Why Toyota so boring now?

I like my 3rd gen. I am a little disappointed in mileage. Normal freeway driving (at constant 75mph) results in a 15 MPG average. Everything else seems fine. My city averages are usually 11-13 mpg.


However, I paid $36k for such a wussy engine. I thought 278hp would be adequate, but it's not. I have MT, and it just feels like an accord or Cammy when I get on it. It struggles uphill, and if i slightly depress the accelerator, my MPG shoots down to 7mpg or lower. It's so stressful to drive anywhere because I have really restrain myself for efficiency.

The Ford ecoboost v6 has a similar mpg rating and it's putting out way more power. I have filled up four times since purchasing this truck, every average tank had a 14-15mpg rating. If I was getting 400+ HP, I wouldn't give a damn. But 14-15mpg averages in a sub 300hp auto? I am seriously scratching my head here.

It's the same story with everything that Toyota is putting out. The FRS is seriously under powered. I am surprised anyone would buy that when the domestics are putting out way better cars (in terms of performance) at a similar price point. The GM midsize twins, while looking uglier, look like way better bargains on paper.

It's the same with all of toyota's other "performance" cars including the garbage LFA. I mean who the hell would buy that over an M2 or M4?

I can't believe this is the same company that put out legendary cars like the AE86, MR2 mk2 and Supra. I get that those cars were commercial failures.

I am definitely going to the Ford and Chevy dealerships this weekend. I always stayed away from American cars because of the 80-90s reliability issues. Those issues are gone now. You're getting way more value for your dollar with domestics as compared to Japanese or German cars.

 

"I like my 3rd gen"
"Fuck the 3rd gen"

Well, which one is it?

15 mpg sounds like driver error. I haven't had any issues with power. But, then again, I have a 600whp Corvette for those needs. Maybe you need a performance car to fill that void in your life?

 

Sounds like you have not had the reflash. I used to get the same and had a lag between reverse and drive, felt like a transmission slip. It runs great now, responsive. 18-19 in city and 23 highway (not going 75). The engine felt like a beat dog before the reflash and now feels like a normal small truck.

 

Opinions are like assholes. We all have em and nobody interested in hearing someone elses. You shouldve known 278hp NA v6 wouldnt be overly powerful in a 4200 pound truck. And comparing a 3.5na to a 3.5tt is kinda silly. By that measure every manufacturer os failing because my 10 year old 1.3l in my last vehicle made 232hp stock.

And if you are getting that bad mpg now, what makes you think youd get epa on a different truck? Sure the f150 may have epa average of 15 but are you getting epa out of your truck? No. Youd likely get 10mpg.

If you think domestic cars fit your needs better by all means go buy one. But dont bash the lfa. Steep price? Yes. But i worked at a dealer that had 3 and they are quite a piece of machinery. Ultimate praise came from jeremy clarkson said its the best car he has ever driven. Let that soak in a moment.

Ok rant over go buy a twin turbo manual automatic f150. Then spew bs on their forum. 7mpg isnt even possible for any period of time unless you have something broken or drive like a complete moron but i dont think that'll even get you that low.

 

I usually accelerate up to speed quickly, then just hit cruise control to maintain speed. I consistently average 18 mpgs city/hwy by doing this with the most current transmission update.

 

Reflash? Yeah something really feels off with my truck. If I press down on the accelerator, the current MPG meter shows almost no blue. It goes from full blue or 30 mpg to almost 0.

 

He has a MT...

I have the same thing and I do mostly city driving, like 90%. Are you calculating actual miles driven and calculating how many gallons you filled up or are you going off the computer? The computer on my truck is displaying 0.5 MPG less than it really is.

Computer displays 16.0 - 17.0 consistently for me which is really 16.5 - 17.5... So yea, I love the design of the truck, it's comfortable (for me), i'm happy with most of the features. I have mixed feelings about Entune and finally, i'm not too thrilled with the engine as I feel like i'm dragging it along as opposed to the engine moving the truck.

 

There is no reflash for Manual Transmission trucks.

 

Ummm

Were both scratching our heads. Dont shift your auto like a manual? Or are you waiting for your manual trans to automatically shift? This could explain it

 

Any vehicle with a mpg meter will show way below average when accelerating. I don't get what you are expecting

 

Man. I had a 4cyl MT 2nd gen for 10 years, and that felt nice on the road. Sure it didn't have a lot of power, but I never felt it struggled on hills.
And I didn't feel strssed out driving it.
I had absolutely no issues with that car.

 

Missed the MT comment

 

And it never struggled on hills? 4 cyl was adequate for 10 years but now 278hp v6 is intolerablely underpowered? Gotcha

 

I expect at least 19-20mpg on highway and 15-17 on the city as advertised. Not the 11-12 city and 15-16 highway that I am getting now. I am not driving like I stole it either.

 

No. It didn't stuggle up the hills.

 

You mention a few cool Toyotas of the past. There have been others, like Supras. But Toyota has always been a conservative company making boring cars and trucks that just do their thing. That's why I bought one in the first place decades ago. Don't need the drama, just need a tool.

 

Every on board mpg gauge I've ever seen produces, we'll call it "optimistic" numbers compared to actual math. My GC when I did the first to second fill up said I was getting 26mpg. Math said 19. Careful driving got me to 21 real world. My current dd is usually 2mpg better than actual mpg. It can do better, but to be honest I didn't buy a twin turbo for the mileage

 

Its either broken or you are driving it pretty hard unless you have a fair amount of mods. But id like to give you the benefit of doubt you didnt put on e load tires and a winch bumper and then complain about mpg and performance

 

I was referring to when you were talking about the instant mpg bar, not your average with that comment.

What speed are you considering highway? Because my truck at 60 mph (EPA Hwy mark 55mph) gets 19+ all day, but at 75 mph it drops to 16+ averages.

 

WTF? If you're getting that kind of mileage, something doesn't seem right. I regularly get 20+ MPG city, and that's hitting most of the lights red.

As for my highway mileage, that varies wildly. Sometimes it's pretty good, other times, not so much.