Fuel prices

[duke63]

I put a deposit down on a Toyota self charging hybrid the other day.

I test drove one and it easily does 55 mpg and some owners reckon low to mid 60,s mpg is achieveable without to much trouble. especially in urban driving.

Can't see petrol ever coming down much from these prices now.

[Cav]

I'm interested in a plug-in hybrid for the next vehicle. 30-50 mile range on battery alone is enough for all of our daily tasks. Then, jump on the motorway to go on holiday once a decade and I can just use petrol as normal. Theoretically I shouldn't need to use the petrol engine Monday-Friday.

[duke63]

This one is self charging. It doesnt need and can't be plugged in. Its recharges itself from braking etc.

I think (but stand to be corrected) that Toyota is the only company that makes a self charging hybrid that is used to improve economy rather than performance.

[Cav]

For my typical driving, a self-charging hybrid wouldn't be of huge benefit whereas a plug-in enables me to drive electric only driving capabilities for the majority of my driving.

I wouldn't know that level of detail, I just know that any/all hybrid vehicles have ludicrously high quoted MPG that absolutely nobody can achieve.

Which Toyota have you gone for though? I quite like the Corolla Estate, I think it's a good looking car.

[duke63]

Its the C-HR. It will drive on electric only but only up to about 30mph, then the engine kicks in.

I'm not convinced plug in hybrids have much advantage as it still costs to charge up and the way electricity prices are shooting up, the benefit must be becoming smaller and smaller.

I know What Car managed to get the Toyota Yaris Cross hybrid to do 100mpg in urban runs.

Plus with Toyota it comes with a 3 yr warranty but for every year you have the car serviced by a Toyota dealer, Toyota add another year's warranty up to a max of 10 years.

[Cav]

Oh right, that's rare. Typically self-charging hybrids are reliant upon the combustion engine running all the time. That's good for you then. Of course you can't really guarantee that you'll have a full battery at the start of the day so I guess some days you could get 80mpg and other days just 40mpg. Hopefully it works well as an average.

Electricity prices are definitely a consideration. I certainly won't be getting a smart meter though, it's far too easy for them to figure out the different energy flows and charge separate tariffs.

[Monty]

From my experience of having a hybrid for the last 12 months, the benefits really depend on your own use case. If I was driving 30 miles a day, or 60 miles a day to somewhere I could charge it, it would be perfect. When I go to my own office (once a month) I do nearly get there on the battery and can charge it up for free and get nearly home.

But I do anywhere between 30 and 300 miles a day, so it's pointless. I don't even bother plugging it in at home anymore. I leave it in sport/save mode all the time so the motor and battery are basically a KERS system, or an extra 100BHP when I put my foot down.

That said it's a company car and I'm not paying for the fuel. It's currently averaging around 30mph and I could improve that significantly if I stopped and plugged it in. But in reality, life gets in the way and who wants to sit in a motorway services for 40 minutes in you don't have to.

[C00kiemonster]

Hybrids are useful at the moment, but for me it would have to be a plugin hybrid.

This "self charging" marketing is wrong in my opinion as the car has to burn petrol to charge the battery and your lugging round more weight with batteries, thus burning more fuel. All the energy comes from petrol, it just stores so of it to help the smaller engine.

A plugin hybrid that I could do say 30/40 miles without petrol at all and then petrol for longer journeys sounds ideal for my use case.

Saying that I'm keeping my current cars for a while as new car prices are a pisstake imo. I also get 50mpg from my Seat and it's bought and paid for.

[Cav]

I don't do enough miles to get 50mpg from my 1.4TSI 150!!! We average between 39-42mpg as we only do 1.5-6 mile journeys commonly. This is exactly why a plug-in hybrid would work for us.

I don't understand why plug-in hybrids aren't self-charging though.. regenerative braking energy is free energy.

[C00kiemonster]

I don't do enough miles to get 50mpg from my 1.4TSI 150!!! We average between 39-42mpg as we only do 1.5-6 mile journeys commonly. This is exactly why a plug-in hybrid would work for us.

I don't understand why plug-in hybrids aren't self-charging though.. regenerative braking energy is free energy.

Only on long journeys do I get 50 mpg...

Plugin hybrids generally are charging too. Depends what mode you put them in. I'd just want the option to charge at home, especially from solar.

[duke63]

Hybrids are useful at the moment, but for me it would have to be a plugin hybrid.

This "self charging" marketing is wrong in my opinion as the car has to burn petrol to charge the battery and your lugging round more weight with batteries, thus burning more fuel. All the energy comes from petrol, it just stores so of it to help the smaller engine.

A plugin hybrid that I could do say 30/40 miles without petrol at all and then petrol for longer journeys sounds ideal for my use case.

Saying that I'm keeping my current cars for a while as new car prices are a pisstake imo. I also get 50mpg from my Seat and it's bought and paid for.

I get what you are saying, Cookie but I’m Not sure I entirely agree with that. Yes the car uses petrol to produce the energy to self charge but it only charges the battery with energy it doesn’t use to propel the car and in general is produced from braking. That energy is wasted in all other cars.

Toyota loaned me the demo for 4 hours so I had a good drive in it and it averaged close to 55mpg in that time with a mix of driving and without really trying to be economical. The Toyota system is based on economy rather than the hybrid system adding performance which I what Ford do. The Fords cannot run on electricity alone, the Toyotas can.

[D6Nutz]

The Outlander was combo, it could self charge as well as plug-in. It could also run on pure electric. For local short runs is was great for economy, longer runs however where another story. The biggest problem comes when the battery runs down/out, then your lucky to get 30mpg. The petrol engine was a real compromise as it was a 2L but only 100bhp, and the car is heavy with the batteries. The other big compromise was the size of the fuel tank, it was half the size of the standard car because of the batteries.

TL;DR; good car for the school run

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

[Cav]

Just paid 150.9

[Stonesie]

£1.53.9 for diesel in Leeds, the car was showing about 1/3 so I brimmed it... £63 the biggest 'ooof' was when I filled up at Tesco, then found the BP a mile down the road was the same price, there's usually a 5p/L difference.

We have solar panels so a smart charger and electric car are looking good, a smart charger can match the charge going to the car with the output of the solar and my night shifts mean the car will be at home while the sun is out ..

[C00kiemonster]

Hybrids are useful at the moment, but for me it would have to be a plugin hybrid.

This "self charging" marketing is wrong in my opinion as the car has to burn petrol to charge the battery and your lugging round more weight with batteries, thus burning more fuel. All the energy comes from petrol, it just stores so of it to help the smaller engine.

A plugin hybrid that I could do say 30/40 miles without petrol at all and then petrol for longer journeys sounds ideal for my use case.

Saying that I'm keeping my current cars for a while as new car prices are a pisstake imo. I also get 50mpg from my Seat and it's bought and paid for.

I get what you are saying, Cookie but I’m Not sure I entirely agree with that. Yes the car uses petrol to produce the energy to self charge but it only charges the battery with energy it doesn’t use to propel the car and in general is produced from braking. That energy is wasted in all other cars.

Toyota loaned me the demo for 4 hours so I had a good drive in it and it averaged close to 55mpg in that time with a mix of driving and without really trying to be economical. The Toyota system is based on economy rather than the hybrid system adding performance which I what Ford do. The Fords cannot run on electricity alone, the Toyotas can.

I didn't actually see your post congrats on a new car. Is there much of a wait to get one?

I was commenting generally on my views, I think ultimately each type works depending on what your usage is.

I agree they are perhaps more efficient than purely petrol but it depends on the driving you do.

There are very few cars now that I can get excited about, especially over the last 5 years. Design and different design philosophies seem to all be the same.

For me I'd only change car now when electric is well established (5 years from now) and if I can make solar work well in the Uk.

[duke63]

It was one the dealer had in stock. I've not got it yet nor signed any papework but have paid the deposit to hold it. Being March 1st they have been busy this week.

Wait time for a factory order on this was 3 months but they had one in stock and three coming in March.

Its a sensible but comfortable car and should see me through to when electric cars are viable in my world.

[Kwacky]

I paid £1.509 yesterday for super unleaded

[Cav]

That's cheap! I paid the same for normal.

[StMarks]

I paid £1.71 for ordinary derv for my Trackday transport unit ( aka my old Vito)

[kiwikrasher]

I paid $545 for 300L today