Fuel economy

[Mikeg]

I’ve just recently bought a 20 Hybrid and are a bit bemused that I only seem to get get around 24MPG and this after driving slowly, is this what I should expect or could something be wrong.

tia

[Rojie]

3 hours ago, Mikeg said:

I’ve just recently bought a 20 Hybrid and are a bit bemused that I only seem to get get around 24MPG and this after driving slowly, is this what I should expect or could something be wrong.

tia

 

Hello Mike,

 

Welcome to the Forum.

[big_boz]

2.4 na velfire non hybrid, I get 5km/l local running around, 6.5km/l on a motorway run with the cruise at 68mph, that's 23mpg and 30mpg respectively, and not trying. Imagine I could probably get to 24 local running about if I tried, so I would guess something isn't right if yours is a hybrid.

[Picasso]

Mike what's your vin no. Or reg 

[Catweazle]

2 hours ago, big_boz said:

2.4 na velfire non hybrid, I get 5km/l local running around, 6.5km/l on a motorway run with the cruise at 68mph, that's 23mpg and 30mpg respectively, and not trying. Imagine I could probably get to 24 local running about if I tried, so I would guess something isn't right if yours is a hybrid.

Not sure your figures are correct there Adam....

6.5km/l =29.5 KM per gallon, not mpg.

It's 18.4 miles per gallon, so you are getting between 14 and 18mpg

[big_boz]

1 hour ago, Catweazle said:

Not sure your figures are correct there Adam....

6.5km/l =29.5 KM per gallon, not mpg.

It's 18.4 miles per gallon, so you are getting between 14 and 18mpg

You are correct lol

[big_boz]

I will go and brim it shortly and do the real calc. I topped it off yesterday then did a 280mile round trip, looks to have used pretty much 75% of the tank on the guage. 

 

Rough guide would be therefore c.45l of the total 60l capacity of the tank to do 280miles, is going to be high 20s to the gallon.....let's see!

 

To be frank I don't pay much attention to mpg, the vellfire is not my most thirsty car, for taking loads of people and stuff down a motorway though, it's pretty much unbeatable

[arthurj]

19 hours ago, Mikeg said:

I’ve just recently bought a 20 Hybrid and are a bit bemused that I only seem to get get around 24MPG and this after driving slowly, is this what I should expect or could something be wrong.

tia

I did a long drive in my hybrid recently and got 630km to a tank, which is 55l. So that’s about 33mpg on average.

[big_boz]

3 hours ago, big_boz said:

 

Topped up

 

41.2l of super took us 267 miles. 29.4mpg. dash showing 6.4l per km, so massively inaccurate dash reading

[big_boz]

4 hours ago, big_boz said:

Topped up

 

41.2l of super took us 267 miles. 29.4mpg. dash showing 6.4l per km, so massively inaccurate dash reading

Actually if my maths is correct the dash is showing miles per litre, the lower part of the display has been converted to miles, I will have to check if it's done the top from a numerical perspective 

[Declan C]

I have a 20 series Alphard, 3.5 The Speedo is converted to read miles per hour and the trip computer still displays km/l but it's actually miles/litre. This threw me for a couple of days before I realised what was going on! 

On your experience of fuel economy, I'm no expert on hybrids but I don't think long motorway drives (which I'm assuming was the basis for your calculations, I may be wrong!) are where you get the benefit of a hybrid system as you'll likely use up the stored battery energy fairly quickly, don't replenish it through braking etc. and you're then just carrying all the extra weight of the system around with you.

I recently used a new Volvo XC60 diesel hybrid for a couple of days and drove 285 miles on the motorway. The trip computer told me I averaged 45mpg which I thought was absolutely rubbish! My dad's 1993 VW Passat 1.9 TDI would've beaten that!

Edited November 8, 2023 by Declan C

[big_boz]

17 minutes ago, Declan C said:

I have a 20 series Alphard, 3.5 The Speedo is converted to read miles per hour and the trip computer still displays km/l but it's actually miles/litre. This threw me for a couple of days before I realised what was going on! 

On your experience of fuel economy, I'm no expert on hybrids but I don't think long motorway drives (which I'm assuming was the basis for your calculations, I may be wrong!) are where you get the benefit of a hybrid system as you'll likely use up the stored battery energy fairly quickly, don't replenish it through braking etc. and you're then just carrying all the extra weight of the system around with you.

I recently used a new Volvo XC60 diesel hybrid for a couple of days and drove 285 miles on the motorway. The trip computer told me I averaged 45mpg which I thought was absolutely rubbish! My dad's 1993 VW Passat 1.9 TDI would've beaten that!

Agree hybrids are essentially rubbish unless you spend most of your time in stop start low speed traffic where regen can charge the battery, on a longer run you are mainly carrying extra weight that is not "paying" for itself.

 

I had plenty of 1.9/2.0 TDI vag products and they were all close to or better than 70mpg on a run, no hybrid will get anywhere close.

 

If the use case is lots of longer journeys and fuel economy is of concern, derv wins by some margin.

[arthurj]

Well, sort of. The Alphard is closer to the size and weight as a T4 or T5, so it’s not fair to compare to a Golf or Passat. A T4 diesel gets around 35mpg in real life, and I hear a T5 averages around 40mpg, maybe slightly better on a long run.

 

My Yeti diesel doesn’t get close to 70mpg on a long run, ever. The brochure said it does, but I get at most 50 if I turn the air con off and have the wind behind me. I don’t even have a heavy foot.

 

The way to think about the hybrid in the Alphard is as a turbocharger with 4WD. Combined power puts it closer to the 3.5 than the 2.4 and fuel efficiency is better than both, certainly better than the 4WD model. Is it cost-efficient though? No.

[big_boz]

7 hours ago, arthurj said:

Well, sort of. The Alphard is closer to the size and weight as a T4 or T5, so it’s not fair to compare to a Golf or Passat. A T4 diesel gets around 35mpg in real life, and I hear a T5 averages around 40mpg, maybe slightly better on a long run.

 

My Yeti diesel doesn’t get close to 70mpg on a long run, ever. The brochure said it does, but I get at most 50 if I turn the air con off and have the wind behind me. I don’t even have a heavy foot.

 

The way to think about the hybrid in the Alphard is as a turbocharger with 4WD. Combined power puts it closer to the 3.5 than the 2.4 and fuel efficiency is better than both, certainly better than the 4WD model. Is it cost-efficient though? No.

Sorry I wasn't clear, I wasn't directly comparing the Alphard hybrid specifically, I was talking about all hybrids, which are not comparable on a run with a derv counterpart. Local running about certainly better, but the point is it's about use case. 

 

I actually could run a hybrid these days because most of my motoring is local, in years gone but I would be putting 15-20k a year on my total on the motorway but no longer, now it's school runs and shopping trips with the odd long run....but I have a big diesel Volvo for that.

 

That said, I still don't think the value balance is there for a hybrid Alphard financially. The added complexity and potential Bork factor dosent outweigh the lower purchase and servicing coats of the na petrol. I just don't do enough miles to get any potential fuel saving back in a reasonable time.

 

All about use case.