Awesome results with a 2018 Yaris IA ( 50.7mpg lifetime mpg )
 

Hey all. Been hypermiling for 7 years and wanted to highlight a cool compact car, because there isn't a lot of discussion on newer cars here.

Back in 2018, i set out to buy a new Honda Insight. I was impressed with the car's power and comfort but the low visibility really bugged me. The slowness and funky design of the new Prius also was off putting. What i really wanted was a hybrid with a manual. I test drove a Honda CRZ with a stick and was extremely disappointed with the MPG.

So i decided to test drive every subcompact on the market and the Mazda-2 based Yaris put out the most impressive mpg i've seen. Promptly bought one, with a stick, on discount for $14k.

In 60mph average driving, i can regularly see 55-65mpg. My best highway run so far has resulted in 68.7mpg.

In order to get the 40mpg highway rating, you have to be doing 75-80 with the AC on. The car is vastly underrated. Even against a headwind doing 70 with the AC on, i'm still in the mid 45mpg!

The car has decent power and is nice looking for a subcompact. I can pull a 0-60 in about 9 seconds, so it's quicker than a prius, mirage, etc.

The car has a CD of 0.3 but a very small frontal area. It glides almost as well as my '01 Honda Insight in neutral. There are no under body panels and i think the aerodynamics would improve a lot with them. I'm still in warranty, so i haven't modded the car at all.

Unfortunately due to nobody buying them, Toyota is cancelling the Yaris overall. It's really sad because the last generation is leaps ahead of the past ones. You may be able to pick one up cheap in the future. But it's an interesting ecomodding target IMHO :)

Great report!

I, too, have found Mazda and derivatives perform very well. I've been very happy with my '15 Mazda3 automatic. Without any extraordinary efforts and just steady driving, my lifetime mileage is at almost 45mpg.

Great mileage and outstanding reliability.

I'm amazed that a mazda3 with an automatic can do so well. I've noticed that their car designs are generally pretty aerodynamic... i suppose it's not a big surprise. :)

I used to be a honda/nissan guy, but man.. Mazdas are that perfect combination of power, handling, good looks and efficiency. I'm surprised there aren't more threads on hypermiling them. Especially the newer ones with stupidly efficient direct injection motors.

How's the automatic in hilly areas? Does it hunt/downshift excessively? If not, this sounds like a great little car for the price.:thumbup:

I have limited experience driving the automatic, but the transmission seemed to be well designed, shifted fast, and didn't do anything goofy.

However, people on forums have complained of very early automatic transmission failures. So i don't think it's reasonable to recommend that.

The manual has a lot of rev hang built into the computer to reduce emissions. It's a bit annoying tbh, but the car has pretty good power and lots of low end torque, so you can easily skip gears or avoid upshifts/downshifts. I often cruise at 40mph in 6th gear, and can easily climb a moderate highway grade at 60mph ( ~2krpm ) without downshifting out of 6th.

The gearing on this car is very oriented towards fuel economy ( super putzy upper gears ) and it's wonderful because the car does not have a drone on the highway.

Oops, thought you had the auto. How many RPM's does the engine turn @ 60 MPH.

I prefer stick with 4 cylinder engines as well. Just wish my car had higher hwy gearing.

I have been considering a Yaris iA and the CR-Z for future cars, so it is good to see reports on them! What kind of MPG did you see with the CR-Z on the test drive? How did that compare to the iA? Any other notes on how they compare?

I've always loved the Yaris IA when it came out, sad that Toyota is cancelling it. If choosing a new car I'd be hard pressed between a Yaris and a Fit. The Fit's excessively short gearing might kill it for me if it came down to those two.

A friend of mine totaled his in an accident with a much larger SUV who was texting and driving and the passenger area held up quite well in a crash.

How's the storage space?

You've put that Yaris on my short list. It's nice to hear there's a car out there in manual with reasonable gearing from the factory. I'd definitely go with the hatch - not sure how much that would impact highway FE.

My '15 Mazda3 has a cd rating of 0.26, which is good for highway miles. Also good is the high gearing of the 6-speed automatic which has the engine turning at only 1670rpms at 60mph.

Most of my driving is in relatively flat plains in Louisiana, so I don't see many hills to climb. But when I do get into some hills, the auto shifts so smoothly I really can't tell its doing so unless I'm looking at the tach. The six speed auto seems well suited for the 155hp 2.0L engine to keep it in the power band.

When the OEM tires wore out, I replaced them with some 205 65R 16 Ecopias that are a little taller than the 60-aspect tires that my car came from the factory with. This slowed the RPMs by about 3% which seems to have helped the economy a bit, although I haven't had them long enough to really tell.

The Generation 3 SkyActiv Mazda automatic has an excellent reputation for efficiency and reliability. In the Mazda forums I follow, I can only remember a couple of them reported going bad, and those failed early and were replaced under warranty. Some report that their automatics have gone 200K miles without problems. That gives me some confidence.

Per the tach at 60mph, 2,250 rpm.
Still has some torque to accelerate at 40mph with the AC on, despite the super putzy gearing.

Sorry, i bought the car 2 years ago and totally forget. I just remember being really underwhelmed. It was somewhere in the 40's.

I really like the fit also, especially for the better horsepower and the space. But the Yaris IA had a much better ride quality due to the abnormally tall tires. I imagine the fuel economy is better too, no?

Funny you mentioned that crash. The side of a car got hit by some ford's tires which extended far out of the wheelbase because the driver veered out of his lane unexpectedly. I heard a loud bang and immediately pulled over with him.

He said his car was shaken and he almost went over the median. All i remember is hearing a sound. I joked... 'well, it's built Toyota tough, what do you expect?'

Anyway, i have monster truck tire remains all over the driver & rear door on that side, but i can see where a column on the side held up to the impact really well. Both my doors open and close just fine. There's no functional damage to how it drives etc.

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1593492268

I feel fortunate to have been hit in this car, versus my much lower sitting car from '96. The side panels are about as thick as an aluminum can, but the crash structure is strong af.
I always wished the car was less tall for better aero, but i'm not wishing that now.. ha!


Here's some nags about the car, for yall..

The tires are of a very proprietary size - not exactly low profile, but almost. The damn things are about $200 a pop. However because they are tall and narrow, they roll fantastically. I'm considering in the future swapping to 15" wheels.

The other achilles heel is the over sensitive tire pressure monitoring system. It will cry wolf so often that you won't trust it anymore. I just leave the TPMS light on and don't reset it because it's such a bother.

The space in the car is surprisingly good for a little sedan. It has a pretty decently sized pass through for the rear seats. I've transported several desks and such in the car, no problem. Interior room for the driver and passenger is surprisingly good too.

The tires are 185/60R16s right? You could use the 185/65R15s, same size as the 2nd gen Prius uses. Ecopias are great for MPG but Michelins last longer. Not sure if the lightweight Prius wheels would fit or not. Or go big and get some Enkeis!

TPMS seems to be one of the most common first world problems for most cars made within the last decade as they age, some people just bypass the system by deleting the sensors from the wheels and removing the bulb from the dash.

The Fit's unfortunately short gearing is almost painful at highway speeds. 3k rpms at 60 mph and 3.5k at 70. Not quite as bad as an old VW bug, but getting close. Its highway mpg suffers as a result. It actually gets significantly worse gas mileage (by user data and EPA rating) than the automatic... to the tune of almost 4mpg.

The automatic will lope along at 2.5k at 70 mph... :-/

Somehow my wife is getting phenomenal economy in her Fit. I think it's mostly because she doesn't drive over 55, but her tank averages have consistently been above 45mpg this summer. She has 185/60R15 (?) Michelin Defenders she runs around 42-45 PSI, slightly oversized and a little narrower than stock. She also failed inspection recently because she doesn't brake enough during normal driving to knock the rust off - an easy fix. :D