My 4th day commuting in my new TCH and I'm up to 29.3 MPG. The difference today? Our 100F heat relented so I shut off the A/C. For those that asked, my commute is just under 8 miles and takes around 15-minutes. The car's engine temperature gauge reaches normal range in the first few minutes of my drive thanks to hill climbs.

 

That graph shows a MAJOR difference over the first one!

 

To all of you low MPGers...please also make sure that your tires are at LEAST at the manufacturer recommended pressure. Inflating somewhat over minimum will help as well (please see other threads about the benefits and risks of overinflating)

 

Since there is zero traffic on my commute, I can only guess that either 1) the difference is directly attributable to the A/C being off, or 2) that the TCH is more efficient when it's 83F outside than when it's 100F outside.

Re tire pressures.. my TCH was delivered with 35psi all around. Is that what's recommended by Toyota?

 

What kind of driving were you doing in that 9 minutes (over two trips) to get 60+ for each minute? Was it creeping in slow traffic, or something else? I have never seen mine get 60+ for 9 minutes!

 

The route is mostly downhill during that time.

 

Gotcha. Not many hills in West Michigan, so that does seem unusual from my perspective!

 

To the OP did your last car get lower mileage than the EPA numbers w/ your driving style and commute type?

 

My last car was a 1997 MBZ E420 which EPA's at 18/25. I got just under 18 most of the time, i.e. 16 or 17, or 89-95% of EPA.

We also own a 2001 Dodge Caravan with the 3.8L engine which is EPA rated at 17/23 and I get 15 or 16 in it on my commute, though those numbers are from the van's computer, not fill gallons/trip odom calcs as I used to do on my MBZ.

I expected my TCH FE to be below published spec, both due to my hills and the "your mileage may vary" factor. But I wasn't prepared for such a wide margin.