Fuel economy advice

[Blinkybill]

I know there have been a few other threads about fuel economy in the Aurion.

My situation is that the car (an ATX) now has about 4000 km and is 6 months old. It is driven by my other half to work in normal city traffic 20 mins each way and also for shopping trips on the weekend. By no means bumper to bumper traffic. The car is driven fairly sedately, and we aren't racing from the lights. Rarely gets above 3000rpm.

Bear in mind that the advertised fuel economy is 9.9L per 100km.

The last tank calculation has been 44.5 litres for 270 km which equates to 16.5 L/100km.

Now when the car was new, I accepted that maybe it was related to the car being in its first 1000km but this has been the way it has been since the beginning. Fuel economy of 15L/100km or slightly worse.

Best we have had is about 12.5 L/100km on a weekend trip that had a bit of freeway and twisty moutain driving.

Now I rang up our toyota dealer to discuss this and whether a bit of a look to see if the engine was in tune was warranted, and they said well, 16L /100km is not far off what they'd expect ( I'd love them to say this to a new car buyer) for a car before its first 12 month/15000 km service. He said then there will be an oil change and we should get better.

However from reading the other threads with people getting sub 10 readings (granted often on the highway), I'm starting to wonder if everything is OK with our car?

Does anyone out there own an Aurion for which they are driving mainly in the city without much freeway driving with whom we can compare. What do people think? Is this within the norm and we should just put up with it until 12 months service???

[DAR1US]

hmmm, that does seem a little high! My Aurion Sportivo SX6 gets about 13.5, but that's what i expect from the way i drive. I almost always make use of the dual vvti, which is just about 4000rpm, and when i'm cruising my gears are always low enough to the revs are running at around 2500 - 3000.

And i usually go quite hard at the lights.

Are you driving it in sports mode or drive?

[Blinkybill]

Are you driving it in sports mode or drive?

No, have never used sports mode, always in drive.

[SilverProdigy]

I average around 10.0L/100km. I drive 50% of the time bumper to bumper traffic, the rest freeway traffic (80-100km/h).

From experience, if you drive mainly around town (50-60km/h) without much stop/start traffic you may get around 11-12L/100km.

Typical things to check would be tyre pressure (should be at least 30psi). Are you carrying extra weight in the boot? Roof racks? What fuel do you use? Is it from a well known company? Is the air-con always on?

Getting 14.0L/100km is getting towards V8 territory. Can't believe the dealer would say that its to be expected.

[dannywss]

Getting 14.0L/100km is getting towards V8 territory. Can't believe the dealer would say that its to be expected.

sometimes, they will make up all kind of shxt reason/facts/lies to avoid further problems/questions/doubts.

when i did not put in all the extra audio weights, with a little aggressive driving, i get around 14/100km too; pushing it at red lights to 4000rpm, will get around 17/100. Dont get too much into this, they are not THAT accurate and with tat big car and size of engine, what do you expect?

also, adding a roof racks are always BAD on petrol. (tat is IF u have)

If i dont misunderstand, you drive more on cities? that always consume more petrol.

[BanHien]

.....

Bear in mind that the advertised fuel economy is 9.9L per 100km.

......

The above number is from AS which means the test ran on a very ideal condition. Normally we have to add 10 - 15% on the top of their numbers. Yours is over 16l/100, a bit too high

I have posted few numbers of my Presara, (just over 10,000 this week) using 4 types of petrol and average about 30km/h most of the time (home to work & back). I get around 10.7l/100km. Moving to the CBD, I have to ride public transport from this week that means a lot weekends running around to cover 25,000k/year.

BH

[CEO]

I know there have been a few other threads about fuel economy in the Aurion.

My situation is that the car (an ATX) now has about 4000 km and is 6 months old. It is driven by my other half to work in normal city traffic 20 mins each way and also for shopping trips on the weekend. By no means bumper to bumper traffic. The car is driven fairly sedately, and we aren't racing from the lights. Rarely gets above 3000rpm.

Bear in mind that the advertised fuel economy is 9.9L per 100km.

The last tank calculation has been 44.5 litres for 270 km which equates to 16.5 L/100km.

Now when the car was new, I accepted that maybe it was related to the car being in its first 1000km but this has been the way it has been since the beginning. Fuel economy of 15L/100km or slightly worse.

Best we have had is about 12.5 L/100km on a weekend trip that had a bit of freeway and twisty moutain driving.

Now I rang up our toyota dealer to discuss this and whether a bit of a look to see if the engine was in tune was warranted, and they said well, 16L /100km is not far off what they'd expect ( I'd love them to say this to a new car buyer) for a car before its first 12 month/15000 km service. He said then there will be an oil change and we should get better.

However from reading the other threads with people getting sub 10 readings (granted often on the highway), I'm starting to wonder if everything is OK with our car?

Does anyone out there own an Aurion for which they are driving mainly in the city without much freeway driving with whom we can compare. What do people think? Is this within the norm and we should just put up with it until 12 months service???

[CEO]

We bought an Aurion Prodigy last July. It's driven around Adelaide

where there are very few freeways. Plenty of stop lights etc.

Fuel consumption started off at 11L/100 km and after 5,000km

has dropped down to 10.2L/100 km.

It is driven conservatively but we still keep up with the traffic. On a

country trip we can get around 8L/ 100Km easily....perhaps even more

over longer distances which we've not tested as yet. We are estatic

with the fuel consumpion, especially after off-loading an old Volvo 760

which ate fuel like a V8.

[Blinkybill]

CEO I am very envious.

On a slight tangent, has anyone else thought that the manual mode on the transmission is a bit of a disappointment because when you put in in 4, it is not like a true manual because it won't hold that gear. Instead you are simply limiting it to the 4 lowest gears. You can't try to change to a higher gear quicker.

[DAR1US]

CEO I am very envious.

On a slight tangent, has anyone else thought that the manual mode on the transmission is a bit of a disappointment because when you put in in 4, it is not like a true manual because it won't hold that gear. Instead you are simply limiting it to the 4 lowest gears. You can't try to change to a higher gear quicker.

I don't understand what you're saying Blinky? Are you saying that when you which from drive to sports modes that it automatically shifts into fourth?

Personally I never go from drive into sport, so I really have no complaint there.

Otherwise i think it works fine my gears hold till red line, they will even bounce the rev meter if i don't shift up in time.

I took on a STI 04' last night, off the line I was ahead from 0-80km, semi auto's change change gears faster than manuals and more smoothly.

from 80-110 he was about a boot length ahead, then from 110 - 150km aurions torque took over, and everyone knows a wrx will loose more torque at high end.

(for the forum's sake, i was on a track)

I think the shifting is fine, i'm quite happy with it.

I always drive with it on, never use 'drive' mode, and always make sure that revs are above 2000.

Good thing about it is, you can floor it, shift up before you hit red and the car will smoothly shift gears when you hit the red line.

That way you don't have to drop your revs to change gear, and you can keep them up, which is important considering where our power band is.

[Blinkybill]

I don't understand what you're saying Blinky? Are you saying that when you which from drive to sports modes that it automatically shifts into fourth?

Personally I never go from drive into sport, so I really have no complaint there.

Otherwise i think it works fine my gears hold till red line, they will even bounce the rev meter if i don't shift up in time.

I know it will hold gears.

The Aurion's manual mode works just like an old auto with the L, 2, 3, D etc.

In 1, it will only use 1st

In 2, it will use 1st and 2nd,

in 3, it will use 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

etc

In other semi automatics (I've only driven the mazda 6 auto), if you choose 3, it will only be in 3rd. When you slow down to a traffic light in 3, and leave it there, you'll be pulling off in 3rd. The Aurion will automatically choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd for you as you go up from the traffic light.

[BanHien]

I don't understand what you're saying Blinky? Are you saying that when you which from drive to sports modes that it automatically shifts into fourth?

Personally I never go from drive into sport, so I really have no complaint there.

Otherwise i think it works fine my gears hold till red line, they will even bounce the rev meter if i don't shift up in time.

I know it will hold gears.

The Aurion's manual mode works just like an old auto with the L, 2, 3, D etc.

In 1, it will only use 1st

In 2, it will use 1st and 2nd,

in 3, it will use 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

etc

In other semi automatics (I've only driven the mazda 6 auto), if you choose 3, it will only be in 3rd. When you slow down to a traffic light in 3, and leave it there, you'll be pulling off in 3rd. The Aurion will automatically choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd for you as you go up from the traffic light.

I think Blinky is talking about Sport mode, not Mnual mode - In Manual mode you can change gears a lot faster than the old L, 2, 3 , D .... In sport mode, it works like normal Auto except it changes gears at higher rev.

BH

[Blinkybill]

Now I'm confused.

Aurion doesn't have a sports mode. Only has a manual shifting mode which you engage by moving the lever from Drive.

If you do that, then the transmission operates as I've said above. That's what the manual says.

That's why when you shift across from D, it usually goes to 4. Then it will use the first 4 gears but change automatically ie. If you come to a stop you will pull off in 1st not 4th gear.

[leasaunce]

In other semi automatics (I've only driven the mazda 6 auto), if you choose 3, it will only be in 3rd. When you slow down to a traffic light in 3, and leave it there, you'll be pulling off in 3rd. The Aurion will automatically choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd for you as you go up from the traffic light.

how is it possible to start using 3rd GEAR! <_< I am 100% that when the car stop it will automatically shift down to 1st, then once it starts rolling, 1st/2nd/3rd.... It will stay in 3rd unless you shift up.

[Blinkybill]

In other semi automatics (I've only driven the mazda 6 auto), if you choose 3, it will only be in 3rd. When you slow down to a traffic light in 3, and leave it there, you'll be pulling off in 3rd. The Aurion will automatically choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd for you as you go up from the traffic light.

how is it possible to start using 3rd GEAR! <_< I am 100% that when the car stop it will automatically shift down to 1st, then once it starts rolling, 1st/2nd/3rd.... It will stay in 3rd unless you shift up.

Yes what I am saying is that in other cars with "manual" mode options on the automatic transmission, they will not override your choice. So if you put it in 3rd, then the car sticks in 3rd. This is a true manual mode. As an example of this I can only quote the mazda 6. If you are in 3rd gear in MANUAL mode, it will only automatically go to 1st if you come to a complete stop. Otherwise if you slow down then try to accelerate, the car will stay in 3rd because YOU are controlling the gears.

The Aurion is not like this and this is what I found strange. In the Aurion, if you put it in 4 and then slow down, then want to accelerate, the car will change down to the appropriate gear. This is not like a manual. By selecting 4, you are not CHOOSING 4th gear, you are only telling the auto it can only use the 1st to 4th gears. If it wants to use 1st or 2nd gear, it will decide, but it will not go any higher than 4th.

[dannywss]

I took on a STI 04' last night, off the line I was ahead from 0-80km, semi auto's change change gears faster than manuals and more smoothly.

from 80-110 he was about a boot length ahead, then from 110 - 150km aurions torque took over, and everyone knows a wrx will loose more torque at high end.

(for the forum's sake, i was on a track)

I think the shifting is fine, i'm quite happy with it.

I always drive with it on, never use 'drive' mode, and always make sure that revs are above 2000.

Good thing about it is, you can floor it, shift up before you hit red and the car will smoothly shift gears when you hit the red line.

That way you don't have to drop your revs to change gear, and you can keep them up, which is important considering where our power band is.

your style of driving aurion is similar to me, just tat i also do those in the road Hope our aurion stays longer on the road than others, or at least the same... Flooring it is soo "fun", i never wanna go back to my 2.4 camry again after driving aurion, i feel, s...l...o...w.......

[DAR1US]

In other semi automatics (I've only driven the mazda 6 auto), if you choose 3, it will only be in 3rd. When you slow down to a traffic light in 3, and leave it there, you'll be pulling off in 3rd. The Aurion will automatically choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd for you as you go up from the traffic light.

how is it possible to start using 3rd GEAR! <_< I am 100% that when the car stop it will automatically shift down to 1st, then once it starts rolling, 1st/2nd/3rd.... It will stay in 3rd unless you shift up.

Yes what I am saying is that in other cars with "manual" mode options on the automatic transmission, they will not override your choice. So if you put it in 3rd, then the car sticks in 3rd. This is a true manual mode. As an example of this I can only quote the mazda 6. If you are in 3rd gear in MANUAL mode, it will only automatically go to 1st if you come to a complete stop. Otherwise if you slow down then try to accelerate, the car will stay in 3rd because YOU are controlling the gears.

The Aurion is not like this and this is what I found strange. In the Aurion, if you put it in 4 and then slow down, then want to accelerate, the car will change down to the appropriate gear. This is not like a manual. By selecting 4, you are not CHOOSING 4th gear, you are only telling the auto it can only use the 1st to 4th gears. If it wants to use 1st or 2nd gear, it will decide, but it will not go any higher than 4th.

Despite what the manual says, it doesn't feel like this is what the car is doing. When I slow down I don't feel the car change gears until I actually down shift myself... I know that it is true if you launch the car 4th, but lets face it... if you're going to do that you might as well cruise around in drive.

the only problem I find with this style of transmission is that you can't force a down shift if the revs are too high... (which you wouldn't do in a manual car anyway, unless you're trying to bust your gear box)...

all in all, drive it like you would a manual, and it will respond like one...

just don't try to clutch in... or you'll find yourself side ways

(ps. if there is a moderator around, can you move the last few posts to a new topic?)

[dave262]

In other semi automatics (I've only driven the mazda 6 auto), if you choose 3, it will only be in 3rd. When you slow down to a traffic light in 3, and leave it there, you'll be pulling off in 3rd. The Aurion will automatically choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd for you as you go up from the traffic light.

how is it possible to start using 3rd GEAR! <_< I am 100% that when the car stop it will automatically shift down to 1st, then once it starts rolling, 1st/2nd/3rd.... It will stay in 3rd unless you shift up.

Yes what I am saying is that in other cars with "manual" mode options on the automatic transmission, they will not override your choice. So if you put it in 3rd, then the car sticks in 3rd. This is a true manual mode. As an example of this I can only quote the mazda 6. If you are in 3rd gear in MANUAL mode, it will only automatically go to 1st if you come to a complete stop. Otherwise if you slow down then try to accelerate, the car will stay in 3rd because YOU are controlling the gears.

The Aurion is not like this and this is what I found strange. In the Aurion, if you put it in 4 and then slow down, then want to accelerate, the car will change down to the appropriate gear. This is not like a manual. By selecting 4, you are not CHOOSING 4th gear, you are only telling the auto it can only use the 1st to 4th gears. If it wants to use 1st or 2nd gear, it will decide, but it will not go any higher than 4th.

According to the manual, the idea of "sports mode" is to limit the MAXIMUM gear the car will be allowed to enter, but will not restrict it down changing. What this means is that if you have it in 3rd, the maximum gear it will be allowed to enter will be third, but for instance when pulling to a stop, it will downshift normally, and during takeoff, will upshift normally up to the maximum gear you specify. This is much the same with the way the older Honda's worked, although they would be a little different in that you could control upshifts and downshifts, although if you get too slow for a particular gear, they would force down further. Some of the more modern styles are more like clutchless manual in that you have complete control over the gear changes.

I agree that the form of "sports mode" on the Aurion is fairly useless if you actually want to do some *controlled spirited driving*, but the mode is really intended for use when traversing hills etc. where the gearbox will traditionally like to seek constantly while going up hills, due to it choosing a gear way too high to handle the load. Also remember that the Aurion does fall under the "large family car" category ;)

[dave262]

I know there have been a few other threads about fuel economy in the Aurion.

My situation is that the car (an ATX) now has about 4000 km and is 6 months old. It is driven by my other half to work in normal city traffic 20 mins each way and also for shopping trips on the weekend. By no means bumper to bumper traffic. The car is driven fairly sedately, and we aren't racing from the lights. Rarely gets above 3000rpm.

Bear in mind that the advertised fuel economy is 9.9L per 100km.

The last tank calculation has been 44.5 litres for 270 km which equates to 16.5 L/100km.

Now when the car was new, I accepted that maybe it was related to the car being in its first 1000km but this has been the way it has been since the beginning. Fuel economy of 15L/100km or slightly worse.

Best we have had is about 12.5 L/100km on a weekend trip that had a bit of freeway and twisty moutain driving.

Now I rang up our toyota dealer to discuss this and whether a bit of a look to see if the engine was in tune was warranted, and they said well, 16L /100km is not far off what they'd expect ( I'd love them to say this to a new car buyer) for a car before its first 12 month/15000 km service. He said then there will be an oil change and we should get better.

However from reading the other threads with people getting sub 10 readings (granted often on the highway), I'm starting to wonder if everything is OK with our car?

Does anyone out there own an Aurion for which they are driving mainly in the city without much freeway driving with whom we can compare. What do people think? Is this within the norm and we should just put up with it until 12 months service???

Hi BlinkyBill,

I would suggest that the fuel economy you are receiving is highly abnormal even for this car. That type of fuel economy is in the realms of my old Mitsubishi Magna, which averaged around 15-18L/100k!

I have owned an Aurion Touring SE for about a month now, and my fuel economy is averaging around 9.3 - 10L/100k driving around city and the suburbs. I am by no means a granny driver, and I do give it a few revs now and then, but mostly just to let the engine rev a little, which is good for them on occasion. The car has only done about 600km now, so it hasn't even had its 1000km service yet, but this means that it will still be running with poor quality oil (common with most new cars initially), and will most likely be running worse than it should. This economy is also using the air conditioner a fair bit, as I wasn't able to open windows due to the tinting for a few days.

I would take that back to the dealers and make them do a proper check over the car. It could be something as simple as the ECU requiring a reset, or something as complex as a leaking vent line on the fuel tank. I discovered that during the first 500km my fuel economy was slightly on the high side, averaging about 11.5L/100k, but after an ECU reset that seems to have happened while the tinting was being put on, it seems to have stabilised significantly and also altered the gear shifting pattern.

Where abouts are you located? If you are in Victoria I can suggest an exceptional dealer that I bought my Aurion from. They will lean backwards to help you with these sort of issues.

[saintly]

as others have said.. 16/100 is a tad high...

I'm kinda lead-footed and I average 13.5/100 to 14/100 with just city driving in sydney, it does ease to about 12/100 with less stop/start

This weekend is my aurion's 15k service, so let's see how it goes next week.

On the freeway, I get about 8-9/100, 7/100 if I don't push my luck :)

[AcoustiK]

hmmm, that does seem a little high! My Aurion Sportivo SX6 gets about 13.5, but that's what i expect from the way i drive. I almost always make use of the dual vvti, which is just about 4000rpm, and when i'm cruising my gears are always low enough to the revs are running at around 2500 - 3000.

And i usually go quite hard at the lights.

Are you driving it in sports mode or drive?

Hmm I get 10.9-11 / 100km

Cruising i'll sit on 1500-2000 maintaining speeds

Yours seems to maintaining cruise a bit high...

[ZZR88]

this is kinda off topic but does anyone know what kind of engine oil toyota uses when they service your car?

is it just there own brand oil?

[saintly]

*shrug* I'll ask them on saturday and see if they give me an answer...

[Soloman]

It tells you in the back of the instruction book for the Aurion.. 5.7 L of oil is needed if you change oil without a filter and 6.5 with a new filter.

I think it was 10-50 Oil.. I dont have the book near me.. someone look it up and post up or confirm my numbers

[Blinkybill]

Hi BlinkyBill,

I would suggest that the fuel economy you are receiving is highly abnormal even for this car. That type of fuel economy is in the realms of my old Mitsubishi Magna, which averaged around 15-18L/100k!

I have owned an Aurion Touring SE for about a month now, and my fuel economy is averaging around 9.3 - 10L/100k driving around city and the suburbs. I am by no means a granny driver, and I do give it a few revs now and then, but mostly just to let the engine rev a little, which is good for them on occasion. The car has only done about 600km now, so it hasn't even had its 1000km service yet, but this means that it will still be running with poor quality oil (common with most new cars initially), and will most likely be running worse than it should. This economy is also using the air conditioner a fair bit, as I wasn't able to open windows due to the tinting for a few days.

I would take that back to the dealers and make them do a proper check over the car. It could be something as simple as the ECU requiring a reset, or something as complex as a leaking vent line on the fuel tank. I discovered that during the first 500km my fuel economy was slightly on the high side, averaging about 11.5L/100k, but after an ECU reset that seems to have happened while the tinting was being put on, it seems to have stabilised significantly and also altered the gear shifting pattern.

Where abouts are you located? If you are in Victoria I can suggest an exceptional dealer that I bought my Aurion from. They will lean backwards to help you with these sort of issues.

Thanks for all your information.

The more I read the more paranoid I get that there is something wrong with our car. Your fuel economy would be unheard of in our Aurion.

I'll ask the dealer about an ECU reset.

I think the biggest factor affecting our fuel economy has got to be where we live. It is suburban Sydney and my wife has to drive about 6 suburbs down. So truly city driving with no freeways to stretch the car's legs.

I do feel that the info about he car having to wear in is a bit wrong given that you've had such great fuel economy from the beginning. By the way the 1000km service is just an inspection. They don't change anything including the oil.

I'll have to find some time to take the car into the dealership.