Real World MPG with 5th Gen?

[mcat707]

I wouldn't trust the dash readout, and if fill ups are not done the same each time even hand calculations will not be very accurate. Topping off the tank will not provide an accurate number of gallons for the number of miles driven, instead you should take the number of gallons when the pump cuts itself off, each time. I have a hard time believing some of the numbers others have posted stating that they are getting 19 and 20 mpg out of these things, I just don't see how it is possible. This is not to say that anyone is lying, but those numbers just don't seem reasonable based on my experience and OCD level of tracking and calculating (I am a quality engineer and therefore an excel nerd).

I got my '18 OR in November '17 and begin tracking each fill up around the 5k mark in late January '18. I currently have just over 32k and am averaging 16.7 mpg all conditions. Hit the sand a couple of times a year and trails in the mountains a couple of times, otherwise it is a pavement pounder. Only mods are Dobinson's suspension front and rear to 'level' the vehicle which equated to ~1" front and maybe .5" rear, and stock size ridge grapplers in C load. In my calculations I included notes at mileages where suspension and tires were added, as well as noting long highway trips that would skew calculations.

Happy calculations.....

I agree with you and also believe that your 16.7mpg calculations to be correct. As posted above I’m getting 16-17ish MPGs with mixed driving. I’m also very meticulous when calculating my MPGs. I don’t trust the vehicle dash readout and use an app called Fuel Monitor. I enter the mileage and gallons poured in with one click stops every time. Great app to get your accurate MPGs.

I would also see in the Tundra forums people saying they are getting 19-20ish MPGs in a 3rd gen with a 5.7L V8 which I know is BS. They are not calculating the mileage and gallons correctly. My Tundra got an average 14.9mpgs for the past 5 years that I owned it.

 

[bugkillr]

I agree with you and also believe that your 16.7mpg calculations to be correct. As posted above I’m getting 16-17ish MPGs with mixed driving. I’m also very meticulous when calculating my MPGs. I don’t trust the vehicle dash readout and use an app called Fuel Monitor. I enter the mileage and gallons poured in with one click stops every time. Great app to get your accurate MPGs.



I would also see in the Tundra forums people saying they are getting 19-20ish MPGs in a 3rd gen with a 5.7L V8 which I know is BS. They are not calculating the mileage and gallons correctly. My Tundra got an average 14.9mpgs for the past 5 years that I owned it.

Agreed ^.

Although, since I too hand calculate my MPG ( business reasons) and i have confirmed my 17.6- 18.9 with "average" driving.
Bear in mind that in my area , I'm not forced to "stomp it" to merge on to the interstate and keep it at 75-80mph to pace traffic. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.
My dash overestimates MPG by
.7- 1.25-ish on average. It varies for some reason. All the more reason to hand calculate if you're into tracking it.

From browsing this thread and talking to owners, it seems that driving style and driving conditions can have upwards of 2, sometimes 3 mpg variances. That may be why some people get 18-20 and others are low to mid teens. Also I'm sure some people aren't forthcoming if they are in a 2wd.

 

[blackened_offroad]

I've always done manual calculations and compared to the dash. On mine, the dash is usually really close, sometimes dead on.

not that it's all that interesting after pages and pages of this sort of thing, but...stock everything 2019 TRD ORP with KDSS. 2500 miles so far. Over the last 1000 miles of mixed highway and city commuting, with one 200 mile high altitude interstate trip, I'm at 18.7. Not great, but better than the 16.1 I was getting for the first 500 miles. Still blows my mind that the 5th gens get worse mpg than the 3rd gens, but I no longer think my 3rd gen is faster. Just has a faster gas pedal feel.

 

[TeaMan]

2020 Offroad Premium, 2" leveling kit up front, 285/70R17 KO2's. Gas mileage worse on highway than in town. 13-15 on highway, 17-18 in town. Not sure why so wierd.

 

[JLI84]

I have a 2020 SR5 Premium 4x4 with General Grabber ATx LT265/70R17 (stock size) tires. I do mixed city and highway, but I spend a good amount of time going up and down mountain passes so my numbers are lower than expected/advertised: Averaging 16.5 right now...

 

[Nliiitend1]

I have found the car's computer to be about 1.5 MPG optimistic.

 

[adrummingdude]

I’m averaging ~17.5mpg in mixed driving over the first 4000 miles on my ‘20 Pro. This is via the onboard computer, as I don’t care enough about the subject to calculate it any other way. If I did, I would have bought another vehicle to begin with.

 

[kenwilliams0803]

I wouldn't trust the dash readout, and if fill ups are not done the same each time even hand calculations will not be very accurate. Topping off the tank will not provide an accurate number of gallons for the number of miles driven, instead you should take the number of gallons when the pump cuts itself off, each time. I have a hard time believing some of the numbers others have posted stating that they are getting 19 and 20 mpg out of these things, I just don't see how it is possible. This is not to say that anyone is lying, but those numbers just don't seem reasonable based on my experience and OCD level of tracking and calculating (I am a quality engineer and therefore an excel nerd).



I got my '18 OR in November '17 and begin tracking each fill up around the 5k mark in late January '18. I currently have just over 32k and am averaging 16.7 mpg all conditions. Hit the sand a couple of times a year and trails in the mountains a couple of times, otherwise it is a pavement pounder. Only mods are Dobinson's suspension front and rear to 'level' the vehicle which equated to ~1" front and maybe .5" rear, and stock size ridge grapplers in C load. In my calculations I included notes at mileages where suspension and tires were added, as well as noting long highway trips that would skew calculations.



Happy calculations.....

Very simple in my case. 68-69 mph, mostly highway. Cruise engaged on the flats. Around "town" which is mostly country 40-50mph roads but some stop signs and traffic lights and such, I hit more like 15-16 if I haven't done any real highway driving during that tank. But that isn't the normal nature of what mine sees. It gets a lot of highway miles and very little traffic.

My 20+ calculations are mostly on summer gas too in addition to 90% highway. That makes a big difference, as does driving style. Winter gas kills 1-2 MPG easily up here.

Per tank the driving conditions and gas formulation make a big difference, for cumulative miles over months or years it's not nearly as much if you do mixed driving and we'll probably all average out somewhere in the middle.

 

[1000MPH]

Over 350 fuel ups. I reset my mpgs every time. Average computer MPG: 20.93
Total miles driven/total fuel purchased: 21.0

 

[dakgildea]

16.4 post lift+tires. But again, I didn't buy a 4Runner for gas mileage.

 

[A-P-9]

16,000 miles in, stock wheels and tires: 17.4 mpg lifetime average.
I'd estimate 3/4 city, 1/4 highway. It gets substantially better in the summer, as one would expect.

 

[KF4R2011]

16.3 in the city for me

 

[hoobhoob]

Data point from 5300 mile road trip

In December I did a 23-day road trip from Toronto Canada to the Big Bend and El Paso area of Texas. Here's a fuel economy data point:

VEHICLE:

• 2016 4Runner Trail Edition Pro (Canadian TE) at about 36000 mils
• Falken AT3/W tires stock size running 40psi on highway and 26psi in Big Bend
• 2" Dobinsons lift
• About 300lb (140 kg) of bolt-on (skid, slide, bumper, winch)
• About 600lb (270 kg) of driver and camping/travel/offroad/food/water gear
• Nothing on roof except factory rails

TRIP:

• 5320 miles total (8560 km)
• 288 gallons fuel (1092 l)
• Fuel economy 18.44 mpg (12.75 l/100km)
• Highway driving at limits of 60-80 mph (100-130kph) and 45mph in the parks
• About 120 miles (200 km) of primitive road driving in Big Bend NP
• Best tank (Amarillo TX to Salina KS): 21.4 mpg (11.0 l/100km) -- flat as a pancake and no wind
• Worst tank (Bevier MO to Boswell IN): 17.2 mpg (13.7 l/100km) -- big rainstorm and headwind all day
• Average gas price $2.51/gal (CAD$0.90/l) -- total spend USD$723 (CAD$977)

Vehicle trip computer was almost always spot on except one tank where dash was reporting 5% worse than actual.

 

[m0ondogy]

I’m just on the other side of the big scary bridge in a 19 Pro and getting ~15 mpg running 32 psi f&r, what psi are you running?

Good ole' American Legion...

Im running around 32 and 33.

It changes a lot this time of year, and I pass through the mountains. Im not Hagerstown west, but close enough.

thinking of lowering by a pound per tire before the next ice/snow. My neighborhood is remote and lots of frost in the mornings. I need to "gun it" to get up to speed on the highway in a short distance because the on ramp is so short. I slipped a bit one morning and I clenched so much my rear took a bite out of the seat.

 

[patkelly4370]

Last weekend 1,150 miles. One thousand on freeway, the rest in city, helping son move.
17.5 mpg. Lifted with 285/70r17 a/t tires.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Since the trip the mileage is about the same, 17.7 on the dash display.
Been driving to/from town, 20 miles one way over a large hill (12 mile 6% grade).
Also some offroading around the neighborhood.
I finally checked air pressure. 40-45psi in three tires, 35 in the other. Now all are set at 30psi. Should make a difference.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Friedom]

Averaging 17.5-18 in the city on my 11 with 3" lift, all terrains, skid plates and steel bumpers. I'm pretty happy about that. It's easy to drop it to 16 if I want to pull ahead off the line.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[AngryCorgi]

hrmm...

I've got a CPO (12.5k on odometer when bought) 2020 TRD Off-Road w/ factory everything. I just finished my first two fill-ups and averaging about 20.5 mpg w/ 60/40 city/highway. My old 2007 FJ w/ 6-spd and full-time-4WD never got more than 19mpg with 90+% highway and, after a front end lift and adding an ARB bumper/warn winch, never saw north of 18mpg. I'm working on a tank of fuel now that is about 50/50 city/highway and if the dash is consistent (5% optimistic so far), I should be looking at about 21-21.5 mpg on the next fill-up.

This is all 87-octane. My old FJ was 91 at all times. I'm pleased with the improvement.

 

[AngryCorgi]

North Carolina Trip (1300 miles)

Just spent the weekend in North Carolina and Tennessee. I drove there from Alexandria, VA. I spent 1301.1 miles on the trip and averaged 23.4 MPG. This trip included going up to Mt. Mitchell and Lake Lure/Chimney Rock area. I spent approximately 80 miles on winding narrow mountain roads averaging under 30 MPH on them.

I have found that if I peg the cruise control right about 58 MPH, I can average 26 MPG on a round-trip drive from Alexandria to Richmond. Driving at 70 MPH can't seem to score higher than 20-21 MPG. This thing is a brick on wheels and really wants to be just under 60 MPH.

So far, my first 3 weeks of ownership I'm averaging 21.9 MPG over 1800 miles.

 

[sawman1]

Average right at 17 with 275 KO2's, 50/50 HW vs City and 60-70 on the freeway. It is a Limited - so full time 4wd and it is what it is.

 

[Ch0nz]

2018 TRD OR, 285/70/17 BFG KO2’s C Load, Prinsu full length rack, steel skids.

Last tank went wheeling that’s why it is soo low.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk