mfox

have had my 2004 Rav4 automatic 4wd for about a week now. I am very happy with it except for one thing: the mileage seems very bad. I have just begun to to keep track of it, but my guess is that it is getting about 15 miles to the gallon. This is with daily mostly highway driving. Is this normal for the 4wd Rav 4, or maybe part of the "break-in" period? Should I talk to the dealer about it, and if so, can the idle or anything else in the engine be adjusted or is the engine already set in its gas consumption?
Thanks,
Mitchellfox@comcast.net

Good Times

Sounds abit fishy to me...

Straight from Toyota.com....
Mileage Estimates (mpg city/highway)
2WD 4WD
Manual 24/30 21/26
Automatic 24/28 22/27

Looks like you should be getting anywhere between 21-27...

Tacoma Dude

This is going to sound like a stupid question but I have to ask - you're not driving in 4WD are you? Also, where are you? Cold weather will affect your mileage as well... not as drastically as you're seeing but it could be a whole bunch of things that are adding up together...
Tire pressure, driving styles, etc...

mfox

Not a stupid question, because mine might be even stupider. I think it's really awd; tehre are no controls or anything in the masnual about selecting that function in the rav 4.

cabbage

I believe it is awd, just like the Highlander, cant turn it on or off. Sorry to ask but, how are u calculating the mpg?

mfox

Gas tank is 14.8 gallons. It is cold weather now in February near Philadelphia. I have only begun to record mileage; I am only on my second tank of gas. However, I can almost see the needle go down as I am driving. I am driving mostly highway, 50 - 65mph, only about 15 miles per day. From eyeballing the tank so far and knowing how far i have driven, i have done rough calculations that come out to 15 mpg. That is scary. I don't know how much time and energy i have for a long fight with the dealer about it. my 2 questions to everybody might be these:
1. Is there a lemon law for leased cars, like mine is? How much time and energy will this require? Should I just return it now, if possible (it's been one week and a day so far I've had it) ans shop around again?
2. If it is low mileage, is there anything the dealer can do to try to fix it (adjust the idle, which seems pretty high to me, do a computer or fuel mixture tweak, etc., or is that set in tone already)?
Thanks

pfbmgd

I would wait a few weeks and atleast 1000-1200 miles to allow the engine to break in .Usually the first few tanks on a new engine are your worst gas mileage. The cold weather is another factor in your MPG.On my 4runner with frequent cold starts my gas mileage drops 5-7 MPG. I usually get about 21-23 MPG with my 2.7 L .

Flygtenstein

My mom has about 10k on her 2003 and I swear she never has to put gas in that thing.

Lowest tank was 18 doing city only.

Best was 27 and change after hitting lots of highway cruising for longer distance errands.

It is AWD, no on or off.

jharris2

Don't get too concerned by eyeballing the gas gauge -- they are usually inaccurate. Reset the trip odometer each time you fill up, then be sure to fill up gas tank when you add gas -- no partial fillups.

The gas gauge on the 4Runner had me wondering, too, until I used the odometer method -- gas mileage was much better in reality.

Chris in Boise

Here's how to calculate your true mileage:

The next time you go to a gas station, fill up the tank completely.

While you're at the gas station, reset your trip odometer to 0.0 miles.

Drive around for a week or so until you're almost empty, then go to a gas station and fill up the tank completely again. Be sure to get a paper receipt to see the number of gallons that you bought.

While you're at the gas station, divide your new odometer reading by the number of gallons you just put into the car.

For example, if you drove 349 miles and bought 17.4 gallons of gas, calculate 349 / 17.4 = 20 miles per gallon.

BT17R

Ditto the tips here. Don't underestimate the effects of tire pressures, although it's more likely yours are overinflated from the dealership, not underinflated. Check them after sitting overnight. Factory +3 is usually a good ballpark figure to start with.

Also, you might have oxygenated fuel in your area. Oxy fuels are EPA mandated for some areas during the colder times of year. Fuel economy takes around a 10% hit then.

I think it's mostly your average trip length compounded by the cold temps. After break-in, you might consider changing engine oil to a synthetic. It's worth a little extra fuel economy and should help durability since your oil barely comes up to operating temp given your short hops.

EDGE

Your fine, for the amount of miles you drive daily being 15, multipled by the week and a half you had it, whats that 200 maybe 300 miles, don't know how often you buy/lease new cars but I have noticed a big difference in how an engine feels and pulls at 10 miles, 1000, 5000 and so on and I've always notice the best gas mileage at 10-20k

Now your in a cold climate like myself, expect to loose 1-4 mpg on every gallon and anywhere from 20-70mpg on a tank of gas depending on how you drive, these are just my numbers but my calculations and the computer in the truck they match, soon as it warms up and they switch to summer blends with the gas my range changes from 340miles to 370-380 both my 4Runner and ES300 suffer from diminished gas mileage in cold weather.

Another thing you drive 15 miles a day, parking outside makes the engine even colder, cold engines use way more gas.

EPA gas mileage is determined useing methods 50 years ago, they should be updated but when they determine what each vehicle acheives they do them in perfect conditions for the highest numbers while grandma drives

The owners manual says gas mileage varies from vehicle to vehicle, owner to owner, and conditions.

Take it on the highway and drive for 400 miles you should get 24+mpg

mike_d

gas gauges are terribly inaccurate. the best way to calculate gas is keep track of milage between trips to the gas station and record how many gallons you put in the tank. for example: on my subaru, after i fill up, i drive for 70 miles and then the gas gauge starts to move off of full. then for the next 150 miles the gauge goes quickly down to 1/4 and then stays at 1/4 for another 50 miles or so. on my 4runner after i fill up, i drive for 100 miles until the needle moves from full, and then 120 miles later it's on E.

also, don't worry about gas milage until you have about 2000-3000 miles on the engine. you need to wait until things break in before milage improves. my brother noticed a 50% increase in milage on his new GTI from the time it was new until he has 5000 miles on it.