RCsGX

Oh yeah AC is on all the time, its so humid outside and is just starting to get hot too. I guess that would make a difference. With the AC on all the time and if I did get 2mpg more with it off I would be at 13mpg, which is about right for city driving.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/21590.shtml

jafoo

RCsGX: if you are using the tires that you have on your pic by your name, you are going to get horrible fuel milage. Those tires look like they would be fun in the mud, I want a set. If you want fuel milage on these hogs then get car tires and put on the mudders when you want to play. This makes a big difference.

RCsGX

No theyre not the tires im running on my GX, those were the 33" tires on my Tundra and even with those tires I got just as good gas mileage as I do now with my GX....sucks to say the least!!!

Ive read maybe my O2 sensors are going bad but replacing all 4 would cost $600 just for the parts from Sewell. I dont have any codes so Im not ready to start throwing away money hoping I get better gas mileage. Id be pissed if I swapped them all out and still had the same shi**y MPGs.

N305AS

Just a side note about the thread title; when discussing the GX470 and fuel, shouldn't the word "economy" be in quotations?

Ragnoir

I recently picked up a 2005 with 107k miles on it. Based on my hand calculations I'm only getting 11MPG. I know this car is a brick with a V8 but I never expected it to be that bad.

Has anyone done anything that has made a considerably difference in their MPG?

I do my best to drive like the OP said. I don't let it get over 3k RPM and just try to be as Conservative as I possibly can.

Vims

Yup I agree, i read some wise thoughts here in the forum - e.g. if you can effort to have it then gave up on fuel economy :-) not sure if I word it properly, but the idea is clear.
here is my "economy" http://www.fuelly.com/driver/vims/gx470
I did a bunch of calculations and in 90% fuel economy is your your driving habbits.
My fuel econometer on dash board shows 13.7, but in reality i have 14.5L - 15.7L per 100km (Sorry I am metric ) :-)

Matsui

After reading this entire thread, I didn't find any real solution to increase MPG. In my case, the average MPG dropped from 18 to 14 back in September and has been consistently that way since then. Instead of 330 miles that I used to get in a full tank, I started getting 250.

Couple of things that I did were to replace the gas cap and put in two bottles of Techron in back to back fillups. Neither of those helped.

However last week when I filled up, my car went 310 miles and around 16 mpg. So I figured that it may have to do with something that they mix in the gas during colder season. Someone mentioned here that they put more oxygen in it, so maybe thats what it is.

I noticed some people putting in upto 24 gallons?? I think the most I've ever put in mine is ~19 gallons with the needle at the E line and the computer showing about 24 miles to go. I've never seen a low fuel light come on so I thought that our cars don't have that.

I'm planning to change the air filter this weekend with OEM. Hopefully I'll find a writeup somewhere here and it is not too complicated.

rj4510

Crap gas has everything to do with the fuel economy or lack there of on these trucks. The EPA keeps changing our fuel to include more junk and less fuel and while some of the little toys on the road are okay with it, the GX suffers immensely. With good gas, I can easily get 19 average per tank, but with the general "environmentally friendly" fuel, I get as low as 14.

There used to be a few stations around here I could get non ethanol fuel, but they have all disappeared. It's now crap gas and crappier mileage. The GX isn't the only thing that suffers. My motorcycle can take a 10 MPG hit with this new and improved gas and my Brother-in-laws BMW bike keeps destroying fuel rods. I've added ethanol killer to both my bike and GX and fuel economy improves. The EPA will never get a clue and the good gas will never come back. Junk mileage is just a fact of life with the GX and it doesn't seem to matter how you drive it.

TRW

I noticed that too. How the hell does someone put 24 gallons in a 23 gallon tank? Unless the gas pump that the OP uses is really off, and the station is just screwing everyone. Usually, the pumps are calibrated every so often by an outside agency of some type (or so I think), maybe his station never gets calibrated.

I've seen this once before when I went to a local station to fill up a 2.5 gallon gas can and it told me I pumped 3.XX gallons. Needless to say, I was pissed, got my money back, and never used that station again.

That being said, we have a 2006 GX and we usually run the thing down to between 0-25 miles left to go on the computer and I have never put in more than 18.5 gallons until the pump shuts off on it's own. I just figure these trucks have a pretty big reserve, maybe 5 gallons or so. I generally pump a little over 17 gallons.

I haven't hand calculated the economy with this car as I've done for others I have had but the computer usually reads at about 16 mpg city. Sometimes these numbers are optimistic, sometimes they're pretty accurate depending on the car. I have noticed on the highway though, my numbers don't improve much, maybe 1 better. I usually reset after each tank. Again though, I live in the salt belt and winter mix gas sucks *** for fuel economy. Cold temps in general make for worse fuel economy so I'm expecting better numbers this spring and summer when the stations switch back to the regular gas blend.

I'm also not sure why the OP chooses to run 87 octane, in a car that calls for premium, and is surprised when his mpg is low. Run what the vehicle suggests for a while and see if there is a difference. I never put anything lower than 93 in our GX.

rj4510

The OP drives an 03. Premium didn't become a requirement till the VVTI engine was introduced in 05.

TRW

Gotcha. My bad. I'm still learning the GX year differences.

ALAN553

Is it required or recommended? My 04 label says recommended.

rj4510

I have an 03, so you're probably right on the recommended part. My wife's GS says recommended, but anything less makes it run like dog meat, so you could also say it's a requirement.

ALAN553

I find I get slight increase in MPG with 93 that almost covers the cost difference between regular and premium per fill up.

Crispy3M

Ditto... I get about 17-18 MPG with city/highway mixed on Premium Gasoline