19MPG driving 60% city, 40% highway - normal?

[olympicgold]

Car is Gen 5 V6 3.0


Just what subject says. Is this normal? After I bought the car I noticed that my mileage wasn't good so I replaced fuel filter with Beck&Arnley bought from rockauto. Then I decided to check my MPG and did it old school way. Fill up all the way, drive til empty then fill up again.

And it looked like I was getting only 19 MPG. I am wondering what is wrong with the car to have such bad mileage despite changing fuel filter and fuel strainer.. Maybe it is because my fuel filter was not OEM?

Thoughts?

[acid1216]

Have you tried changing the spark plugs and the air filter? A K&N filter is your best bet to boost mileage and horsepower. Also only use NGK or Denso spark plugs. Cheap plugs can make the car miss.

[njerald]

Another gas mileage thread was definitely needed...

[olympicgold]

Originally Posted by acid1216

Have you tried changing the spark plugs and the air filter? A K&N filter is your best bet to boost mileage and horsepower. Also only use NGK or Denso spark plugs. Cheap plugs can make the car miss.

Ya man. I changed spark plugs before doing MPG test. I put NGK platinum ones. (I know that Toyota recommends iridiums but as I understood iridiums simply last longer with no other significant benefits)

[camary08]

i know mary's camry does this, i don't know if yours does. If you leave hers in Drive then it keeps going into overdrive and forcing the motor to low rpm's and laboring the overdrive gear. use 4 for city driving and right away you will notice better mileage. mary gets 25mpg overall with my intake and larger heavier tires. remember, it is not about keeping rpm's low, it's about keeping load (how much you have to press the pedal) low. this is why evo's rev at 4000 rpm's at 70 mph and get 27 mpg! or why my big 3.5L v6 revs at 3000 rpm's in 5th at 75 and i get around 23 mpg with heavy rims, tires, and a shitty tune right now.

chuck nasty

[camary08]

oh by the way, use e3 plugs. don't argue since you can do the research i have and you will see they are the best hands down. the 3 grounds gives you 3 combustions instead of one fro more fuel burning and cleaner emissions, the copper electrode is the best for spark and the tip is made of a special nickel alloy to last as long as iridium plugs while NOT depriving spark as iridium is actually the least conductor out of platinum, copper, and iridium. also, they are only 6 bucks each, commonly sold, and come with a 100,000 mile warranty.


chuck nasty

[aznlunatic206]

i think its pretty normal for a v6, it all depends on your driving habbits. i also have another 05 camry with only a 4 cylinder and that somehow gets 16-17mpg city only ...and my 3.5L v6 gets 18-19mpg city only.

[kenny1773]

Originally Posted by aznlunatic206

it all depends on your driving habbits.

This is the conclusion that I have come to and traffic has a lot to do with it as well.

Someone once told me to push on the accelerator pedal like there is an egg between your foot and the pedal and you don't want to break the egg. Then your MPG will go up.

Don't listen to any 'snake oil' about K&N filters or special spark plugs increasing MPG. Toyota and all other car makers that sell vehicles in the US are under such pressure by the EPA to increase fuel economy that if a simple spark plug or air filter really provided such an increase, they would all use them without question.

MPG increases can come from efficiency gains / weight reduction / changing your driving habits

(the above assumes all normal maintenance is done and done correctly, and all equipment on the car is operating withing factory OEM spec)

You might also want to check your wheel bearings and braking system to just make certain you don't have any 'drag' on your wheels freely spinning. A brake caliper that drags can cause a loss of fuel economy

test your MPG over 3 tanks of gas, filled up at the same gas station and using the same gas pump.

Also note, retail level gas pumps are not 100% accurate.

[molson.david]

my friend own 2001 avalon, same 3.0 motor. his MPG exact the same,so don't worry.
be easy on gas pedal,do not "rabbit start" and your MPG will go up a little.

[olympicgold]

Yes to be honest I drive very non-optimal way. On the highway I usually go ~82mph while the most efficient speed is 60 I believe. In the city I accelerate maybe a little fast too.

Having said that I still expected better mileage out of camry ! Especially since it is suppose to get ~30hwy and 24 combined ! Now I might as well buy a bimmer that has same mileage

[TrailDust]

Originally Posted by olympicgold

Having said that I still expected better mileage out of camry ! Especially since it is suppose to get ~30hwy and 24 combined ! Now I might as well buy a bimmer that has same mileage

I have an Avalon and typically get 22 city/31 highway (at 65 MPH), so it ought to be able to be done with a Camry. Driving style is the most important factor IMO.

[camary08]

Originally Posted by kenny1773

This is the conclusion that I have come to and traffic has a lot to do with it as well.

Someone once told me to push on the accelerator pedal like there is an egg between your foot and the pedal and you don't want to break the egg. Then your MPG will go up.

Don't listen to any 'snake oil' about K&N filters or special spark plugs increasing MPG. Toyota and all other car makers that sell vehicles in the US are under such pressure by the EPA to increase fuel economy that if a simple spark plug or air filter really provided such an increase, they would all use them without question.

MPG increases can come from efficiency gains / weight reduction / changing your driving habits

(the above assumes all normal maintenance is done and done correctly, and all equipment on the car is operating withing factory OEM spec)

You might also want to check your wheel bearings and braking system to just make certain you don't have any 'drag' on your wheels freely spinning. A brake caliper that drags can cause a loss of fuel economy

test your MPG over 3 tanks of gas, filled up at the same gas station and using the same gas pump.

Also note, retail level gas pumps are not 100% accurate.

e3 plugs are more efficient by producing more combustions to burn more of the gas going out (yes you do lose gas through exhaust, unburnt gas is supposed to be collected by the catalytic convertor and returned to the intake manifold (idk about camrys) via egr.) even still you don't always burn all of it so a more complete burn is more efficient. like i said do the research i have they have actual tests performed by numerous people proving what i am saying is true. i do NOT gain anything from lying to you so why would i? makes no damn sense. if i was i would most certainly not run these plugs in every vehicle i maintain (which is very many) and right away notice a difference. my car for example has no cats on it. if i go right now and remove my e3 plugs and put in ngk iridium IX (my former favorite) and you would be able to smell the difference. hell you could feel a SLIGHT increase in power in mary's camry after install. true you always fell more with new plugs but not a maintained amount whereas as these provide.

chuck nasty

[njerald]

Ha!!!

[Bakemono]

Even for a V6, 19 mpg seems kind of low. Im getting an average of 28 mpg with mine. Granted, mine is a 4-cylinder but a V6 shouldnt get that much lower MPG.
Forget about gimmicks like those Splifire, Bosch +4 or E3 sparkplugs. If they were worth the money, everyone would be using some variation of them. Its not as if the OEM Denso Iridiums are cheap sparkplugs.
Forget about K&N air filters too. An airfilter might gain you 1 or MAYBE 2 mpg, but nothing that is signifigant.

[Frodo65]

Originally Posted by camary08

e3 plugs are more efficient by producing more combustions to burn more of the gas going out (yes you do lose gas through exhaust, unburnt gas is supposed to be collected by the catalytic convertor and returned to the intake manifold (idk about camrys) via egr.) even still you don't always burn all of it so a more complete burn is more efficient. like i said do the research i have they have actual tests performed by numerous people proving what i am saying is true. i do NOT gain anything from lying to you so why would i? makes no damn sense. if i was i would most certainly not run these plugs in every vehicle i maintain (which is very many) and right away notice a difference. my car for example has no cats on it. if i go right now and remove my e3 plugs and put in ngk iridium IX (my former favorite) and you would be able to smell the difference. hell you could feel a SLIGHT increase in power in mary's camry after install. true you always fell more with new plugs but not a maintained amount whereas as these provide.

chuck nasty

alert! - (A.K.A. spark plug marketing)
Catalyst simply completes the combustion process - 'burning' the remaining Hydrocarbons into C02 + H20. It does not and cannot 'return them into the manifold', as there is no connection downstream of the catalyst that leads to intake; EGR is upstream of the catalyst.

EGR recycles the exhaust gases in order to reduce NOx production that comes from too-high combustion temperatures - it effectively reduces oxygen content in the mixture and so reduces peak combustion temperatures. It does nothing to 'complete the combustion'. Excessive EGR will also cause a misfire by making the mix too hard to 'light'. A correctly gapped, peak-efficiency-functioning plug will minimize this, although modern ignition systems will fire plugs that look pretty rank.

The high-priced plugs won't do anything for an engine in good mechanical condition that the stock plug in good condition won't do as well or better. Some of these aftermarket plugs will cause problems with misfire because they are the wrong heat range, wrong reach, and as such tend to foul or get too hot.

As to 'noticing a difference' - just about any new, clean plug will produce superior results compared to one that's having problems and has been in the engine for the 'normal' 100K miles and has eroded itself to a gap double the 'new'; the spark will be 'on time, every time' when it just has to jump the 'designer-intended' gap. On a dyno, plugs will be hard-pressed to show a statistically significant variation compared to the stock units in prime condition. Remember - dyno results don't lie, but seat-of-the-pants feel does.