Getting bad fuel economy on a relatively new car.. how to deal deal with dealer?
 

Just wondering do you guys think this is pretty bad for fuel economy? I have a 2014 Rav4 LE AWD. Rated at 35km city/46km highway (22 city/29 highway for miles).

Currently at 8000km. Recent oil change. Tire psi is at 34. Bought the car in January of 2014.

My mileage seems to be rather crummy. The past 2 weeks been doing a lot of mixed highway and city driving, shortest drive being about 10 minutes and longest being about an hour. Filled up yesterday for 35L and only drove 234km. Average says about 12.9. Did the math comes to about 6.7km per 1L so around 26.7km per 4L which seems pretty far off from the manufacture's estimate. I do realize driving conditions make a big difference in fuel economy and the numbers made by the manufacture is only an estimate but does about 10km per 4L seem far off? Other fills have been pretty similar, but never did log it till now... Going to start logging it for the next couple of weeks to see is it consistently this bad.

The estimation for how many kilometers I will get on a full tank also never reaches over 400km anymore. On a flat surface, I'd just fill it to the rim and the estimation still does not go over 400.

I called the dealer to see if warranty covers a check up and they say it may cost 60-120 dollars for diagnostic fees and everything if its found not a manufacture's defect. Otherwise free if its found as a defect. Wanted to get some second opinions before forking out money... or if anyone has had similar incidents, how did you guys go about handling it?

^ dude your units are so confusing...

12.9 what? mpg? or 12.9km/L?

and 35km / 46km ? you mean 35km/gallon? I've seen mpg but not kmpg.
26.7km/4L?
Are you using American gallon or Canadian gallon?

Your post is super confusing. Please do this and try again.

Fill your tank til the pump shuts off.

Drive until almost empty, and record your KM.

Fill your car again until pump clicks off.

Calculate the KM/Fuel used.

I use this link to calculate mine..

http://opentoronto.com/calculators/M...el_economy.php

Instead of comparing your mileage the the manufacturer's estimates (which nobody in real life ever achieves), go on to the RAV4 forums and ask other owners of the same year/model. Then look at the comparison and you will then have a good sense if your car is running correctly (in the same range as everyone else) or not.

234KM to 35L is about 14.9L/100KM (canadian measurement)

2014 Rav4 is rated at 10.7 City 8.1 Hwy 9.4 Combined

About 4L/100km off factoring in Vancouver traffic im assuming. Sounds about right for real world. Manufacturers rating are always based on ideal driving conditions so they usually arent too accurate

2014 Toyota RAV4 LE Mileage

since new car i'd assume sensors/filters/alignment are all good.
are you grannying the throttle?
is it just you in the car?
are you hauling stuff in the back?
driving with the windows/moonroof down or ac on? using defroster usually means ac is on for most cars.

highway driving doesn't mean much if you're bumper to bumper

CBC Marketplace did a segment on fuel mileage...

Gas mileage: Fuel Proof - Marketplace - CBC News

tell them to trade you an Australian rav4 with diesel and standard transmission

Do not expect driving a Rav4 and get Prius milage. people generally do not get the milage claimed by the factory, unless you drive it at a constant speed with no extra weight and perfect condition. Even the numbers on the forums do not represent ur driving style.

+1 to this, and use Fuelly to track your mileage and compare it to other rav4s

You know you fucked up when Timpo points it out for you.

Under perfect driving conditions, you will get the factory's rated fuel economy. Driving style plays an important role in your car's fuel economy as well.

I have a 2013 Infiniti FX37, and I get 500 km on an 85 L re-fuel in Vancouver driving. That equates to 17 L/100km. However, on a long road trip, where I keep on speed pretty constant, I get 850 km on a 85 L re-fuel, which is 10 L/100km.

The factory numbers are: 14.6 L/100km for city and 10.7 L/100km for highway. As you can see, city driving fuel economy is no where near the factory numbers. Stop and go traffic is so bad for fuel consumption.

There is nothing you can do with regards to the dealer.

The only thing they can do for you is check and see that the vehicle is operating within its designed parameters and that everything is mechanically sound.

If you are expecting those types of fuel mileage then you need to duplicate the testing conditions every time you operate the vehicle. As someone who workrs for Toyota I hear this all the time. Our advisor's will often go along for a test drive with the customer and it becomes very apparent that the issue is the driver, not the vehicle. You want great fuel mileage, then you need to drive rather slow. No accelerating to traffic speeds like 99.9% of people do......pretend your a 95 year old person who is driving to church on Sunday and you have a muscle condition that will not allow your foot to move more than 1 degree ever 30 seconds.

Fuel Consumption Testing Procedures | Natural Resources Canada

There's a pretty well done video on this page explaining the new testing methods for 2015

Looks like they added these tests:

Cold Temperature Test - Looks identical to the city test, but the test cell is at -7 degrees instead of 20-30.

Air Conditioning Test - Test cell at 35 degrees w/ 5 stops, 19% idling, and average speed of 35km/h

Brisk Accel Test Average Speed of 78km/h w/ max accel at 13.6km/h per second.
For reference, a CVT Accord's 0-60 time is achieved at 14.28km/h per second.
A CVT Corolla's 0-30mph time is achieved at 13.33kmh/second
Figures were from Car and Driver

Your RAV4 was rated at 9.3C/6.8H in 2014, the 2015 rating is 10.0C/7.6H.
The American ratings converted show about 10.7C/8.2H.

I usually go off of the American ratings since they seem to be pretty similar to real world results (that, and their website is easier to use)

Do this when you measure efficiency, I wouldn't go below 1/4 tank though as it can be hard on the pump. And be sure to fill up at the same gas station for maximum accuracy.

I noticed that they quoted the base 3.7L V6 economy figures..
The figures for the 3.5 EcoBoost that they had was 14.2/9.6/12.1 combined. (I think they quoted ~12.5 and 9.6?)

Granted, the looked like they were doing mostly highway driving, so the 12 that they got was still a ways away from 9.6

wow that's pretty shitty.

i get roughly 420ish to a full tank on my 2014 RAV4 LE, 80% city driving.. unknown tire psi and 1000 km overdue for its first service.

your LE is FWD though right?

AWD is going to consume more gas no way around it

I don't think the AWD system is full time like a Subaru though. I believe its mostly FWD until required.

Regardless, I'm surprised his estimated range isnt over 400. When I fill up my estimate range is always 492-500.

edit- yes my LE is FWD

It looks like the AWD system only adds about 65 lbs.. wow

lol i can't believe my IS350 gets better range than your Rav4... even if i drive like a douche i still only get 13.5L/100km.. and under normal mix driving it does around 11L/100km and lowest i got was 7L/100km and that was 100% highway driving to Portland...

i wonder is it the way u drive or where u live ex: lots of hill areas, a lot of traffic lights or traffic jams... i still don't see how u can get 14.9L/100km from a Rav4

"234KM to 35L is about 14.9L/100KM" heck, my 5.5L v8 does better than that in "mixed highway and city driving"

+1 on your driving style being a factor

My 335i gets better gas mileage. hahaha. Doing the 91 highway run every commute, I get 11-12L/100KM. Right now with more traffic, I do 13.6L/100KM. But I still get more than 300km per tank.