Aloha all,
We recently purchased a 2025 Crown Signia XLE in Bronze Age color and I gotta say I've super impressed. It's the first hybrid car we've had. Initially I was leaning to the Mazda CX5 but when the Signia came out I just liked it near-Lexus level luxury and especially how it's more station wagon than SUV (i really dig how it looks).
One comment as Scotty did a review of the Crown Sedan...the Signia can not go 50+ miles in EV mode, it's got the same limits as the Crown sedan (can only get to like 20/25MPH before EV mode turns off etc... it's a rather pointless "EV Mode" tbh)
I'm currently getting 38.6MPG which is pretty impressive given the size of the car.
I do want to do maintenance myself, so other than oil changes and, i suppose, checking other fluid levels like the coolant systems (I think it has 2, one for the battery) is there anything else important given it's a hybrid.
I WIL NOT deal w/ the battery system itself, as I don't want to die lol. So for that side of things, I'll defer to a garage.
But anyways, yeah...what other things besides oil changes, typical fluids checks, need to be done/could be done safely for maintenance at home? And any other hybrid owners, any tips/tricks to help keep things running well, etc?
Thanks!
Keep the air filter for the hybrid battery clean so the battery doesn't overheat. Clean the battery air filter at least once a year during oil changes. It's actually recommended to run the air conditioner when it's hot outside because it helps cool the hybrid battery. Cold air from inside the car is used to cool the battery.
Page 451 in the owners manual. https://assets.sia.toyota.com/publications/en/om-s/OM30J82U/pdf/OM30J82U.pdf
The owners manual also shows the proper jack points for the vehicle which is extremely useful to know. Pages 423-424.
Toyota maintenance chart interestingly recommends "Add EFI Tank Additive(1) (Island use only)" every 5,000 miles for island driving. I wonder why? Page 38 in the Warranty and Maintenance Guide. https://assets.sia.toyota.com/publications/en/omms-s/T-MMS-25CrownSignia/pdf/T-MMS-25CrownSignia.pdf Another interesting thing I read in the owners manual is Toyota recommends Top Tier gasoline, which is gasoline with additives at higher levels than the minimum EPA requirements. I thought Top Tier gasoline was only available in Premium 93 octane, but it's in all the octanes including Regular 87 octane at gastations selling Top Tier fuel. It sounds like the additives help keep fuel injectors clean. https://www.toptiergas.com/
@oskool That is a nice catch on the EFI tank additive - as I live in Hawaii. A little googling got me this: "Toyota recommends adding an EFI Tank Additive specifically in island locations like Hawaii and Puerto Rico because the fuel quality in those areas can be lower, often lacking the necessary detergents found in "top tier" gasoline on the mainland"
However looks like I've got top tier all around my area on Oahu - possible one of the other islands it might not be as true. Probably doesn't hurt at 5000 to throw in a little EFI tank additive!
@adamant0720 Interesting, thanks for sharing! Now that I know about Top Tier gas stations I'm going to start using it in my vehicle as well. The fuel price between Top Tier and non Top Tier gas stations is the same in my area.