0L 4-cyl ICEs -- and once that were made, more mpg literally fell out -- like discovering toothpaste tube squeezers reveal you've been wasting a shirtload of product mostly... this means, as in the 9-Month Review, 1) letting the car decide more often (as opposed to all the time) when to go to EV Mode; 2) learning where the car has the greatest response with the smallest amt of throttle angle. for example: simple standing start from a light. Don't foot to wood, and don't feather it so much the tweaker Karens in 29-mpg X3s in back have their little entitled teething fits. Somewhere in the middle -- my best results are juuust into the POWER range of throttle for a few seconds / 35 mph, then backing off in steps, until the angle's in the lower half of ECO range -- sounding and feeling sort of like the shifts of an automatic transmission. You'll notice the car will still rattle off increasing mph numbers at a very similar rate, even though you've backed out what feels like 1/4 of your throttle angle. This is the e-CVT (MG2?) cutting shaft revs so the transmission goes physically higher / numerically-lower gear ratio, which is only possible over ~35 mph. Sure you can chop throttle earlier and the car will go into EV mode given sufficient charge... but you'll still be crawling, and also dramatically slow to the car behind, both which have zero value for you, at a light where 45 - 55 mph is the upcoming speed limit. in fact, that experience w/ automatic transmissions is what was used to experiment with getting best mpg back via least amt of attracting attention. You'll need to do this in ECO mode, as that gives slowest throttle response so easiest to fine-tune throttle angle-to-felt-acceleration. I'm an old motorcyclist, so forgive if some of this sails over the heads of those not trained 20+ yrs on needing to feel and being in tune w/ the oily bits / noises / personality of your vehicle... but shouldn't be too far out to follow and experiment on your own with -- the 2.0L, Atkinson-cycle M20A-FXS, is a peaky little bugger, all said and done But one of its strangest qualities I've seen, beaten into me trying all kinds of workarounds to gain a few tenths... is it gets better FE on slight acceleration / moderate load, than in steady-state, one-throttle-angle, low-load highway work. For example, have been fine-tuning when the car can get best mpg in town (so can adjust driving style to suit where I happen to be)... and have found letting the car decide when to switch to EV Mode, but, using that automatic-transmission-aping method to accel to the speed limit... can net a tenth about twice as quickly as feathering throttle and trying to stay in EV Mode as long as possible, before the car simply takes over due to spent battery. This drivetrain must have the ICE on a certain amt of time, at a certain amt of throttle angle, to charge the battery for best mpg. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find out how long / where that is, and try to invariably stick to running the ICE that long, and no longer. -- speaking of the ICE... don't make lots of short trips with this car (which is hilarious, as Priuses have been fleet-bought for taxis since the '90s. Short = less than 10 mins of driving). Despite the 0W-16 viscosity, the XW60 needs to be fully warm before it'll even think about coming off the ICE -- and it will keep you on it, especially at low speed, until its sensors report everything's ready for max mpg-chasing, and not a moment sooner. Using 89 oct fuel doesn't help, as the car runs cooler on it than 87... but I'm not giving up the on-demand acceleration for possible top-end damage from years of ping, even if gracefully handled by the PCU. Luckily my morning commute's 45 - 55 mph highway within 2m of starting, which means the sortie-out gets crappy mpg, but the one back nearly dbls it (seriously -- 47 mpg vs. 87 mpg avg / 99 mpg stars-aligned). I suppose taxis need to be more durable, and e-CVT Toyota drivetrains are defo a good chunk longer-lasting than their ICE-only versions. But when they're not warmed up enough... you can expect dash readouts blaring '25.5 mpg' at you on the regular -- deadly to the avg, when they pile up. -- the suspension / chassis isn't perfect per se... but a helluva lot more durable and less finicky than my previous car, a 10th-gen Honda Civic. Part of this is the 60-series 17" LE wheels, which absorb road shock a lot better than 45-series 18" wheels, which needed alignment every 3 mos on the nose on local roads. But just the beefiness of the suspension components vs. Honda's non-CUV/SUVs, should take the rest of the credit. Here, potholes are like Detroit: long-lasting enough to have their own lore and niche fanbase And when they're repaired, it's by ex-cons in unions who have no intention of doing anywhere near a good job, only enough to maintain plausible deniability. Thus why Tacomas are so popular here -- simple enough chassis to fix yourself, balloon tires & 4WD suspension to shrug off sharp-edged puddle-filled potholes and sloppy fixes almost as bad as the original flaw. This XW60 needs to be steered away from the worst of these, make no mistake... but the ones I did hit, which would've required the car spend time in an alignment rack that weekend, no problem. Not gonna push it... but after a year and several of these flubs... the legs have been well, old-school-Toyota graceful. Which is a nice feeling in a late-model one -- lastly, for those who can still hold their heads up off the desk have noticed long hills on which you can charge the battery, do not take as much battery to climb. Thus you have a method to extend your range, if available. Both major gains in mpg (5 and 3 mpg respectively), have been where I've incorporated driving the extra distance to get to a nice long (1/2 mi), 30 - 35 mph hill w/ a gentler stretch of more level ground before any climb out of where you are back to the highway. Just gained a tenth this morning on such a loop, and the ICE fuel to climb out of it doesn't penalise you as much as is logical (protip: when no other cars around / behind you, to climb a hill, try crabwalking up it: turn the wheel to gently angle to the white line, then when you reach it, sharp turn to straighten and aim for the other line -- this reduces the effective angle of the hill for you, just like zigzagging up a hill is easier than straight to the top). I've gained as much 2 - 3 mph more at the top using this method w/ the same amt of throttle. If you made it this far, again thanks for reading, and hope you can unlock more mpg without pissing off too many brodozers. More after the anniversary
