i took a trip from northwest kansas to miami fl. and back (4000 miles) and never got better than 31mpg actually it was usualy 28-29 my average speed was 70 and didnt have to kick out of overdrive much, is there something wrong with my box or is everyone exagerating about 34-36mpg?
bad gas mileage??
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well i drive a daily 64 miles everyday and on a full tank i only manage to pull around 28-30 mpg so that whole 34-36 thing is only if you manage to drive under 60 on the freeway (granny style driving) and you put your car in neutral but really though who actually drives like a granny? so what i think is most people exagerate the whole 34-36 mpgXbkansas said:
I know its been harped over and over but if you go to a local muffler shop and tell them you want a full replacement (catback). This will free up your air flow and better your emisions I believe. I know it helped in my 97 dodge ram so if sure should add a few miles to the xb..... I know that Intakes help as well. Light weight wheels can help too. If you did nothing but MPG conscience mods you would be in good shape.
well i do have 18's which are about 40lbs a piece and i have had them on since 1 month after buying it so maybe my trip would have had better mpgs with stockies? but they're so ugly!
about the whole exhaust and intake thing, i could convince my wife to let me do those if i could get quiet exhaust. she hates ***** sounds
about the whole exhaust and intake thing, i could convince my wife to let me do those if i could get quiet exhaust. she hates ***** sounds
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490 Posts
I've kept track of every tank since new. Check out what happened when I drained the stealership oil and replaced it with Mobil 1 5W-30...
33.33
32.45
32.95
32.42
31.42
30.975
30.59
31.22
32.1
32.719
30.08
31.826
32.297
32.67
33.33
30.31
34.789
31.7
37.035 < Mobil 1 5W-30
37.6757
33.33
32.45
32.95
32.42
31.42
30.975
30.59
31.22
32.1
32.719
30.08
31.826
32.297
32.67
33.33
30.31
34.789
31.7
37.035 < Mobil 1 5W-30
37.6757
I have also kept records of every fillup as shown below. Some of the variance from one to the next is due to errors in "how full" but will correct with the next fill. Fills #1-4 and #15 are 75 % or greater City driving, #5-14 are over 90 % Highway but with a Teardrop Trailer in Tow, #16 is 80 % Highway (very little Interstate).
I am very pleased with the MPG performance and believe there is more difference in drivers than differences in the xBs.
1--- 32.8
2--- 34.5
3--- 33.6
4--- 33.2
5--- 32.7
6--- 30.3
7--- 30.7
8--- 32.4
9--- 31.3
10-- 35.8
11-- 32.8
12-- 32.9
13-- 33.4
14-- 35.2
15-- 36.1
16-- 41.5
I am very pleased with the MPG performance and believe there is more difference in drivers than differences in the xBs.
1--- 32.8
2--- 34.5
3--- 33.6
4--- 33.2
5--- 32.7
6--- 30.3
7--- 30.7
8--- 32.4
9--- 31.3
10-- 35.8
11-- 32.8
12-- 32.9
13-- 33.4
14-- 35.2
15-- 36.1
16-- 41.5
41 how the hell can you get 41. i dont think its driver error on my part because i set the cruise at 74 and never touched the gas for an entire tank the only interruptions were tap the breaks to slow down and hit resume to speed back up. it was flat roads my best was 31 i ran the ac on level 2
when they were shipped... each rim seperatly had a label that said 42lbs maybe that was the sellers way of overcharging me for shipping.. but im pretty sure thats accurate i had to carry them up the stairs to my apt. then back down to put em on
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1,105 Posts
I'll just load several things into this same post... 
First off, the xB is VERY sensitive to driving style, and while the 'brick on low profiles' shape doesn't do well for MPG at high speeds,
![]()
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how rapidly you accelerate and how often you change speeds hurts it even more.
Secondly, every extra 100 pounds you carry costs you another 0.1-0.2 MPG.
Third, most synthetic oils have less 'drag' in the engine than most 'ordinary' oils, and give fractionally better milage.
Fourth, too soft tires reduce your milage - running a tire 6 PSI low will generally lose about 5% of your milage.
Fifth, gasoline with alcohol in it will absolutely reduce your MPG. Gasoline contains about 115000 Btu’s per gallon, and ethanol only 84000 Btu. That means that ethanol only has 73% as muich energy per gallon as gasoline, and will only push your vehicle 73% as far per gallon. (I.E. if you get 38MPG on gasoline, you will only get 28MPG on ethanol.) Even just 10% ethanol in regular gasoline (common now in many areas) will reduce your milage.
IMPORTANT: Toyota specifically recommends against using any fuel in our vehicles that has more than 10% ethanol - and that counts anything you might pour into the tank as an additive. If you are using a 10% ethanol fuel (E10) do NOT add anything to your tank that has alcohol in it. NEVER use E85.
Sixth, Toyota specifically recommends only using one of the "Top Tier" gasolines to ensure adequate detergents in your fuel to prevent build-up of deposits. This very much limits the fuels you can use, unless you are willing to chance damage causing deposits in your engine.
Any of these brands is acceptable to Toyota:
QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Chevron-Canada
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Company
SEE:
http://www.toptiergas.com/ and
http://autorepair.about.com/od/generalinfo/a/110305.htm and
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=27&article_id=9752
(Personally I try to stick with Chevron, 'cause I like their additive package.)
Seventh, well, seventh is all the rest of the things that can mess with your milage, from a wet road to eroded sparkplugs, to having a bunch of electric stuff on (headlights, fan, high power audio, etc.), from running your air conditioning (or defroster) to having wide tires. Heck, even some brands/models of tires are very much better - or worse - in the milage they deliver. Same for wheels - some slide through the air, some create tremendous drag - just like four paddle wheels churning away on the sides of your box.
Still, overall, our boxes get good milage, and certainly better milage than any other deccent vehicle with the usable space of ours.
Here's how mine does. I can readily see when I was driving 'in a spirited manner' and when I was just cruising on the highway on a trip. (Note also that I correct for the error in the odometer readings.)
![]()
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I'll go away and let you digest some of that for awhile, OK?
![]()
*mutter* damned tpyos!
First off, the xB is VERY sensitive to driving style, and while the 'brick on low profiles' shape doesn't do well for MPG at high speeds,
how rapidly you accelerate and how often you change speeds hurts it even more.
Secondly, every extra 100 pounds you carry costs you another 0.1-0.2 MPG.
Third, most synthetic oils have less 'drag' in the engine than most 'ordinary' oils, and give fractionally better milage.
Fourth, too soft tires reduce your milage - running a tire 6 PSI low will generally lose about 5% of your milage.
Fifth, gasoline with alcohol in it will absolutely reduce your MPG. Gasoline contains about 115000 Btu’s per gallon, and ethanol only 84000 Btu. That means that ethanol only has 73% as muich energy per gallon as gasoline, and will only push your vehicle 73% as far per gallon. (I.E. if you get 38MPG on gasoline, you will only get 28MPG on ethanol.) Even just 10% ethanol in regular gasoline (common now in many areas) will reduce your milage.
IMPORTANT: Toyota specifically recommends against using any fuel in our vehicles that has more than 10% ethanol - and that counts anything you might pour into the tank as an additive. If you are using a 10% ethanol fuel (E10) do NOT add anything to your tank that has alcohol in it. NEVER use E85.
Sixth, Toyota specifically recommends only using one of the "Top Tier" gasolines to ensure adequate detergents in your fuel to prevent build-up of deposits. This very much limits the fuels you can use, unless you are willing to chance damage causing deposits in your engine.
Any of these brands is acceptable to Toyota:
QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Chevron-Canada
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Company
SEE:
http://www.toptiergas.com/ and
http://autorepair.about.com/od/generalinfo/a/110305.htm and
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=27&article_id=9752
(Personally I try to stick with Chevron, 'cause I like their additive package.)
Seventh, well, seventh is all the rest of the things that can mess with your milage, from a wet road to eroded sparkplugs, to having a bunch of electric stuff on (headlights, fan, high power audio, etc.), from running your air conditioning (or defroster) to having wide tires. Heck, even some brands/models of tires are very much better - or worse - in the milage they deliver. Same for wheels - some slide through the air, some create tremendous drag - just like four paddle wheels churning away on the sides of your box.
Still, overall, our boxes get good milage, and certainly better milage than any other deccent vehicle with the usable space of ours.
Here's how mine does. I can readily see when I was driving 'in a spirited manner' and when I was just cruising on the highway on a trip. (Note also that I correct for the error in the odometer readings.)
I'll go away and let you digest some of that for awhile, OK?
*mutter* damned tpyos!
I wouldn't call it driver error, however you are going to have a VERY tough time geting 41 mpg with 18" wheels that weigh 40# a corner and run at 74 mph. Thats even IF you arn't running the AC. Considering all those factors, I think you probably did well to get 31 mpg.Xbkansas said:
Heavy wheels and speed cut into your mpg the most and the AC is probably worth 1-2 mpg depending on how hot it is - your fan setting makes almost no difference. Running cruise control can be a gas saver or a gas user depending on how much you need to re-accelerate. If you need to do it frequently it is a better practice re-accelerate with the gas pedal VERY easy and then reset the cruise, cruise tends to put the pedel to the metal (not a help in getting high mpg).
How do you measure MPG?
Fill tank/record odometer, drive, re-fill/record odometer and note gallons needed to fill. Subtract odometer reading at re-fill from reading at fill and devide by gallons needed to fill. You will have some "fill" error everytime but it will be small as you learn to stop filling at the same point each time and over many fills will be almost error free.
yeah thats what i meant for mpg measurement. i use trip 1 for each tank and trip 2 for miles driven from day 1 my first tank was 28mpg with stockies in april. no ac and easy driving mixed half hiway and half in town but intown its a small town so not too many stoplights and stopsigns
should i ask them to use different next time? i have heard that there are not many differences in oil companys now days as there were 15 years ago
is this something alot of people have noticed. i have had 1 oil change but it was at the dealer and the sticker says they used quaker state 5w-30ChromiumSteel said:
should i ask them to use different next time? i have heard that there are not many differences in oil companys now days as there were 15 years ago
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