My 4runner is so bad on MPG

OP, don't you have a hookup for cheap gas?

I figured with your listed first name you'd get like the OPEC discount!

 

Ah Slick 50. That was the product 20 years ago. The FTC called them on their bullshit marketing though:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/pre...slick-50-are-false-and-misleading-ftc-charges

Surprisingly, it's apparently still made. I thought they went under.

 

I avg 16-17 all city driving but have gotten 20-21mpg on highway trips.

 

Hi all, just joined. I have a new 2020 Limited and a 2003 Limited V8. Big big difference. My 03 gets average 19 on premium. The 20 is only a week old and Im seeing about the same but using reg. gas. The 20 seems very sluggish and heavy. The dealer had 55 psi in the tires, I lowered to the factory recommendation. MPG will get better as time goes on...... but not by much.

 

Welcome to the forum!

The V8 4runners were awesome! The new ones are heavier than your '03. Plus, you lost about 50 lb/ft of torque. So, you're definitely not imagining it. But, if you really punch it, the 4.0 actually moves the brick pretty well once you get into the higher RPM's.

 

You guys are lucky, I average 12.7mpg according to the dash. But I live in the north east, we have winter gas here. I live about 2 miles from my job, and there is 7 stop lights on my way to work. When its cold out, it idles in the driveway longer then the drive into work, just to worm up. We do a lot of driving in the summer for my sons baseball, with summer gas and longer trips I'm hoping to see some better mileage.

 

Never purchase a 4Runner expecting good fuel economy. Especially in an environment such as Dallas-Fort Worth. The traffic there is nuts. Never fear, you can always wait to get a Tesla Cyber Truck!

 

Most of the time I am driving in Highway. So I am getting good MPG by following that common rules ,lower your RPM and don't over speed.

 

16.8mpg here. Just enjoy it, and take it a little easier on the throttle. It's got a 4.0 liter engine, and a 5 speed gear box, what did you expect? The people who post more than 20mpg aren't driving in city traffic. They're cruising along the highway at 50mph. Set your expectations accordingly, and it'll put a smile on your face.

 

That’s what I’m doing. I’ll keep the 4 Runner, though, for those times I need an ICE vehicle. I can hardly wait not to buy gas. Electric vehicles are a no brainer for me, now that the range is getting up there, and the charging opportunities have increased.
But in answer to the thread, I get 13.1 litres/100 km, which in American is 17.95 mpg. I don’t do anything fancy, or drive like a little old lady. I drive hard when I need to and take it easy when there’s no rush. I live in a small town outside of Toronto, Canada, in a snow belt and we have a long winter with lots of snow and slush. Hey, it’s only money, right?

 

At an EV charging station, is it free to use?

 

I average about 18.5 to 19 in my 2019 TRDP with the stock Nitto TG 265/70 SL tires, but that's about to go down for sure with the new 275/70 WP C-loads I just got that are about 15lbs per tire heavier. I should know in a few days how much worse it's gonna be, but I suspect it'll definitely be a noticeable difference...

 

I’ve got a 2019 ORP. I commute to work on jammed SoCal freeways. I average 20-21.

The ECO light is your friend. Consider it bio-feedback to help retrain your right foot. The ECO bar next to the eco light is a rough analogue to the old vacuum gauge
peter2772000 was talking about only it reads backwards from a vacuum gauge (short bar = less power, more MPG, long bar = more power, less MPG. Conservation of energy. Try to minimize going directly from gas to brake. Leave a lot of following distance between you and the car ahead of you (especially at slower speeds). When they start stopping, let your foot off the gas and coast. Use your brake enough to adjust your following distance as things get slower. Accelerating a 4800 lb vehicle from 0 to 45 takes more energy than accelerating the same vehicle from 20 to 45. Any residual forward motion you can conserve will be $ in your pocket since you will be avoiding acceleration.

Contrary to popular belief, premium fuel does not have more power in it. It actually makes the gas more difficult to ignite in the cylinder. In high compression, high performance engines (which the 4R does not have), the heat of compression can cause the lower octane fuel/air mixture to pre-ignite (pre-detonation or “pinging”) which effectively reduces the power output because portions of the mixture near “hot spots” in the cylinder are detonating while the piston is still in the compression stroke. Higher octane fuel prevents the pre-detonation so the entire charge of mixture is detonated by the spark plug at the proper time. At 5000’+ altitude, the thinner air effectively eliminates pre-detonation so premium fuel has no real benefit even for high compression engines (from experience growing up with my dad’s 1966 Chevy Belair with a 327ci engine).

Ethanol added to gasoline actually has less energy per gallon than gasoline. The higher the ethanol content, the worse the MPG.

If possible, get your fuel in the morning rather than later in the day. Gasoline expands considerably as it warms. Cool gasoline has more energy per gallon than warm gasoline. Read the label on the pump.

Aerodynamic drag increases exponentially with speed (and we all know a 4Runner has the aerodynamics of a barn door). Traveling at 70 mph is almost 10% less efficient than traveling at 65 mph.
https://www.mpgforspeed.com/

Run your tires at the pressure recommended by Toyota (found on the driver side door post). The pressure printed on the tire is the pressure needed for the tire to support its maximum load. Too soft and MPG suffers and causes more wear on the outside and inside 25% of the tread. High pressure improves MPG, but causes premature wear in the center 50% of the tread, and provides less traction because the inside and outside 25% of the the tread have reduced contact with the pavement.

Bottom line, we bought SUVs with phenomenal off-road prowess which comes at a price in MPG. If you wanted good MPG and some kind of 4wd capability, you may be able to find a used Suzuki Samurai somewhere.

 

I used 93 octane 3 times when new .. no change in the MPG ................
BUT IT DID HAVE A BIT MORE POWER WHEN , PEDAL TO THE METAL..

 

THE reason these do drop MPG is , this is not a design that reduces wind resistance.. driving into a 40MPH wind my MPG drops down to 15 MPG speed 60 MPH .. if the wind is blowing 40 MPH up the runners aZZ .. I can get 25 MPG..
I put 38 PSI in the tires . stock.. the older runners do have a better design that reduces wind resistance.
my 96 Impala gets 25 MPG driving 70 MPH .. 4300lbs weight. but has a great aerodynamic design .
I can drive it 120 MPH and drives like the runner @80 MPH ..
I would buy another 96 Impala because it is still running strong .. bought it in nov1995.. GM stopped making these in dec 1996 ... full sized sedans today are small ,,, like a camry ... that is why many buy SUV'S ..
45% of the people in the USA are obese ... LOL...

 

Haha, nothing is free, alittleoff, as we all know. But a lot less than gas.

 

some are free , most do cost some amount .
I was down in florida and the hotel I stayed at , manager said you can charge it for free.. outside outlets ..
my town in massachusetts has a free charging station at the town hall.
less cost /mile much less cost EV .. batteries last about 80-100K miles then $10K for battery replacing .
also no oil changes ..
big problem with EV cold temps on battery not a good day .. Florida EV works very good.

 

As long as I can feed & care for my vehicles, I will remain E/V free.
Thanks for your responses.

 

It reminds me of the turn of the 20th century, when personal transportation technology was basically a horse. It must have been hard for all those horse guys to accept an internal combustion engine in a horseless buggy. My grandfather was one of those guys, he was still farming with horses in New Brunswick, Canada in the mid fifties when I was a small boy. Electric vehicles will replace ICE vehicles, it’s inevitable and necessary. I just go with it. The Cybertruck will be a really cool capable vehicle, the way I see it. Bring it on!
Actually, there’s no need for Toyota to take a back seat in this evolution. With their experience building electric vehicles they could easily design a Tacoma or a 4 Runner that was electric. Easily.

 

Boy, this is turning into a soapbox.

Electric vehicles are probably the future, but they're not anywhere near ready to replace ICE. Right now they're just trading one environmental hazard for another.

Human overpopulation is the real problem. Without addressing that we're just pulling our puds.

 

Yeah, that too, thatbassguy!

 

If your use case is max fuel efficiency then the 4Runner is the wrong answer. Period.
Don't try to rationalize a 4Runner alternative best answer for that use case. The 4Runner wasn't part of that solution.

 

2020 TRDP, I average about 15-16.5 City and around 20-23+ Hwy. cruise control at 55-60. Still in the break in period, hopefully it slightly gets better.

 

If you're getting 23 HWY, I wouldn't expect it to get any better than that.

 

Use 87 that's what is recommend

 

The Pedal Commander takes care of the sluggishness/throttle delay. I run one in my Tundra.

 

Same here. I suppose it will come to pass someday. Hopefully, not for a long, long time. They won't pry my Shelby away from me!

 

In a thread somewhere, someone said that computer learns your driving style and adjusts to better fit it. I’m OCD about saving gas so I drive with one eye on the road and one eye on the Eco light and instant MPG display. Trusty 4R has figured that out and helps (a little sluggish on light acceleration because it knows I’m trying to save fuel).

We bought a travel trailer a few months back. After a couple of days dragging it home from the dealer (including testing it on some hills), and down to the scales and back (to see how much it REALLY weighs), obviously MPG was less than stellar. It was interesting, however, that without the trailer, it took a few hundred miles of commuting to work and back before my “normal” 20-21 MPG was realized again. It seems (just “seat of the pants” impression, no quantitative data) that the computer had adjusted its acceleration profile for the trailer (power more important than MPG), then relearned the “MPG is more important than power” profile of my normal driving.

 

Some tips while using cruise control.

For good MPG, cruise control works well for relatively flat roads. However, if the road has the occasional small hill, it’s less than optimal because CC cannot anticipate what’s coming. All it can do is react to what “is”. Since your foot is off the throttle, the Eco display has no meaning. Switch your display to Instant MPG to monitor what’s going on.

Scenario 1.
You’re going down a flat road and CC is holding at 65mph. You start up a short (1/2 mile) hill. A few hundred yards up the hill, gravity begins to take its toll on the forward momentum and you start slowing down. CC says “Oh! I’m only doing 64 now. Better apply a little more throttle”. CC gingerly nudges the throttle (as it has been doing for the last few miles of flat road). Since you’re now in a steeper part of the hill, the usual CC nudge isn’t enough to maintain 64, let alone get back up to 65. CC says “Oh my! We’re only doing 63 now” so it pushes harder on the throttle. As you check your instrumentation, you see that your Instant MPG is dropping, your speed is dropping, and your RPM is dropping (the engine is falling off of its power band). This cycle continues until CC has gotten back up to 65 mph, but has done this by having to accelerate from 62 or 63 mph while going uphill, with the engine not in its power band. Not good for MPG.

Now, let’s rewind and go back to before you started up the hill for the 2nd scenario.

Scenario 2.
Assuming you’re paying attention to your driving and not fussing with your kids, Infotainment system, or texting, you notice that you’re approaching the hill. Gently nudge the throttle until your speed creeps up to 66 or 67 mph (you want to hit this slightly higher speed just at the bottom of the hill). As you start going uphill, the speed will diminish, but not quite as quickly as it did in the first scenario because there is more momentum and your engine is more into its power band due to the higher RPM. Slowly adjust the throttle so that you very gracefully hand off the throttle control back to CC while your doing 65 MPH (if you just release the throttle and wait for CC to take over, it will pretty much put you back in
Scenario 1). Depending on the profile of the hill and if you’ve done the handoff properly, CC should be able to maintain the 65 MPH without a problem. During this whole process, check your instant MPG. You will find that it does a little better than when letting CC control everything.

Scenario 3: Steeper hill.
CC is in control at 65 and you see a steeper hill coming up. A few hundred yards before the hill starts, manually drop the trans into 4th gear and let CC readjust to 65 while it’s still flat. This does a few things. 1st, the lower gear provides the engine with “a longer lever with which to move you up the mountain” (Archimedes, sort of), making CC’s subtle nudges more effective. 2nd, with the higher RPM, the engine is further into its power band so CC has more power to work with. 3rd, the better leverage makes it less likely that the torque converter lockout will disengage (torque converter lockout prevents slippage, thereby applying all of the power to the ground). The catch is, you have to remember to put the trans back in drive when you crest the hill.

Give it a try.