MPG on a 3rd Gen 4 banger

I had an '87 SR5 4WD manual transmission truck. Which is where I first learned of the virtues of Toyota's 4 cyl. engine. I'd still be driving it, if it hadn't been borrowed in Anaheim.

 

22RE was a workhorse! It felt so peppy in my 91 Toyota single cab

The 2F in my Fj60, not so much.

 

true.....however my trucks computer reading and manually computed calculations are within +/- 0.2 mpg over 29k......so accurate in fact, I quit using fulley.......i believe others have a similar experience

 

I went wheeling on Saturday. Got 16mpg for 30 miles, traveling 10 mph up a sandy, slight incline in the desert. Parked, wandered around a little. Jumped back in and made 27.5mpg driving on rolling highways for another 30 miles. Parked and walked around. Then got 31mpg for the 8 paved miles home.

So, what was my mileage? Seems to vary wildly, depending. The tank average at fuel up seems like just another arbitrary number. I'm standing at 23.5 tank average.

When I finally break down and buy into ScanGauge and see instantaneous fuel flow numbers, I expect the mystery to deepen, not clear up.

 

I don’t own a dog but I’ll kick your wife and slap you

 

Spoken like a true scholar. I’m sure you are just a joy to be around. Another one of SoCal’s finest ladies and gentleman.

 

Boom

 

What?!
How were you driving it?
Flat road, 55 mph, cruise control?

 

Anything is possible with flat road, no wind, no traffic and 60 mph. All of those things combined happened to me on this day in Southern California. ONE DAY ONLY.
My average is around 21

PS. Also this is with a DBLB v6

 

Lol, I was gonna say “now you guys are just messing with me!”.
Something else I’ve noticed, my gas mileage is worse during the cooler temps.

 

calculate the MPGs by dividing the miles driven by the gallons of gas put in the tank on refill,the trucks computerized system is fooling you into believing that at any moment the truck is getting 27 mpg but in reality you have to drain the gas and refill the tank to get a true measurement of how many miles you get on a gallon of gas

 

That’s how I do it.
I only have an SR, so I don’t have the fancy instrument panel.
However, my wife’s Hyundai does have this type of instrumentation where it displays the “Average” mpg and the ”Instantaneous” mpg.
Whenever I have checked the Average with a calculator it has been very close, 1 mpg give-or-take.

 

Correct. The instant mpg or current can be well over 50mpg if your going down the cajon pass, 80 mph with your foot off the gas and letting gravity pull you down the hill. At the same time your current instant mpg will be as low as zero if you are at a stop light or parked engine running. The tank average does vary when you drive. It’s kinda weird. It changes for me between 337 and 358 but 90% of the time it’s at 337 till empty when I fill up and reset my trip. Now that would mean 16.04 mpg but in reality as I’m driving that miles till empty changed. I can drive 15 miles on the freeway and the 337 on dropped to 330. So I drove 15 miles but I only spend 7miles worth on the till empty reading.
When I refill at the half way point I’m usually at 200 miles driven and 200 miles till empty which gives me an mpg of 19.04 THAT has been my averages the past 8 weeks.

Again I know we are talking about 4cylinder and mine is the v6 but as you will see our number are very close if we drove side by side in the same conditions

 

The last 2 months I have tried driving my SR 4 banger for maximum gas mileage.
Each tank has been 95% steady hwy driving - flat road and little wind (optimal driving conditions). I used CC and never went over 63 to 65 mph, which was about 1800 rpms max - a difficult thing to do here in California on Hwy 99 between Oakdale and Sac. My commute is 72 miles one way.
I used 87 octane gas and the best mileage that I pulled out of her was 26.5 - on 2 different tanks. The rest of the tanks were mostly 26 mpg even. Mileage goes down to 24 mpg if I drive 70 in the same conditions.
Conclusion.......it is very difficult to drive like a little old lady, especially on the freeway. On early morning commutes the fast lane on Hwy 99 is 75 to 80 mph, so I just get behind an 18 wheelers in the slow lane.
It's very "unrealistic" driving for me, but the gas prices here are just plain stupid.

 

Tires play a big part. I had a high of 28 MPG (maybe it was 30, but I’ll mention the lower memory), when my truck was stock. 2013 DCSB Prerunner (6 lug), 2.7 auto.

Once I lifted it and put 265s on it, even in lightweight P metric load.. dropped to 17/18 and never changed. Highway, city.. didn’t matter. Most of my time was highway driving, but anyway.. they’re very sensitive. Great motors, but not fuel efficient.

 

Makes sense. My 2012 2wd 4 banger was the best little commute pickup I’ve ever had.
It had those little bitty tires

 

I stopped checking my 4 banger after filling a buddys ram diesel (fucking brutal ) and doing a actual on his truck !! LOVE the 2.7 it just does its thing but I do get 19 average in winter 22 in summer whatever speed traffic flow is rolling at.

 

I just traded in my 2017 off road Tacoma for a 2019 SR 5 with the 4 banger.

I had an issue with two injectors failing at 70k miles. $2400 later and I got rid of it for the simplicity if the 4 cylinder. I love it.

Getting better mileage also

V6 19-21
I4 24-27

Also had a 2009 VW sportwagen tdi, great mpg and torque. Horrible build quality and to many issues.

 

it seems now with little over 31k miles, my 2016 3.5l DCLB V6 is averaging mourned 23.6 overall.combined in-town and freeway.....Seems to have learned my driving habits and run very good....I still get over 26+ on straight freeway driving in So Cal....i really cant complain......the truck is getting better and better.....I had thought about getting a new 2019, but with all the new electronic stuff on it along with the TSS, I just did not want to fight it out with the dealers......no oil usage, brake fluid is still mostly clear with a small hint of yellow, but with help from the board, I can bleed if i need too.....so far Firestones are still lasting....want to buy Micheline but if these go 60k, will get same......i guess I am satisfied......good truck for my needs......tow, even though I have tow pax and and everything is working now....knock on wood.....

 

Dang, that's crazy good for a V6