Vato Loco

Thats about $32000-$33000us for 03 Limited!:eek:

Mohamed

I must be a fool or something because, I mean for me, I get 14 MPG in the city and i dance for joy considering a V8 for my Tundra and think I get great gas mileage. Okay I gotta ask, what is the city MPG for the '03 4Runner?

I was complaining however when just before I sold my old Runner ('90) that I was at best getting 12.5 MPG and that was when I used the freeway a lot.

What's really interesting is the Camaro SS is a 5.7 L V8 and gets 19 MPG city driving. That to me, is an excellent gas saver and in my terms Civic fuel efficient worthy...

Tripitz

I only have 700 miles on my 4Runner, but so far I'm getting 18mpg averaging 70-75mph, and about 13-14mpg with city/mixed driving (mostly city). Not great, but not that bad. My m3 gets about 16-17 with mixed driving (heavy foot!), but on long distance driving I can usually get 24-26mpg.

BT17R

Mohamed, EPA City/Highway estimates for the '03 Runner are:

V-6 18/21 (2WD) 17/20 (4WD) Premium fuel required

V-8 17/19 (2WD) 16/19 (4WD) Premium fuel recommended

A bit better than Tundra with a similar but differently tuned i-Force engine. Of course Tundra has the aerodynamics of a brick, weighs more and is geared shorter than a Runner, all combining to reduce mileage.

JGage

I'm getting roughly 15.5mpg avg, not getting on it. I expected this, but I'm still po'd Toyota didn't field a computer that is correct (it says I'm getting 16.9) this is with 1200miles. The range error really peeves me off. I drove 30m with it on zero the other day.

What's going to be bad is if the prediction is true that oil proces may be $100 per barrel by mid-summer. (depending on down south and what happens in the mid-east.) It's $30 now.

Tripitz

My feeling is that they are being SUPER conservative on the gas guage. I was pretty much on empty and I had over 4 gallons left. The range said I had 10 miles to go with that much left. It is annoying though as I'm used to cars being at 0 when its at Empty! There is no second guessing.

I guess it sucks how much gas costs, but we all knew it would be bad coming into this. I never had any expectations other than to pay a lot per fill-up with this car. Otherwise i would have bought a A4 wagon and would be getting 28mpg...

JGage

I've noticed with a lot of Japanese autos, you can drive around with the light on. My 300Z was the same way, the light would be on and the needle would be below empty. It still has a couple of gallons in the tank.

There were 1.5gal left in my tank today when I filled up and it was below empty and the light was on. It's okay, once you get used to it.

MPG are slowly rising... 15.86 now. I was getting 14 when it was new. I was a lot more aggressive during this last tank.

Tripitz

I've got 1100 miles on it now (1 week!). Its running fine, averaging about 17 on the highway.


One question though for other 03 owners... have you experienced a wierd 'thumping' or 'shudder' in the driveline when at a complete stop after the brakes are released? I've noticed this from day 1 and don't remember the test car doing this. I might be driving out west this week and I'm guessing I should get it checked out first.

BT17R

Any chance it happened while you were on an incline transitioning from brake to gas? I noticed the "thump" for the first time yesterday. It happened when I backed out of my sloping driveway a little quicker than usual and shifted into "D" sooner than normal, possibly while still moving backwards slightly. I've never felt that on an FJ100 or Sequoia when driving the same way. My guess is that it's the Hill Start Assist control momentarily applying the brakes thinking the truck is sliding backwards down an incline. Then when the throttle is applied, there's that thump as the brakes release and forward motion starts. Since then, I'm careful to come to a complete stop before shifting from R to D, and haven't felt it again.

denverbikeguy

I noticed this on my Tundra when coming to a quick stop, holding the brakes, then releasing them. It wound up being that the rear brakes were slowing down a bit faster than the front ones, which would essentially "compress" the driveshaft and to some extent the frame. Releasing the brakes allows all that pent up tension to go somewhere, which makes a "shudder" and a thud.

I doubt your frame is flexing on an SUV, on a truck I can sort of see that since the back half of the body isn't connected to the front. But see if it happens when you brake more slowly, letting that force spread out over a longer length of time...

As for mileage - well, the Tundra mileage isn't great, but I found there is a huge difference between lead-footing a V6 4runner and a V8 Tundra with gas usage. I got pretty good mileage on the '8 when I was nice, but generally I just ate the extra few bucks and had fun with it.

BT17R

I take it all back. I tried to duplicate it several times today. The only time it did it is when I intentionally shifted from R to D and applied gas too abrubtly. Using the KISS theory, it seems to be cockpit trouble.

BTW, is everyone else having fun with the new 5A/T? The future is now for Toyota A/T's. I like the shift pattern, one Mercedes has used since the late '80's. Anyway, I shift it like a Tiptronic and it responds really well up and down. It's become sharper and crisper during break-in as the AI learns my driving style. It's so easy to flick the pistol grip shifter around. Clearly, that was Toyota's intent with it. Plays havoc with fuel economy, but the added control (and fun) more than makes up for it. In 4H on-road, 1st gear seems unecessary with the V-8 torque. In 4L, 1st gear is fairly low, a 34" crawl IIRC, and maintained a constant 6-7 mph down an unusually steep hill today. The DAC slowed it even more, to around 3-4 mph, and made the electrohydraulic brakes earn their keep.

Tripitz

Thanks for the response on the thumping. It went away for a while, but yesterday it came back with a vengeance. A couple of times I really felt the thump. I guess I will have to bring it in for service already. It happens pretty much on all terrain and sometimes while the car is already moving.

I have to say, after 1500 miles on the car in 2 weeks of ownership I've been very pleased. The ride is great and the handling actually makes it not such a chore to drive. I guess my only complaint is that I guess I'm suffering from 'early production problems'. In addition to the thumping, there is a rattle from the roof over the drivers side and center roof console that is rather annoying. I'm very leary of bringing it in to service because 'thumps' and 'rattles' are very hard for them to fix/find even at the best of dealerships, and I don't exactly have too much confidence in my local selection of dealers. I just want to drive the thing and not spend my time sitting at a dealership to repair a brand new car!!!

The auto is great. I haven't really played around with it too much other than to downshift a couple of times on downhills on twisty roads. It shifts smoothely and unobtrusively. I do need to program the AI to shift a bit faster when I want to pass!

sfrolich

RE: Roof rattle... Make sure all your roof rack adjustment nuts are tight. I had a rattle and one day on the highway I hear this piece of metal clanking down the top of the car onto the road.

They forgot to tighten these nuts from the factory. I found 4 or so that were working themselves off already.

Scott

Good Times

wow I must be lucky! I haven't experienced any problems for my new 4runner. I've driven 2000+ miles now in about 6 wks now and still running great!

I will definitely keep my eyes/ears open for any problems if they apprear..

Diablo3305

the only problem i had so far was I went out one morning and started the car, and the stereo was being screwy....might have been from the cold, but i couldn't change the volume.. shut it off and started it again and it was ok. I have like 900 miles on mine, had it for about 4 weeks.

JGage

Hell, I was driving mine and the side speakers turned off (the sub and woofers, center channel stayed on.) I was listening to a CD, I just skiped forward a track and everything went back to normal... Hasn't happened since.
I'm not real impressed with the speakers... I think the JBL system could used a better amp and better speakers.

sfrolich

Did you have the navigation system guiding you someplace? I have the volumne on the nav system turned down to the lowest setting and had the radio really loud. What happened is the side speaker would cut out to let the lady tell me where to go but since the other speakers were still playing loud music, I thought the speaker was cutting out.

One thing that really annoys me is that every time I turn off the voice nav, I need to do it again every time I start the rig! :mad:

Scott

TooEZgoin

I'm not too overly impressed with the JBL system either. With all those speakers and the JBL name, I expected the sound system to be much better than what it is.

Tripitz

This is too funny!!! I have the standard stereo system that comes with the Sport Edition and I believe the speakers are JBL. I think the stock stereo in the 4Runner blows away my Harmon Kardon system in my M3 that cost me $800!

I finally saw another 03 Sport on the road today. That brings my total for the last month up to about 2 total sightings in the NYC area. Anyone seeing more of them on the road or are they still not selling?

JGage

I don't have the Nav, just the 6 disc w/ 10 speakers.

It's sad, because I had a '93 Celica All-Trac Turbo that had a 10spkr system and it sounded great.

IMHO, the '03s JBL system doesn't stink... It's just not all that great. It isn't very dynamic or open and airy. Once again, IMHO, I think the problem can be directed to the amp/power source. Has any checked to see if there is a stand-alone power source or is it power via the head unit ? I'll have to go look.

Another sort of complaint I have... Though it's really petty and not a big deal... The gas gauge isn't calibrated worth a damn. It'll show 1/2 a tank @ 195mi... Then by 220 it'll be on 1/4. Anyone else getting this ?
Mine will stay above full for 60mi.