Just out of curiosity I was wondering what everyone gets for gas mileage in their 4 runner. I have a V8 4.7 liter engine and get about 14 mpg.

My V-6 2WD has been incredibly good. I average 19.22 MPG on the highway. The average V6 mileage is down to 15.4 in city driving

The V8 must be great for towing!

Try to change the plugs and air filter for a burst of power and steady gas mileage!

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My Prius got horrible mileage through the first couple weeks. After the first long trip +200 miles it started to get better. It also depends on the outside temp. Warmer temp = better mileage. Give it a little more time (break in period?) Now I'm averaging @44.3 mpg

There are a couple things that could be causing this...<br><br>1)check the air pressure in the tires...if the pressure is too low, mileage will definitely be affected<br><br>2)how long are your trips around town? Short(a couple minutes) trips have relatively poor mileage because of the emissions controls<br><br>On a side note: I just got mine last Friday and my mileage has been excellent. (currently averaging ~49mpg) My trips in town are generally 10-15 minutes. No long trips yet.<br><br>--Jeremy

My trips around town are never more than five minutes since nothing in this town is farther away than that. I thought that, unlike the Honda Insight, the Prius was supposed to get better mileage around town, not worse mileage. My mileage on the highway (I bought it two hundred miles from here) was pretty good -- around 42 mpg (but I've had Honda Civics with mileage that good). It's around town that it has dropped to around 26 mpg. I read in the Prius manual that the worst mileage comes when accelerating from a stop. That makes me wonder how around-town mileage is supposedly better. Driving around town means lots of stopping and starting.<br><br>The day I drove it home (last Sunday) was an exceptionally cool day, which means the A/C didn't have to work as hard. That may also be a factor.

Thanks. I feel better knowing that your mileage was bad at first and got better. But the warmer temp = better mileage is not so good. If it's getting this kind of mileage in summer weather (not extremely hot yet but in the high 80s and low 90s), I hate to think what it will do in cold weather.

Natalie, I think that your "never more than 5 minutes" statement is the key to your poor mileage. At that rate the engine never has a chance to warm up, so it will not stop running (to save gas) as often as it otherwise would.<br><br>The Prius can get better mileage around town than on the highway. The key is that "around town" would better be called "city driving". That is, lots of starting and stopping, going fairly slowly overall. It does not mean short trips. The reason city driving can get better MPH is because you are going slower so you don't get so much wind resistance, plus you use electricity that you generated by slowing down (which would be lost in a conventional car).<br><br>I suggest experimenting with different driving techniques while keeping an eye on your MPG. Also try a test drive along some routes that take you up and down hills, around turns through different speed limits, etc. See how your mileage is then. If it is still crummy (and 26 MPG is!) then time to talk to your service person.<br><br>BTW, I took a Prius with only a few hundred miles on a test drive one afternoon. Probably 60 or 70 miles on a highish speed road (but not turnpike) with lots of hills. Got quite a bit over 50 MPG.<br><br>Good luck.<br><br>Burns<br>Prius Owner Wannabe

Thanks, Burns. You may be right that the shortness of the trips is the problem. But the only alternative is to set out earlier and circle this small town several times before stopping.<br><br>I think I've found another part of the problem, though. I tried driving without a/c for a while this afternoon and noticed a definite increase in the mileage -- almost up to what my Honda Civic routinely got. I think the problem may be a combination of the short distances and the a/c. The a/c has to struggle to get the hot car cooled down when I first set out. By the time the a/c is able to back off a bit, it's time to stop.

I copied a section from an EPA site describing how they get their EPA mileage ratings. Here it is:<br><br>Quote<br><br>There are two different fuel economy estimates for each vehicle in the Fuel<br> Economy Guide, one for city driving and one for highway driving. To generate<br> these two estimates, separate tests are used to represent typical everyday<br> driving in a city and in a rural setting. <br><br> The test used to determine the city fuel economy estimate simulates a<br> 7.5-mile, stop-and-go trip with an average speed of 20 miles per hour (mph). The<br> trip takes 23 minutes and has 18 stops. About 18 percent of the time is spent<br> idling, as in waiting at traffic lights or in rush hour traffic. Two kinds of engine<br> starts are used: the cold start, which is similar to starting a car in the morning<br> after it has been parked all night; and the hot start, similar to restarting a<br> vehicle after it has been warmed up, driven, and stopped for a short time. <br><br> The test to determine the highway fuel economy estimate represents a mixture<br> of "non-city" driving. Segments corresponding to different kinds of rural roads<br> and interstate highways are included. The test simulates a 10-mile trip and<br> averages 48 mph. The test is run from a hot start and has little idling time and<br> no stops (except at the end of the test).<br>end quote<br><br>20 mph? It doesn't mention how they treat the cold start and hot start numbers. Average them? Note: no AC. Doesn't say at what temperature (I assume it is mild: no heating or AC).<br><br>Sorry about the broken copy that resulted from the cut and paste.<br>MIlt

AC can suck away from 2-50+ mpg, depending on the<br>situation.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Contrary to conventional wisdom (surprised?), I no longer<br>drive the first couple of minutes with the windows down<br>to vent the super-heated cabin air:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;I found<br>the car cools quickest with windows kept shut, since<br>AC recirculates (whether the RECIRC light is on or<br>not) during the cool-down period.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;(AC<br>stratified system is explained fully elsewhere)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Also,<br>the hotter the interior air (to a point), the colder<br>the AC outflow--more refrigerant evaporating=more<br>BTU's.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;(refrigeration explained fully elsewhere)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Jeff (sunroof<br>left popped-up between 10-minute hops kind of renders<br>superheated-cabin problem moot)

In EPA's parlence, cold start is after a 12-24 hour soak in an ambient temperature between 20 and 30 C (68-86 F). Most labs run about 75F. A hot start is after a 10 minute soak following the initial 23 minutes of driving. Weighting is 43% cold, 57% hot. You are correct AC is off.

My experience, since October, has been that 26 mpg is quite typical of "first five minutes" fuel economy. It's also quite typical of mileage when fully warmed up when you have to stop at stop signs every block or every other block. Finally, during winter months, "first five minutes" mileage is worse than 26 mpg and "next ten minutes" mileage is around 26-37 mpg in the city.<br><br>As a test, I suggest the following:<br><br>Find some level roads with speed limits of 35-40 mph and with few stop signs and few stoplights. After you have been driving for at least 7 minutes and are on one of these roads, reset the fuel economy calculator. Be sure the air conditioning is off. Now cruise at the speed limit on these 35-40 mph roads for 25 to 30 minutes (14-20 miles). Observe the fuel economy graph and average. This way you can see what your Prius can do under conditions it likes.<br><br>If you like, reset the calculator again and drive some more with the air conditioning on but with the same road conditions. This way you will see the effect of air conditioning on what would otherwise be largely "stealth mode" driving.<br><br>theboothsdad

Thanks -- I guess. It's discouraging to think that a car I thought would get great around-town mileage gets worse mileage than the car I traded in on it. Even if I could find long stretches of the kind you described to test my Prius under "conditions it likes," I don't really care about what it might be able to do in some unrealistic (for me) situation. What I care about is what it does in realistic (for me) situations. And what it apparently does in realistic situations is get worse gas mileage than the Honda Civic I gave up for it.

Natalie,<br><br>My wife and I drive our Prius with only some slight modifications to our driving style and are achieving averages from 46.5 MPG (low due to circumstances I invoked... a photo shoot following a camera car VERY closely) to 56 MPG. Our 'normal' average is around 48-49 MPG. We often fill up with over 500 miles on a tankful. We do live in florida, and the temps since I bought the car have been 60 and above, so I don't have experience with the cold weather performance. I have run the air and found it to be quite efficient--often reducing my economy by only a few points during city driving and less on highway driving. (during highway driving it is more fuel efficient to use the A/C then it is to induce more drag by opening the windows).<br><br>I don't think you would have to work hard to achieve AT LEAST 45 MPG in most situations. If you're not a member of the ' toyota-prius' group on yahoo, please join. This has been a constant discussion.<br><br>groups.yahoo.com<br><br>You made a good choice, when does your vehicle arrive?

<a href=http://home.att.net/~john1701a target=new>http://home.att.net/~john1701a</a><br><br>John has kept impeccable records and has a great graph for real world M.P.G., year to date and monthly. Check it out.<br>Charlie

I understand your frustration. Part of my commute is on 35-40 mph streets, where I often see 55-63 mpg bars and watch the average climb, but part of it is on side streets with stop signs every block, which knocks it down to 26-30 mpg bars while I watch the average fall.<br><br>To be fair, Toyota should add a footnote like this whenever they mention the mileage:<br><br>EPA estimate: 52 mpg city / 45 mpg highway*<br><br><br>*Mileage is considerably lower during the first five minutes of operation.<br><br>theboothsdad

You asked:<br>"You made a good choice, when does your vehicle arrive?"<br><br>If I didn't already have it, I wouldn't have been posting about its bad gas mileage. I've had it for about ten days now. During the 200-mile drive home from the dealer the mileage was 40ish. That was ok, though not so different from what my old car got on the highway. Since I've been home, it's been averaging in the 20s mpg. That's what concerns me. I hadn't realized that the around-town mileage estimates advertised meant only certain towns and certain situations. Nowhere in my town is farther away than five minutes. And there is no place in my town where one can drive a mile without stopping.<br><br>The problem isn't a matter of my driving habits. I've experimented with all kinds of driving styles, and in certain situations (when I have enough clear road ahead to get it up above 30 and then pull my foot off the pedal), the green bar on the right shoots up to the top (100 mpg). But my opportunities to do that are very, very rare. Then I come to a stop sign or stop light, and it has to make its way slowly up through the 5-15 mpg range again. No matter how slowly and carefully I accelerate, it just can't hop up to that good mileage any time soon.<br><br>The a/c do