Daytrip Desert Offroading Adventure in Hybrid ORP - Experience & Damage Report

[Jpr18]

Decided to head out to BLM land in San Diego County / Imperial County to get some dirt on my Everest ORP. I am a very novice offroader -- I'm very familiar with the desert, but my previous vehicle was AWD and not high clearance, so driving a proper 4x4 offroad out here is new to me. Places where I expect to scrape or get jolted from a big rock are drama free now!

Damage includes scrapes to the front air dam (and inexplicably, a lost bolt that holds the corner in place) and some light scratches on the mirror caps. I also may be imagining this, but on washboard roads I feel like I'm hearing and feeling some sort of rattle near or on the steering system. Everything feels okay on pavement.

Didn't need to air down, never really lost traction. At one point I attempted an obstacle in just RWD and that was a no-go, but RWD pulled me through a couple of other dicey spots with only moderate wheelspin.

Crawl control and the off-road cameras were fantastic to have. I was solo, and had to pop out a few times to pick a line, but otherwise I just used the cameras as a spotter. Using crawl control made the toughest ascents and descents super easy. There is a big difference in camera system switching to off-road mode compared to the standard 360 cameras -- a lot less fisheye effect.

I averaged about 15 mpg on the off-roading part, with about 30 miles of highway driving at each end to/from the gas station.

 

[anorphirith]

i was hoping the hybrid would get better than 15mpg on the trails

 

[LLL1990]

Toyota has said many times that hybrids in trucks is for power not fuel efficiency. Meaning you get the same fuel efficiency as the non hybrid but more power.