Fuel Economy Change With PDA?

[Franko Manini]

I’m just on my second tank of fuel through my Trailhunter. On the first tank, I got about 12.5 L/100km (18.8mpg). On my second tank 8 got 13.7 L/100km (17.2mpg). I’ve been driving the same routes, and 8ve been keeping it chill during the break in period.

I know it’s not a huge difference, but I think it’s caused by enabling the Proactive Driving Assist, which I did when I filled up. It brakes early and pretty often. I’ve noticed it slowing me down at times where I would just coast through a situation.

What do you think?

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[Bravada]

I can believe it, it drove me mad on a test drive till I figured out what it was doing.

 

[MT-Taco]

Great feature? But definitely tanks the mpg’s! Surprised it wasn’t worse!

 

[Gurvy522]

I would imagine on hybrids it's probably more useful as the slow application of the brakes mostly recharges the battery via regenerative braking.

I really like the feature on our PHEV NX. But I can see why it could negatively affect MPG on non-hybrid models.

 

[Ricky33]

I’m just on my second tank of fuel through my Trailhunter. On the first tank, I got about 12.5 L/100km (18.8mpg). On my second tank 8 got 13.7 L/100km (17.2mpg). I’ve been driving the same routes, and 8ve been keeping it chill during the break in period.

I know it’s not a huge difference, but I think it’s caused by enabling the Proactive Driving Assist, which I did when I filled up. It brakes early and pretty often. I’ve noticed it slowing me down at times where I would just coast through a situation.

What do you think?

I noticed the same with mine.

 

[js62pster]

I have a Tacoma SR5 and am averaging between 22 and 24 mpg after turning off all the auto driving features. I absolutely love this truck! Yes it makes a difference with it automatically braking. Before I turned the auto assist off I was at 18 mpg. Now I coast and can downshift to the stop signs.

 

[HoptownBob]

Yep, I tried the feature. Did not like how much it was breaking and turned it off and it will never be turned back on. You’ll go through brake pads in no time.

 

[kaliforniaman]

I noticed that the initial MPG calculation with 10 miles on the vehicle was substantially changed as it gained more miles (data) to average out. I went from 12 to 15 to 17 in the first couple hundred miles without the PDA or mode changes.

 

[EastonTaco]

I tried to live with the PDA function, but found the braking was too cautious and agree with Franco that the truck was braking when I would have just backed off of the gas pedal. I do like the overall features of the PDA, but turned off the Deceleration Assist (DA) and it will probably never come back on. As for milage, I have been making a daily 70 mile one way trip for a family matter on the same roads and same general road/traffic conditions so it was a perfect time for some milage tests. With Dynamic Radar Cruise Control on for the highway sections (Gen 4 TRD Sport) I was getting right at 20 MPG with it set at 80 but was really just going with the flow of traffic in the 70s and in regular driving mode. When I switched to Eco mode I got 22.5 MPG. On a 140 mile round trip, that is a savings of about 1 gallon. Does not sound like a lot but $3 per day X5 days, that's $15 in beer money per week.

 

[JustAnotherDingus]

I tried to live with the PDA function, but found the braking was too cautious and agree with Franco that the truck was braking when I would have just backed off of the gas pedal. I do like the overall features of the PDA, but turned off the Deceleration Assist (DA) and it will probably never come back on. As for milage, I have been making a daily 70 mile one way trip for a family matter on the same roads and same general road/traffic conditions so it was a perfect time for some milage tests. With Dynamic Radar Cruise Control on for the highway sections (Gen 4 TRD Sport) I was getting right at 20 MPG with it set at 80 but was really just going with the flow of traffic in the 70s and in regular driving mode. When I switched to Eco mode I got 22.5 MPG. On a 140 mile round trip, that is a savings of about 1 gallon. Does not sound like a lot but $3 per day X5 days, that's $15 in beer money per week.

Is the deceleration assist inside the big ol iPad menu? I’m going to poke around and investigate this tomorrow for sure. Still adjusting to where all the dang buttons are in this thing ~ ten year tech leap for me lol.

 

[EastonTaco]

LOL, yes tech leap for me too. The PDA settings are reached by going to settings from the steering wheel menu options button and not the large screen. You’ll see the settings where the speedometer is. Once in settings you need to go to PDA then hold the settings button down and the PDA additional settings comes up. Here you can toggle off the DA function. Bit confusing to find but once you do it’s easy to access.

 

[JustAnotherDingus]

LOL, yes tech leap for me too. The PDA settings are reached by going to settings from the steering wheel menu options button and not the large screen. You’ll see the settings where the speedometer is. Once in settings you need to go to PDA then hold the settings button down and the PDA additional settings comes up. Here you can toggle off the DA function. Bit confusing to find but once you do it’s easy to access.

Sweet I’ll check this out when I next hop inside. Thank you! I’ve been doing pretty well on my first tank but my inner nerd wants to see the difference between this being on and off so I can figure out what works best for me! something tells me turning it off will fit my driving style better.

the tech is amazing but hot damn, it’s a lot to digest. It’s insane how complex vehicles have gotten since the 2010s. I made some inroads learning how Apple CarPlay works today but I can’t figure out how to press the alt routes to change my directions while using Google maps which is so easy to do on my phone. Maybe it’s a glitch. Maybe it’s user error. Prob the latter lol. I haven’t even dared to touch the adaptive cruise control yet though. Baby steps. I love having all these features but it’s gonna take a min to adjust to this spaceship for sure!

 

[EastonTaco]

I too have always liked my vehicles on the low tech side, I found some of the high tech stuff can be a distraction while driving, especially if my wife and I get into it because neither of us can get music playing!!! I think the Gen 4 Taco is a nice compromise between having some tech and not being too much. I have come to love the Adaptive Cruise control, it takes a bit to start to trust it will not run you under the big rig you are passing, but once you get comfortable it really is a great feature. I run back and forth between homes in PA and FL several times a year and can't wait to give it a try on a long trip. Good luck with the new ride.

 

[B-52 Gunner]

EastonTaco, Got mine at Koch 33 Toyota.

 

[Wags]

So what does PDA, SA, DA and OAA stand for and what does each do?

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