Over 20 MPG on my V8 Oh Ya! :)

[juneau92]

I read that the difference between driving 60mph and 80mph was $1/gal. WIth the rising cost of gas, I decided I would "baby" my V8 4Runner, just to see how much of a difference I could make. I hardly ever compute MPG, but I do keep track of how many miles I drive between fillups.

So, I topped the tank off last week, and proceeded to drive very conservatively. As 60mph on the freeway, easy startups from any stop. Just generally driving really slow.

I drove alot this past week on back roads, down to Tucson (to see the folks) from Phoenix, and back. Also here and there, but mostly it was highway driving.

Filled back up yesterday, freaking $3.799/gal!!!! And I hear in Arizona we have it cheaper than most places. Final cost = $79.25!! This is getting rediculous! Gallons into tank was 20.861, and I drove 430.7 miles.

I compute that to be 20.64 MPG!!!! Wow now that is much better! Never thought I could get that from my V8. From now on I'm a slooooooowwwww driver!!!
:bigok:

 

[pickerdd]

I have 2200 miles on my V8 4WD and the first tank computed out to 16.8 with the following tanks over 18 mpg. That includes one 1000 mile round trip up to Cincinnati, OH and back home to Atlanta in the rain with high winds. The other miles have been all city stop-and-go and freeway driving around here. I've been driving cautiously in order to break it in correctly and the mileage has been much better than I expected. It seems that careful starts and slow stops and rarely driving above 70 mph has helped.

I'm looking forward to my first long distance journey in the new 4Runner coming up in September. I'll pull a pop-up trailer out to Kansas and back home to Atlanta.

 

[alaskaman]

Road Trip x country

.........starts in AM. will post mileage and pics as we go along.......hope to get better gas prices......Here in Sactown it's $4.20 per gallon

 

[kn38ms]

Set the cruise at 60mph, throw in a flat freeway
and 20+ mpg is EZ with 283 cid V8.
Best I got was 22mpg but I was very fuel minded while driving.

 

[eskimochaos]

got 21.5 flat 75-80mph with some hard accelerations with premium gas

all i run....

definitely better performance with premium

 

[rook]

20+ mpg is a reality in the V8. I have gotten averages (miles/gallons at fill up) as high as 22 over a 380 mile highway trip.

I want to experiment a little more with a slower route where speeds would be in the 50-60 mph range to see if it nets a better mpg figure. By taking US route 1 instead of I-95 it may be possible to get better mpg.

 

[Jeff Kleb]

It is not a 4Runner, but my V8 Mustang GT can get 24 mpg on the highway at a "steady" 70 mph -- primarily because of the tall gearing.

Around town, though, it gets more like 16 or 17; which still ain't bad for a car rated at 300 ponies.

When I did have my 4Runner SR5 (V6, 4x4), the in-town mileage was around 15 to 17 and highway mileage was seldom more than 20 mpg. I could get 22 mpg if I went very slow on the highway, but who wants to do that?
:bash:

Despite fuel costing so much, I have yet to see very many people slowing down. Perhaps it is still a fact that "time" is more important than a few dollars for gasoline. Now, this may change as the price goes up. Personally, I would rather drive fewer miles and simply enjoy each mile a bit more.

:girl: << == I love this icon!

 

[juneau92]

I could get 22 mpg if I went very slow on the highway, but who wants to do that?

:awais: Me! I do! Man, after that last fill-up at almost $80, let me be the first to volunteer!! :awais:

Today I was driving on the freeway home from work, slowly at about 63 or so, and then someone from an on-ramp gets in front of me, and does about 58.
Did I pass? Nooooooooooooo. I feel better this way, because I feel like folks behind me won't get mad, and blame the driver in front of me, instead.

Next thing I need to pump those tires up, haven't checked them in awhile.

Man, I'm loving this Toyota 4Runner more and more!! Not bad milage for a 4x4 V8 SUV!

 

[Mark86]

After a lot of highway driving this weekend, I was able to get 20 mpg on my V8 with 89 octane. I was pretty impressed!

 

[Falls]

Yes indeed it can be done. I have not done a hiway trip in a bit , but have been getting 17.5 (give or take) in the city on 87 oct and running 265/70/17's.
The 17.5 also is NOT figuring the add'l miles traveled not shown on the odo. with the larger tires.

I've always been happy as hell with the milage I pulled out of this truck. If I drive aggressive and heavy footed I still get more than what the "EPA" estimated on the window sticker. Only time I've dropped below was in winter , with winter blended fuel , and quite a bit of idle time. Never went below 15.

I actually am not anal about checking my milage all the time . I just do checks to make sure all is working properly.

I saw this TV show with this growing group of people with all type of vehicles that do different things to increase there milage just by changing driving habits. It was pretty interesting , they even have a website , but I cant remember what it was called . If I think of it I'll post it. Some of them driving cars that consistently got 20mpg were getting up to 26. It was pretty cool , other with little tiny cars were getting up to 50 and these were not hybrids either.

 

[boston_kevin]

The only danger about driving slow is you'll probably get hit by the other drivers who won't slow down. I see a few people trying to keep it around 60 mph, but within a few minutes they have someone on their tail or a semi coming up the tailpipe and they are forced to speed up a little to maintain the comfort zone. Keeping the speeds around 60-62 mph highway and easy starts/stops, I can consistently get 25 mpg with the V6 (for purely highway miles) - giving me a distance of over 520 miles on a tank of gas. However... with the drivers these days always on the gas, I feel 65 is a minimum to drive on the highway and stay safe from other drivers.
That being said at 65 mph with the slightly oversized tires (BFG 265/70/17), I am still getting 20 mpg with each tank hand calculated (mix of highway and city), assuming a 2% difference between the Odometer and real mileage.

Awesome mileage though! Anything over 18-20 on a V8 in a truck is excellent!

 

[_JT_]

my wife is obsessed with the gas milege, and having the computer tell her her MPG, its hilarious. She just got to 19.1.

 

[Fishy1]

My computer is at least 1 mpg off...it will read 18 mg and when I do it with a calculator and actual gas pumped it is will be 17 mpg...

Is there any way to calibrate the mpg computer???

 

[boston_kevin]

My computer is at least 1 mpg off...it will read 18 mg and when I do it with a calculator and actual gas pumped it is will be 17 mpg...

Is there any way to calibrate the mpg computer???

Someone tried this a while ago using resistors to change the voltage inputs to get more accurate, but most people have found this to be an amusing "toy" in their vehicles. Seems to always be 7% to 10% high in every 4Runner.

 

[juneau92]

Seems to always be 7% to 10% high in every 4Runner.

Exactly. When I got that 20.64 mpg from my manual calculations, the on-board trip meter read something like 23+ mpg. Too bad it's not accurate, but I don't know of any other vehicle that has one that's accurate. My neighbor has a Tahoe, and the on-board readout on his is way off also.

 

[Falls]

Mine has never been more than .5 off at the most usually .2-.3 , which is close enough to call accurate for me .

Your speedo , odo , are not 100% accurate either. Nothing is perfectly dead on .

 

[alaskaman]

Road Trip x country

20.7 MPG today Sactown to Salt Lake City.

gas is $3.93 here. Pic is coming across the Nevada high desert.