Roadtrip mpgs?

[e-caban]

I'm going on a road trip from seattle to Los Angeles, about 1300 miles, and i was wondering what kind of gas mileage I can expect. pretty flat, cruse control at about 75mph. What kind of mileage have you gotten on your roadtrips?

 

[shootmymime]

around avg of 18, i drove to college (truck was loaded) 1300 miles also from Missouri to idaho. i saw some as 21 and low as 15 in the mountain pass. so somewhere around 18 -20

 

[NateMob]

Your MPG is going to vary widely based on your truck's configuration; auto or manual, v6 or 4cyl, 2wd or 4wd, armor, lift, tire size, how much cargo weight... we are going to need more details on your setup to be of any help.

 

[e-caban]

v6, auto, 4wd manik brush guard, yakima load warrior with extention, 3" toytec lift, stock tires. hi lift on the rack, minimal luggage. 2 people.

 

[NateMob]

With that setup i would be shocked if you didnt get 20+ on your trip. I average about 19 with full skids, sliders, and 255/75/17s with a 3" lift in my v6, 4wd, with an automatic. I have found a big difference in going 70 and 75 in my truck though, I tend to just stay in the right lane and let others pass me.

 

[Monkeybutt2000]

I wouldn't go over 70mph as stated. Air up your tires to around 38 psi too.

 

[SJC4Runner]

I would recommend not airing up your tires. Stock is 32 and high tire pressure will effect your handling. If you start out at sea level at cooler temperatures and then travel to higher elevation and temperatures (like I normally do), your tire pressures could go quite high, and cause problems for your tires. I aired up to 34 starting many of my journeys and would generally notice that as I went up in elevation handling would suffer and would generally end up airing down, finding that my pressures were excessively high. After airing down a bit to closer to stockish pressures(~34-35 with hot tires) decent handling would return. My current Michelin tires have developed splits on the sidewalls and I think too high pressures and temps were the cause. I would be surprised if the .5mpg you saved would be worthwhile. (I also remember Gus's garage on motortrend saying basically the same thing). If you really want to get better mpg drop your speed to 62 mph and cruise control it. The difference between 80 and 60 is about 4 mpg or so from my experiences, 16 mpg at 80 and high 19-21 for 60. I once got 24 mpg and I have no idea why, slower speeds, 85 octane, a huge tail wind, downhill, I have no clue what I did that created the difference.

You might want to grab a cheap code reader before your road trip so if you pop a code in the middle of yellowstone national park, on a sunday, 100 miles from the next town, you can figure out for yourself if it's serious problem or not. Yes that happened to me Turned out to be a 2nd o2 sensor smog crap issue, but at the time I was worried it was going to leave me stranded.

BTW if you have time to highway 1 it, do it! There are some really scenic areas on it and nice twisty roads. 4runners no sports car, but it does reasonably well playing wanna-be-sportscar.

 

[snow junky]

if your worried about mpg, go 55mph :car:

 

[Ruiner]

at first i thought you were talking about this:

 

[JEL]

I just took a trip recently (starting in Seattle no less) and I'll give you a rundown:

2000 LTD 4x4 all stock on 60% tread stock size tires, best average was 21.3 mpg

Recent stuff:
New Koyo radiator and antifreeze
Drain and fill of transmission
Drain and fill of power steering fluid
Greased drive train
New OEM air filter
Flushed brake fluid
Synthetic 75w90 in front diff, transfer case, and rear diff
New valve cover gaskets
New PCV valve
New OEM spark plugs and wires
New synthetic Mobil 1 5w30 and Toyota filter

All that was done a few days before the trip and that's the MPG I got, but I did spend a lot of time in the mountains on this most recent one and managed to get better MPG than my first trip, and I had to use the Multimode AWD for I'd estimate 150 total miles, so that will drag my MPG down a bit. Not bad for a brick with over 150k now. It was over in the mountains with lots of icy roads, so speeds were lower than 75mph but I imagine if you keep cruise set at 70 or less you'll get better mileage.

 

[A.Wilson013]

-I drove I5 from Dupont to Longview.
-Longview I hopped down into Oregon and took Hwy 30 East to Astoria.
-From there I took 101 south all the way down to San Francisco, and averaged about 19 mpg. Supercharged, v6, auto, 265/70/17's.

The trip north I took 101 north to Crescent City, 199 North East to I5, and I5 North back to Dupont. Cruise control locked at 70 the whole way on I5 I got 20.7mpg. 1 passenger, a weeks worth of camping gear... Cannot remember if I had bikes or not.

If I go 75 my mpg drops considerably... 17ish. I drive like a grandpa on the freeway normally... Cruise control at about 1mph over the speed limit, in the right hand lane unless passing.

I highly recommend cruising 101 down, if you have time, the trip down I5 is bland to say the least.