2001 Toyota RAV4 getting lousy mileage in winter

Hi,

I live in the Boston area and during the winter I get a crappy 21 miles a
gallon (230 miles a tank).

During the late spring to summer I get 25 miles a gallon (320 miles a
tank).

I have the All wheel drive version. I don't get this. Is the winter gas
forumlation that bad on mileage? I've never heard of a four cylinder
getting such crap mileage like this (except in my old Ford Pinto ;)

No engine lights are on so I don't suspect an O2 sensor. The car has only
64,000 miles on it!

Bob

Well first thing is that your numbers don't match up quite that well.
At 21 mpg and 230 miles, it works out to be a 11 gallon tank. At 25mpg
and 320 miles, it works out to be about a 13 gallon tank. But that's
besides the point. Do you check your tire pressure? In the summer your
tires are hotter and has more pressure in them, thus less rolling
resistance. In the winter, your tires may not leak air, but the air
pressure in your tires will go down, thus increasing rolling
resistance. It might not look significant, but tire pressure can affect
your mpg quite drastically. Say you increased your mpg by 5% by
increasing your tire pressure, that makes your mpg 22 and some change.
Anyways, hope that helps some.

my 97 corolla gets 25 in wnter 27 to 27.5 in summer. my 06 camry gets
21,5 in winter 24.5 in summer. all of this is city with about 25% hyway
driving.dont think anything is really wrong with your rav4. i live in
louisvillle ky and you live in boston where it is colder in winter.

Hi bob the first thing I check with poor cold weather mileage is the engine
coolant thermostat,
1 is it in there
2 is it working
3 is it the correct temp for the temp in your area
This is very important as the computers only way to know the engine temp is
via the coolant temp.
Good Luck Joe



"bferrari" <bob.ferrariREMOVETHISTEX@appiq.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9778ECE27D591bobferrariappiqcom@216.196.97.131...[color=blue]
> Hi,
>
> I live in the Boston area and during the winter I get a crappy 21 miles a
> gallon (230 miles a tank).
>
> During the late spring to summer I get 25 miles a gallon (320 miles a
> tank).
>
> I have the All wheel drive version. I don't get this. Is the winter gas
> forumlation that bad on mileage? I've never heard of a four cylinder
> getting such crap mileage like this (except in my old Ford Pinto ;)
>
> No engine lights are on so I don't suspect an O2 sensor. The car has only
> 64,000 miles on it!
>
> Bob[/color]