TomMartin

Good Morning...after much angst ('15 GS F Sport vs '16 ES 300h Vs '16 ES 350) I took delivery of the '16 ES 300h on Monday. Had first extended drive (after trading out Bridgestone's for Michelin Premier).

I have now put a bit over 300 miles on the ES h...100 in metro area and 200 on freeway between Minneapolis and Two Harbors, MN (on Lake Superior).

First off...bot is there a lot of electronics to "learn". I guess I do not realize how old my 12 year old Land Cruiser really is...or the '08 Accord that the ES is replacing. We are going back for my wife to get another "delivery" work through...and I will listen more closely as I was in a hurry the first time.

Spent my time trying to get a feel for the Eco/Normal/Sport modes. First I drove most of the 200 miles freeway in Eco on cruise control...started at 69MPH and worked up to 72MPH just to see the impact on MPG. My cat was pretty heavily loaded with stuff we move when we travel to our "up North" home and I am guessing the weight does impact MPG? I averaged just over 36 MPG for the freeway portion of the trip. That seems pretty good with weight in vehicle and winter weather 20F and some snow on road.

The last five miles to our home is up a reasonably steep grade. I used Normal for that at it seemed to handle quite comfortably. I am guessing wife may end up using Normal and be less interested in a couple of MPG than I may be. She may use Eco on freeway as it is easy...whereas Normal does feel exactly that "normal"

I saw very little of the EV logo as I was mostly in freeway driving even in the Mpls metro.

Curious about other ES 300h owners what you have found regarding ECO/Normal/Sport settings and you preferred driving habits?

Aii in all I am very pleased with the car. It is quite and so far meets my expectations. While I do enjoy tracking and working on MPG...it will be essentially wife's car...she is used to writing down each file stop info so I can track "normal" MPG. We are planning on a 4k-5k miles driving trip south this winter so I can track, analyze and obsess over the MPG as the trip goes forward

I will look forward to any thoughts/experiences you may share...TomMartin

P.S. We got the Matador Red Mica with Grey leather and most options except for Ultra Luxury and Mark Levinson...wife "requires" a bold red and loves the new car. TMR

jollick

TomMartin, I have had my 2013 ES300h for 3 years now and rarely go out of eco mode. I occasionally go to sport if I am in pole position at a light. In the winter your MPG will drop, I go down to 34 mpg calculated in 50/50, local/50 mph highway, driving due to engine running to warm up and batteries not as efficient when cold. In warmer weather I get 37 or so mpg. Year round average is 36 without trying and not driving aggressively. It is a wonderful car, enjoy it!

chromedome

I just did a couple hundred miles through the mountains, mainly highway driving, and I got 43 mpg I use Eco mode in the city, normal on highways and Sport on the twisty bits, especially when heading downhill. I use cruise control when heading downhill to maintain speed and charge the battery. You can also pulse and glide to get high mpg if you time the phases with ascents and descents.

Eco
- much softer throttle response, easy to modulate in city driving but not sensitive enough for high speed driving
- very light steering, good for city driving, too light for high speed driving
- climate control output is reduced, so you can either freeze in winter or bake in summer

Normal
- baseline throttle and steering weight
- normal climate control function

Sport
- extra torque from 650V to electric motor, like turbo overboost, provided you have enough charge
- heavy, meaty steering
- much more sensitive throttle, mash it a bit and the car flies
- maybe higher stability control thresholds?
.
You get full power in Eco and Normal, it's just that you have to press the pedal all the way in Eco.

TomMartin

Thanks Chrome...curious...is there a battery charge level indicator? How do you know when the battery is charging/charged?? I sense it is perhaps not fully charged yet as it seems to only go into EV mode rarely. Maybe it need some miles to reach a normal status? TomMartin

TomMartin

Thanks Jollick...so far very pleased. My wife averages 15K+ miles per year and she is mostly excited about the gas tank range She does not like to stop for gas. I will experiment with driving modes and my wife will likely use Normal...maybe ECO on our frequent freeway trips between Mpls and Two Harbors....not sure she wants the spongy throttle feeling you seem to get in ECO...part of the ECO protocol. I think any mileage 35+ for honest year round average will be great.

I will keep a manual MPG "book" to track actual by tank. How accurate do you feel the MPG tracker in the ODO is? i.e....36.2 for 200 miles on freeway yesterday?

What tire pressure do you use? I have used 40 PSI on out Accord...the door jam say 33 PSI on the ES...thinking about using 35 PSI?? Ya I know the 40 PSI made sure I felt each crack in the road

TomMartin

jollick

I track the mpg manually on paper and using the Gas Tracker app Fuelly http://www.fuelly.com/ . I find the on-board calculation to be on the plus side usually 1 to 2 mpg higher than the calculated amount.

I keep the tire pressure at 33/34, I like the smooth/quiet ride.

TomMartin

Sounds good to me...I may use 35#...but no 40# for this car TomMartin

TechNut

While I also track manually, but don't use the fuelly app, I concur with the dash showing between 1 and 2 MPG too high. However, that being said, I have had tanks where it reads 4 mpg too high (road trip) and I have had it show at least 1 mpg too low as well. My best tank (summer of course) was 40.9 and my worst tank was the road trip tank at just below 35. We probably average 37 to 38 calculated. Run the tires at 35 ish. We just leave ours in Eco mode. Just haven't personally seen a need to play with it (other than when we need to surprise some jerk trying to cut us off...) but it does impact the heat and air. We have not found the impact so great that we mind - or I would be setting it back to normal. We bought this car for our comfort and I won't compromise very far, but I just haven't felt like Eco mode is too much of a compromise, even on mountain roads.

TomMartin

Just got back from running errands with wife driving her new car for the first time. She is fine with ECO and is really happy with her new Red ES 300h...going to have a learning curve on all the electronics...both of us. Tom

chromedome

I've modded my display settings like this:
- Eco mode lighting on
- EV icon off
- RPM display on in all modes

You can customize the driver's display by pressing the Display button on the steering wheel until you get to Settings, then hold it down, choose Display settings and hold it down again. At least that's how it works on the older cars, 2016 models might use the up-down buttons on the wheel instead.

As for battery charge, you can cycle through it by pressing the Display button on the wheel or changing the center console screen using the remote touch controller. Then you can see exactly what the hybrid system is doing. I wouldn't worry about the EV mode icon, it'll rarely be on if you're on the highway.

BIGABQ

I have had my 2014 300h for 15 months now. At first I was using ECO a lot pushing for the highest MPG I could muster.. I now leave it in normal and just enjoy the ride. Living in New Mexico I'm getting 34 MPG in the winter and 38 in the summer. I'm a happy camper

greg3852

Anyone able to share how many miles out of a tank they have gotten? My LS has managed 612 miles to a tank in all highway driving, but I'm wondering how these hybrids do.

TechNut

We "average" just over 500 miles. Obviously depends on the time of year. We don't like to let the tank get too low when temps are below freezing. Oh, and city versus highway doesn't make a big difference on total miles traveled with these cars, although city would be slightly higher.