Gas mileage

[windman35]

Hello all. I'm new to the forum. Glad I found it. Can't seem to get straight answers from my dealership, thought I might get them from fellow RAV4 owners.

I'm leasing a 2011 4 cylinder all-wheel drive base model with a few extras. I've had it since Sept.; it now has 3,700 miles on it. My issue is the gas mileage. It sucks I don't know if this has to do with the vehicle being new or if this is what I'm stuck with... I drive conservatively: I keep it at 68 mph on the highway and can barely get 24 mpg. Usually it's 23.5 or something. City it's been as low as 17. I spoke with my dealership's service department and was told the vehicle being new has no bearing on mpg. The guy told me what I'm getting for mileage is what I'm going to get. I found this hard to believe. Is this true? Am I stuck with a lower mpg than the 6 cylinder models? Otherwise, I love the vehicle. If the mpg gets up to where it's supposed to be (28 highway), I'll more than likely buy it when the lease expires. Thanks in advance.
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Windman35

[Blogson]

Welcome to the forum. There have been lots of threads about gas mileage - if you do a search you will find that there are tons of posts about it.

[SteVTEC]

See here:

Does MPG improve after some time on a new car?

I wouldn't worry about it until summer. The dead of winter with freezing cold temps and denser air that's more difficult to push through, and extended warm up times, and a new car that's still breaking in and will keep doing so until about 10k miles, and "winter gas" are not the times to be questioning mileage. I have no doubt that it will probably pick up to the upper-20 range once temps start warming up.

[RTexasF]

Agreed......you're in a cold climate, winter fuel, and an engine that is not broken in. Also are you trusting the computer or figuring MPG by hand when you fill up? What kind of highway drive? 30 miles or 300 miles? Defroster on? That usually turns on the A/C.....lots of variables here.

[windman35]

Sounds like my mileage will improve as I log more miles (and as the temperature goes up). That's good to hear. Thanks.

[windman35]

I don't use the on board computer... I check my mileage manually when I fill up by dividing the number of miles on my tripometer by the amount it took to fill the tank. And these are highway miles, usually 150 at a time.

Sounds like I need to get more miles on this thing (and get into warmer weather) before I conclude that something's wrong. Thanks for your input.
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Windman35

[Cadman]

run the tank to 300 miles. if you are filling @ 150 miles , you are barely at 1/2 a tank. i average 80 miles per 1/4 tank in my '11 V6 sport. go browse Fulley.com.

see:
Toyota RAV4 MPG Reports | Fuelly

cadman

[SteVTEC]

Originally Posted by windman35

I don't use the on board computer... I check my mileage manually when I fill up by dividing the number of miles on my tripometer by the amount it took to fill the tank. And these are highway miles, usually 150 at a time.

Sounds like I need to get more miles on this thing (and get into warmer weather) before I conclude that something's wrong. Thanks for your input.
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Windman35

That explains it right there, because that's a worst-case condition. Long highway trips through very cold and dense air that's much harder to push through, in an SUV body with a high frontal area and not the best aerodynamics, will definitely eat up a lot of extra fuel. Will result in a 25%+ drop in fuel mileage. If you're getting 23.5 now, 28-29 should be attainable in the summer months. Nothing wrong with your car.

My wife and I used to live about 350 miles apart and alternated driving to see each other on weekends between Northern IL and Minnesota, across Wisconsin. I went from being able to make it in my 1999 Maxima with plenty of gas to spare in the summer, to scraping the bottom of the tank in the winter. Only change was the air density. My wife in her Highlander could make it all the way in the summer on a single tank, but not in the winter and had to stop somewhere to fill up. Best mileage was in late spring or the fall when the air temps were warm enough to still be easy for the cars to slice through at highway speeds without too much additional drag, but not so hot as in the mid-summer to need to run the A/C all the time.

The only thing you can do now if you want to maximize your MPG is to go slower, to reduce aerodynamic drag. Drag increases exponentially with speed. If you go 10 mph slower than you are now, it should make a noticeable difference.

[windman35]

Steve,

I didn't realize the colder weather can drop mpg by 25%. I can say this resistance is very noticeable on a motorcycle, which I'm on most of the time from April to Nov. Riding in the low 40s on a bike, even when there's no discernible wind, feels like you're constantly pushing into a headwind. Very taxing on the rider, but I personally don't notice much difference in mpg.

Since I'll be using my RAV mostly in the colder months, sounds like I should just get used to my current mpg.

Thanks.
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Windman35

[dtalk]

Originally Posted by windman35

Steve,

I didn't realize the colder weather can drop mpg by 25%. I can say this resistance is very noticeable on a motorcycle, which I'm on most of the time from April to Nov. Riding in the low 40s on a bike, even when there's no discernible wind, feels like you're constantly pushing into a headwind. Very taxing on the rider, but I personally don't notice much difference in mpg.

Since I'll be using my RAV mostly in the colder months, sounds like I should just get used to my current mpg.

Thanks.
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Windman35

Also the use of ethanol lowers MPG. See web site.
Ethanol