CramCycle wrote: » True but does the distance covered per charge not lower over time? Second, for some, not all, if the car is still grand, a new battery might be fine for some users rather than replacement. This was related to the distance per charge, which I could be wrong about but the new bigger batteries and newer cars far exceed what I need, so even with reductions in distance per charge Id get a helluva long time. At the minute a newer Kona would only come down to 50% on my longest trip. I don't have an EV though so could be talking rubbish.
ELM327 wrote: » Ignore the nissan leaf, it's the only EV without active cooling and the battery suffers terrible degradation as a result.
zilog_jones wrote: » The second generation 24kWh batteries are seeing nothing resembling "terrible" degradation, from what I've heard. The early ones and 30kWh have not been so great, though. But even then, 2011 Leafs are still on the road and are totally usable, albeit with reduced battery capacity (maybe around 70% now?).
CramCycle wrote: » City or motorway driving, because if it's the latter it's a joke. My 99 Saab was getting under 5l/100km nearly 20 years ago.
AlanD wrote: » Test drove one today. Giving consideration to it, moving from a mazda 3 2.2 diesel where I average around 5.4l/100km. Lovely car to drive, very impressive. But I need some real world fuel efficiency figures, not the claimed. Once per month I do an 800km round trip and don't want it to cost a fortune in petrol.
Mach Two wrote: » There is a button at the bottom of the gear stick and if depressed will run on electric only. To be used for short runs. How long a short run is I don't know. Will only work if on a full charge. I thought 5l/100 km would be ok for a vehicle of that size. But then again I don't have any experience of suv's.
AlanD wrote: » I saw the EV mode today but didn't give it a go. The Internet is a little devoid of info as of yet.
Mach Two wrote: » I was hoping to get a vehicle that would move along in a traffic jam without hitting the vehicle in front. Something like the cruise control in the Toyota safety sense. Anybody any suggestions.
CramCycle wrote: » This is going to sound smart ass but surely all you need is to pay attention while driving
astrofluff wrote: » I think people have a misconception of how to use EV on a Toyota Hybrid. The battery and electric motor is to compliment the petrol engine, by moving the car without having to excessively rev/stop-start the engine. The EV function is more for moving the car a very short distance without the use of a petrol engine - e.g. you have you car parked in an underground car park, and you want to move it without using petrol (stealth mode ), or sitting in traffic to creep along, this function is so helpful with it being an automatic, and the computer decides what to use, battery or ICE, or both. Sure, you're not going to get more than 1km from EV mode. I wouldn't be driving it like that using up the battery power, then needing to regen/recharge with the petrol engine. I could see the battery health being impact by a persons driving style. If you want the best economic way of moving around, use the ECO mode.
Mach Two wrote: » Couldn't agree with you more. But the amount of rear enders on our roads is hugh. Never mind the near misses.
CramCycle wrote: » True, but unfortunately, they won't help you if someone rear ends you. Regrettably, as is my experience on the M50 and on most roads around. If you leave enough space for safe breaking and reaction, someone will move into it when traffic is busy. regrettably, I don't think what your looking for will help in these scenarios either. When everyone has some sort of adaptive cruise control maybe rear ending cars will become a thing of the past. I think the Toyota adaptive cruise control will not work below a certain speed. I was hoping that the Toyota adaptive cruise control would stop you if you were to come too close to the car in front even if you were only moving at a slow speed of 5 km or 10 km/hr.
AlanD wrote: » I'm surprised at how little real world reviews are out their for the new rav4. I know it's new, but there are no owner experiences and no reviews. All I need is real world fuel economy.
Mach Two wrote: » I don't particularly want to buy a new one. Too expensive. And my existing car is on the way out. I was hoping to get something about 2 yrs old. Is it not possible to tow something with the existing hybrid.
kennethsmyth wrote: » Nope, older hybrid not type approved, if you can find it you can put a towbar on it but essentially your insurance is considered invalid due to an illegal modification of the car, you will still have third party insurance but the insurance company can come after you for the costs. Obviously this is only if you have an incident. Additionally the nct tests towbars and electrics of towbars now so not sure if they will be aware of type approval or not for your vehicle.
Loomis wrote: » I've a deposit down on the new model which should be ready soon, so Toyota in Sandyford will have my trade in for sale if that's of any interest. It's a 171 Luna Sport Hybrid. The two dealers I spoke with said supply if very limited (at least here anyway); they'd only be getting 3 initially, and then no more til April or possibly the summer. Not sure what the reason is for it though.
