Fuel milage on 2005 RAV4

i'm getting 25+ and thats with a heavy foot on the gas pedal. it's getting better mileage than my 4wd 2003 matrix did.

Is that 25+ city stop and go?

Once the car gets 'run-in' a little, the economy should pick up a little.

I have a new Honda CR-V (similar sized vehicle, engine, EPA mileage, etc) and get 20 MPG in the up and down hills of Pittsburgh with the A/C on.

yeah,i get 30+ on the highway.

When others respond, remember that in 2004 the horsepower was increased by 10%. I would expect older RAV4s to get better mileage, but they definitely have poorer performance.

Then there's whether it has AWD or not, which gets a mile or two less.

These cars are usually delivered with 28 PSI in the tires. Increasing that improves mileage. My OEM tires say

Do they actually calculate the mileage, or is it just some estimate that they came up with?

I find _some_ other people's comments regarding their mileage like some people's comments about gambling. There's always someone who says, "Oh, yeah, every time I go to Vegas I win." Take what you hear with a grain of salt. Details matter.

Me: 2004, AWD, 15K miles, 39 PSI, 2/3 city, 1/3 highway, I calculate each tank. We get 20-21 around town and 23-24 on the highway. We got some 18s and 19s when it was new and before I increased the tire pressure.

We live in Plano Texas and at the present cost of fuel we don't do much joy riding.

Thanks for all the responses.44 PSI would make it ride like a haywagon but I will try it.

PLEASE tell us you are not running your tires at 44psi.

The MAX INFLATION PRESSURE printed on the tires is the max pressure at the maximum load, not the amount you are supposed to put in.

When we're not busy reading and writing attacks on or defense of the Administration, we find a little time to read posts on Toyotas.

We could add that there's a little plate on the car, somewhere, usually the driver's doorframe, sometimes the passenger doorframe, sometimes elsewhere, that says what the recommended tire pressures are. I don't think this info was in my 2000 Rav4 owner's manual... which is here at my desk, strangely enough. Nope. But the manual does show the location of the plate with tire pressure information (the driver's doorframe on my 2004 Rav4 4-door).

Thank you.I will look. By the way, we just returned from Toyota of Plano Texas the dealer where we bought the RAV4 and after they listened to our bitch session (18mpg) on the first 5 tanks of 87 octane,they concluded that it was due to our poor driving habits. Jack rabbit starts,running the A/C in traffic,ect ect.The service manager suggested that we take it on a long drive on the interstate and blow out the carbon. What a crock of s*it.

Mmmm... well, I'm happy with my Toyota dealer but that doesn't mean your Toyota dealer isn't a sleazeball. For that matter of that, mine may be, too, but I don't know it, yet. :-)

"Blow out the carbon" sounds kind of sleazeball to me.

However...

City mileage really depends on how you drive and how congested your town is or how many red lights are between you and your destination.

I'm fairly careful about how I drive in town but I still don't reach EPA ratings for city mileage on any of my cars.

From the physicists' point of view, jackrabbit starts are not necessarily the problem (they merely turn chemical energy into useful kinetic energy); excessive braking is the problem (which turns useful but suddenly unwanted kinetic energy into heat). While I wouldn't suggest you feel free to jam the accelerator to the floor on takeoff, I'd suggest you look more carefully at how you brake. Do you anticipate your stops? Do you look ahead, let off the accelerator early and coast towards the red light ahead or do you drive right up to it and hit the brakes? Ideally, I like to let off early, coast towards the light and have it turn green well before I reach the intersection while I've still got some speed on (the light timing is so bad in this town that this is almost impossible). Going 0 to 35 to 0 to 35 to 0 to 35 will use more gas than going 0 to 30 to 20 to 30 to 20 to 30.

Highway mileage can also depend on how you drive but it's easier to hit a repeatable value that can be compared to others' experience. On trips, most of my cars are at or near the EPA ratings until they start to get pretty old and tired (or parts start falling off and/or flapping in the breeze).

On the highway, I can check the mileage and, if it's off, I usually check the tire pressure and, sure enough, I'll find I'm missing air in a tire (or the last time I had the car serviced, the tech helpfully deflated them to the recommended MINIMUM).

Try this:

Go on a decent-length trip (200+ miles each way, filling up before you leave and at either end). Pick roads that allow you to go highway speeds for long stretches of time. Obey the speed limit religiously. Use the cruise control. Make sure your tires are at or near maximum recommended pressure. If you don't come within 1 or 2 mpg of what the sticker suggests, you might talk to Toyota about possible problems.

Oh, a roof rack and other things may reduce your mileage at highway speeds. If you have the rack and a scoop, I guess I'd subtract 1mpg each from the EPA rating on the sticker and call it the expected goal.

If you live in a state with 70mpg freeways, drop another 1mpg and if you live in a state with 75mpg freeways, drop yet another 1mpg.

Let us know what you find.

Chances are you just get lousy city mileage due to the nature of stop-and-go traffic or light timing or other factors in your town. If this is really bothering you and you do a lot of city driving, you may be a candidate for a hybrid.

Or a bicycle... :-)

We used to get occasional complaints about poor fuel mileage and after thoroughly checking out the cars and trucks, usually came to the same conclusion - that driving style was causing the poor mileage. Understandably, the customer's reactions were the same as the OP's, but when we took the vehicle and drove it for a hundred miles or so, always got far better fuel economy than the customer.

In almost every case, the customer's previous vehicle was a larger vehicle with a larger engine, where fuel economy is not affected as much by quick starts because the engine produce more torque. A little adjustment in driving style, like lifting your foot off the throttle a bit to allow the transmission to upshift a few hundred RPM sooner can make a 2-3 MPG improvement.

Taking it out on the interstate and flooring the throttle to get on may indeed help "clear the pipes."

While I agree with you generally here, that it's likely his driving habits (perhaps "driving style" would soften it a bit) that are to blame, the "blow out the carbon" advice certainly doesn't have the ring of plausibility to it.

He's on his fifth tank of gas. What is that, 1000 miles of driving? Maybe

If his poor gas mileage is, in fact, due to poor driving habits, chances are he's hitting the accelerator hard enough to "blow out the carbon" as it is.

If he does have significant carbon or other buildup after just 1000, perhaps

He may be partly correct. As others have suggested in this thread, the car is probably not been broken in yet. You should take it for a few long highway runs until it reaches 5000 miles or so. Afterward, your mileage should get better.

My 04 Sienna settled down after a few thousand miles. I now get 28 highway and 20 city. Not bad for a 4400 lb. vehicle.

Not bad at all. My '01 does not do nearly so well.

I never noticed that the mileage changed much over time, though. We took it on a long road trip that started before the 1000 mile mark and got the same

Is yours usually heavily loaded? I am generally checking my highway mileage when it's FULL.

Or, do you live in Florida and find yourself involuntarily conserving gas driving 45mph on a freeway clogged with seniors in Buicks?

I live in a colder climate, (Minnesota). I drive now days in somewhat slow traffic, avoiding freeways, mostly side streets @ 40-45 mph with stop and go for lights. Some long distance trips at 70-80 mph, once or twice a month which are 160 miles one way. I change oil mostly based on time not mileage. I've checked milage several times, but not lately. I'm confident of my figures, but I'll check again to see if anything has changed. I am usually lightly loaded except for the full tank of gas.