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and when I do that sort of journey in my Prius I tend to stick to 60/70 on the clock, and generally get around 68-73 mpg on the display for a 250-300 mile round trip (which is on average about 3½ mpg optimistic based on calculated tankfuls), although a bit less in the winter.. I certainly find the Hybrid relaxing, and if you squeeze rather than stamp on the accelerator when going to or near full power, it will be a bit less revvy. If you're the type that's constantly flooring it to get past people, you may not be so enamoured, but a lot of drivers find once they've bought one they become more chilled drivers, not because the car won't go, but because either they become preoccupied with improving their mpg (which the gauges shout at you) or simply the smoothness makes them feel less impatient.

I drove 200 miles to London on the M1 keeping up with the traffic (read 80 mph), drove through central London in heavy traffic, had a day out, drove 200 miles back home at 80 mph displayed. I don't hang around, I overtake, I chill. I returned about 56 mpg. If you get less than 50 mpg something's wrong and if you get less than 45 mpg you're hammering it - hard. I have a Prius which the Auris hsd is pretty much based on and it will happily sit at 90 mph (so I'm told ). The one thing at those sorts of speeds that is a negative is that if you floor it to overtake the engine will rev a bit. Normally the engine is quite quiet at most times, but flooring it at 80/90 mph does make it rev for a few seconds. The only way to really tell if you could live with an Auris HSD is to test drive one. When I was considering my Prius I did think long and hard about what if this, or will it do that. It does. People think the hybrid is strange and weird because they've never had one and might have heard some nonsense on TopGear or in the pub. I would never go back to a traditional car unless I had to. Sitting at the traffic lights in total silence with your a/c or heat running with the engine off, or crawling along for 2 miles at 3 mph in that tailback into the town centre in total silence really is a joy and takes the stress out of the daily commute. £zero car tax with a smooth, quiet automatic transmission car is nice too. I appreciate a hybrid isn't for everyone, in the same way motorbikes aren't. But they hold their value so maybe give one a punt and see if you like. Any questions, fire away.

That's ok. Your penance is to say nothing but positive and glowing comments about hybrids for the next 10 posts :)

In the UK, regulations stipulate that the speedometer must never show an indicated speed less than the actual speed. The indicated speed must not be more than 110% of the true speed, and for all actual speeds between 25 mph and 70 mph (or the vehicles' maximum speed if it is lower than this), the indicated speed must not exceed 110% of the actual speed, plus 6.25 mph. For example, if the vehicle is actually travelling at 50 mph, the speedometer must not show more than 61.25 mph or less than 50 mph. The UK regulations are slightly different to the EU regulations.

Guys, would be nice to see some photo's of your RAV4's,... This is my first one ,a 1994, RAV4 J type , 2.0 Auto Japanese home market model.

looking at these pics attached it seems straight forward. Thanks mate, i am aware of this it increases then goes back down.

But I never said that. It was PeteB who said it.It was Kingo who said it:

A lot of people think a hybrid uses electric in town at 30 mph and then runs as a normal petrol automatic car above that speed. They wrongly assume it would then be only getting about 30 mpg. The Toyota hybrid system (much different to the Honda system) blends the electric across the entire speed range with the benefit of great economy at all speeds, including motorways. The explanations of exactly how this occurs is complicated, but it works as shown by real owners experiences of economy.

Short answer = No. Long answer = Toyota hybrids do not go into gas guzzle mode as soon as you hit the open road. Driving at constant speed along a clear motorway, the hybrid system will still only use fuel when it needs to. Yes.

And the moral of all this speedo shenanigans is that when Mrs Cabbie got a speeding ticket for 38 mph in a 30 zone, she got a ticking off from me as the actual displayed speed would have been about 41/42 mph, so even worse. No excuse for that one love :)

The IQ was supposed to be able to accommodate up to a 1.6 engine. The 1.6 Valvematic in the IQ would be interesting with 132bhp.

Hi, Welcome to the club... Enjoy

This one really peeves me................and their are many People driving round with DRL's in bad weather, and NOT having their lights on. Rear lights do not come on with DRl's and the idiots cannot be seen from behind Rant over....................

Doesn't do the front though which is a bit silly in my opinion, and often see Toyota's driving about with them left on. My previous Fiats default to all fogs off after and ignition restart.

Welcome :)

Hello Sarah - welcome to Toyota Owners Club

Also the jump start needs enough current to operate the pump to re-pressurise the hydraulic brake circuits - there is a timer that is triggered after the driver's door is opened.

One thing to be aware of with regard to other drivers' frustration is the likelihood of the speedo over-reading by a greater margin than you might be used to. Both Auris HSD and Prius HSD are particularly bad in this respect, so I would guess the Yaris might also be. I suspect some sort of conspiracy by Toyota to make hybrid drivers go slower without realising, and thus achieve better mpg! Although the over-reading is unlikely to have changed your actual speed by more than 1 or 2 mph around the 30mph area, I find there's a weirdly large difference in 'feel' between travelling at 33/34mph (which is really 30mph) on the speedo and an indicated 30/31mph which in reality is high twenties. I suspect I'm not alone in this, as I find the tailgating and dubiously-judged overtakes tend to reduce significantly in frequency when I'm holding 33/34 on the speedo. On the subject of forcing the car to run on the battery, there is a wealth of good, scientific evidence which demonstrates that doing this will make fuel consumption worse. However, I would add that despite this evidence, regular and deliberate use of milkfloat mode does not make it impossible to achieve excellent figures. If the ECU doesn't feel like switching automatically then I'll do a throttle-lift to kick it in whenever I'm in a 30 zone, simply because I like creeping through villages emitting no engine noise or pollution. 70+mpg at the pump over 18 months would suggest this strategy might not be the most efficient, but equally it isn't going to have a disastrous effect either.

many thanks, got it now