Only getting 22-23 MPG

[Klink10]

Maybe I missed it but is this an auto or 5 speed? If auto did you check to be sure you aren't in 3 instead of Drive?

[SWICKENSJR]

It's an auto and yes I'm definitely not driving in 3rd. I pop it down and not to the left ;) I read that thread and made sure I wasn't doing that already.

[Klink10]

Cool....hope you find out what the problem is.

[CtrlAltDefeat]

I didn't see if you mentioned what kind of wheels you have... you said they are wider, so I have to wonder about their weight. Wide,heavy wheels would seriously impact your FE. I know that chrome is one of the heaviest materials around, and some wheels are insanely heavy...

[sickpuppy1]

But realistically, if its being allowed to warm up a bit and then only going 2.5 miles, in which there are several stoplights, theres no way this thing can get 30+ mpg. idling during warm up is less than 0mpg, and then running through the gears from light to light is one of the worst time to get any mileage, even if your easy on it. Any car gets its best mileage when cruising, whether slow ,moderate or higher speeds . I'd say, yeah, its reasonable to expect 20-25 mpg in pure stop and go situations. If you were driving a SUV or something, you'd be appalled at the single digit figures you'd be getting in that same scenario...

[why?]

you should def look into getting lighter wheels and tires, but i don't think anything is wrong, you just don't drive enough to get decent gas mileage.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

I'm assuming that the "cold engine" light never turns off in that short amount of miles driven at 5 in the morning. I believe the ECU dumps fuel until the engine is warmed up. Also, how much time are you spending idling?

Get yourself a SGII. I drive short distances as well, and I'll average 37-39 mpg in the city at the lowest (I've hit 60 mpg in the city before). And that's with my 17x7.5" rims. The Scan Gauge really helps you improve your driving technique to maximize fuel efficiency.

[Midnight Drifter]

Don't forget they switch to winter gas, that automatically drops MPG by 10%.

[alch3miss]

For just argument sake, I think you should get maybe a fuel injector cleaner like " sea foam" I heard is really good. And filter it through an entire tank- reset the odometer and see where you are. You should be doing better numbers than that.

[MadMax]

Folks, Orange, California is in the southern part of the state (think Orange County), and they've been having the same temperatures as we have here in southcentral Texas...lows in the upper 40s/low 50s and highs in the upper 70s; so I don't think it is the weather causing this!

And while you will get reduced mileage out of bigger, wider tires, it won't drop your MPGs down that far. I still get 35 MPG average out of Sprocket with the wheels in my avatar, and mine is an auto as well.

The issue has to be these extremely short commutes, there is just no way the car can run efficiently during this brief duration and with all the stoplights, the odds are against the OP.

Winter gas can be a factor as well as I usually see a 2-3 MPG decrease when they switch over here. There's nothing you can do about it so don't worry about it!

What the OP needs to do is take it out for a good, long drive! Go away on a day trip and see what kind of mileage you get during that. Fill it up before leaving, reset the odometer and fill it up again when you return and divide the number of miles driven by the amount of gas that you put in. I will bet you get in the mid-30s are well, maybe upper 30s depending on where you go.

Let me ask this, did you drive this same commute in a different car before your Yaris? If so, what kind of car was it, and what kind of gas mileage did you get?

Cheers! M2

[Midnight Drifter]

Originally Posted by alch3miss

For just argument sake, I think you should get maybe a fuel injector cleaner like " sea foam" I heard is really good. And filter it through an entire tank- reset the odometer and see where you are. You should be doing better numbers than that.

Seafoam is bloody awesome.

[SWICKENSJR]

I'm going to be taking about a 100 mile all highway trip this upcoming saturday so I will record the mileage then and post that afterwards.

I just had a fuel injector treatment done by toyota that cost me $150 so is seafoam gonna make a difference at this point?

As for what I used to drive, it was a Ford F-150 Supercrew...MPG was the reason I got the smaller car. But come to think of it, I was tripping on the gas mileage with that too as I was only getting about 9-10 MPG. That was BRUTAL at $70-75 a fillup.

[thebarber]

i sat idling in the parking lot at the toyota nation meet last wednesday for a good 45min-1h since it was about -10C(14F) outside

i drove highway all the way home at about 120kph (75mph).

the first bar on my gas gauge that even in winter ill get 110km (~70miles) clicked to 7/8full at about the 75km mark (~46miles)

thats a 25% reduction in economy (despite the highway drive) just due to idling.

if you're only driving 2.5miles to/from work 4 times a day (which is what? like a 5min drive?) i don't have any doubt that you'd have shitty economy.

[MadMax]

Originally Posted by SWICKENSJR

I'm going to be taking about a 100 mile all highway trip this upcoming saturday so I will record the mileage then and post that afterwards.

Don't forget to fill up before and after to get the most accurate calculation!

I just had a fuel injector treatment done by toyota that cost me $150 so is seafoam gonna make a difference at this point?

No, because most likely the dealership charged you $150 to run an $8 can of SeaFoam through your car!

As for what I used to drive, it was a Ford F-150 Supercrew...MPG was the reason I got the smaller car. But come to think of it, I was tripping on the gas mileage with that too as I was only getting about 9-10 MPG. That was BRUTAL at $70-75 a fillup.

If you were driving the same route in that, I am actually surprised you did that well with a F-150 Supercrew! Honestly, for such a short distance and considering you live somewhere where the weather is beautiful most of the year, have you ever considered either a bicycle or public transportation?

Cheers! M2

[SWICKENSJR]

Originally Posted by MadMax

What the OP needs to do is take it out for a good, long drive! Go away on a day trip and see what kind of mileage you get during that. Fill it up before leaving, reset the odometer and fill it up again when you return and divide the number of miles driven by the amount of gas that you put in. I will bet you get in the mid-30s are well, maybe upper 30s depending on where you go.

Well you were right on the money... Even with about 30 minutes of nasty traffic because of an accident in the rain the trip ended up being 37.83 mpg all highway at 65-70 max and a few short stops in between.

The short trips clearly are the answer and I'm glad to know at least. This also showed the difference from my last trip driving 80 the whole way and only averaging 33 as opposed to 70mph and almost 38mpg. Thanks for the advice and opinions.

[WeeYari]

[yaris2010RS]

i was getting very bad mpg too, which i found very odd seeing as my commute didnt change. when installing my deck i decided to unplug my battery and ground out the computer (unplug + side of battery and touch - side) i my mpg went back up to where it should be. im guessing too many aggressive drives taught my cpu how old to act

[KrazyDawg]

Originally Posted by SWICKENSJR

Thanks for replying R2D2 and it's good to hear that this sounds pretty normal. The MPG just seemed EXTREMELY low and it's a used car that I (stupidly) didn't get checked out by a mechanic before I bought it from the dealer so I was hoping nothing was wrong with it.

I am definitely going to get a scanguage ASAP. I found a local shop that sells them so I'll be getting one soon and putting it to use.

The EcoMeter also reports real-time MPG and average MPG. It runs about $60 compared to the $150 ScanGauge. microimage has it in their site and you would probably get it shipped in one day since it's coming from SoCal.