Post Your Van Gas Mileage Here

stever

I like to know the mileage reading on the odometer too.

Ideaphoria, is your '04 already good and broken in with what, 6 weeks of ownership in your case? It should improve a bit more with age. Looking good!

Steve, Host

indyjones

Just passed 1000 miles..with 19.2 miles/gallon, all city driving.

masterpaul1

I live in Chicago, IL and use 89 octane. Right now I get 16 MPG mostly all city driving. Haven't had any long trips over 300 miles yet, so can't post on highway miles.

bkb2003

What is the recommended octane gas for XLE Limited. The Toyota Owners manual says anything over 87 octane is fine. But I want to get a feel for what real life experience is from other Sienna XLE limited owners. Do you use 87 octane or premium 91+ octane gas.

Thanks,

jchan2

with 40,000 miles is:
26-27 MPG 90% highway driving (alone)
15-17 MPG 90% City driving (alone)
22-23 MPG Road trip with gear and family

All on regular 87 Octane "crap" gas from BP, Kroger, Speedway and occasionally Marathon and Shell.

greg_y

First tank mileage is 20.6 mpg with 70% city and 30% highway mileage. I will note that I did drive extremely gently. I am sure that this will improve a bit with age.

gg2k2se

New SE on long holiday trip starting at 250 miles on the odometer. 2 tank fillups averaged 20.7 mpg. This was a fairly full van (5 people and lots of luggage) and slightly aggressive driving (65-80 mph) through NY and CT. One tank was the recommended 91 octane and the other was 89. This is about what I expected, I doubt I'll ever get 25mpg, but I'll keep you posted.

mn_pat

18.43 mpg. 200 miles on the hiway to grandma's house and 100 miles around town.

mhuang100

27.5 mpg with 85% highway and 15% city (350 miles). It is very good

aspesisteve

my '02 Oddy gets 21 mpg tops when driving all freeway and around 17-18 city. This comes as a dissapointment to me and I drive really conservatively.

mattd10

I just did a trip from Pocatello, ID to Boise, ID. The car had about 300 miles on it when we left. I got a combined avg of 25.5 at 78 mph. 28 over and 23 back. Pocatello is at 4500 ft and Boise is at 2500 or so. Absolutely love the van. My 3 year old son is thrilled because he can actually see out the window, which he couldn't do in our Passat.

stever

So that was you I saw in that new Sienna in town!

I guess you got 28 coming over since it was downhill all the way <g>.

Steve, Host (in Boise)

user777

so was your mileage computed by miles driven divided by gallons pumped (consumed), or by an onboard computer?

curious.

mattd10

My mileage was from the onboard computer. I zeroed it out at the start of each trip. I wondered about calculating it from how much gas I used, but the first time I filled it up, I got 2 gallons more into the tank after the pump clicked off the first time. I didn't know how my wife had been filling it so I didn't have a lot of confidence in that measurement. The next time I go on a trip I plan on filling right when I leave and right when I arrive and compared the mileage to the computer.
Steve, yep the 28 was the downhill portion. I asked my wife a couple of times to see if there was a tailwind because I was surprised at the mileage. I was hoping for better mileage coming back. With my Camry and Passat I never saw more than a 2-3 mpg difference. Usually it was about the same. I forgot to mention in my previous message that the gas was 87 octane. I found out a couple of days ago my dad is going to buy my Passat, so that makes buying the Sienna feel even a little cheaper than the 3% over invoice I paid.

Matt

nematode

18.3mpg actual at 55-75mph, 70-80% highway. Still under 1000 miles. The computer estimated mpg is useless and reads more than 4mpg high in my case. However, the DTE (distance to empty) reads correctly for some reason. So it knows what mpg I'm getting but decides to report an "optimistic" number. My hope was to get at least 18-20mpg with my normal driving style.....so I'm pretty happy but not giddy.

jimbo_colo2

18 Miles Galls MPG Overall Type
146 128 5.48 23.37 23.37 m +h
312 166 9.7 17.12 20.25 m +c
578 266 14.61 18.21 19.57 m
736 158 6.57 24.05 20.69 h

m = mixed (city/highway)
+h = more highway than city
+c = more city than highway
h = highway 45 to 75 mph

jimbo_colo2

I copy/pasted from spreadsheet and it posted with the columns all run together--I tried to edit and fix and it just posted again....how does one retain the original formatting to post a portion of a spreadsheet?

stever

Town Hall only supports limited html formatting and tables aren't supported. Try ....'s to set off the numbers.

Steve, Host

ronoboy

Not too great so far, did get 17.5 the first tank in all city driving, but the weather got colder and the next tank was only 13.5, last tank was 14.5 miles per gallon - all city driving. The computer doesn't seem too accurate as far as MPG - yesterday morning the gas light was on and the DTE (distance to empty) read "*" for zero I guess, but when filling the tank the shutoff occurred at 16.2 gallons, meaning presumably that there were still 4 gallons left in the tank, although maybe as with the post from MattD10 above I could have got more in.

Since we live in Champaign-Urbana IL and it doesn't take long to get to work or around town we are still going a week between fillups, but I'm hoping that the mileage improves some as time goes by (about 800 miles on the van so far)- would like to get closer to the 19 EPA estimate for all city driving that appeared the sticker...

jimbo_colo2

You mention that your mileage goes down when the temperature goes down. Does this mean the car is undergoing a "warm-up" period prior to putting it in motion? If so, that can account for a significant drop in mileage. At any rate, the S weighs less than the SE (less glass, less add-ons) and should likely do somewhat better than the SE (depending on how one drives it, I suppose).

See my SE mileage in #375 post. The only "warm-up" time I allow is the few seconds between starting the engine, fastening the seatbelt, and moving the vehicle. I don't do jackrabbit starts (though the vehicle can certainly do them) and I tend to coast towards stoplights and stopsigns--surprising how far that car will coast from a 40 mph speed on flat land.

BTW, Consumer Reports, Oct. 2003, p. 54 reported these actual MPG results in their tests:

Model.....Overall.....City.....Highway
Sienna....21..........14.......30
Odyssey..18..........11.......28
MPV.........19..........12.......28
Quest......18..........12.......28
Caravan...17..........11.......28
Sedona....16..........10.......25

So your reported mileage for City driving seems better than what CR got.

masterpaul1

I agree with ronoboy regarding gas mileage. I have noticed a drop in my gas mileage as well. Unlike Jimbo_colo2, I allow my vechicles to warm up anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes before driving in temperatures below 25 degrees. (If vechicle has been sitting for more than 5 hours). I know for a fact that there is less stress on the engine and trans when the vechicle is at regular engine temperature. Not to mention that you allow the oil and other fluids to heat up and circulate through the engine before driving. This is very important in winter weather since most mechanical brake downs occur in cold weather conditions. You should get better gas mileage in the warmer months and then should be able to get a true MPG reading.

rorr

From what I understand, the gas companies also change their formulations for the winter months and that these different formulations also result in slightly worse mileage.

polymorpha

For the first 48,000 miles on 87 octane gas our 2000 Sienna CE averaged 21.7 mpg. The driving was a fairly equal mix of city, country and highway driving. Location: Massachusetts.

ronoboy

Thanks for comments/advice - I try to coast as well and not accelerate too quickly from stops, but my wife does most of the driving and has a hard time remembering to pick up speed gradually. Interesting about the warm up issue, we don't really allow much of a warm-up period, we turn it on and go. I do think engine warmth has to be negatively affecting mileage, besides our "start engine and go" approach, our engine just doesn't get much of a chance to warm up with us since our average trip length is probably only a few miles (and it's "mitten cold" here right now!)

On a related point, I've seen gas mileage advice lists that recommend against letting the car idle, that it is better to turn the engine off and on if you are, for example, in a parking lot for a couple minutes when a passenger is getting something from the convenience store.

stever

I crank 'em and go, albeit gently for the first mile or two. And I drive them forever. And did for 20 Anchorage winters.

If it was really cold, like zero or below, I'd plug the block heater in for an hour, but my intent was just to help the car start.

Unless someone has a link and a study to the contrary, I don't buy the idle is better for the engine theory. Here's my link :-)

Steve, Host

dtownfb

Second full tankful for the Quest. Mostly city with some highway mixed in and it has been dreafully cold here in PA. I calculated 18.8 MPG. Computer read 17 mpg. I based it on consumed fuel.

wantsienna

I have about 3500 miles on my Sienna. My overall mileage (calculated) is 17.5 mpg (20.2 via computer). However, my typical local mileage is about 14.8 mpg (calc'd) or 17.3 mpg computer for local and 22.5 mpg (calc'd) or 25.5 mpg (computer). I use 89 octane and my tires are inflated to 35 psi. Most of my driving is shuttling kids from one place to another in a mixture of weather conditions. The mileage has not substantially changed as we've moved into winter.

Is anyone else out there getting such crappy mileage? Any tips on what could be causing this?

oldmedic

Sounds like your doing all the right things. Don't know about your right foot habits. A few Nippon mini van owners say a higher grade of gasoline helps improve mileage. Have to weigh increased cost with mpg gain. Problem could be any number of small things the dealer could fix fouled injector, cracked plug insulator, bad plug wire, and even torque converter not locking up. A lot of things can go wrong on the assembly line at the speed they make "em. My MPV does 25.8 on the interstate on 87 octane but my Malibu V6 gets 32.8.

ramblin_mo

First two tanks 80% highway 20% city. 65MPH top speed, revs kept under 2500rpm
87 Unleaded, temps in teens to thirties

18.7 MPG
18.5 MPG

alaput

300mi so far and averaging 22.5mpg highway/city combined

user777

that sounds good, but 300miles isn't very far...

compare your estimate by computer and by miles traveled divided by gallons pumped.

autojunky2

2002 Odyssey with 40k on it. average city is 19-20. highway at 80-90 cruising 22.

davenow

If you take it down a notch to 70-75 you might gain 1-3 mpg more...

oldmedic

Sometimes old fashion speed gets in the way of high tech fuel mileage. Or lead foot + lead free gas = poor mpg.

autojunky2

would like to know at what mileage per tank on average you notice the "check fuel gauge warning light" coming on? (its the little orange light below the gauge) With my 2002 Odyssey i usually fill it soon after it comes on and a full fill up is usually about 15 gallons. The specifications for the van states it has a 20 gallon tank (i've never pushed it to see if so), so it seems to me that the light comes on early, its a good safety feature i guess, lots of warning b4 you run dry.

bigdadi

The light comes on when you still have 2-3 gal. left in the tank.

masterpaul1

Our 2001 Grand Caravan has about 5 gallons of fuel left after the light comes on. I've gotten between 30 to 50 miles of mixed driving after the light came on. I've pushed my luck by driving it until it hit "E". Even after that I still had about 2 gallons left in the tank.

oldmedic

Would it surfice to say that when the warning light comes on its time to fill the tank? Factory fuel gauges are well known to be inaccurate. In the same model and year one may get the warning with 5 gallons left and another with 1 gallon left. Better be safe than sorry!

ronoboy2

All city driving mileage so far has been nowhere near the 19 MPG that the EPA established as the average mileage. We basically only do city mileage in a small city and it has been cold since we purchased the van in December, but our range has been 13.5 to 15.5 MPG. Hopefully this will improve as the weather warms up....

stever

Your mileage should improve as the van breaks in more (assuming you only have 3 or 4 thousand miles on it now).

Gas took a big jump in Boise overnight and is $1.73 for regular at the name brand stations. That was a six cent jump from my last fill up a few days ago, and it sounds like supplies are going to be tight for a while thanks to that Mississippi River barge accident.

Steve, Host

ronoboy2

Hope so, we are just over 2,000 miles and its starting to warm up weather-wise, so we shall see if mileage improves any.

stever

My '99 Quest's mileage kept going up even after 10,000 miles. Warmer weather should help a lot too.

Steve, Host

popper

Just did 4500 miles in 1 week- 22.5 mpg averaging 80 mph. I love this van.

aspesisteve

in the San Francisco Bay Area
and that's at the cheap station.
I've seen $2.49 for premium at Shell (self serve)

with that said my '02 Oddy gets 15-16 mpg city; 20-21 Hwy. Our Hwy driving usually has the car fully loaded.

davenow

I had the van since Friday. I filled it up yesterday and so far i think i'm getting around 21-22 mpg. The average miles per gallon displayed on my consol say 21.3, it's been going up from 17 when i first got it. How do you reset this value to track from a new full tankfull? Do i need to reset it? or will it know that i refilled the tank?

wagonguy

Have an '03 Odyssey and the fuel light comes on at the same time... when there's about 5 gallons left in the tank.

This winter we've been getting about 19 MPG in local (suburb/rural) driving, but that also includes a lot of idle time when my wife warms up the van every morning before going to work, so not bad! And it's usually closer to 21 in the warmer months. When doing highway travel, we've routinely gotten about 25 MPG! Love the van...

lalalalala

for the 1st 6 to 7 tanks of gas I put in 89 octane gas for my 04 Sienna, on mixed driving I was averaging about 20/21 miles per gallon. The last 3 tanks of gas I have put in 87 octane gas & am avergaing about 19/20 miles per gallon.

lena132

I recently had to go Ontario for a family emergency and we drove. We hauled 2 suitcases and a medium duffle bag plus my family. Trip was around 9 hours and about 600 miles from Jersey to Canada. We stopped at the gas stations about twice.

On our way to Canada: 27.2 MPG
On the way back: 26.6 MPG
Total trip miles: about 1200
So the fuel economy can match my 4 cylinder sedan which is pretty good.

sxdesant

I had the car almost one year now and after 6 months get consistently 19.0 to 19.3 mpg. The console gage reads 21.3 but this is due to the way the computer averages. When idling down hill or just not accelerating, the computer will reach values in the 60 mpg and higher. Average all this out and the console tends to read higher. Whatever, just fuzzy math.

davenow

If you reset the average mpg gauge just before you set out on your trip, will it be more accurate in predicting your mpg then if you did not reset it?