Why is my new 09 Yaris MPG is so low

[soup1207]

I see.
I live in Boston, I drove to Amherst for the first tank of fuel.... it's two hours driving for one trip and totally 4 hours for round trip....
I carelessly forgot I should not drive more than 65 for new car at the first 3000 miles......I drove 80 mph....=___= probably it's the reason I got lower mpg....
second tank of fuel, i spent more time to drive local and to the dealer...which is only half hour driving.....

Can someone tell me what does break in mean? I check dictionary and still don't understand.....

[nemelek]

Originally Posted by soup1207

I see.
.....I drove 80 mph....=___= probably it's the reason I got lower mpg....

Can someone tell me what does break in mean? I check dictionary and still don't understand.....

When I drive 80mph I get around 36 mpg. When I drive 60 mph highway I'll get over 40 mph.

You will probably be ok, however as said before break in means to vary your speed and take it easy for the first 500 miles.

[2009Toyotoad]

Originally Posted by soup1207

I carelessly forgot I should not drive more than 65 for new car at the first 3000 miles......I drove 80 mph....=___= probably it's the reason I got lower mpg....
second tank of fuel, i spent more time to drive local and to the dealer...which is only half hour driving.....

Can someone tell me what does break in mean? I check dictionary and still don't understand.....

Okay so you've figured out speeding negetively impacts MPG. Slow down.

Check your tire pressure and make sure its at least the same as the value on the drivers door jam. Others will suggest than you inflate to the Tires maximum pressure rating, but I don't recommend doing so to a persistent speeder. BTW turn the engine off once you get pulled over by the traffic police. This will also improve MPG

Remove all the personal stuff from the car which you didn't need to carry. Added Weight also reduces MPG.

Besides the engine, the automatic transmission needs to break in as well. Hopefully you didn't mash the gas while you were violating posted speed limits as harsh shifts rather than firm smooth shifts will remove more fiction materials from the internal bands and clutches of the transmission.

If you notice the shift into reverse has a louder "thud" now than when the car was new, chances are you removed more of the friction material during the break in period than was needed. This won't hurt the transmission but you get the knowledge that the loudness of the reverse shift was mosting your doing for the next 150,000 miles or until transmission rebuild which ever comes first.

Don't feel bad. I let my wife drive my 2009 3DR manual transmission Yaris last Saturday. She managed to burn off at least 20,000 miles of clutch on a 6 mile trip. Of course in her view its clearly the inadequacy of the car. We won't be repeating the experience any time soon. She'd wearout the automatic just the same.

At the moment my wife is driving a large idiot proof 3500 dually pickup. Totally overbuilt hardware, but she won't get hurt too badly and the 4X4 suspension helps keep her speed under control too. Driving too fast rips the steering wheel from her hands over the country roads. She has not put it in the ditch yet so I think (hope) she's learning.