Mods for improving MPG

^^ Agreed. There's really no mods you can do to "increase" your MPG. The best you can hope to do is achieve that maximum potential of your vehicle. That's a simple formula that holds true for all vehicles...

1. Driving Habit
2. Reduce Weight
3. Proper Maintenance (ie. tire pressure, fluids, etc.)

Edit: If you would like to go through the trouble of opening up your diff. and installing some granny gears, I'm sure this will net you a few MPGs.... And also be WAY more trouble than it is worth.

Agree with above 100%;

P.S. to OP: you can wait a year or two and get 2017 (possibly 2016) model of the 4Runner that will come with totally redesigned V6, optional V8 (4.6 L with DI):party: and diesel… mated to 6 speed trany...:behindsofa::lol:; and I am sure it will give you 20% improvement in MPG;
:tea:
 
Agree with above 100%;

P.S. to OP: you can wait a year or two and get 2017 (possibly 2016) model of the 4Runner that will come with totally redesigned V6, optional V8 (4.6 L with DI) and diesel… mated to 6 speed ... and I am sure it will give you 20% improvement in MPG

You serious? The V8 is really the sole reason I bought a 2008 and avoided a 5th gen like the black plague. I mean there's other things I didn't care for in the 5s -- like the much smaller 6.1 inch nav screen. But the V8 was the biggie reason. I'm thrilled to hear it's finally coming back. And a diesel? For real?! (I really wanted to import a Land Cruiser Diesel and it's 800 mile+ range, but couldn't find a [legal] way of importing it into California.)

Has Toyota confirmed these engines are in the works, or is it still just in the rumor mill?

:party:

dt
 
Agree with above 100%;

P.S. to OP: you can wait a year or two and get 2017 (possibly 2016) model of the 4Runner that will come with totally redesigned V6, optional V8 (4.6 L with DI):party: and diesel… mated to 6 speed trany...:

Why not order the one with the perpetual motion machine and the unicorn-skin seats? :rolleyes:
 
Anyone have any mods for improving miles-per-gallon, particularly on a V8 Limited ('08)?

I'm aware of and not at all interested in the HCF removal. Just wondering if there's any other ways to possibly improve the mileage.

Not that 16-20 on a 4,530 lb. offroader is bad at all. But curious what else I can do to improve MPG/reduce my fuel costs (driving 25K miles per year adds up fast!), without compromising any of the utility/capacity of the vehicle.


dt

My recommendation would be to do the following:

1. Run a search on the 4th gen board searching for "V6 vs. V8"

2. Print out all the responses where people wrote something like "get the V8, you won't notice the difference in MPG" or "the difference in MPG between the V6 and V8 is negligible" or "who cares about MPG, get the V8 because it's faster!"

3. Read those responses over and over and over again until you believe it.

There you go. Problem solved! :p
 
....

Has Toyota confirmed these engines are in the works, or is it still just in the rumor mill?

:party:

dt

Those are purely speculations… but rumors are there is possibility for V8…
There are articles stating that Toyota will unleash 14 new engines in 2015-2016;
Let’s hope that 4Runner’s 4.0 L will be replaced with more modern DI engine and that 4.6 L DI V8 will be an option!
 
Another vehicle?

In all seriousness, if you're driving 25k miles/year, a V8 4runner is probably not a good vehicle for you. That's a ton of miles (I think the average for most vehicles in the US is 12k - 15k/year.)

At 25k miles/year, averaging 16mpg you're using 1562 gallons of gas a year. At $3.50/gallon you're spending $5400 or so annually on gas.

If I was you, what I would do is shop around for a beater used car. Look for something like a Camry, Corolla, Sentra, etc. Something with a 4 cyl engine and a manual transmission. Depending on what the market is like in your area you can probably find one that is 10 -12 years old for maybe $2500 or so.

Those vehicles can easily get upwards of 30 mpg. Depending on how much driving you can shift from the 4runner to the economy car, you may be able to break even on fuel savings in a year or two. That's exactly what I did in 2011 when my office moved from the city center (where I rode light rail to work) out to the 'burbs where I drive every day.

Now some will say there are other costs associated with owning and maintaining two vehicles (maintenance, insurance, etc) and that is very true. However, on the flip side there are also some non-monetary advantages to owning a second vehicle: It gives you the flexibility of being able to have one vehicle in the shop and still be able to get around, it means that if you want to work on your 4runner you don't have to worry about completing your project by Sunday night so you can drive to work on Monday morning, etc.

There's also a savings factor that I think some people don't consider when looking at a small vehicle vs. a 4x4: How much did you pay for your tires? If you paid ~$200+ per tire, the you probably shelled out close to $1k just for your tires. Tires typically last about 50,000 miles so if you are driving 25,000 miles/year you will be throwing down another grand every two years, and most of the time you are grinding your tires down you are just driving to and from work or around town - that's a waste. Small economy cars, OTOH, have small, cheap tires that you can usually get for about $75/ea. You can buy 4 tires and be OTD for less than $400. So that's another cost savings that will help to offset some of the cost of owning a 2nd vehicle.

Obviously, the 2 vehicle solution doesn't work for everyone. If you live in a place where parking is very difficult or where getting a 2nd vehicle would mean renting a 2nd garage or parking space, then the numbers may not work for you. In that case the only advice I can give would be either (a) get rid of the 4runner and get something that gets better MPG, or (b) suck it up and figure that the cost of the gas you're buying is part of the cost of ownership.
 
Allow me to be the voice of dissent, but on my vehicles I put roughly 30k a year on and the 4runner takes a majority of the mileage. I average 22 mpg ish with my V8 but I'm a very "efficient driver". My father does 15 mpg in his Limited V6 i.e.

Thing is though, I remember doing the math on this and realized that I'd be spending roughly $200 a month more on gas for the 4runner at 17 mpg (if that's what I got) than my Civic at 30 mpg (which is what I don't get), so I came to the conclusion that I don't care about $200 month compared to the drawbacks. It's well worth the price to pay for something comfortable, capable, and SAFE. After seeing the wreck of the 4th gen on this forum at highway speeds, I'm more convinced than ever that spending 30,000 miles in a T4R is worth $200 a month over my relatively puny Si was.

Ultimately I get 20+ in the T4R and 25 in the Si, so my savings probably comes out to just over $100 a month ish at 30,000 miles a year.
 
22 mpg in a V8 4Runner? Nope. I've got an '03 V8. There is no way in heck you are getting 22mpg out if it. 19 maybe if you drive 60 mph. 22? No way no how.
 
22 mpg in a V8 4Runner? Nope. I've got an '03 V8. There is no way in heck you are getting 22mpg out if it. 19 maybe if you drive 60 mph. 22? No way no how.
.

I usually go 45-50 mph and never pass 55 on the freeway (Hawaii). That gets me just north of 24 mpg. At 60 mph I get MAYBE 21 (scangauge reading) and 65 drops it to 20. In the city I average 17-18 w/o A/C so I average out to around 22.

At night (midnight to 3 AM time) with no traffic on the "freeway" around 35-40 mph I get 28-30 mpg while hypermiling (no A/C, coasting uphills etc.).

All fillups from the same station and distance travelled are also GPS verified.


Truck is a 2WD Sport V8 lowered an inch from stock height and stripped out to 3800 lbs (3900 with a full tank), synthetic fluids all around.

All that aside though as mentioned, my father gets 15 ish in his V6 but when I borrowed it, I again did 22 and he did 14 in mine so, all about how you drive.
 
22 mpg in a V8 4Runner? Nope. I've got an '03 V8. There is no way in heck you are getting 22mpg out if it. 19 maybe if you drive 60 mph. 22? No way no how.

I got 21mpg with my 07 V8 one time. I was heading home on a long 50mph road. I had time to kill and I was curious what kind of mileage I could get out it. I put it on cruise control at 45mph and just puttered my way home. Hand calculated the milage later on when I filled it up. Sure enough I got 21mpg. That was a special circumstance though. I usually get 18 mpg, or 16 if Im in a bad mood.
 
Thing is though, I remember doing the math on this and realized that I'd be spending roughly $200 a month more on gas for the 4runner at 17 mpg (if that's what I got) than my Civic at 30 mpg (which is what I don't get), so I came to the conclusion that I don't care about $200 month compared to the drawbacks. It's well worth the price to pay for something comfortable, capable, and SAFE. After seeing the wreck of the 4th gen on this forum at highway speeds, I'm more convinced than ever that spending 30,000 miles in a T4R is worth $200 a month over my relatively puny Si was.

A sedan is also far less likely to roll over than a 4Runner, and roll over accidents are far more likely to result in fatalities.

I drive Mrs. M1911's Mercedes C300 now and then. I feel just as safe in that (if not more so) than in my 4Runner.
 
A sedan is also far less likely to roll over than a 4Runner, and roll over accidents are far more likely to result in fatalities.

I drive Mrs. M1911's Mercedes C300 now and then. I feel just as safe in that (if not more so) than in my 4Runner.

True, I drive a Merc W140 on occasion and I feel very safe in that as well because it's a tank. Mainly I was just pointing out the Si is a tin can (2200 lbs vs. 4,000), not so much the roll over potential although my T4R is lowered.
 
Check the EPA's web-site. They've tested dozens of gas-savings devices over the years. And as of today, they haven't found one that is worth buying. Most don't work at all. The rest...the savings is si insignificant (less then 1mpg) it's not worth the purchase price.

If there was an easy cheap way to increase gas mileage then every single manufacturer would be doing it.
 
Actually, there are a lot of gas saving technologies that work pretty well...

Higher compression (10 or 11:1 vs. 6-7:1)
Electronic ignition (vs. points)
Fuel injection (vs. carburetor)
Overhead valves (vs. flathead style)
Variable valve timing
Multi weight oils
Multiple cylinder displacement
Drive by wire throttle
Variable intake runners
Piston coatings (to reduce friction)
Metallurgical advances
Aerodynamic enhancements
and much more

It's the reason a 20 horsepower Model T gets the same gas mileage as a typical T4R. :)

You're right though, every single manufacturer would use it (and does).
 
Actually, there are a lot of gas saving technologies that work pretty well...

Higher compression (10 or 11:1 vs. 6-7:1)
Electronic ignition (vs. points)
Fuel injection (vs. carburetor)
Overhead valves (vs. flathead style)
Variable valve timing
Multi weight oils
Multiple cylinder displacement
Drive by wire throttle
Variable intake runners
Piston coatings (to reduce friction)
Metallurgical advances
Aerodynamic enhancements
and much more

Sure the technologies when you design it into the vehicle and build it that way during manufacturing. Pretty much impossible to add those technoligies to an existing vehicle...at least not without spending 100 times more then any gas savings you'll get.
 
22 mpg in a V8 4Runner? Nope. I've got an '03 V8. There is no way in heck you are getting 22mpg out if it. 19 maybe if you drive 60 mph. 22? No way no how.

I can see where he would.

I'm typing this from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Drove up here from my home in the SF Bay Area a few hours ago. I took the I-5 and 99 up here, and decided to drive as efficiently as I could for most of the trip--to see how good I could get my MPG if I actually drove in a reasonable, efficient manner. (Not my normal habit, I'm sorry to say.)

For the most part, that meant using cruise control locked between 55 and 60 including in the 65mph zones. Very little traffic tonight, so there wasn't much stop and go to deal with. From the point where I started doing this to the point where I stopped for the night, it was almost entirely flat except for a few sloped hills on some backcountry roads.

Using just the 4R's built-in Average MPG gauge, I came in at about 21.5 by the time I stopped driving. In ideal environmental, traffic, etc. conditions, I can see where someone might reach 23.

I'm using a Limited V8 w/ factory tires; 100% stock except for a couple very minor mods -- LEDs, persistent 12V, etc.
 

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