Want to get the very best out of your ground-breaking Toyota hybrid? We’ve gathered a number of hybrid driving hints and tips that will help you to get the best from the system, improving fuel consumption and getting you further for less.
Whichever Toyota hybrid you’ve set your heart on, the following tips and pointers should maximise the range and fuel economy of your Toyota.
The basics
It’s not just hybrids that benefit from the first seven tips – these will help to improve any car’s fuel efficiency:
- Clear out the boot! Keeping the boot free of unnecessary weight will give your car and immediate boost in performance and economy.
- Check your tyre pressures – dig out your owner’s manual, and do a weekly check to ensure that your tyres are correctly inflated in line with Toyota’s recommendation. Or read our handy tyre pressures article here.
- Think ahead – by planning your journeys, you can avoid traffic jams and minimise the likelihood of getting lost.
- Shut up! Closing the windows and sun roof at speeds above 45mph will reduce drag, reducing fuel consumption.
- Remove unused roof racks, boxes and bike racks – they’re a real drag too!
- Steady as she goes – maintain a steady speed and don’t go over the speed limit.
- Smoothly does it! Try to avoid sudden braking or acceleration.
Hybrid driving: hybrid-specific tips
Sorry everyone else, but these tips are for hybrids only:
- Become familiar with the hybrid information display so you can know how much energy is being used.
- EV does it! Keep the car in EV mode as much as possible by using the accelerator gently, pressing it lightly but consistently.
- Improve efficiency with ECO mode, which reduces aggressive throttle response.
- Harvest time – braking gently and early helps the regenerative braking harvest more energy, which means EV mode can operate for longer periods.
- Keep an eye on the dials and gauges to fully understand the hybrid system and manage the charge levels in the hybrid’s high-voltage battery.
- If you’re in stop-start traffic, don’t put the car in neutral (‘N’) when stationary, as electricity will not be generated and the hybrid battery will discharge.
- Consider using cruise control (where fitted) to maintain steady speeds.
- When using climate control, Re-circulate mode reduces energy usage.
- Think about the environment! Constant or heavy use of systems like air-con, lights and wipers will increase energy consumption.
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Hybrid driving: drive modes
Toyota hybrids have four drive modes: Normal, EV, Eco and Power. When you first start your hybrid, the car defaults to the ‘Normal’ drive mode, which automatically manages the most efficient use of both the engine and the battery.
Drivers can also select one of the car’s on-demand drive modes to achieve better fuel consumption in certain settings.
These drive modes are: EV Mode where the car is powered by the battery only during city driving, running near-silent and with no tailpipe emissions; Eco Mode that reduces A/C output and lessens throttle response to limit harsh acceleration; and Power Mode which boosts acceleration by using the hybrid battery to assist the petrol engine.
The shift lever offers four positions: R (Reverse), N (neutral), B (engine braking) and D (drive). For normal driving, D (drive) is absolutely fine, but should you need it, position B has the effect of engine-braking handy when descending a steep hill, for example. It’s not recommended to leave the car in position B for normal driving, mainly because you’d end up using more fuel than necessary!
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Hybrid driving: read the road ahead
Another great hybrid driving tip is to use the car’s battery whenever possible.
Another great hybrid driving tip is to use the car’s battery whenever possible. You can do this in town and urban driving by accelerating to your required speed, easing off the accelerator and then gently easing the accelerator on again. By doing this, you can activate EV mode – indicated by the dashboard light – which means that the engine has switched off and you are using the electric battery.
Try to maintain a constant speed and, as always, it’s important to read the road ahead. By doing this, you can reduce the amount of unnecessary braking and accelerating, using less fuel. Braking slowly and gently also maximises the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking system on the car.
Other factors to consider
Bear in mind that there are many factors that can affect a car’s performance, hybrid included. On cold days, your car will use more fuel as it warms up, but once it’s reached its optimum temperature, the MPG figures will increase.
Also, during the winter, you’re more likely to be using the air-conditioning, lights and wipers, all of which will use some electrical power from the battery. If you regularly travel the same route, don’t be surprised if you get better MPG figures during the summer than in the winter!
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If you’d like more hybrid driving tips or want to discuss your driving technique with other hybrid owners, it’s worth visiting the Hypermiler website.
As a final note, please remember that these hybrid driving tips are published as general guidance on how to get the best fuel economy from your Toyota hybrid. Toyota encourages and supports safe driving at all times – please adhere to the rules of the road.
Read more: Toyota hybrid – how does it work?
Test drove an Auris Hybrid Sports Tourer yesterday, just hoping to get a lease deal to enable me to have one as my business vehicle. It’s perfect for my 30,000 mile a year driving, comfortable, spacious, well appointed, quiet, nippy, good all-round visibility, economical, excellent safety features, light steering, and excellent value.
Hi John,
Thanks for taking the time to get in touch to let us know how you feel about the Auris Hybrid Touring Sports, we are glad you like it. We would love to know if you manage to get one on a lease deal. Take care.
Had my Auris Excel Hybrid for one month. It’s summer so that helps consumption but the key is to drive it properly-for-a-hybrid. No fast acceleration…… and brake in good time. If you want a “driver’s” car then buy something else.In 1200 miles I’m averaging 63.5mpg. I did a 1 hour journey lat weekend and achieved 68.5. The best I’ve achieved is 75.1 and I must say I never expected to get these figures.
Like other bloggers I was hoping to get 60-65mpg so I’m really pleased with my figures.
The drive is very relaxing even around town and I think this contributes to a gentler drive. But I repeat, if you drive with continuous rapid acceleration and heavy braking, you are at fault for choosing the wrong car. Don’t get me wrong, it is capable of faster acceleration and I do use Power mode when required but overall I don’t drive like a nutter.
I bought a Yaris Hybrid about 4 months ago to replace my 8-year old Yaris MMT. I use it for driving to and from work. This can be either 8 miles or 70 miles away. For the short journey, I use local roads; while for the long journey I use a mix of motorway and local roads.
With my old Yaris, I did about 50 MPG on the long journey and less on the short. Although the Hybrid if not run in, it is reporting 60 MPG – which is consistent with how much I fill it up with petrol. I haven’t yet driven it in winter. I always buy petrol cars because of the short journeys do and the Hybrid seems the best solution to this.
What I didn’t expect was the driveability. I have driven automatics for about 20 years and am familiar with their problems.
With this Yaris Hybrid I do not feel the gears changing, because there isn’t a torque converter.
When arriving at a junction, the electric engine is ready and available so it is easy to concentrate on the traffic rather than worrying about whether the car has had time to select first gear.
When exiting from a roundabout, the electric engine is again ready to power the car rather than needing to kick down because the car has gone into top gear thinking the car was going a steady speed.
Also, I have experienced a modern automatic diesel, with engine cut off when stopped. When starting off I could hear and feel the engine starting again. With the Hybrid, the engine doesn’t strictly cut off as the electric engine is always ready to go. On the odd occasion, I have had the Hybrid start the engine to recharge the battery, while waiting to go.
On the other hand, because engine braking is more significant, maintaining speed on the motorway requires more attention – particularly when the motorway is hilly.
So, this car is more than meeting my expectations.
As the owner/main driver of a plug-in Prius for the last two years, my response to this advice is that it follows the common-sense advice given by the author of ‘Mind How You Go’,Adrian Schurmer,who,sadly,is no longer with us.He was the police driving instructor who TRAINED police driving instructors & drivers of vehicles carrying V.I.P’s.Sadly,the manual which he published privately is no longer in print,BUT,as he tells us in the book, it REALLY is only a matter of COMMON SENSE,&the PRIUS is a VERY BIDDABLE car,in fact the best one I have ever driven so far, & I am 81 years of age!
We now have my dads Gen3 Auris HSD which has replaced out trusty 13 year old 1.0 Yaris. My dad was delighted with the Auris and we totally agree. We do loads of short journeys the Yaris averaged 43mpg but the Auris is much better at 58mpg.
The key is driving technique, reading the road ahead. One question is it more efficient to use the regenerative braking of cruise to a stop with no throttle. I’ve noticed the display still says the hybrid battery is regenerating on the overrun.
Mark.
Hi Mark
Thanks for your post.
Spot on with the driving technique, you do not need to change your driving style but adapt it slightly and as you say read the road. This makes for a smoother more comfortable driving experience anyway. To answer your question, both techniques will be recharging the battery but we would recommend using the regenerative braking to maximise the battery recharge.
Hope this helps.
Hello! . I am using Toyota AQUA ( 1500 cc ) bought from the Japan Auction in 2013 . Can somebody explain me what are the differnces betweeen the FAT ( FLOOR AXIAL TRANSMITION ) & the FA ( I searched for what this stands for but could not find out ) . in the discription on the engine . Thank you .
Hi Chandana
Thanks for your post.
We have run this past out technical team and as you may be aware this is not a model we sell in the UK market so we would not have all the necessary technical information. If you are based in Japan then we would recommend contacting your local dealer there as they will have all the necessary specification to help you further.
Have just bought an Auris Hybrid and am already having second thoughts!! Main issue centres on the speedometer display panel – it is too faint, especially during daytime, the digits are not distinct enough (and especially those indicating km,) while 30, 50 and 70 mph are just tiny ‘notches’ on a line. In addition, this is the first car I have ever owned where I could not adjust the brightness of the display panel lighting to suit my preferences. In the first 18 days of having the car I have experienced ‘black-out’ of the panel displays on 3 occasions. This was the result of low/no background lighting plus bright sunlight shining on the speedometer etc. at an angle which caused the displays to ‘black out and disappear’, so I was driving ‘blind’.. The first time it happened (5 days after getting the car) I thought there was some electrical fault and looked for somewhere safe to pull over, not knowing what the problem was. It was only when there was a change of direction in the road that things gradually reappeared. This has now happened twice more.
The speedometer markings are very poor – too small, faint and badly lit. This is the first car I have ever had issues with such a basic but important feature on a car. What can be done to improve its clarity and ‘visibility’ at ALL times?
Hello Kay
Thanks for your post and sorry for the delay in replying.
Great to hear about your Auris Hybrid but sorry that you have some concerns regarding the vehicle design and operation.
We passed the the details to a member of our product team for review and test drive in an Auris hybrid. Taking the points you have raised we do take on board your concerns regarding the digits not being distinct enough and the size of the “notches” on the speedo dial. We cannot change these on your car or the level of illumination but we can consider this for future product reviews. Your point regarding the blackout is harder to explain and we have no similar reports through our technical department. We therefore recommend that you speak to your local Toyota dealer about this as they can inspect your car and go through this issue with you in further detail.
Thank you again for your comments and bringing this to our attention.