Owners Reveal Their “Real-World” Toyota RAV4 Hybrid MPG – Shocking

We bought our 2021 RAV4 XLE Hybrid in July '21. We were happy with our mileage of 42 on our first fill up. We had 41 in Aug and 40 in Sep. As the weather got colder (Upstate NY near Lake Ontario) the mpg declined to a low in Dec of 26. Admittedly we remote started it a couple of times. Jan, Feb and Mar was 34-35. So far in Apr we're up to 37. Our conclusion: Batteries don't like cold weather plus bringing the engine temp up uses fuel. We're looking for increases for the next 4 months!

I seem to be getting anywhere from 32-40mpg. It averages at 35-36. Mileage results seem to depend on how full the tank is. That is, when the mileage seems better in the first 1/4 and last 1/4 of the tank. I suspect the algorithm that calculates gas consumption uses the gas gauge, which is a float inside the tank, and that the float does not do a consistent job measuring gas consumption.

I had a 2020 RAV4 Hybrid that just got totaled in an accident. I used Gas Buddy to track my gas mileage for the entire 2 years I had the car. I see mileage vary quite a bit between summer and winter as I live up in NH. I commute into Mass, so I drive about a 50/50 mix of local and highway driving and drive about 350 miles a week. In the summer, mileage runs 40-44mpg. In the winter, it runs about 34-37mpg. I have been very impressed. Unfortunately, as noted, it was totaled. Vehicle availability is very poor. After weeks with a rental car and no RAV4 hybrids anywhere, I finally broke down and found a 2022 Honda CRV Hybrid. So far after 2 fillups, it has averaged about 32mpg for that same drive. Rather disappointing. Wish I had held out longer for a RAV4.

I have a 2019 Rav4 xle hybrid. We live in northern CA and don't have any extreme weather. I started out with 40-41 mpg, but after each oil change I've noticed my mileage dropping about 0.5 mpg. I'm now lucky to get 35-36 mpg. The car has 35k miles on it, and I've kept up with the dealer servicing.

We took ownership of a new 2022 RaV 4 XLE in early April. We now have just under 1300 miles on the car and our computer fuel mileage is showing 44.6 mpg. We use the Eco setting and Eco mode when the software allows, good for up to 20mph for about a mile.
This is city stop sign to stop sign driving and some rural driving under 60 mph....In colder weather expect less mpg We plan of 5000 mile oil changes.
I don't understand people saying their mileage goes down after a few oil changes? A break in period should garner better MPG figures?

I am wondering how accurate the computer fuel mileage display is on the RAV4. It was very accurate on my JCWhitney add on computer in the early 1980's. My 2000 Chevy Impala display was a bunch of junk, not accurate at all. My 2012 Honda CRV is pretty much right on, within a few tenths off at most. My 2020 Subaru Forester reads 1.5 to 3.0 mpg high. The only way to truly know one's mpg is to divide the trip mileage by the gallons added. Is the RAV4 display to be trusted?

I purchased a 2022 XLE Premium Hybrid a month ago and now have close to 800 miles. Mostly country driving but some highway. I keep to the speed limits. I am shocked that I now am showing 49.3 mpg cumulativly. I expected 40.

I took delivery of my 2021 Rav4 XLE Hybrid in early December 2021 after trading up from a standard 2018 XLE that got 29MPG. At first I was underwhelmed by the Hybrid, as through the winter months it first spiked at 37.5MPG in the "warm" part of early December, and then the cummulative average declined down to 35.8 by March (I live in the rural outskirts of Chicago).

However, as Temps warmed in March through April it gradually crept back up to 37.5 mpg running average. Since May 1 though, it's rapidly going up (about 0.1mpg every 300 miles or so), and is now at 39.1, even with the vehicle now at over 13,000 miles in six months (which one would expect to weigh down a rapid rise in the running average). I've never reset the average mpg meter, so am astonished by how quickly the average is rising. For those who remember math, it would seem I should be hitting an asymptote, but instead it appears milage is continuing to improve as summer Temps warm up.

If I were more carefully tracking milage week over week, I could do the math and get a defensible estimate. Without that, it's just an educated guess, but over flat Illinois roads, averaging 45mph, and only a few stops each way on my daily commute, in warm Temps (even with moderate use of the a/c) I wouldn't be surprised if this vehicle tops out and hits an asymptote around 43mpg hwy by October. Basically, I drive ~80-90 miles per day, and fill once every six days, which works out to about two gallons of gas per day. With current prices, I'm glad I was able to trade up in December, but would really like to see how it performs under true "city" conditions (Prius-like around 50?).

Update. As the warmer weather has come upon us our new Rav 4 is now showing a 45.5 mpg average on the computer, with 1850 miles on the vehicle.
By dividing gallons used in to miles driven we have noticed a difference from station to station on when the pump clicks off?
However in using the gallons used method we have had as high has 52mpg?
Always drove Chrysler products for years. Stilantis only sells their Hybrid Jeep Renegade in the U,K? Follow the money trail i guess?

I want to cry. I spent three hours yesterday getting my last free oil change/tire rotation for my 2020 Toyota Rav4 Hybrid at the Toyota dealership where I bought the SUV. Previously I was getting about 38 to 39 MPG. Since leaving there I reset my MPG setting and not I'm getting 27 or 28 MPG. I don't understand it at all. I called the dealership and they said I must be using the throttle more. My driving didn't change yesterday. My driving habits are exactly the same. I'm not sure what to do with gas being so expensive. Any ideas? Thanks.

2022 Rav4 Hybrid limited and I get about 45 mpg in the summer - no winter driving yet , we live on 6500ft altitude so it is up and down hills here mixed driving with mainly city and some highway stretches on stock tires and AC and ventilated seats blowing - eco mode .. with the engine not fully broken in under 1000 miles ... very happy

I have a 2021 rav4 hybrid and I get around 35 avg my big disappointment is this vehicle is not good for long trips on the interstate it will kill your gas mileage the other thing I've notice is if it's below like 50f degrees outside I get like 30 mpg and the colder it gets the worse it gets I was getting 25mpg in the middle of winter My other issue is with the gas tank it has a 14.5 gallon tank but when the gas light turns on and the dte is 0 you still have 4.5 gallons left in the tank and the lack of help from the dealership

Bought a RAV4 Hybrid Limited in Anchorage, Alaska. Car is in garage when parked home. Mostly in town driving.
Tank capacity about 11 gallon. Winter: 28 mpg. Summer 32.6 max mpg.
Fuel diagnostics was done in Feb. software was updated. Last month fuel tank was replaced.
No improvement in fuel capacity nor efficiency.
I would welcome any suggestions!
Thank you, KS

Numbers are worthless unless people state how they computed the mpg. If you use the mpg readout it’s a no-go as they’re inaccurate. To get the most accurate reading you must fill up the tank “cold to cold” meaning fill when the car hasn’t been driven for 10 -24 hrs, then drive it, then let it sit overnight and then refill. THEN divide miles driven by gallons required to refill it. That way there’s no room for error. Many cars send excess gas not used by the injectors back to the tank which then heats the gas in the tank and expands it slightly. Filling up after a long trip on a hot day or after returned fuel has expanded the gas means you haven’t accounted for all the gas used because expanding hot liquid has made it appear you used less gas than you actually did.

All you people…stop with the mpg readings! Unless you checked it from a cold fill up to another cold fill up, it doesn’t count. MPG gauges are worthless…….

I purchased a 22 RAV4 Hybrid LE in June, now have 7600 miles on it. I have a 43 mile commute each way (about a third highway, two-thirds rural) and my average according to the trip computer is 44.8 MPG. All summer I averaged 46/47 MPG, now that it’s cooler outside I’m getting about 42. I could not be more happy with the gas mileage, my 2016 RAV4 Hybrid got about 32 MPG. Hopefully these numbers keep up.

Have new 2023 RAV4 hybrid. This is our 4th hybrid. All have been excellent. Have hybrid Highlander on order. The RAV4 returned 44+ and 46+ MPG on the first 2 fill ups. Curiously the in car computer reads about 2 MPG lower where in previous cars it was usually 2 MPG higher. Add in zero reliabilty issues on our previous cars and it will be a long time before an electric car is in our garage. The Tesla quality and reliability issues are frightening. If/when Toyota builds an electric, maybe. It's a pleasure to take a road trip where you don't have to drive and charge, repeat. Life is too short for that nonsense.

I bought a new 2021 XSE. I got 44 mpg on my first tank. (Miles driven/gallons filled. I don't trust the mileage gauge.) Then I got 41. Then 38. Now in Seattle "winter" I get about 32, and maybe 37 in the summers. Mostly city driving. Disappointing.

Also, my entertainment system stopped working properly the first week: I can get text and phone calls, but it won't play music from my Android. Dealer couldn't fix it. No big deal, but not cool.

We have a 2021 Hybrid RAV4 XLE with
18k. Getting 35-45, depending on weather, and who’s driving, me or my Wife.

I purchased a used '21 Rav hybrid in Louisiana, the summer of 2023. It only had 8K miles on it. I wondered why and I think I know. In the awful heat of this last summer, I saw the in-town mileage drop to as low as 22mpg. I could cool down the car and drive a while, with a high eco score, and still only get in the 20's. Forward to the polar freeze we had a couple of weeks ago: awful, in the high 20's -low 30's. Even with moderating temps in the 40's and 50's, this hybrid was awful. So I've realized the engine has absolute no tolerances. Of course I took it to the dealership, still under original warranty, in September, but no codes were thrown and I was being blamed for poor driving--even though I showed the videos of high driving scores and low mpg. I will be making the complaint to Toyota HQ with this. But, I don't expect to keep this vehicle; I had no intention of spending that much on a hybrid and getting worse mileage than a regular gas engine.