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Comments
Check the features list on the Toyota web site, and print it out and take it to the dealer if you got the wrong thing. Does seem like a strange thing to change. I can see the wrong wheels etc.
If you keep your speed to 65 mph you should be able to hit 30 mpg pretty easily. Amazing for the amount of room.
Recently, it averaged 21.9 mpg during a 1,600 mile round trip from 1,100 ft. above sea level to 11,300 ft. above sea level and back. The 1600 miles includes 100 miles of all in town driving at 10,000 feet. New air cleaner element, 850 lbs. of people and cargo, A/C used about half the time, nothing on roof rack, no trailer, half interstate, half rural 2-lane. Average speed during the time the motor was running, including gas stops and food stops and going through small towns on the rural highways was 63 mph for the 1500 miles of highway use. That average speed was attained by going about 8% over the speed limit as traffic permitted, usually around 70 to 80 on the highways with several spurts above that for passing. Temperature varied from 105 degrees to 50 degrees F.
The van is rated 16/22 city/highway mpg by EPA.
The previous long trip was 1000 miles when the odometer read 11,000 miles. The elevation change was from 1,100 ft. to 20 ft. above sea level and back again. The MPG was 16 on that round trip in 100 degree weather with the A/C on constantly.
If this rate of improvement with mileage (and other factors?) continues, I will be averaging 30.25 mpg on the highway when I get 37,000 miles on the odometer, and by 50,000 miles I'll be getting 41.6 mpg.
I can hardly wait. Maybe I should up my use of the van beyond 9000 miles driven per year?
Some time I wish I had sprung for the built-in entertainment system, because it comes with that JBL system, plus you can fit a Solara's NAV system right in the dash, plug-and-play.
It was $2300 more for that package, plus $1700 or so for the NAV, so that would have been $4 grand more.
I could have afforded it, but I decided to spend less and go aftermarket. Got a 12" Jenson movie player (kids love the huge screen) and a Garmin portable NAV.
Any, I am supposed to get an antennae, so I called the dealer and they said they'd get me one. Haven't had time to go in yet but I will this week.
Let me drift back on-topic - my mileage has crept up to 24mpg! :shades:
The EPA website now has converted all the EPA mileage estimates for vehicles all the way back to 1985 so they are directly comparable to the new 2008 standards.
As most of you know, the 2008 numbers will be adjusted downward from earlier years to more closely approximate the actual MPG that average drivers are getting in city and highway driving.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymake/Hyundai2006.shtml
The Sedona and Entourage actually match the Ody LX now, too.
This all may be due to rounding errors.
So a number on any particular car should be an accurate estimate (oxymoron?) within one half mile per gallon of the number it would have been if carried to the tenths place, right? So even between two different cars the MPG figures should be no more than nine tenths of a MPG off from the more accurate figures carried to the tenths place. No big deal really.
I like that EPA has made the numbers directly comparable again. Good job government! Hahaha! Hardly makes up for any of the myriad of past blunders though, eh?
Since they round to the nearest whole number, we should pretty much assume a +/- 1 mpg error.
Question for other Sienna owners: Have you used the MP3 connection? Will your stereo controls work as described in the owner's manual?
I have tried both MP3 and a genuine iPod and the dash controls do NOT do anything but change volume. I think the fine folks at Toyota have deceived us by the fancy write up of the Sienna stereo system. :sick: :lemon:
We can easily exceed Highway ratings but when there is little or NO driving except idling and short trips of less than one mile, the mileage drops to the mid-teens on a tankfull of gasoline...lower than the 17 rating under the new system.
OK, you're officially not allowed to complain any more.
That's great, though. I was up to 24.0 but I'm doing a lot of city driving lately so it's inched down a tad.
My best is about 33, but I had a nice tailwind pushing me. The new 3.5 liter engine is a little better still.
I'll see what the steady-state mileage is once I get on a flat surface. I'll see how it does at 55, 65, and 75. Bet it does better the slower you go, though.
Nice thing is this van is geared TALL so at times the engine is chugging along at just 1200 rpm it seems. :shades:
Suprisingly the Ody with VCM is geared shorter than the standard Ody. This is supposed to help it stay in eco mode for longer. The problem is that pushing a 4,500 lb box at 80 mph is not conducive to eco mode, so the VCM would rarely be used on the highway here.
I would be curious to see how the new 3.5 does at steady speeds. I know the 3.3 will get 40 mpg if you drive it slow enough. I imagine the 3.5 will push 35 mpg at 55 mph maybe even better.
On the same test 4 years ago with my 2003 PT Cruiser, it got 37.2 MPG which proves the much heavier Sienna with a 3.3L V6 is exceptionally frugal compared to a 2.4 inline 4 cyl PT cruiser....but it has only a 4 speed AT with gearing too much toward performance at the expense of fuel economy.
45 is probably about right - suburban driving, not interstate stuff.
The 3.5 should do a little better though.
Maybe it's the Direct Injection, but I don't think there is another naturally aspirated engine on the market that can match its performance/economy balance.
I just had a 20mpg city and we took a 480mi trip (960 total) on the way there we had 24mpg and on the way back it was 25.6.
Speed plus 5mph (70-80mph) – on the way back we averaged 65mph
Hilly for part of the trip
35 psi tires (read 41 on the highway in Austin)
AC full time
2 adults 3 children and cargo
Ambient temp 80 – 95 F.
87 Octane
Then the motor self-destructed. Cost $3800 to replace the motor.
Maybe you should drive close to home for a while?
I'm sure it'll be fine
I also noticed that I can do highway mileage of 33 MPG on my highlander hybrid (rated at 27 MPG highway).
I can also do a similar 30-33 MPG on my outback on the highway (rated 28 MPG highway).
I think the bottom line is how sensitive your are in conserving energy when driving and take advantage of gravity and hills. If I see a downhill anywhere in front of me, I wait until I arrive at the start of the downhill before I accelerate to speed.
If I am about to encounter an uphill and I drive an automatic gear box, I press the gas but not far enough to cause a downshift. If the top gear is too tall, I don't press further since it will downshift, I will just let the speed decrease to its terminal velocity in top gear.
If I am driving my Highlander hybrid (CVT), I just set the cruise control to the speed limit on uphill climbs and then go back to just above the speed limit on level roads.
I used the car's trip computer, scan gauge, and compared them to actual hand calculations. So my trip computer readings and scan gauge readings are corrected based on the hand calculations for each of my cars.
All my 3 cars have scan gauges. 2 of them have trip computers. None of them are perfectly accurate. The toyota's tend to be conservative in their readings. The Subaru tend to be very optimistic.
Another thing, aerodynamic drag is a fuel economy killer above 55-60 MPH. Fuel consumption increases exponentially above those speeds.
I usually begin the trip with speeds above the speed limit just like everybody else. Then I gradually slow down to the speed limit near the end of my trip.
This is a 2007 Sienna LE model, package 3. A/C on nearly the whole time. Cruising mostly ~65 mph.
Edited for details on model and driving conditions.
jtvangor - I have an 2006 with 16000 miles. The dealer said my MPG will improve when at about 15000 miles. I am wondering if he meant 115,000...what you think?
The other way is to zero the odometer when you fill up the gas tank. Then, next time you get gas, read the trip odometer again to see actual miles traveled, and divide by the actual fuel used to fill up the tank again (taking it back to roughly the same level it was when you started).
The catch is it's hard on one single tank to get a perfectly accurate measure because you can't be sure if the tank is filled up to the exact same level as last time. I usually fill to the first stop, and do not top off.
What makes it more accurate is to measure several tanks in succession, then take a weighted average for those many tanks. That starts to get quite accurate.
To answer your question, no, I think he did mean 15,000, not 115,000.
F.Y.I. -
1) Topping off would not make a difference between 13.256, 13.51... and the 17+ others are saying. (I am getting between 13.2+ and 13.5+. city)
2) I do know how to do the math. My question was to see the responses I would get. I am VERY CURIOUS to know if people really know the calculation because I am not getting those numbers. I was in Georgia for a week and still did not get 17+.
If you do own an Odyssey, what is your mileage? Where do you live.
Make sure the tire pressure is 35psi or higher. The manual calls for 35psi, higher than I'm used to.
I just did another trip (FWD, 2007) and got 28.8 going to the beach and then 29.8 coming back. Keeping speeds down I could break 30, even for the average. MPG dropped by about 2 when speed limits increased by 10mph.
In the city my average plunges but I'm still around 23 mpg or so.
I do combine trips, and use only the front A/C (not on max) when that's adequate. I park in the shade when possible. Tire pressures are at 36. I'm light on the throttle unless I really need the power. I tend to go about 10 mph over the limit, around here any slower and you're a serious target for road rage to be honest.
Make sure you're also not carrying around an unnecessary weight. Get all the junk out of the trunk!
Yet another tip - mine only seems to go in to overdrive at speeds above 46mph or so. So setting cruise at 46-50 mph actually results in better mileage than 42 mph, where it will only use 4th gear, and not overdrive.
Just trying to help figure out what's bringing your mileage down...
Recent trip with a couple of long highway legs -500 miles each, this Sedona with 27K miles got about 20 mpg with four occupants and probably 300 pounds of "freight". Speeds usually at or just over 70 mph and fairly distributed terrain.
Not that bad for what came to about 6000 pounds all together.
Anyone have any success or even strong opinion about how to remove the crossbars on a 2005 Sedona roof rack? I seldom use the rack, and if I do, I know in advance. I'd like to take them off entirely and even on long trips just stash them inside in case I need them. I have to believe they're worth about 2 mpg at US highway speeds.
Consumer Reports tested mileage with roof top carriers and large soft ones did create significant drag, about 2mpg IIRC. Hard ones only a little.
So cross bars alone probably won't have nearly as much impact overall. Maybe 0.5mpg.
What is your average speed?
When we idle through drive-throughs or sit idling waiting for a table...we average a speed around 19-20mph...that turns into 16-17mpg.
Taking a few longer trips (over 10 mins) will take it 18-20mpg.
A recent highway trip (all highway) returned 26mpg.
and...for some reason my wife ALWAYS gets really bad mileage...I'll be averaging 21mpg and she'll go out for the afternoon and return it showing an average of 16mpg (maybe secret auto-crossing
You should reset the trip computer once you get it back from the dealer, if you haven't already, that is.
One thing that scared me off on a Kia Sedona was that the Trip Computer was reporting 7mpg. Even during my test drive, we drove for a while, it still didn't break 10mpg. I saw that as a bad sign.
But I just got it back from the dealer, I was told a bunch a crock, but I'm not 100% sure. Dealer told me, the car is still new, at the time only 500 miles on it and the cylinders, engine, blah, blah still needs to be broken in. Told me after about 1,500 miles I should see significant increases. Computer read out is showing 12.9 to be EXACT! Just filled up again, the 3rd time. Once by the dealer, on delivery. My wife is taking a nice road trip tomorrow, to Va, told her to PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to the gas outlay. I set the Trip O to Zero and the tank is Full or thereabouts due to I had to drive home from the gas station. I've also been reading the manual and I rest the Computer AVG. ie Hold the Mode and EM together. When she returns, the vehicle should be @ 1,300-1,500 miles. Then I'll have something substantial to complain to the dealer, if they are wrong "although I'm not sure what they can do"
My wife is about to go to Virginia (highway) so I'll be checking on the Highways MPG.
I did get an oil change right after the "increase" and it still seems the same...took a similar trip (Austin to DFW) and I got 24.5 mpg (I was going a little faster than last time...80+ or so...then stopped for construction...then 80+ etc.).
Trip to the beach, all highway, got 30.6mpg. My personal best for a complete trip.
Driving in town at the beach, and then back, we averaged 27.3mpg.
Notes: 07 Sienna LE, light throttle, speeds mostly below 65mph.