Thoughts after 1000 Miles in Hybrid Off-Road Premium

[4RunnerStan]

I just crossed the 1000 mile mark on the 4Runner and wanted to give my thoughts so far. Some stats about the vehicle of just commonly asked questions people have:

Engine: I force Max
Tires: 275/70/r18 Terra grappler G3's SL
About 250 pounds of cargo in the back on this trip (the tires I took off)
Air dam: On (coming off as soon as I get home)
Gas: 87 Octane
Gas mileage: 18.9 MPG, eco mode exclusively, all highway driving

It's been a great vehicle on the trip. Dynamic cruise control is great, the interior feels very updated and the screen is huge. The engine has a lot of passing power on the highway, even going 80+ it doesn't feel like it's lacking power at all. The materials are mostly nice, some cheap plastics in places but it's a Toyota. The driving dynamics are great, it doesn't feel slow to respond, it doesn't lurch forward and back either when accelerating.

It has road presence. You feel high up on the road, and you feel like you are in a big vehicle as well, but it doesn't drive like a large SUV. In my opinion, it does drive commensurate with how big it is. The ride is smooth on the G3's as well.

There isn't too much I don't like, some of the interior plastics can feel cheap in places, but you really feel like Toyota put money into the places you are going to touch most often. I did have issues with actually putting the JBL speaker into its slot, I don't know if anyone else had this issue, but when I picked it up from the dealer, the dealer had ejected it and stowed it away so that people don't steal them. He went to put it in, and it wouldn't pop into place. We pushed down pretty hard, and it wouldn't pop into place. Finally we just figured out we needed to push the button down and push it in, and we finally got it in. I don't know if anyone else has had issues with this.

This isn't really an issue, but something interesting i noticed. The adaptive cruise control won't actually hold the speed I set, it holds 1MPH below. For most of the journey, I had cruise control set to 78, and it would cruise at 77 over 95% of the time. This happened at various speeds where it holds 1MPH below what I set. I don't know if this is a calibration issue, if it's a feature, not a bug, or if it's due to the tires. If anyone else experienced this, let me know.

All in all, I'm in love with the car and I can't wait tog get it off the pavement.

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[jrenzag]

Nice write up, thanks! I have the same vehicle and upgraded wheels but have only driven 60 miles so far. Just curious, what pressure are you keeping your tires at? The dealer had mine at 39psi and the ride was definitely a bit rough... I aired them down to 36psi and already noticed a bit smoother of a ride.

 

[4RunnerStan]

Nice write up, thanks! I have the same vehicle and upgraded wheels but have only driven 60 miles so far. Just curious, what pressure are you keeping your tires at? The dealer had mine at 39psi and the ride was definitely a bit rough... I aired them down to 36psi and already noticed a bit smoother of a ride.

This is a good question, I can check when I get home tomorrow because I'm not sure, and my Toyota app that is supposed to track the pressures is giving me issues with my profile so it's not taking data at the moment.

 

[Nodak]

This isn't really an issue, but something interesting i noticed. The adaptive cruise control won't actually hold the speed I set, it holds 1MPH below. For most of the journey, I had cruise control set to 78, and it would cruise at 77 over 95% of the time. This happened at various speeds where it holds 1MPH below what I set. I don't know if this is a calibration issue, if it's a feature, not a bug, or if it's due to the tires. If anyone else experienced this, let me know.

unless you set the CC at the right spot, it will either read 1 mph below or even. this happens on our 23 tundra and my 14 4R limited.

the CC reads in tenths so you could be at 74.3 but the readout and CC will round down/up to the next whole number.

i think the CC reads up at xx.4 vs the readout rounding at xx.5

 

[4RunnerStan]

unless you set the CC at the right spot, it will either read 1 mph below or even. this happens on our 23 tundra and my 14 4R limited.

the CC reads in tenths so you could be at 74.3 but the readout and CC will round down/up to the next whole number.

i think the CC reads up at xx.4 vs the readout rounding at xx.5

Good to know, thanks! I just thought it was weird, I've really never seen a car do that before

 

[J4Runner1]

Thanks for the info.

My Max ORP does the same thing with the cruise control set. I assumed it was just mine.

 

[ah4rsr5]

ECO mode kills your mpg... just FYI. Keep it at NORMAL mode

 

[LARIN]

Sounds like the hybrid gets worse gas mileage ? My Stock SR5 gets about 25mpg at 75mph

 

[Rellims]

On a 1500 mile road trip I noticed I got worse gas mileage while on cruise control vs not.

 

[Positronic]

I just crossed the 1000 mile mark on the 4Runner and wanted to give my thoughts so far. Some stats about the vehicle of just commonly asked questions people have:

Engine: I force Max
Tires: 275/70/r18 Terra grappler G3's SL
About 250 pounds of cargo in the back on this trip (the tires I took off)
Air dam: On (coming off as soon as I get home)
Gas: 87 Octane
Gas mileage: 18.9 MPG, eco mode exclusively, all highway driving

It's been a great vehicle on the trip. Dynamic cruise control is great, the interior feels very updated and the screen is huge. The engine has a lot of passing power on the highway, even going 80+ it doesn't feel like it's lacking power at all. The materials are mostly nice, some cheap plastics in places but it's a Toyota. The driving dynamics are great, it doesn't feel slow to respond, it doesn't lurch forward and back either when accelerating.

It has road presence. You feel high up on the road, and you feel like you are in a big vehicle as well, but it doesn't drive like a large SUV. In my opinion, it does drive commensurate with how big it is. The ride is smooth on the G3's as well.

There isn't too much I don't like, some of the interior plastics can feel cheap in places, but you really feel like Toyota put money into the places you are going to touch most often. I did have issues with actually putting the JBL speaker into its slot, I don't know if anyone else had this issue, but when I picked it up from the dealer, the dealer had ejected it and stowed it away so that people don't steal them. He went to put it in, and it wouldn't pop into place. We pushed down pretty hard, and it wouldn't pop into place. Finally we just figured out we needed to push the button down and push it in, and we finally got it in. I don't know if anyone else has had issues with this.

This isn't really an issue, but something interesting i noticed. The adaptive cruise control won't actually hold the speed I set, it holds 1MPH below. For most of the journey, I had cruise control set to 78, and it would cruise at 77 over 95% of the time. This happened at various speeds where it holds 1MPH below what I set. I don't know if this is a calibration issue, if it's a feature, not a bug, or if it's due to the tires. If anyone else experienced this, let me know.

All in all, I'm in love with the car and I can't wait tog get it off the pavement.

Appreciate the detailed summary of your first 1000 mile experience.

 

[zgreen]

ECO mode kills your mpg... just FYI. Keep it at NORMAL mode

What's the data backing that?

 

[CMill4Runner]

ECO mode kills your mpg... just FYI. Keep it at NORMAL mode

I've been running ECO and I'm doing pretty good 22MPG but its 80/20 City/Hwy. Are you saying all hwy cruising on normal does better or all the time?

 

[outdoorCO]

Good to know, thanks! I just thought it was weird, I've really never seen a car do that before

My Tesla does the same thing.

 

[ah4rsr5]

What's the data backing that?

sorry.. anecdote from reading the forums. I don't have stats on this.

It's also from my experience as well.

The things that have been said using ECO mode was that the engine stays in low gear or take longer to reach optimal speed leading to inefficient driving esp in hilly or high speed/hwy speed.

lack of power delivery causes you to stay on the throttle longer to accelerate which can actually use more fuel than a short burst of higher power (this is true... check out how to hypermile)

ECO mode reduces A/C output... but maybe this doesn't affect mpg so we can skip this. Just saying that it was mentioned.


But all to say, you may get better MPG with NORMAL mode bc ECO mode isnt needed to regulate power in steady conditions. Also if you're carrying a heavy load and/or driving through hilly terrains, the reduced throttle and shift points can strain the engine more and reduce efficiency.

I've been running ECO and I'm doing pretty good 22MPG but its 80/20 City/Hwy. Are you saying all hwy cruising on normal does better or all the time?

22MPG is good for that ratio! 19MPG at highway isn't good tho for all highway driving. But taken into consideration that he has larger tires and a heavy load I would think at least 23-24MPG?

I get 27-28MPG at pure highway. Others have also when you read through the forums.

 

[zgreen]

sorry.. anecdote from reading the forums. I don't have stats on this.

It's also from my experience as well.

The things that have been said using ECO mode was that the engine stays in low gear or take longer to reach optimal speed leading to inefficient driving esp in hilly or high speed/hwy speed.

lack of power delivery causes you to stay on the throttle longer to accelerate which can actually use more fuel than a short burst of higher power (this is true... check out how to hypermile)

ECO mode reduces A/C output... but maybe this doesn't affect mpg so we can skip this. Just saying that it was mentioned.


But all to say, you may get better MPG with NORMAL mode bc ECO mode isnt needed to regulate power in steady conditions. Also if you're carrying a heavy load and/or driving through hilly terrains, the reduced throttle and shift points can strain the engine more and reduce efficiency.



22MPG is good for that ratio! 19MPG at highway isn't good tho for all highway driving. But taken into consideration that he has larger tires and a heavy load I would think at least 23-24MPG?

I get 27-28MPG at pure highway. Others have also when you read through the forums.

Cool, thanks. I have a Pro and in Eco, it reverts to the battery more for driving, as well as coasting, etc. I'll do a test between Eco and Normal over the next couple of tanks and report back!

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