About the Toyota Yaris Hybrid (In US Prius C)

[Jyden]

I took delivery of a brand new one today, only 11 km on the clock, and as it seems to be the first of it's kind at Ecomodder, I'll bring our experinces with the car in this thread the coming months.



Some basic data:
Toyota Yaris Hybrid H1 (Basic equipment level, yet includes electric windows and mirrors, central locking system, AC klimate control, discs brakes on all four wheels, radio, driving computer.
My model is a cargo version without back seats. (Dont need them, saves weight and money)

Curb weight: 1.070 kg.
LED driving lights for day use.
Lenght: 3,9 m
With: 1,69 m
Height: 1,51 m
Power: 100 HK
Wheels: 175/65/R15 steelies

Hybrid / gas / electric
CVT auto transmission
Regens when you lift off the speeder or touch the breake.
Aukku for electric engine, Nickel-metal-hydride, 6,5 Ah, 144 volts => 936 Wh.

Front, back, and around c-pillar somewhat different body work to the Prius C.
Cv = 0,29

Compared to the Yaris P1 from 1999 theres been done a lot of areo work on the body.



First impressions:
This car is a delight to drive. Silent, smooth, and the hybrid drive system is amazing. I'm able to go up to 70 - 80 km/t on electric alone as long as the E-moter has the power to pull the car.



Left on the instrumentation is the power meeter, and gas engine klicks in about wehre the needel get to the C in ECO. But not for at long distance. Depending on other power draws such as light, AC etc. 1 - 2 km's.

But really that's a lot. City driving under 60 km/t is pure electric for as long the 936 watt reaches. But it regens a lot.

Not mods yet - going to establish a baseline first, and learn how best to drive the car, execpt for adding more air in the tires (2,8 Bar)

Planned mods:
Soother wheelcovers
Grill block, upper and lower
Deflector for wiperarm
Folding right hand side mirror (can't dispose of it)



All photos model photos so far, as wheather was bad today.

More to come the following days, weeks, months etc.....

[Cobb]

No rear seats you say? I had removed mines for some time for more cargo room and people thought I was crazy.

[Jyden]

Some further observations, from todays driving.
- ICE allways kick in at 73 km/h no matter what. So up to that limit coasting i best done in EV-mode if conditions allow for it, that is flat og down hill so EV motor has enough power to pull the car.
After 73 km/h coasting engine on i N is the easiest way.
ECO button alters speeder reaction, like lowering engine RPM's 500 or so.
At 85 km/t engine is hovering about 1.500 rpm, and FE is the around 3 - 4.5 liter to a 100 km.

I'm very impressed by this car. It's soo smooth to drive. ECO mode is really for calm driving. Car much more responsive in Powermode, but it also cost fules, at Rpm's go up. Shifting between EV drive and ICE drive is very smooth, sometine I don't notice it when the ICE starts.

I can get just under 1,8 - 2 km in EV at 50 km/t, which suits me well at 50 km/t is the general city speedlimit here.

I also noticed that using the AC - no surprice - causes the ICE to run a lot more - same goes for high beam on the front lights. So one clue to get better FE - more EV driving - in this car is to reduce electric loads.

Gonna look for LED bulbs for the rear lights and rear licenceplate light...

[Jyden]

I've now done about a 1.000 miles in the car, and found out that it like to keep it's engine warm. So do I, as we have had a cold spell here with down to minus 10 deg. C lately. Here is at 55 deg. noth latitude.
I've had problem with getting ehough heat in the cabin om trips below 10 km's, so in colder climates a grill block is a must in the Yars hybrid. I made a temporary one with foam for isolating pipes.

Secondly - the more one uses electric devices in the car, the more the ICE will run, and that off course uses fuel. So to get better milage keep AC off, keep the heatet seats off.

As for driving lights - mandatory here - the pre installed driving lights - LED's in front, no light in rear, seem to be the least power consuming.

Driving in the dark with normal lights on naturaly takes more elctric power, and causes the ICE to run more often.

If one has the possibility to install and run a block heater, I would highly reccomend it. A warm engine is a must for really good milage in this car.
As I can not use a block heater, I'll wil - as soon as a baseline of 3.500 km's driving is done, persue other ways of keeping the engine warm, and minimise heatlosses form the engine bay. (Grill blocking, sealing engine compartment etc.)

The car is by all means a real joy to drive, and so far I very happy with the buy.

More to come when the wheater has become better, and the baseline is etablished.

[RedDevil]

That is excellent mileage while breaking the car in during a cold spell!

May I suggest adding an UltraGauge or ScanGauge?
Then you can block the grill in earnest, as you can monitor air intake and coolant temperature so you'll know when you are overdoing it.

I ran some time with a full lower grill and partial upper grill block. It made the engine run warm, to about 92 degrees Celsius.
The thermostat opens flow to the radiator partially at 80 C, and fully at 90 C.

A severe storm blew away one of my foam pipe insulation tubes and it went down to 80-82 C, and took longer to heat up. FE suffered too.

I now have two clear plastic pieces over my upper grill and the remaining tubes below, now temp hovers just below 90C. FE went up. But I need to block some more

[Jyden]

OK - I've got my Scangauge II installed, think I forgot to mention. I've got to figure out where the cooling element for the hybrid drive is situated amd ditto for the AC, before doing a full and more permanet grill block.
Reason for retaining as much heat as possible is to keep cabin warrm, and to keep engine warm. When doing EV mode, the engine cools down much to rapid when heat and fan is on, so ICE start up again too soon.
This will ofcourse improve as wheater gets warmer.

[niky]

Originally Posted by Jyden

I can get just under 1,8 - 2 km in EV at 50 km/t, which suits me well at 50 km/t is the general city speedlimit here.

Same observation with the Prius C. Two kays max. Wish I'd had more time with that car during the test, to see how much more you could squeeze from it, given proper driving.

[Daox]

I run a full grill block on my 2004 Prius in the winter. Nothing is going to overheat. I take out one pipe insulation strip if I have a long highway trip. I also take out one or two in summer. That is plenty of cooling. I agree, a warm engine is key for good fuel economy in the Prius.

[Jyden]

Todays fill was a bit better than the two previous ones. My first goal was to hit the EU avarage on spritmonitor.de which for a long time was 5.1 liter / 100 km.
This is the same as 46.12 MPG US, så I've allready passed that, as I'm now on 46. someting Mpg, and still braking the car in.
Only mods so far is two foamstrips as a temporary lower grill block, and that helped this last tank. Kept engine warmer for longer. Tires at 2,9 bar.
Think baseline will be established at about 3.500 km - 3 more fills from now.
Next goal is to get to the 50 Mpg EPA avarage. The EU rating is 28,35 km/l (66.68 mpg us) which I'll only get on a warm sommer day with a hafty tailwind or with a good deal of mods.
Dealer said, that avarage for the car among their coustomers was around 22 km/l (52 mpg), and not to expect mouh more. In time with mods and driving style, I hope for some more. Long time goal will be the 55 - 65 Mpg tank avarage.
As Im now on winter tires, a good deal of better milage will depend on the stock summer tires that came with car. Havent tried those yet.

[RedDevil]

I find that my summer tires give worse economy than my winter tires in the same circumstances, which is only logical as they are a lot stiffer, wider and on 16 inch rims.
But they will stay intact when it gets really hot and then of course the economy is much better.