Toyota Yaris Self Charging Hybrid Review!!! 

"Self-charging" is an entirely fair and accurate description of the hybrid system, because that's literally how the system works in this case, and Toyota has never said it works in any other way. How else should it be labelled? People's ignorance about where energy comes from isn't Toyota's fault.

I can't see what your issue is with the term "self charging". All Toyota is saying is you don't plug this car in to charge it, hence it charges itself. They are stating a fact. What is the issue?

1.5 engine is good for a small car, and 0-100 is 10 sec not 11 sec. I have driven a yaris y20 and I think it works really well at city traffic and country roads without any problems. Yaris is also very cheap in gasoline costs why its hybrid of course.

I've had a Yaris since 2012 and never heard that confusing term 'self charging'. Probably some UK merchant's term. Toyota hybrids are very well engineered and frugal. They shouldn't suffer under misunderstandings caused by stupid marketing folks. Btw. the reason that NiMh batteries are used, is due to the high charge current (relative to the small capacity of the battery ) that is generated during braking.

I've had a Yaris Hybrid for nearly 18 months and I'm getting about 55mpg out of it and yes most of my trips are around town. It handles well and I love CVT, which I've had in cars before. If I do no more than poodle around then yes I get 70+ mpg but on a motorway 55 mpg is the limit. This is my second Yaris, the other one was diesel and the mpg was about the same so, this one running on petrol, is cheaper to run. It's comfortable on long runs and it's quiet.

I would rather say that Self Charging Hybrid is used to clearify that it's NOT a plug-in. You don't have to charge it, as it charges itself.. Yes, using the petrol engine, but also regen from braking. Which for many people can be a great option to plug-in, as they don't have to think about charging. And a great option to EV, for those who don't wanna be limited to the shorter range of an EV at the same price, but also don't want to use as much on fuel as a regulare ice :)

"B" is for mountain driving as its stated in the manual, to avoid the breaks to overheat (also the cruise control doesn't work in "B").

Im confused?? This car is still highly reliant on petrol/diesel. Where and for what percentage does the electric part come in?

I've ordered the 1.5 petrol icon tech. what's the infotainment system like and also navigation? i've read it's a bit laggy

E/V mode is completely fatuous. I like its ease to drive, refinement around town, very relaxing as it's an automatic - very hard to get autos in this size. It kind of wafts. The CVT is fine. Motorways are a bit painful, but actually A-roads can get you up to 65+ mpg. Oh, and you know nothing will go wrong.

Nice vid. Surprised you are not getting more than 51mpg. My old Auris hybrid did 53mpg and my current 2018 prius does 65mpg. Gen 4 hybrid system is significantly better at keeping the drone in control under acceleration.

Excellent well balanced review, can’t argue with this, 8 years ago I got the then new gen Prius and it did 30mph and went 1 mile on pure EV, this seems a backward step?

A simple hybrid like this car is all about around town efficiency. Add a small electric motor and a small battery, and every time you slow for the lights, you take the energy normally wasted and save it in the battery, accelerate and the battery drives the motor briefly to add extra torque to move off the line. Reason it needs this torque is the petrol engine, while it sounds powerful at 1.5l, if it is an Atkinson cycle engine, it is really just over a liter. So a 1 liter engine at cruising speed for economy, an electric motor to help make it drive like a real 1.5l. A Atkinson cycle has an extended power stroke to make use of energy normal wasted out the exhaust. The extended stroke gives it the 1.5l capacity, but the intake stroke takes in as much air and petrol as a 1 liter. The "B" mode should be used if you are going down a long hill, and your batteries are already close to being fully charge. "B" mode turns on the IC engine and lets the engine help slow down the car without overusing your brakes and over-charging the batteries. Out of "B" mode the IC engine would be off and the car recuperating.

Is there a sensor that alerts once the oil goes below the minimum level?

Just come across your video, it's good honest opinions u both have. I have the icon trim for 2 years now. Absolutely agreed with CVT noise and non inspiring to drive. Not enough bhp for me. It also came with 175/65/15 tyres which is dreadful when cornering. I have upgraded to 185/60/15, it's better now, although I will put 195/60/15 on if I keep the car long enough. I got the car for work; efficient london city driving and small size is a must. It does 50mpg in winter and summer I get 60+mpg easily. I think it's because London city stop and start driving give it the best fuel mpg. If u drive in the countryside roads often and with hills, the mpg will be worse. So the Yaris hybrid does a very good job for what it is. Fuel efficient for being an auto with an ICE. Its not viable for me to get an electric due where I live, so the hybrid is the best option. If I had a convenient way of charging electric then the equivalent size of Zoe 135 will definitely be the one I would have instead of this Yaris. So for now this is a good in between car from ICE and electric. Once I go electric I will probably never want to return to these hybrids. Good honest contents guys!

I done the two day test drive and it was really good gear box seamless and that comes from someone who drives electric.

Cant believe some of the comments and the debate in the video! you don't have to plug it in so therefore is self charging.

Hi guys. I am a current owner of a Mazda CX-5. Unfortunately I am having engine troubles and it is time to change cars. I absolutely loved this car. I loved the size and ride and also the luggage space. I have seriously thought of just getting another one but I am also thinking of getting a hybrid. I was tempted with the new Toyota rav 4. I drive around 1200miles per month so fuel economy is important. I have off-street parking but would only be able to plug in on the weekends. My options were Toyota rav 4, Passat estate GTE. What would be your recommendations? I am looking for economy with comfortable interior.

To be honest, 51.8 mpg (which is 5.5 l/100km where I live) doesn't really seem all that impressive to me for a hybrid of this size. Recently I managed 5.4 l/100km in my 2006 Fiat Panda 1.2. Mostly I get a healthy 5.8 l/100km. So I wonder, is a hybrid really worth the higher price? Might it be possible to get similar economy figures with ICE city cars like a (lightweight!) Suzuki Swift or even a Mazda 2 when adopting an economical driving style?

The thing I always come back to is if there is a point to a hybrid that gets the same mileage as a GEO metro I had in the 1990s. That doesn't seem like an improvement at all and not worth the extra price.

How much more efficient this is car is relatively to the petrol yaris?

I own a Toyota Auris estate hybrid and love how it averages 66mpg between fill-ups and benefit from free VED as it is a 15 plate. The CVT gearbox used to bug me at first as I never really understood what it was or how it worked. I can now get it up to 70mph at a reasonable pace without making the engine sound overworked. I've never worried about the car's complex hybrid technology breaking as Toyota and broken very, very, very rarely go in the same sentence.

Some clarification if you don't mind,will the engine come on if you go over 20/30mph or so,and also ,do you need to be at a complete stop to switch it back & fourth to EV and other modes?

Brownie points for matching your outfit to the car !!

I had a loan Yaris, when my Avensis was in for a recall - fuel suction pump! I hated the revving when anything other than moderate acceleration. I think Toyota/Lexus did a great thing getting rid of diesel engines, thus helping reliability. Basically a stop gap to PHEV and full EV.

I'm 2016 Yaris Hybrid owner driven 14,000 miles and max 71 mpg and min 54 mpg avg all over the season. I have returned 58 mpg with 3 other adults from Greater London to Manchester. No road tax and no problem to drive motorway turned off eco mode. Simply nice and easy car.

We just purchased our first 'self charging' Yaris. I think the term is used now to distinguish between plug in and non-plugin hybrids. I see it as self charging because the petrol motor charges the battery without the need for additional power from an outlet. I dont see it as all that confusing or misleading but I feel thats probably because we are new to hybrids. If we had an existing car and suddenly the next model was branded 'self charging' without any clear change I would feel a bit misled too.

Quite well done. I’ve been running one for a year or so, and my main gripe about it is that the traction battery is a bit ‘small’ (capacity wise). On some downhill routes, it’s easy to end up with it being fully charged when using cruise control to maintain a steady speed downhill. The electric traction motor makes life easy - always starts briskly, no risk of ‘stalling’ the engine (it doesn’t need the engine to start the car), and no risk of rolling backwards on a rising gradient. Note that the spare tyre is a narrow ‘get you home’ high pressure one. Mine also has one, but I think they vary from market to market; some places might not have them. Wheel sizes vary a bit as well; mine is on the 16” set with Conti Premium tyres, but it’s possible to have a set which just comes under the congestion charge (based on CO2 emission test results) for those who want to avoid it (until they change the rules again). By comparison with my previous car, which was a diesel engined one, there’s not much in it re. fuel consumption overall, taking into account of the energy content and chemical structure of the two fuels. A bit less CO2 emission, and a lot less NOx. Good to see that you showed the location of the traction battery, but in the middle there is the petrol tank, and the standard 12V one is off to the right. The reversing camera is useful - but not much use after a journey under the rain etc, as the back collects a lot of ‘road muck’.

Has this car got parking sensors at the front?

Just found this episode! 4/4/19 Back in a second , just going to take my sarcasm pill!

3:40 wait, it took 0.8 mile to drain the battery?

Self charging hybrid is pure marketing rubbish. I have had several non plugin hybrids. They were all better than pure ICE but self charging... it’s just to confuse customer and try to steer them away from BEV.

Thought yous might of done something on the Mini Countryman PHEV

This self hybrid tech is basically the same as that found in the first-generation Prius from over 20 years ago.

Just got a yaris hybrid 2019. We live in Guernsey where max speed is 35 and we don't have off street parking so it is the best compromise for now! Guernsey doesnt have public rapid charging.

I like my Yaris hybrid but I'm frustrated how soon the quiet relaxing drive through town turns into a noisy unrefined experience pulling away from traffic lights or on a slight up-grade. A bigger electric motor would definitely help. As at March 2019, there are no second-hand EV's in my price range which will do my regular 280 mile journey without adding two hours charging to an already day-long journey.

Zoe's seats do now split 60/40, by the by :)

Nice colour. Thanks for the clear explanation and review. I don't see the benefit of a hybrid in this configuration now. I thought the EV motor gave a boost to performance and allowed them to fit a smaller, more economical petrol engine. But this seems to lack any performance and the economy is average at best. Maybe it's purely a town car, where it probably does outshine a non-hybrid with respect to emissions and fuel economy.

Smart review.

I own one and it's far from perfect. I cant have a full EV due to charging location issues and the range for the tech isn't there yet either. But show me another small auto , thats free to tax, costs about £30 to fill from empty and is relaxing to drive around town?

SCHEVs are a good intermediate step for some, but let's be honest about how they work. New Zoe (in dealers now) has split rear seat. Next Zoe to have CCS.

These cars are great....great for those that cant afford a Real ev nor have the ability to charge....or afford to charge.....the difference....you can afford a ev....afford chargers and charging....truly an big difference....nothing wrong with 60 mpg......if that's what you can afford...ty...not a bad vlog...

As far as I know, only Porsche make a true self-charging plug in Hybrid (phev). Not talking about brake re-gen but battery charging. On my 2016 Panamera (and the Cayenne), press the 'e-charge' button to charge the battery. It works best while cruising over 60, doesn't take too long, negligible increase in petrol consumption. Good to have full battery for plodding through urban roads & traffic. Best mileage estimate I've had was 18 miles, what you get depends on how you drive, temperature and elect useage. I regularly get 50+ mpg on short trips, it has 419 bhp combined from the V6 plus Electric motor, long term average is 34mpg and best of all NO ROAD TAX!! The new model has greater battery range but £450 pa road tax. What other phev can properly charge while driving, Audi perhaps?

Very good video. I'm not surprised the Yaris Hybrid will get reduced fuel economy on the motorway though. Still, it is much more economical and reliable than a Fiesta. I have a late 2012/2013 Toyota Auris Hybrid and I get over 70 to 84 UK mpg. Sometimes I even get 90 or over. I always use the pulse and glide technique, and I have a very light foot. I get over 500 miles, and I only have to fill up once per month. I think that's pretty damned good. Overall it's a fantastic car and way cheaper to run than a normal petrol or diesel car.

But you don't drive them in b mode unless you wish to restrict yours on steep hills

My 2014 1.2 petrol Suzuki swift gets a genuine 50 MPG . I would of expected a higher MPG from a small hybrid.

I am going to stick my head out and admit I just bought a self-charging Lexus...I could have afforded to buy EV, but wanted to keep my purchasing costs and time costs (more on that later) down. The car I really wanted initially was an I3, as this car will only be used around town. However after learning about the I3, with a larger battery, I then wanted one of those, which cost a lot more on the used market. I wanted to buy from BMW AUC to get a decent warranty and I wanted more than one year warranty, because of BMW's potentially horrific repair costs. The cost to extend the I3 warranty is 800-1000 a year! That pays for a lot of fuel. As a comparison, my 4yr old Lexus has a 3yr warranty, for a total cost of £250, which I probably won't even need. The Lexus is a stop-gap car, till more EVs are available. I'm well aware of the failings. However like James couldn't stand to put up with the CVT drivetrain, I couldn't stand to walk up to a 1st gen Leaf and get in it, or look at it on my drive. My motivation for a hybrid is previously my family were driving a large diesel estate, acceptable for long journeys but it really grated with me driving it around a populated city. Diesels just shouldn't be in cities, period, whether a small or large car. Our hybrid switches the engine off a lot in slow and stationery traffic, the kind with shoppers, dogs, school children walking alongside on the pavement. I feel a lot more happy than sitting spewing out diesel fumes. I'm also much keener to drive economically as it is more of a 'game' that you don't get to play in a normal ICE. Yes an EV would be a lot better but there just isn't the range of choice there is in hybrids, or the warranty (i3 vs Lexus), or the cabin quality (Leaf vs Lexus), or the convenience of petrol 'charging'. I say all that for a certain price point. Obviously if you have money to burn and can go lease or buy a Kona and wait for it to be delivered, fine, that's a good choice. Besides the questionable looks of a Leaf or I3, the charging aspect was a worry for me too. We would have to have an external charge point fitted, I'd have to nag the wife to remember to charge, either before or after she's wrangled our two young kids into the house. We'd have to plan any long journeys we needed to take more carefully. Trips out would become dominated by me thinking where to get a top-up or free charge. We'd basically need to spend more time thinking about fuelling the car than we do a hybrid and our time is worth a lot to us currently. This has become longer than I meant, probably as I'm justifying to myself why I didn't go EV yet. But I also think it's dangerous to bash on hybrids too much. They are ideal for city driving and the more people that buy used hybrids rather than used diesels, the better. Imagine if everyone in a diesel Landrover, X5, Q7 got in a RAV4 hybrid. They are only a stop-gap solution but we still have a way to go before EV is available to the masses.

There's nowt wrong with having a "fetishism" about the wipers Kate, when it hisses down, we all need them, wots the door mirrors like, headlights at night, how quiet is the heater fan, how good is the soundproofing, thickness of the glass, now THAT'S. A fetishism !!!!! Great video by the way, your SO much prettier than James 😃😃😃😃

I can't afford a decent EV so for me, this car is ideal. A second hand EV in my price range might need a new battery in a few years time, which negates the whole economy thing. Add in poor range and the usefulness of an EV drops considerably for me. As for the Zoe, the monthly cost of renting the battery is quite high and the range is short. Buying the battery pushes the purchase price too high. Most of my driving is urban with a stretch of 50 mph road so this yaris should do well, and for the occasions when I want to travel long distance, I can - and just accept the slightly poorer economy. Also, I want an automatic. There are very few affordable automatic cars. 🙂

22:45 How about If somebody lives in the city and drives less than the range of an EV car in their price range in a week, it's likely they are driving within the city, probably grocery shopping using the car at least once a week and there's now most likely a charging opportunity at that store that will fully recharge the car. The same now applies to most journeys around most cities. In that case, a BEV does the job.

The self charging hybrid tag has opened Toyota up to ridicule and done their brand no favours. We test drove this model and compared to the Kia Niro and Hyundai Ioniq it was disappointing. We ended up buying the Ioniq and it is quieter, better equipped and much more economical. Can't home or work charge (retired) and don't consider charging infrastructure adequate yet. Your review of the Yaris HYBRID ! was well balance and fair as always. The summing up at the end was excellent Kate and diplomatically put.

The only self charging device I know is the Watson magnet motor. The WMM charges the battery on the go. Electromagnetics not combustion.

What happens when they stop selling petrol thanks

I actually love the noise this hybrid makes. I think it sounds like a train. This car is perfect for me.

8 miles of range and you still have all the maintenance of the ICE - no thanks, I’m very happy with my. Bolt EV.

1997 to 2019 22 years and Toyota haven't really moved battery tech on?

The Volt (Ampere) is a hybrid as is the Mitsubishi Phev but the Toyota isn't much of anything really. My diesel Skoda does similar fuel consumption. PS I would love an EV but can't afford one.

If only they'd delete the petrol engine and CVT, and just make an EV instead. The new Zoe now has a split rear seat.

Surprised to hear you're not getting better MPG. My wife is comfortably getting over 65 and achieved 74 on one journey. Much better than the 40mpg she achieved in her previous car (a 2009 petrol Clio). She loves it! I think she has mastered the driving style required though. Accelerate up to speed, lift off completely, then gently apply more power to maintain the speed. It should then stay in EV mode.

Please show me tell me inside the car

I definitely wouldn't say useable capacity is 2.4kWh or that it has 8 miles range. I think that's unheard of. Also, a rule of thumb to calculate hybrid power outputs it just add the engine hp with the battery hp. So the 1.5l's 75hp + the NiMH battery's 25hp = ~100hp depending on speed, soc, temperature, weight and weather.

I am looking at buying one of these, I have looked at fully electric but I don't have access to off road parking and the infrastructure in the area where I live is, one in the town where I live, one in the next town up, and that's all between home and work, there is the motorway service area but that's even more expensive, I drive 30 miles each way to and from work, I drive a Smart diesel as my everyday car as it acheives 85-90mpg and it's covered over 150000 miles in my 13 years of ownership, the Yaris will be the load carrier/people carrier when I visit the family who don't drive. I would like to be as environmentally friendly as possible, this is the only possible answer to being clean. As far as sat nav and technology goes, I'm old, I don't understand any of that, as someone who still uses a Nokia phone, technology is not my strong point. My sat nav is a map that I carry in the car not a screen

As you say, it's just a hybrid. NimH cells are just not the best tech, and generator charged from the petrol engine is not at all green. Just call it a Hybrid.

Great review, I looked at one 16 months ago and was not impressed at all, now I had a been driving a Yaris for12yrs, I was getting 40 to 45 miles to the gallon. After taking the Hybrid for a test drive the salesman said after getting his phone out you have done 45mpg, 50% petrol and 50% electric. I had been referred by a friend who has the hybrid and was pleased with it Now my Yaris I have to say was a brilliant car for maintenance free driving but was getting long in the tooth. Next door is Nissan we have a Qashqai so popped in to say hello, I had no knowledge of electric cars, the sales manager at Nissan took me out in his Leaf and I was sold, bought his Demo Leaf 2017 Tekna 30kWh and never been happier. In answer to your question £45.00 of petrol I will get 1,800 miles on that amount from my leaf. Also I paid near enough to the same price as the Yaris Hybrid. Now after driving the Leaf I really can not see the point of wasting money on petrol, so far I’ve saved £1,200 after taking out my electricity costs. And I feel a bit righteous that I’m not polluting the planet.

Well done as ever. I just wish Toyota would stop this nonsense. Agree with James re CVT and handling.

Thanks for being frank & Honest and let’s hope Toyota has it day in court. Fooling people

I took this out for test drive with my grandmother as you was considering one on motorbility. She originally wanted the all electric Smart ForFour. But sadly this now has a £1500 customer deposit. 😦 I do agree the Yaris offers great internal space for it’s overall size. Just wish Toyota would just make a full electric version of this car to compete with the likes of the fantastic ZOE.

Great video as always folks. Our Izzy Wizzy Ioniq EV for £45 at 1.3p per mile average will cover 3,500 miles. Nice try Toyota. It's just a petrol car basically. Eventually the masses will cotton on to what's going on.

NICKEL METAL CELLS KEEP COST DOWN, WHEN BEING REPAIRED OR REPLACED COST HALF TO 60% OF PRIUS CAMRY LITHIUM BATTERY. EVERYTHING SHOULD COST LESS ITS A YARIS.

Uh what about the brakes?

Good review. Toyota is feeling the burn. They have not used the term "self charging" in the past that i can remember. It is simply an attempt at trying to persuade customers with their eyes on Electric Vehicles to look at the toyota. With the price and efficency, they will sway lots of customers i am sure.

The self charging comes from regen braking, when you first touch the brakes the mechanical brakes are not applied but energy is passed to the battery from the motor which is directly connected to the wheels. Don't get me wrong the term self charging gets my back up too. After all people still think that the earth is flat so it's not a great stretch of the imagination the some people will get the idea that you can leave it out over night and the next morning you ill have a full battery. We have a Yaris and a Lexus both hybrid so I am a fan but would love an EV but the deal on the new Yaris was too good to miss and I can't afford a model X to tow my caravan. Using B to slow down DOES NOT give you a lot more regen but engages the engine to brake as you said. To get max regen just feather the brakes to get the power dial to it's lowest setting. PS I never drive ours in B mode.

Wow, so this hybrid works using fairy dust!!! Outstanding! Good job Toyota!

Self-charging? You mean I can just leave it outside and it will be full in the morning? That's nifty! I need to plug in my Ioniq.

If you lived at the top of a hill and rolled down, would that be self charging? Haha and then saved EV mode for the ride back up? Annoys people when I pronounce PHEVs 'PEVS' too

I had one as a hire car in Norway. You managed to get more ev range than I did 😂

Wait, so Toyota's most efficient hybrid car - possibly the most efficient petrol car on the road - still costs 3 times as much to fuel as my Zoe? I'll stick with full electric, ta.

If the battery in this Yaris is really so feeble, I wonder why its government economy figures are so superior to the standard 1.5. According to the What Car? Tables, the most efficient 1.5vVVTi manages 55.4 mpg, and the best hybrid does 76.3mpg. That's an improvement of 37.7 percent. Of course the hybrid has the CCTV box and an Atkinson cycle engine. But whichever component is making the difference, I'd suggest this Toyota drivetrain has more depth of expertise than you are giving it credit for. And remember how disappointing is the real world economy of most rivals with their small capacity turbos built with economy tests in mind.

It's a lot better than diseasel

A bit disappointed it isn’t self-reviewing...

But it is not intended to sit there with the engine running and wait for the battery to charge before driving. You just drive off straight away. The battery charges at the same time and also while slowing down or going downhill. That is when it “self charges”

Total confusion! Oil companies will love Toyota! just makes my brain overload with all the in &outs of these cars and I watch quite few ev car videos on RU-vid

Sorry don't see the problem. Charges itself slowing down or uses its very own petrol engine to charge itself. You don't plug it in therefore it must charge itself!

My 3.0 litre diesel gets better fuel economy?

Self-charging ? Aren't all hybrids this ?

Self charging simply mean you don't need to plug an external power supply in to the car to charge it....so it's not a lie or a gimmick its true....facts

Sorry guys love the channel so don't take this personally. Hybrids are utterly pointless being decades old yes 1992 they was introduced prior to stop start technology we have today means they are obsolete like you clearly show upto around 8mph and less than 7 miles (best case scenario) again shows them up to being a technology that should have been phased out in the early 2000s. Ps I used to be a huge Toyota fan owned four of their vehicles over the years but they need to stop this advertising rubbish every day I educate people on bevs and I'd never recommend a hybrid or phev for that matter over ice they are way too expensive compared to standard ice vehicles in fact I state this on my own channel very early on. Cheers guys

Self charging from the regenerative brakes, that’s all.

If you don’t ever need to plug it in it’s self charging it’s own battery. If your going to put yourself into a public domain at least know what your talking about. If you understood how cvt works you’d know it’s able to hold top rev’s therefore ideal acceleration.

My 320d is self charging. It does 65mpg and is 9 years old.

What I really hate about CVT, is unnecessary revving. It's CVT! I know there are no gears, why do I need this gearchange emulation?! To be honest, if I needed to save some money when EV is not an option (due charging availability for example), I would just go with petrol and convert it to LPG.

I have a friend who owns one and she gets over 70 mpg in the summer (less in the winter). I find the self charging marketing speak really annoying, I find it difficult to see how they are allowed to say it. To me self charging would imply it somehow doesn't need fuel. On another channel it was pointed out that any EV could make the same claim because of the regen. I will from now on tell my friends my Zoe is self-charging. Either that or Toyota have made a perpetual motion machine.

EV news daily signs off with "there is no such thing as a self charging hybrid" I don't know why Toyota use the term. The only reason I have heard of that I think sounds anything reasonable 8s that they wanted a term that was different from a plug in hybrid. I hope that is a marketing term that means something else in Japanese and this is the closest translation.

Cynical marketing by Toyota but on hybrids more generally there is an air quality thing in towns. You always get stop start whereas, in the winter, my Honda Jazz rarely engages its auto idle stop so, at junctions, you are belching out fumes. The hybrid does stop and takes off, even for a short time, in EV mode which all helps pollution at pavement level. The mpg over the time Kate has had it is nothing great. I can get that in my Jazz. I think the conclusions you reach are spot on - go EV if you can.

Good job guys, as always. Totally agree with this self charging nonsense. Take Toyota to task on it. With what’s on the market today from a BEV and PHEV perspective, I really don’t agree that this (or almost any Hybrid) is a good intermediate/stop gap vehicle anymore. Maybe in a few exceptions (like the mini-van or light truck space) Hybrids still have some use. However I feel that the best step to take for anyone wanting to truly impact Climate Change/Air Quality is at a minimum moving to a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle. Most of them give way more pure-EV mode range and for many, that can be enough for daily use. Like the Volt, Outlander or SC90 PHEVs as examples, they can offer up to 80kms or so of zero-emission range. Compound this with an engine that acts only as a generator to continuously charge the battery once the charge is depleted, this solution can overcome any range anxiety issues while offering lower CO2 emissions than any Hybrid-only. In this Toyota example, the motor was on the vast majority of the time and really this only impacts fuel economy and a very slight reduction in CO2 emissions, which is a common trait of Hybrids. At least PHEVs offer a good mix to quantifiably lower C02 emissions versus a standard Hybrid. Obviously, the best way to make the greatest impact is going to true Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), nothing with an internal combustion engine on board. As long as your local power grid is relatively clean, the emission reductions are much more impactful. Couple that with much lower operating costs and BEVs make a great choice. However realistically, we are not yet there with choice and infrastructure to fully immerse more potential BEV owners. I think from a Range perspective, we are pretty well there as the new standard seems to be 220-300 miles on a full charge, which for many many folks is good enough for a day’s use. However, we just now need more models and choice at various price points (lower) in order to really accelerate EV adoption. Agree with your findings guys for the most part and as always, thanks for taking the time to shine the light on this vehicle and really hone in on the self charging claim. Poor Toyota is just not getting with the program and they are going to be left loosing many sales in the upcoming years if they don’t change their plans.

51.8 Mpg is poor. I use to get 48 Mpg in my ford focus mk2 1.8 tdci driving at speed.

Steering wheel is on the wrong side and it's an automatic transmission....

0 to 60 nissan leaf is less then 10 secs

I'm only going to comment on this "self-charging" debacle once, the whole thing is aimed at the majority of the general public who still don't get how it works, and they don't want to know to be honest as they are to busy watching tv and dithering about on social media playing with emoji's..Nuff said..

I this it would be better if it was a plug-in.