The few seconds it takes to back my 2003 4-runner into the garage, fills the garage with a terrible odor from the exhaust. This odor doesn't exist on my older 97' 4-runner. The 03' gets around 19 to 19.5 mpg, (4 liter engine-mostly highway driving). I'm wondering if the smells means somthing is wrong with the emmissions and if it's affecting the gas milage. Or is the smell and mileage about right? Thanks. T.O.

I have an 03 too. For your mileage, are you doing the math, or is that based on the LCD readout? My on board MPG is usually 1-2 mpg optimistic. In any case, the mileage seems about right, but you don't mention your speed. If I do 55-60 sustained I get 20-22, calculated. If I do over 70 it drops a lot, to around 18-19. The smell is your catalytic converter doing it's job..won't affect performance until the converter gets plugged up. Thanks, Andy

The odor is a known issue on this generation. Actually it seems pretty common with many Toyotas due to the catalytic converter they use. There are TSBs out for both the 6 and 8 cylinder engines (http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?postid=31585); however, it shouldn't affect gas mileage at all. 19mpg is pretty good. I know there have been discussions on here in the past about people getting higher and lower numbers. I average 17-18mpg with my '05 V8 Sport. Was that 19mpg calculated or are you going off of the gauge? That gauge seems to be consistently 10% over what the actual number is. Chad

Thanks Andy and Chad for the replies. Oh yea, I'm calculating it. I keep a log on all of my vehicles and record every drop of gas and every mile. On more than one occasion these logs have tipped me off to problems long before they got serious. Andy, most of the highway speeds are around 65 mph. So based on what you're getting, I'm in the same ballpark. I did notice when we got the vehicle, that the on board computer was way off. After a total of around 6000 miles since the last reset, the computer shows 22.1 mpg. And I think my actual calculations were 19.4. Thanks all. T.O. Galloway