Canesguy

Are you dealing with the Az. heat or actually in NC, as your profile shows?

SLH

I just realized I haven't said anything about gas mileage, yet. ..

I didn't buy my es300h for fuel mileage. I have a long commute, but there is an HOV lane on that highway. So, I actually bought an HOV-lane sticker. It just came with a car attached. My previous car was a Camry hybrid, bought for the same reason. I decided to buy the new car because the Camry just wore out -- beginning to want lots of small repairs.

Before the Camry, my previous car was a Tundra with a V8 motor. It got something like 14 mpg. I played with hyper-mileing for the first couple years with the Camry, but in the traffic around here I never got much better than 38 mpg. When I stopped worrying about it, and just continued to drive gently, I got about 35 mpg. I figured, 3mpg isn't worth a lot of trouble. Moving from a 12mpg Tundra to a 35-ish mpg Camry cut my fuel bill by two thirds. Going from 35 to 38 would not make much difference.

So far, this es is getting just about the same 36-ish mpg. That includes driving 74 (indicated) on the highway when I can, and keeping up with traffic the rest of the time, for a 50-mile-per-day commute in a major urban area. (Around here, they don't stop people for going 74, paying attention, and staying middle of the lane with some following distance. There are plenty of fools going 85 or 90, weaving across three lanes while texting and/or drunk, and hitting other cars in the process, to keep the cops busy.)

One detail I like is, when traffic congests for a collision, I can remain stopped or idle at 5-10 mph without running the gas motor very much. The great advantage of a hybrid is not at highway speed. The great advantage is in stop-and-go traffic. I can actually hear my stereo, without all the noise (except, of course, from the other cars).

chromedome

You nailed it there. hybrids are meant mainly for cities and congested traffic like in most of Japan but diesels get much better mileage when cruising at high speed. I see 40+ mpg regularly in slow traffic as long as I don't start or stop like a jackrabbit

Arty101

Funny, my mpg increases in stop and go traffic during commutes on the freeway, but goes down when cruising at 65 mph or just City driving.

SLH

Slow speeds do take less energy than higher speeds, because of the aerodynamic drag.

In city driving, you spend most of your fuel during acceleration. If you learn to accelerate at the right pace, it does pretty well. That pace is neither rapid nor slowly. To see what that pace is, use the cruise control to accelerate by using the "resume" feature. With a little practice you can learn to accelerate at that pace manually.

I use cruise-control a lot, even in the city, for maintaining a constant speed. You still have to pay attention and operate the brake (or disengage the cruise to coast). But it seriously reduces the little accelerate/brake cycles that consume so much fuel.

djrobsd

Where the heck do you live?! They haven't given out hOV stickers for hybrids in several years here in California. The only cars still eligible are electric ones such as the leaf, tesla, or the plug in prius and even those stickers are ready to run out.

Those who did get the yellow hOV stickers on their hybrids 10 years ago are no longer permitted in the hov lane.

djrobsd

My gas mileage after 20k miles is around 35-36. I live in Southern California so our freeways are all rolling hills. Some stop and go during rush hour which improves mpg a little. Most of the time I am going 75mph which is not where hybrids shine except our prius. Consistently get 51mpg plus in the prius. So I guess 35mpg in a luxury hybrid isn't bad.

Honestly I would be fine with the prius if it had real leather seats and a leather trimmed steering wheel. Nothing like grasping the plastic wheel with rough texture of the prius on Monday morning after caressing the buttery leather and smooth wooden wheel of the es all weekend. The es has become my weekend driver while the Prius is our weekday commuter because of our 110 mile round trip commute.

Arty101

FL requirements are different from CA.

bartman44

I just passed 6,000 miles and am still averaging 43.8 mpg.

My driving in FL is primarily flat with relatively short trips (< 30 mi). However, I have noticed that speeds above 70 mph will drop the mileage as expected, but the short trips in town recover a lot of that thanks to EV mode. On a recent trip to the mountains in western NC, I was surprised that while climbing a 3,400 ft mountain in the shadow of Mt. Mitchell, I only lost 2 mpg on the rise and made it all back on the descent!

I believe that the hotter summer driving cost me about 1.5mpg to keep the cabin cool, but again now that A/C season is over, the mileage has recovered. My current tankful at half full is showing 46 mpg.

My driving is conservative and my hwy driving is typically at the posted speed limit. I drive in ECO Mode nearly all the time and have adjusted to the dampened throttle response in the lower end of the pedal travel.

chromedome

Yeah, one thing I've noticed since I got the 300h is that I'm a lot calmer behind the wheel. I read the traffic situation in front and plan my moves a lot further ahead than before. It's the first car I've driven that makes it fun to be as smooth and slow as traffic allows.

jaysyed007

I live in NJ.. I didn't get the car for its gas mileage but it gives decent, in short if I drive like a grandma I'll get about 36-37 mpg ... But if I drive normal than i get around 28-29mpg all in eco mode but for the size of this car the quite cabin perfect looking interior and the ride quality is a A plus.. I'm sure if I drive within 48mph EV limit I may get more ,but all the highways here are like 65mph and 55mph even 45mpg is achievable if you don't mind getting cursed out getting a few middle fingers a few high beams and some honks... weather summer or winter in winter you will have the heat on and in summer AC this is my real world experience.

bartman44

Update....just passed 7300 miles and my computed average has risen to an even 44 mpg. I think thst is due to the reduced electrical load since A/C is no longer necessary for the winter months.

kp3

Western Washington State. Daily commute 20 miles one way mixed highway/city. Usually end up ~40-50 depending on how soft I use the pedal, how steady the traffic is on the highway part of the commute, & the ability to maintain steady speed on the city part (no red lights).I only have 1300 miles on it so still suspecting it may get better. Got 48+ on a highway trip Seattle to Portland over Christmas.
I put 9 years & 150k miles on a Gen1 Honda Insight so hypermiling is second nature. Keeping my foot out of it is, well, ground in from that car.
The eco mode does indeed assist one in slowing acceleration. I notice it limits somewhat (unless you stomp it) the load on the engine to the middle of the eco range of the display. Normal mode does that less, and Sport has none and is super touchy. With the years of the Insight, planning ahead in traffic was pretty mandatory so I find plenty of time to activate Sport if I suspect its pending need, but thats rare.
I also am finding as I age I care less about speed and more about smooth and comfort.... which this car has in abundance.

chromedome

The ES300h makes a decent scalded-cat impression when you take off from a traffic light in Sport mode

Any tips on getting such high mpg in winter? I've seen mine drop to 35 mpg now because I have the heater running all the time set to 23 C. Apparently using the heater uses more power than AC because the engine cools down quickly and electric heaters are also used. I use Eco mode in the city because the throttle modulation isn't so sensitive and it's easier to move away on battery power alone, without the engine kicking in. Steering effort is too light in Eco mode though.

I've seen 60+ mpg on a slow drive through rolling hills but fuel consumption shoots up on 75 mph highway drives.

jim256

Are "electric heaters" something installed for Canada? In the US, as far as I know, the engine will just run more to keep the radiator temperature and the cat converter temperature in the optimal range. That will affect mileage, but not like A/C which has a battery draw.