Iugen

Yesterday I took it to the dealership and they replaced the thermostat. Apparently it had slower response on temperature variations. Obvious when cold outside it was more evident that was not working properly. Today I drove it to work and had no issues. Also I learned that the button on the console called ECONO when pushed ON will change the computer logic. When ECONO is on the computer will try to use more the batteries and less the gas engine. So in the winter and in special in slow traffic I will keep this switch OFF. I have to admit I was driving with the ECONO always ON to save even more on gas. I guess for winter if is really cold I have to take a small penalty on gas consumption. However, there is also a mention in the owner manual that when the cabin heat is ON the engine will run to maintain the temperature in cabin. Now, on my car probably it did but the engine is so quite can't hear it inside with the cabin ventilation running and no real RPM indicator on the dashboard. The problem was with the faulty thermostat keeping the engine always cold and blowing cold air inside which is fixed now. And talking about gas consumption. When I bought this car I traded in a 2004 Kia Sorento which has a 84 liters tank and I was doing about 430 km city/hwy between refills. On this 2013 Highlander Hybrid I have a 64 liter tank and I'm doing about 700 km city/hwy between refills. Same size engines V6 3.5l. It is just incredible. It is burning less gas then even my wife's VW Rabbit.

Hi everyone. Just got my new 2013 Highlander Hybrid and I have already one issue. Last week I was stuck in traffic for more then two hours. Outside temperature was just about freezing point. Moving very slow in traffic, the gas engine start cooling off as the electric motor was running most of the time. After a while I started feeling cold. The ventilator was blowing only cold air. No wonder why. The engine was too cold to provide any heat as it was not running most of the time. It took a long time till the batteries charge level got so low, the engine finally started. Is it there a computer logic where a demand for cabin heat automatically turn on the engine so it will warm up the car? Or maybe manually run the engine when need it. I'm am getting worry already if i will get stuck somewhere in a snow blizzard for many hours. I can't even keep the engine on idle to keep my family warm. Is this can be a big issue? Thanks,