Terrible Gas Mileage on Brand New 4-cylinder Automatic

It may say it gets better gas mileage than the V6, but remember, you got the PreRunner which I believe adds the chunckier tires so that relates to more rolling resistance which will drop fuel economy. Also, gas mileages are never what the EPA rates them at.

 

Drive 55-65 and anyone can beat the EPA all day long with most vehicles.

Yet the PreRunner is rated the same as a regular cab 5-lug, and will not achieve anything like a 5-lug that weighs 500lbs less, sits 4 inches lower, and sports 215 passenger tires.

Driven the same the I4 will get better than the V6, but not as much as Toyota claims.

 

Your Gas Mileage will get better. 2012 SR5 PreRunner Double Cab 4Cyl with 17,900 miles on it now and consistently over 20

 

I have heard from a number of sources that gas mileage went up after 15k+ miles. I certainly hope that is true. I am only at about 6k right now and am still averaging only about 17 mpg with the 2013 SR5 PreRunner 2.7L. You said you are now averagine over 20 with 17k+ miles. What were you averaging in the first 10K miles??

 

OP
If max fuel economy is true goal, get yourself a ultragauge or scangague. This will tell you when you are driving efficiently and when you are not. The Ultragauge is $70 right now. It is a great device for the money.

 

I am at 8500 miles and I have been getting pretty consistent 21-22 mpg. My worst tank was 18 and that was towing a 15 foot aluminum boat on a pretty windy/hilly highway.

 

mine is older 2010 but my gas mileage did not go up after 15k miles.

 

my 2003 4 cyl. got 14 mpg same as my brothers 2007 v8 tundra 4dr 4x4.now have a 2012 cyl 4x4 reg.cab auto.with 9800 miles on it i am getting 17 mpg.3 mile drive to work with no hills.my company truck is a 2013 fi50 v6 auto 4x4 long bed that truck is getting 16 mpg with 40 miles on it.hard to believe with all this modern technology a 4cylinder toyota truck only gets 17 mpg.

 

Could be troll bait, but I'll bite.

It sounds like that modern technology got an extra 3mpg for you. Probably driving the same roads/conditions, which is quite impressive. The engine has no chance to heat up in 3 miles to efficiently burn fuel. Taking short trips is very hard on the engine (especially new) and I would expect the mileage you are seeing. You are also getting the sticker rating for city as well which it sounds like you are doing here.

If you say you get 17mpg and go 3 miles to work it would take you about 3 days to use a gallon of gas. Just going to work it would be almost 2 months to run out of fuel! I wish I had that problem. Take it for some longer highway runs varying the engine speed. It mentions this in the manual. Good luck with it.

 

I have a 2013 2.7 4x4. I get around 15-16 in the city (short, stop and go commute) and 26-27 even 28 mpg on a 500 mile round trip to where I'm from ( mostly 55- 72 mph). Mine has 1900 miles. My first half tank I got 14 mpg.

 

That does help. I'm always watching mine. I got mine on the group buy here.

 

I drive balls to the wall and get 19-21 mpg on my 2012 PreRunner DC i4 with trifold bed cover on it. I've never gotten over 22 mpg even when I try to baby it. My mileage has remained about the same for 30k miles now. I've tried 93 octane fuel also. No difference. Same goes with ethanol-free gas. It doesn't seem to matter. I'm getting 19-21 mpg no matter what I do. Which I'm OK with.

 

will i have a 4door 4cyl prerunner and i get about 17mpg but thats because i do drive more on the aggressive side. usually drive 70-90mph on the hwy but when i first got my truck i drove more calm, and still got about 17mpg but i would never go faster then 75 and wouldnt rev the engine higher then 2500rpm while driving. and i live here in houston which is relatively flat with the exception of the highway going up and down alot

 

Just got a 2014 and same issue. First tank was under 18mpg. 3,500 all highway and best was 22 but average around 20. Almost as bad is it is really underpowered. I have been driving a Toyota RAV4 for six months with 23,000 miles and I loved it. Good power avg 30mpg from the start and the engine is smaller than the new truck.

 

Completely different vehicle. More HP and similar torque specs then the I4 Tacoma all on a FWD/AWD side mounted crossover platform. Rav4 is about 600 to 400 lbs lighter depending on configuration. I always wondered how during the test drives and doing the research people don't notice this? No engine/drive-train changes on these trucks since 2005. Rav4 has had two increases in HP and engines during that time-frame.

 

I assume all above have the 2.7 4 cylinder. That is what my 2014 has, three weeks old, 3,500 miles. Avg MPG is less than 20. As for the noise all highway avg speed around 60 from Oklahoma to Canada via Nebraska, SD, ND and back through Denver and Kansas. Only one tank was barely over 22.

If I can get a 6 cylinder that will average 20 mpg seems like it would be worth the swap.

4 cylinder is seriously under powered compared to the 4 cylinder Toyota Rav4 that I have got in April and have 22,000 mile on.

 

This seems to be a hilly route, so the V6 would fair well. I think people average 17-20 in the V6 which isn't that much of a loss. People should not be buying the 4 cyl to save much gas, but to save on purchase price. I saved about $6k over the v6 with the options I wanted, so for me this worked out best. A new full size can do 18-20mpg if you are looking for a quiet ride and that as well.

 

This.

 

I have the 2013 2.7 I4, double cab, Prerunner 2-wheel drive. I started this thread. I now have over 9k miles on the truck and mpg is still bad. The average mpg stays around 17.5 - 18, and driving conditions appear to affect it minimally. My worst condtions were pulling a light trailer in slightly hilly terrain and I got around 16. My best condtions were a 200-mile trip where I left the AC off and kept my speed right around 62 mph. I got 19.8 mpg. I occasionally drive my wife's 2011 4-Runner with a 4.0 V6 under the exact same driving conditions and it gets as much or better mpg as it is rated for (averages about 17 city, 23 hwy).
I have read several blogs about some engines being very tight until they get 15k+ miles on them, and then the mpg goes up. I am praying that is the case. Otherwise, I am very disappointed in the truck and will seriously consider trading it for a V6. Thanks for all the feedback guys.

 

3 months ago I purchased a new (2013) Access Cab Prerunner with the 2.7 and automatic. I've kept a mileage log for every vehicle I've owned since 1980. (I know....it' a little anal.) My first tank, all city driving was 16.2. Each tank since then has gotten slightly better, with my last tank, all city driving, at 18.6. I've had a few trips that we're all highway driving and I've seen the mileage improve from 20.1 to 21.7. I know mileage is supposed to be better if you keep the rpm at 2000 or below, but I haven't accomplished that yet. I now have 3800 miles on the truck.