26 mpg is "normal" ?!?

[SchrodingersCatSK]

I've been getting 8.9L/100km (26 MPG) since I bought this car at the end of February. I don't drive a maniac, I keep a close eye on the FE gauge and I do everything I can to keep it low (in L/100km, so "high" in MPG).

I've been driving a 1997 Toyota Tercel for the past 3 winters and I've never had such terrible fuel economy. So I called up the Toyota service centre, brought the car in for diagnosis, and they told me 8.9L/100km is "normal" for winter conditions.

I don't think so.

Instead of doing anything about it, they gave me a snarky 3-page "9 reasons why you get bad fuel economy in the winter" print-out. Language like "You're smart enough to keep your tire pressure up when the temperature drops, right?" had the tone of "Because we're pretty sure you're not." But yes, that was the first thing I checked when I noticed that my first tank barely lasted a week, whereas usually I'd fill the Tercel (same size tank) twice a month.

I looked at my fuel economy over the other 5 months of winter this year, when I was driving my 17 year old Tercel, and basically I've spent 50% more on fuel in the past 30 days with a 2012 Yaris than I did any other month this winter. Sure, fuel prices went up about 10%, but that doesn't add up.

I live in Saskatchewan, Canada. The temperatures this month have been -10 to -20C (14 to -4F). I understand that fuel economy is worse in the winter, but am I really supposed to believe that it's "normal" for a 2012 Yaris to get 50% worse mileage than a 1997 Tercel?? Especially when that Tercel was driving in the -35 to -20C (-31 to -4F) range??

The only other reason I can think of is that it's AT and the Tercel was MT, but still that doesn't account for a 50% increase in fuel consumption. Especially when I was doing my oil changes every 10,000 km if I was lucky. Oh, and the Tercel had winter tires whereas the Yaris has all-seasons.

Anyone else who lives in this kind of climate have some numbers they can share?