I’m seriously considering a RAV4 Prime for our next vehicle and am confident it’ll be great around town, but we do a lot of road tripping, and like to do it at a pretty quick pace when possible. As a starting point until the Primes start rolling out, what are you all seeing in the hybrids for real world MPG going 80-90mph on the highway?
Highway MPG at higher speeds
r4pryme
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At 90 to 95 MPH sustained, you can expect around 29MPG. If you cruise in the 105-110MPH range, you can expect about 23 MPG. Not great but still better than an naturally aspirated sedan. I did the same speeds on the same road in a 2016 Subaru Legacy 2.5i and couldn’t even break into the 20MPG range while cruising at 90MPH.
90 mph would hurt a hybrid, or Prime, those 2 motor/generators can spin up to 15000 rpm driving normally.
Here is the info, watch at 4:20 but the whole video is good.
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I just did 2 ~300 mile trips with average speeds of around 100MPH. No issues with a limp home mode and the battery gauge never dropped below 3 bars.
High speed does not hurt Toyota Hybrids but the Hybrid system doesn't contribute much at those speeds. I've driven up to 90 mph with my Prius. It is now 12 Y.O. with 102,000 miles and runs like new. So the Car care Nut is wrong on this issue.
I find that at 75 mph and above the battery gauge doesn't move at all, stays at about half full. It is as if it shuts off displaying changes in the level.
Next time we go on a road trip I will hook up my OBDII adapter and monitor battery charge level to get more info on what's really happening.
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I took my XSE from MN to SD yesterday, 3 adults + a 15lb puppy. Driving at average 88 mph with a lot of wind, and my tank average was around 23 mpg. Tried switching modes with cruise control on, but it didn't change anything. Is that normal when it goes above 80 mph + wind?? Anyone has had the same experience?
2nd thing i noticed that once the speed is beyond 80, the Normal mode would run smoother than the Sport mode. Anyone?
So, now my theory is to use Sport mode to merge on highway, once above 60, will switch to Normal or Eco mode.
2nd thing i noticed that once the speed is beyond 80, the Normal mode would run smoother than the Sport mode. Anyone?
So, now my theory is to use Sport mode to merge on highway, once above 60, will switch to Normal or Eco mode.
Gee the MPG reported in this thread for hybrid highway driving suck big time! My gas model 2021 XLE gets at least 32 MPG and usually better when running 70 to 90 MPH in warm weather (60 F and up) and on summer gasoline blend.
I think people are selling their self short here! Our 20 XLE H averages 6-7 mpg higher than our previous Honda CRV for the same highway driving conditions and much higher in city driving. They may be taking a snapshot average during an extreme condition such as high speeds with high headwinds which will significantly reduce mileage.
Well with the full tank of COSTCO Regular TopTier gas and the temps being lower city and some highway but not freeway I am getting 50 to 51 mpg. AC and heater not having to run as much. This time of the year and spring are the sweetest time for a Hybrid.
People in this thread are talking about their high speed cruising/highway mileage -- not their urban stop and go or long term combined mileages. In a hybrid when you are going 70 MPH and up you are running BOTH the ICE gas engine and the electric motors. Also the ICE gas engine is charging the traction high voltage storage battery when you drive at high speeds. This really hurts the hybrid's highly touted mileage figures. Eventually, if you drive the hybrid fast enough and long enough WITHOUT stopping you will deplete the traction battery (because you are not getting any regenerative braking and the gas engine can't keep up with the recharging). If you deplete the traction battery the RAV will shut down. It is expensive and dangerous (electrocution) to recharge a depleted traction battery and requires a certified specialist.For these reasons you are actually better off with a gas ICE model RAV if the majority of your driving is highway cruising for long distances 70 MPH and up.
We rented a car to drive from our home to a dealership 250 miles away to pick up our R4P. The rental place only had a "full size" vehicle available so although they did not charge us for a larger car I was concerned that the gas cost was going to go up. I was shocked after we returned and calculated that the "full size" gas rental got 41 MPG which was a lot better than the 36 MPG or so we got from the R4P PHEV (and we drove a lot slower on the way home than in the rental). The point is that if you do mostly highway driving for medium to long distances you are better off with a modern gas model because they can get great mileage on the highway are cost less to purchase. That being said we drive mostly short distances and benefit greatly from the R4P. It just depends upon you driving profile and the costs of gas vs elect where you drive.
There have been reports of people running the rav4 H for extended periods of time at the maximum electronically limited speed without danger of depleting traction battery. ICE only charges traction battery when there is an excess of power available and this can be observed via the centre dash power distribution meter. If you were to overwhelm the powertrain by traveling at excessive speeds with a headwind or ascending a mountain while towing a heavy trailer the traction battery would supplement power until battery reached it's low reserve limit and cease supplementing power and at this point 100% of motive power would be provided by ICE via power split device. (Electric motor still runs but is solely powered by M/G on power split device) This low reserve limit shutdown also occurs if you were to run out of gas and try to reach petrol station on electric power only. It will shutdown before depleting battery and have sufficient reserve to start ICE once refueled. I fail to see any scenario where a hybrid would deliver less high speed fuel economy than it's ICE only counterpart. Weight difference maybe!
CareCarNut on YouTube is a Toyota dealership Master Diagnostic Technician. He also holds a Toyota certification as a Master Hybrid Technician. He says the traction batteries CAN be depleted in some scenarios. He has recharged and replaced traction batteries. There are many videos from other sources on YouTube (including Scotty Kilmer) about this. I have read posts in this forum where hybrid owners had to ride their brakes on miles long downgrades in the Rocky Mountains to get some regenerative braking to keep their traction batteries charged.
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well, for today driving, a lot of up hills and down hills in Mount Rushm more areas, average speed at 50 mph, and minimum wind, my average tank rised up to 35 mpg!!
Certain to say that 70+ definitely impacts the mpg, but with hours of 85+ mph my traction battery level was remaining in 2-3 bars the whole time, and that shouldn't be any indicator for depleted battery. Another thing was that riding the brake going down hills did charge it all the up up to FULL bars which i rarely saw happening though.
Certain to say that 70+ definitely impacts the mpg, but with hours of 85+ mph my traction battery level was remaining in 2-3 bars the whole time, and that shouldn't be any indicator for depleted battery. Another thing was that riding the brake going down hills did charge it all the up up to FULL bars which i rarely saw happening though.
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Anyone in this thread that says the gasser Rav4 gets better highway MPG than the hybrid model is just pulling lies out of their behind. I have the hybrid and driving 65-70 MPH, I get 38.7 to 40.6 MPG all day long.
Those that say the hybrid does worse than the gasser for highway are just talking cr@p.
Those that say the hybrid does worse than the gasser for highway are just talking cr@p.
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What your wrote is absolute Bool Sheet.
I've had 4 Toyota hybrids over the past 12 years, and what you wrote never was the case, nor is it the case if one does exhaustive searches with Google.
Toyota's programming prevents the traction battery from getting depleted, and in fact it is impossible to deplete it even if you tried. And in fact, if the traction battery does got low, the programming causes the ICE to kick in to start it, OR if you are coming down the Rockies, the traction battery gets charged as you coast down, and if you touch the brakes.
You are just trying to soil the hybrid model to make yourself feel better for picking the wrong model.
I hope others read all your posts and they too will see through your deceit.
As usual, you are being rude and obnoxious for no reason. No one said the gas models got better high speed cruising gas mileage than the hybrids --only that they were close or similar. Since you are well known to be a rabid hybrid fanatic who exaggerates their virtues and conceals their flaws I can understand why you are so upset by this thread and launched into your usual frothing at the mouth semi-obscene tirade If you were to drive your hybrid 70 MPH to 90 MPH "all day long" you would NOT be getting the 38 to 40 MPG you claim to get at lower highway speeds (assuming you really are, which is doubtful since you like to exaggerate your fuel mileage). That is a total fantasy. However as many others have learned about you in this and other forums you usually indulge in infantile fantasies when you are not hurling insults.
Here is an interesting article discussing hybrid highway fuel mileage.
NC '19 Rav4 Hybrid Limited, Entune 3.0, Adaptive Headlights, Advanced Technology Package
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As soon as they said "Any bets on seeing gas at $3.85 again" they lost the argument. And what authority has Consumer Guide? Who pays the bills for writing that article?
I have 12 years driving hybrids, my family currently owns 4 and the two previous cars were hybrids too.
Do they use more gas at speeds higher than 55 MPH? Sure do. Is a Rav4 a brick aerodynamically? Yep. But go look at any compilation of average gas mileages between ICE-only versions of the same cars and hybrids win on average. At 70, mine does. At 80...well I live in the east and spend very little time at those speeds.
You can see a MPG impact just by varying your speed by 2 or 3 MPH.
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