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I'd accept nothing less than animated fireworks! 😄

RAV’s have always been seen as ‘soft roaders’, the majority of them have never see anything more challenging than a gravel car park or grass field at an event. That said, if you actually give them decent off road biased rubber, they are reasonably capable to a point, I remember taking my first 4.2 over the Quantocks in Somerset, as anyone who has ever done one of the hill crossings will tell you, although they are marked as ‘roads’, the term is used in a very loose sense. The first issue tends to be the road biased rubber, followed by ground clearance and no real protection underneath (very vulnerable rear control arms, no bash plate). Either way, it seems Toyota did a reasonably decent job this time round, in so much as it’ll hardly ever get used, but it works automatically and it does it well.

Real world off road test of the Hybrid AWD. As reviewer said, not really the terrain the RAV4 is built for, but good to see how it coped.

I always thought this was a daft feature on my old third gen Prius. Not surprised they ditched it.

On the underside of the bonnet is one typical place. You shouldn't need to hunt for it.

I start by using decent fuel, usually shell but not the expensive one. Over the years I have always found that cheaper fuels equals lower miles. My car is used as a taxi and apart from being cold in the the morning the engine never becomes cold again for the rest of the day due to picking up fares and driving in stop start traffic When accelerating I back off the pedal when the engine cuts in then apply again after coasting for a few feet My fuel drops by around 10% if I use on faster A roads but I do use the pulse and glide technique on these types of roads and tend to read the road conditions so never usually end up using the brakes If people want to go faster than me they can burn their fuel and go round me but usually ending up at the red traffic lights not long after them I just find driving this car is so relaxing and quiet that it makes you alter your driving style

Thanks for that Andrue, you commute sounds similar to mine, small market town to drive out of, then free flowing A roads until I get to work, 10 miles each way.

I think those getting significantly in excess of 60 mpg are doing a lot of urban driving. As long as you aren't allowing the engine to cool down between trips a hybrid can be much more efficient around town. Out on the open road the system doesn't offer anywhere near the same advantages. But another factor that seems to be at play is wheel size. The Excel with it's larger wheels appears to be at a nearly 10% disadvantage and I assume that your sport also has large wheels. Most of my driving is on free flowing A-roads and I prefer to drive as close to the posted limit as road conditions allow - apart from motorways where I typically sit in lane one with cruise control set at 60 mph. I also don't hang around when it's time to go. Most of the time I accelerate at between 2,000 and 3,000 rpm. My commute is 12 miles each way, 10 of which are free flowing A road but with a 50 mph limit, then two miles of urban driving to get to my office. I only encounter moderate congestion in the evenings. But my Corolla Excel is definitely returning better fuel consumption on this tank and I fully expect to be over 60 mpg on a 'commuting' tank for the first time ever at the end of the month.

Thank you both so much for help, have taken your advice which has rectified the problem. Pressed so many buttons not totally sure which was the culprit but really appreciate your suggestions. All the best.

Think mine was about 690 miles (I think)

YES: It is NOT a normal gas, see my earlier post, it has 1234YF gas, have a deal with your dealer, they are best placed to do it properly as they will have the correct equipment

it was 646 miles

Ok filled her up to 2nd click after 340 miles Cost me £26.15 to fill Averaged 75.01 mpg Great savings

Make sure the car is up to temperature, set the AC as low is it goes, put the fan on high through the vents, place your thermometer in the vent. It should be 10C or less, if it is less then it's working as it should be, if it is over 10 degrees it needs servicing, one of the checks after servicing is to do that same test. When serviced, the refrigerant is recovered, and the correct quantity of gas AND oil is put back in, this is important to keep everything lubed.

https://newatlas.com/toyota-prius-solar-roof/60461/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a28322554/toyota-is-testing-a-new-solar-powered-prius/ https://insideevs.com/news/358458/toyota-tests-prius-phv-solar-charging/

Measure the temp at the vents, it should be 10C or lower, any higher and it will need gassing, which should be done every few years anyway. The gas used is 1234YF which is very expensive to purchase, and one of the reasons it is a little more expensive to service your Hybrid A/C

The symptoms point to the system being slightly low on refrigerant which I suppose after 5 years isn't unexpected. I would suspect nothing more than a simple regas is needed... Hybrid 2014 model year, I wonder if that will use R134a or R1234yf. Have a look under the bonnet and look for a sticker. The later is much more expensive and as such might be worth shopping around.

an update on this for anyone Googling in the future. I discovered that these two wires should be connected together. One goes to the fuel cut-off solenoid, which requires a switched 12v and the other is a switched 12v. Turns out the Townace wouldn't start because the starter motor internals had all melted together. Not sure if that was caused by the short or if it's just coincidence.

That's one I personally would not use but you do your own research you may like to start with attached link, if you go down the second hand engine route make sure you research the Breaker you choose too as I have had experiences with Excellent Very Good and outright rogues too. http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?11016-reconditioned-engines-co-uk-aka-brentsouth-trading-aka-heathrow-engines-DO-NOT-USE For second hand Engines I suggest you use the Part Finder Sites listed below, this way you should get LOTS to choose from then you makes your choice and pays Yer money, But make sure you pay by credit card also whatever you go for as it gives you extra protection. https://www.1stchoice.co.uk https://www.breakerlink.com http://www.breakeryard.com http://www.find-a-part.com/ http://www.partsgateway.co.uk Wishing you the very best of luck and do please let us all know how you get on do try the 5th injector bypass first as you have nothing to loose and an absolute fortune to save !!! Jack I Just Noticed Looks like your Car is a 2007 T180 and I don't believe they even have the 5th Injector or suffer the same Smoke problem as the T27 but will leave my post as the other advice is still relevant though may be more useful copied elsewhere on the Forum where members are considering having engines rebuilt (Mr Administrator please can you help here) Mel.

Hi Jack, DO READ my last attachment and at LEAST TRY blocking the fuel feed to the fifth Injector it's a simple cheap job and must be worth a try because if it does not cure it just convert it back I have only had one car start to smoke again after this mod and that even stopped on it's own accord so I suspect an intermittent Injector. As for getting a complete rebuild for £1,500 I would say TAKE EXTREEM CARE as there are a lot of con artist in the Engine Rebuild market and you will have to pay a fair bit more than that to get a really good quality guaranteed rebuilt engine fitted, personally I would prefer a second hand engine with good documented history. AS for a rebuilt one do research the company you choose to use via Google and Trust Pilot etcetera looking especially for unhappy customers if they have masses of good feedback and just a few bad ones then they maybe ok especially if the bad feedbacks do seem unreasonable. Best of luck, Mel.

could be blow back from the turbo with some oil in the intercooler. I can't see how the issue is fixed with an ecu flash.