Back from a 2,800 mile roadtrip with the 4R!

[Ducman]

Went from Western Wisconsin to Outer Banks North Carolina and back.

Loaded her up with few hundred pounds of luggage, my son and my wife and I made the trip with no issues.

We took the southern route through the mountains and the 4R performed amazingly. The V8 didn't really even seem like it was laboring at all even up the steep inclines.

I think the longest day we drove the truck was running for about 24 hours straight except for stopping for fuel and food.

The Kenwood Nav is worth it's weight in gold... being able to pick out our next Dunkin Doughnuts, favorite food place, bathroom break spot, or park is a huge plus on a long trip.

The Revos were amazingly quiet on the highway, yet provided great grip on the sand for a nice ocean side cruize.

The seat feels rock hard after about 4 or 5 hours...could be a bit more comfortable, rear fell asleep after that I think... but that would be my only negative. The truck did not let us down. :rocker:

The trip computer read 19.5mpg almost the entire trip going 76mph (70mph speed zones) and 20.2mpg or so when going 72mph in the 65mph areas. We had a few work zones where we were going 50mph or so and the trip computer read 24mpg.

My actual calculated mpg average going off from fuel added at the pump and using the odometer was between 19 and 20 or so depending on the stop.

Only mod is a removed hydrocarbon filter. I had just replaced the air filter with a new Toyota paper OEM and did a Mobil 1 oil change about 1,000 miles before we went on the trip.

Here is a pic from the beach run.

<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.tinypic.com/2zsablf.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

 

[gaberelli]

Gotta love road trips! We are going the other direction next summer. Dakotas, Montana, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and back.

Where you from in W. Wisconsin? I'm in Mondovi.

 

[alaskaman]

Traveling cross country with your family in your 4Runner.

.........priceless. :biggrin2:

 

[getsomeVA]

I love the Outer Banks! I used to live in VA Beach, and had my Runner out there every other weekend. They perform great on the sand:xnuts:
Nice to hear more people have heard of OBX! Good Post

 

[morphius909]

That's Awesome!

We did a 9000km trip last year roundtrip to Southern Cali.

Guess what..3 more days and are doing the same thing.

I couldn't imagine doing it with anything but a T4R!

 

[JAC]

Looks like you had a lot a fun...

I am going this friday to San Antonio, TX . Never drove so far before the most longer has been like 12 hrs to NY this trip is gonna be about 18 hrs. I am pretty excited about this trip I know we are going to have fun. This is gonna be the first time I take my 4r to a road trip. Hope everything goes well.

 

[nc211]

Hahaha.....we probably passed eachother on the highway! My wife, and our 14 month old son just did the same trip from Chicago, to Morehead City, NC "Atlantic Beach". Ours was 2,300 miles round trip. We went across Indiana into Cincinappy, down into Lexington, KY, over to Charleston, WV, and then down into Carolina via Winston Salem, where we caught I40 to Raleigh, then wiggled our way to the beach via the back roads.

We too were loaded down pretty good, especially coming back "as we had aquired something like 60-2liters/3cases of cans/3cases of sport bottles of our favorite soft drink - Sun Drop". The V8 was great! The only thing I noticed though was it's sensitivety to downshift when going up a slight incline in the road to maintain the 80mph cruising speed when going through the mountains. This was eased a good bit though with the use of 93 octane fuel for that part of the trip.

We're getting ready to drive to Tulsa, Oklahoma for Labor Day, a 1,400 mile round trip. I must say, it's tough to beat a 4runner on the highway. And I love love love love love love love that 4.7 V8 engine! Man, what a perfect set up. We were originally going to fly to Tulsa for the week, but after this past run to NC, we decided "thanks to our son loving to ride in the 4runner" that we'd rather hit the road again!

 

[JAC]

Hey nc211 how many times you had to fill up the tank each way?...just wondering...

 

[nc211]

I couldn't really tell you actually, because we would stop when our son would start to get a little fussy. At which point, I would top up the tank anyway. I recall topping up when I still had half a tank or so left. We did the drive another time in February when we moved to Chicago, a little different route though (came into Indi from Richmond, not up from Cinci like this time). I think we had to refuel 3 times (Came from Raleigh that time - 845 miles door to door). If memory serves correct, we fueled up in Raleigh, then in Charleston, WV, then in Richmond to get across Indiana. We were going so fast actually, that when I went to use my card to fuel up in Richmond, it was declined. I called the company to ask what was going on, and they said because the card had been used in three seperate states in a shorter than determined time, it tripped the "stolen" alarm, and they shut it down! Hahaha.... According to the Garmin, the fastest speed I hit on that trip was just shy of 100mph, with average speed of about 75mph for the trip. Needless to say, I doubt we were utilizing the best mpg practices...we were bookin' it on that trip.

 

[JAC]

yeah..thats about ehat I had calculated....3 times each way probably 4...just wanted to make sure