JayceeP
New member
Good objective feedback with context. A lot of people say "I get 20mpg+" without explaining at what speeds and what conditions. Your numbers are comparable to mine... but I'm a bit worse.
Real World MPG with 5th Gen?
- Thread starter AZDropTop
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Blitzkrieg
New member
The best I've ever seen out of mine (and I have a pretty light foot) is about 18.7 recently. I'd say that 17.5 is about the norm.
The thin air here in Denver requires more fuel to make the same HP less fuel makes at sea level. Just a fact of life.
I've had cars before that struggle to see 10 MPG so I'm not going to beef to heavily about a (relatively) heavy SUV that is averaging 17.5 MPG.
The thin air here in Denver requires more fuel to make the same HP less fuel makes at sea level. Just a fact of life.
I've had cars before that struggle to see 10 MPG so I'm not going to beef to heavily about a (relatively) heavy SUV that is averaging 17.5 MPG.
littlezavasaurus
New member
NYC here. Mostly city driving with 265 KO2s LR C and I get under 14 mpg. I'm stock everything else. It's killing me because I was getting 18 city when I was living in florida. Can't understand why it dropped so much
I'd imagine that there is a lot more stop-and-go traffic in NYC vs Florida...everytime you have to accelerate from a dead stop, you're burning more fuel vs just cruising.
14mpg sucks for sure, but given what I get in my own locale, I wouldn't be surprised to get that kind of mpg in NYC. Plus winter fuel may be partly to blame for that as well.
JayceeP
New member
I can't see how that's much of a surprise. Florida is one giant suburb with 4-6 lane high speed roads everywhere.
RysiuM
New member
I bet you nail it. I did the following experiments few times:
1. Dead stop at traffic light or stop sign reset the mpg. Now start till you get to normal city speed (35 - 45mph). When you get to that speed look at your mpg gauge. It will show less than 10mpg. This is exactly what mileage you will get on accelerating from full stop. Even if you do it in ECO mode it will not help much. I mean with reasonable acceleration, so old retired "Florida residents" will not honk at you.
2. Now the second experiment is even better. While you driving steady at 45mpg (no wind, level road) the ECO indicator will probably show half scale. Reset your mpg and see what you get after 10-15 seconds. 24mpg or more, this is what I get.
3. The third one is the best: Reset the mpg and then coast from 45mph without touching gas pedal. Wait till your speed drops down to 30-25mph. Check the mpg gauge. It will show more than 30mpg. Actually when you do that test while driving 70mph you will get over 35mpg.
Now all depends on how you drive in your city: how much you do 1, 2 and 3. The average of your driving will be reflected in average mpg.
It's pity that 4Runner computer doesn't show actual mpg, only average. Observing actual mpg while you drive is quite interesting and eye opening. I have the actual mpg display on Nissan Versa Note so I can see that even that very fuel economy car gets 15mpg on test 1. It gets , 99mpg (the highest indication that can be shown) on test 3 tho.
I switched from stock Duelers to stock size KO2 C-rated last week. I haven't noticed significant drop in mpg. I'm still need more time to see the true average which I can compare to 20.5mpg I had with Duelers.
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Blitzkrieg
New member
Measure your fuel mileage the good old fashioned way if you really want to know the truth.
1) Go to gas station A. Fill it using pump A until pump A shuts off automatically. Do not manually hit the fill lever again to get in "the last drop" which is a dumb idea anyway.
2) Record exact mileage.
3) Drive the vehicle. Drive where you normally do, the way you normally do.
4) When you hit about 1/4 tank, repeat step #1.
5) Record mileage and exact gallons it took to fill (exactly like step 1 at same pump).
6) Subtract mileage from step #2 from mileage on step #5.
7) Divide result from step #6 by gallons in step #5.
That will tell you exactly what your MPG is and is as scientifically correct as humanly possible outside of a laboratory inside the FBI headquarters in Quantico, VA.
Edit: Oh yeah, I seriously doubt you are getting less than 13 MPG unless you are foot to the floor all day long. Under normal driving (brain engaged) situations these trucks will return 15 MPG all day long even with a heavy right foot (precluding towing or sitting in the nonsense known as NYC traffic for 6 hours).
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RysiuM
New member
That is correct. When my wife used 4Runner exclusively for grocery shopping which was mostly just start the engine, drive between traffic lights for 5 minutes and park the car in front of some store (she put 1000 miles in one year) the average was 15.5mpg. That was the lowest possible we got. The same kind of driving in Nissan Versa Note gives her 26mpg (where Versa Note gets 42mpg in highway).
You will 12mpg if you tow or drive with parking brake on :tape2:
Cozen89
Member
Yeah that's what I thought, but I called the dealer to suggest that maybe the computer meter is off or malfunctioning, and they gave me every BS answer in the book. Your windows are open, your AC is on, you're gassing it too hard, you have too much cargo etc etc. 12mph is correct even tho it says EPA 18. None of which were true except having my window open. These dealers........
I'll calculate my gas the old fashioned way. Thanks guys.
sandcrawler
Senior Member
also note that your gas mileage will improve as the engine breaks in.
Blitzkrieg
New member
That's your best plan.
Find out what is really the MPG and then go from there. I would also recommend when you start the manual test we discussed above, just reset the AVG MPG setting and leave it alone for the duration of the test.
That way you have an apples to apples data set to compare.
But your dealer is full of bull manure if they say 12 MPG is within reason. I could try to make mine get 12 MPG, but short of full throttling it and running it at 100 MPH.... Not going to happen.
Fuzzylogic
New member
Mileage
When I travel from Orlando to Miami, I get about 20mpg at 75 mph (Turnkpike).
On weeks when I'm in town, my blended is about 18mpg. It sometimes drops to 17. I reset the mpg every fill up.
I'm pretty happy with the efficiency considering the way I use the vehicle, the fact that its 4wd, loaded with gear, and now has almost 130k miles on it.
I've owned far more expensive, lavish vehicles. The 4Runner however, is the best.
When I travel from Orlando to Miami, I get about 20mpg at 75 mph (Turnkpike).
On weeks when I'm in town, my blended is about 18mpg. It sometimes drops to 17. I reset the mpg every fill up.
I'm pretty happy with the efficiency considering the way I use the vehicle, the fact that its 4wd, loaded with gear, and now has almost 130k miles on it.
I've owned far more expensive, lavish vehicles. The 4Runner however, is the best.
Cozen89
Member
That's your best plan.
Find out what is really the MPG and then go from there. I would also recommend when you start the manual test we discussed above, just reset the AVG MPG setting and leave it alone for the duration of the test.
That way you have an apples to apples data set to compare.
But your dealer is full of bull manure if they say 12 MPG is within reason. I could try to make mine get 12 MPG, but short of full throttling it and running it at 100 MPH.... Not going to happen.
[MENTION=29011]Blitzkrieg[/MENTION] yeah my thoughts exactly. What bothered me about it was they were willing to give me every excuse possible instead of just admitting that there's a possibility that their meter is reading incorrectly. I'm hoping for somewhere around the 17-19mpg range with normal driving in the city.
RysiuM
New member
Here is the real life test - not really a test, just a recording from my normal daily commute. https://youtu.be/HGcr5Ug_m6s
I started in residential street (with 25mph), stop sign at every intersection. Finally when I stopped at traffic light going to main street the computer showed 13mph.
Then after driving about 45mph and passing few traffic lights I drove through old city with speed limit going down to 25mph. Again some traffic lights, stop signs and roundabouts. Finally when I arrived to the main country road the computer showed 18mpg.
Country road is mainly 55mph with traffic lights or stop sign every few miles, also passing through old town with 35mph speed limit. However past that town the computer showed 20.5mpg
Then just steady driving at posted speed limit 55mph with occasional stops at intersections, after about 10 miles the computer established at 21.5mpg. And that was to the end. Of course when I arrived to my destination city and finally parked the car the the mpg computer dropped showing 21.3mpg.
This is all stock 2012 SR5 4x4 with running boards and KO2 265/70R17 C-rated. Tires are inflated to 38psi for quite comfortable ride. After that trip I check tires - they we cold.
Update: After I got back (almost the same route) with a little bit of traffic in towns the computer showed total average (both ways) 21.2mpg.
I think 4Runner has the best gas mileage when it runs at steady passe 45-55mph. Higher speed gives more air resistance, at lower speed and the engine/transmission runs below optimal gas usage. That speed will probably give you up to 24mpg, but this kind of driving would be only for EPA test, not a real live.
I started in residential street (with 25mph), stop sign at every intersection. Finally when I stopped at traffic light going to main street the computer showed 13mph.
Then after driving about 45mph and passing few traffic lights I drove through old city with speed limit going down to 25mph. Again some traffic lights, stop signs and roundabouts. Finally when I arrived to the main country road the computer showed 18mpg.
Country road is mainly 55mph with traffic lights or stop sign every few miles, also passing through old town with 35mph speed limit. However past that town the computer showed 20.5mpg
Then just steady driving at posted speed limit 55mph with occasional stops at intersections, after about 10 miles the computer established at 21.5mpg. And that was to the end. Of course when I arrived to my destination city and finally parked the car the the mpg computer dropped showing 21.3mpg.
This is all stock 2012 SR5 4x4 with running boards and KO2 265/70R17 C-rated. Tires are inflated to 38psi for quite comfortable ride. After that trip I check tires - they we cold.
Update: After I got back (almost the same route) with a little bit of traffic in towns the computer showed total average (both ways) 21.2mpg.
I think 4Runner has the best gas mileage when it runs at steady passe 45-55mph. Higher speed gives more air resistance, at lower speed and the engine/transmission runs below optimal gas usage. That speed will probably give you up to 24mpg, but this kind of driving would be only for EPA test, not a real live.
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4Rager
New member
I thought I'd chime in with the results from a recent road trip. Trip was from Reno to Long Beach taking US 395. It included some significant changes in elevation (starting at 4500ft, up to 8000ft, then down to 0ft with a couple minor passes in between. And back of course.) as well as some serious wind, but it was mostly crosswinds. Also I this is based off of the 4R's built-in computer, which from my experience has matched my calculation or been within .1 mpg. For all intents and purposes assume I was going 5mph over the posted speed limit pretty much at all times.
Total Trip: 907 miles
Average MPG: 17.9
MPG +3% if you want to account for 32.7" tires: 18.4 mpg
At first I wasn't very impressed considering I've made a similar trip (Reno to Palm Springs) at got 21.9mpg, but at that time the vehicle was completely stock and the wind definitely played a factor this time.
So the verdict is 17.9mpg is certainly not good in the grand scheme of things, but it's what we've all come to expect from these trucks. Also take not that this is with a 3" lift and 285's so even with mods your highway mileage will still be decent.
Total Trip: 907 miles
Average MPG: 17.9
MPG +3% if you want to account for 32.7" tires: 18.4 mpg
At first I wasn't very impressed considering I've made a similar trip (Reno to Palm Springs) at got 21.9mpg, but at that time the vehicle was completely stock and the wind definitely played a factor this time.
So the verdict is 17.9mpg is certainly not good in the grand scheme of things, but it's what we've all come to expect from these trucks. Also take not that this is with a 3" lift and 285's so even with mods your highway mileage will still be decent.
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travelintony
New member
I have a stock 2016 TRD PRO with about 1800 miles on the clock. I get about 18 here in DC/VA traffic with a mix of hwy/city driving.
On a recent roadtrip, I got about 19-19.5 mpg.
And this is all hand calculated.
On a recent roadtrip, I got about 19-19.5 mpg.
And this is all hand calculated.
bloodninja
New member
With what I have in my signature, I average 15 MPG, 80% city 20% highway
