2019 horrible gas mileage

Hello all I have owned Toyotas all my life & always been happy with the gas mileage… but… just picked up a 19 runner with ALL the bells & whistles has 30k on it so I know it’s not going to get great gas mileage but 11 MPG???? & I run 91 Octane My 19 Chevy utility van that Weighs 10K gets 10 MPG..is it really that bad? So disappointed..love it though!

 

Unfortunately, the truck has no use for 91 octane gas. You get the milage of V8 in a V6.
Good thing is the resale value unlike other local trucks. My take.

 

Welcome to the forum. I squeezed 18.1 out of my last tank and I never buy high octane. 11 seems low but you didn’t say what bells and whistles. Lots of them cut into the mileage.

 

I average 19mpg in my 2016. That seems pretty low, especially if it’s all stock.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

40/60 city/highway I am guessing and routinely get 17-18 (normal weeks)..took a 200 mile trip each way from New York to Ohio today and back and topped 19 mpg, my dash has always been accurate from new. For going 80mph the whole way back with ac on I can’t complain from a big 6 brick with 3.73’s and 5 speed transmission. I agree 91 octane isn’t needed and can actually be negatively effecting you. Do you use top tier fuel? Stuck in 4 wheel drive? Or drive it like a corvette? Hand calculated or dash reading for the 11mpg. My 01 Tahoe is better than that somethings off here.

 

Yeah I just sold my 99 pre runner for 2k more then I paid for it but do regret selling it as soon as it drove away, I’m just running the 91 to keep it cleaner it’s not a daily driver thank god!

 

Yeah it’s no wh

thanks yeah it’s no where near stock

 

I average 19 mpg year round. 19.5 in the fall/spring, 18.5 during the winter.

 

must be

nice

 

How could better octane decrease fuel mileage? It’s better to run higher octane. Only Costco gas not in 4 wheel. It feels like it doesn’t have a whole lot of power maybe it needs to be re geared . No I drive it like a grandpa, my corvette gets twice the mileage lol dash reading I do drive 70-80 tho I’d be happy with 15

 

I’ve only filled the truck twice so far, but I’m averaging 20.2mpg. I’m about to take it cross country next week so we will see how it does during that

 

Are you lifted with big tires? If not you don’t need a re gear, and these engines do not require higher octane to achieve maximum performance, unless you get ethanol free no benefit, or have a supercharger or turbo set up with different tuning. Also try a top tier fuel like Sunoco or citgo, Mobil, not sure what you have around you but try top tier, check engine air filter.

 

yes it’s lifted with bigger tires, I’ll check the filter I thought Costco had decent gas with a good price we don’t have any of those out in Cali maybe I’ll try shell or chevron

 

There's no such thing as "better octane" there's higher or lower octane. Octane is just a unit of measurement to control pre-detonation during the combustion process. Different engines are designed to run different levels of octane. You may actually be running less efficiently by running higher octane than the engine is designed for and wasting money. No offense, but do a bit of research there, you'll save money and it could help at least partially with your fuel economy problem!

 

How fast do you drive? They really guzzle gas at 80+, especially if you have big, heavy tires.

11 seems really bad, though. I have oversized MT's and get much better than that, even when I have the roof rack on.

 

Yeah, 11 doesn’t make sense to me unless there’s both a lot of gas sucking mods and a lot of city driving. 11 is too low for 60 percent highway. I often get 20 on highway trips, Espec if I keep the speeds reasonable, and that’s continued after switching to AT tires.

I’ve averaged a bit above 17 for my 15k miles of use, according to the computer. And the computer is typically quite close to my hand calculations at the pump. City mileage sucks, but I typically see 13-16 there, prob avg 14-15.

 

My trip computer shows 6 mpg, but I have displaying the “since refuel” screen, and I only driven it 2 miles down the block since refuel. And I idled a lot. Stock size tires. Trip computer is 100% accurate.

MPG numbers only mean something when you give some context. Saying that you get 11mpg is pretty much saying not much.

How big are your tires? Is the MPG calculation at the very least over the course of one or two tank-fulls? What is your typical drive like?

 

This ^

 

I’m not an idiot sorry I used the wrong word I know 91 octane has 4 more octane then 87.. I think, I just have never herd that a higher octane could be worse for an engine that’s all, it’s not really the cost of the fuel I have a Honda to drive but I would definitely drive my runner if it were more efficient.. but if it doesn’t make a difference at all & dosent ping then maybe I’ll just run the lower octane thanks for your help!

 

They're designed to run on 87 octane, anything higher is throwing money out the window. I've run 87 octane and mine for the last 60,000 miles and I average just over 20 MPG consistently. My last tank was 20.9 MPG.

These vehicles are just not fuel efficient to begin with, and they're very sensitive to modification. Also, if you drive with a heavy foot and do a lot of around town driving, your mileage will suffer. Same with driving over 70mph, the engine works hard and sucks a lot of fuel to maintain that speed, especially if you live in hilly terrain.

A re-gear may make it feel not as slow, but the payback on mileage would be take a long time considering a re-gear could cost you 2-3 grand.

 

After someone put big tires on it maybe they somehow did a performance tune to the ECU to compensate.

 

I used to look at my mileage and really strive to hit 20 MPG, but it didn’t take long to stop looking. Especially when living in Humboldt county which has some of the most expensive gas prices in one of the most expensive states, it was better to look away once filling went so far past $100.

Ultimately, the mileage will never be very good. I get the frustration owing that our vehicles are neither fast nor a towing beast, but I really did go into with my eyes open. Would be sweet if they were quicker though…

 

I got 20, via fill up and using caclulator , in my 2019 4runner Limited.
And 91 wont help with fuel economy. Best we can do is find ethanol free fuel. But even that wont make much difference.
Or retune it with an aftermarket tuner, after putting headers on it and a CAI. Best you can really do... Its a old school truck, it is what it is.

 

And it has been proven you make more power on lower octane. Unless the car needs the slower burn rate of higher octane, like with a supercharger, turbo or high compression, then you are wasting money.
There are ways to increase, but the time to recover the costs may be counter productive.

 

I have a 18 ORP with 275/70/17. I was averaging about 17.5 mpg with stock exhaust.
Installed a TRD exhaust and gas mileage had dropped to 14.3. I never heard of exhaust decreasing mpg.

 

Wow, I would list this in the "worst mod ever thread".

Do you like the sound of it? If you're getting on it more to hear the noise or feel the extra power (there is none), you'd get worse mileage.

When I put a Magnaflow catback on my F-Body I found I got on it a lot more because it sounded so good. Of course that was a 5.7L V8, so it sounded amazing.

 

If the exhaust freed up, you generally have to adjust the tune, via spark and fuel mapping to take advantage of it.
Some engines from the factory run rich, to preserve the motor. Not overly rich, just enough. LS type engines run around 11.7. When you throw headers on, it sees more air and dumps more fuel. Then you retune it, and bring the Air Fuel ratio up to around 12.7, WOT for example, and you gain significant HP. Just an example. Not sure how many people tune 4runner ECMs on a dyno.. But, its just an air pump. You allow more air out, the engine needs to be retuned to take advantage of it.

 

You have to drive like a sedated grandma to achieve decent mpg. I get 14-15 around town with a HikeIt throttle controller. If you drive 70mph you won't see much more than 17-18. 55-60mph is the sweet spot and unfortunately that the wheel shake sweet spot too.

 

Is your truck a lifted limited with big tires ?