How to get better MPG

[BYoshi]

So....what kind of MPG's is everyone getting?

On my commute to work (20mi each way), I can usually get anywhere from 23-28. Usually better mpg heading to work than the return. No traffic in the AM so I'm going 70ish. Traffic on the way home keeps my speed lower so I get better mpg. But I live in vegas, it's dry and flat. Here's proof from multiple days.

Mix that with all the little BS around town trips and I get about 21mpg. WFH killed my mpg average but I'm not complaining

 

[Sugarloafer80]

The elephant in the closet is the specs.

How is it possible that both the LC and the 4Runner have IDENTICAL specs 325HP/465ft-lbs Tq yet one motor uses regular and the other premium.?

Either the LC numbers are based on regular and actually improve with premium, or the 4Runner numbers are based on premium and decrease with regular....Has to be one or the other.

Curb weight is within a few hundred pounds depending on spec. My bet is the numbers are based on premium as I believe the 4 runner recommends Premium for max performance. If that is the case, it is nothing but cagey use of specs by Toyota and our LC will run 100% fine on Regular al be it with probably ~315/450 specs.......so instead of looking at the manual like the bible, let's think a bit like the Motor Oil Geek and analyze things better. I have run 2 long trips on regular now. I suspect and ever so slight diminish ed top end passing but cruising on the highway........nominal load conditions anyway, NO DIFFERENCE. I will run premium in the summer heat when it does have an advantage. For years it has been known that regular runs better in cold climates.......kind of a corollary to elevation. This will have NOTHING to do with tuning folks. My gut tells me the ECUs are identical too. Toyota is a profoundly efficient company.

 

[WHLC]

I thought with all this life time mpg talk there should be a thread on sharing how to get better MPG.

First get a base line, which for everyone will be different. Don’t compare yours to someone else’s because my commute is 2 miles and others might be flat. Big tires, roof rack, etc all change things. As does fuel, btw, straight 91 0% ethanol is worth 3% alone if you are in a state that has it.

Anyway here is what I have found to get me better MPG’s.

1) Coast - Holy hell can this thing coast. I was not used to how early I could lift and maintain a decent speed. If I see a red light I lift and coast. Going down hill, coast. Find the places you can coast.

2) If the engine is off, keep it off. - This was the second most helpful thing to eke out better MPG. If you use the boost gauge and on the electric motor one there are 3 hash marks with the first one roughly 1/3 the way.
View attachment 63584
I have found if can keep it below that the engine stays off. Think parking lots, slow and go traffic where you have been coasting, hwy transitions, long downhill runs that aren’t too steep. All of this is mostly below 60 mph where I noticed it was possible to keep running on electric. Above that speed the wind resistance is too much.

3) Light foot - much less that the others and in a way less obvious. Staying out off boost and holding part throttle helped too but less so.

Everything else for me wasn’t a noticeable improvement. What’s worked for you?

This is basically what I figured out with my 24 Tacoma Hybrid. Coast as much as I could, watch the "Max" boost gauge to keep it below a certain point to keep the engine off, and try to be light on the throttle when cruising.

I will say, there was a happy medium for getting up to speed and not hurting mpgs too much. Obviously, stomping it to get up to speed wasn't good for gas mileage, but I also found that being overly easy and picking up speed too slowly was also no good. Getting up to speed reasonably quickly with as little boost from the turbo as possible seemed to work the best.

Only had the Land Cruiser for a little over a week, so still figuring it out. First tank though was 20.65 mpg, so not bad. Current tank has a lot of 75-80mph interstate driving, so I'm expecting less this go round, based on how my Tacoma performed at those speeds.

 

[GR8Santini]

20 HP / 14 lb-ft torque gain from 91 Octane gas on Tacoma Gas Engine 2.4 i-Force (dyno tested by Stillen)

According to STILLEN (@RoelStillen) Dyno Testing. 14 torque gain as well ? 87 vs. 91 Octane Fuel: STILLEN’s Kyle Millen reveals how fuel octane impacts the Tacoma’s 2.4L turbo engine, showing a 20-horsepower gain with premium fuel. Learn about octane ratings, real-world dyno results, fuel...

www.tacoma4g.com

 

[ultane]

20 HP / 14 lb-ft torque gain from 91 Octane gas on Tacoma Gas Engine 2.4 i-Force (dyno tested by Stillen)

According to STILLEN (@RoelStillen) Dyno Testing. 14 torque gain as well ? 87 vs. 91 Octane Fuel: STILLEN’s Kyle Millen reveals how fuel octane impacts the Tacoma’s 2.4L turbo engine, showing a 20-horsepower gain with premium fuel. Learn about octane ratings, real-world dyno results, fuel...

www.tacoma4g.com

I remember seeing that a couple of years ago but had completely forgotten about it. I’m glad I use 93 octane ethanol free only in Miss Daisy.

 

[MSINAL]

New 16MPG ‘26 Premium @ 3000 miles.
I put some different recovery points on FRI night, & while under the LC took in just how darn un-aerodynamic our LC front chin area is compared to our 3G Tundra or Sequoia. It’s almost like they weren’t even trying to do anything but make right angles under the front end where the radiator core support meets the facia. I barely passed fluid dynamics in flight school, but a blind man can see the LC has Cd compressibility issues. Look at the bottom of the silver grill facia where it meets the core support, & best guess is Toyota designed a high pressure area to spill air into the lower grill area to assist in engine cooling, but that area is one big drag magnet.

Take a vertical windshield (second only to a FJ or Wrangler), add a roof rack, a flat & open grill the size of Kansas, & my poor girl never had a chance smoothing air. The LC underbody looks pretty good, but that chin area is anything but smooth. The Tundra at least has a front active electronic spoiler that deploys @ speed. The Sequoia has extended facia & rolled skid plates that smooth out the chin & underbody pretty well.

Those chiseled features on the LC make me wonder if I can actually get 20+ MPG.



View attachment 64195



View attachment 64197

Drafting helps significantly on the highway for me. No need to tail-gate, if you can find a semi, preferably a tanker, and follow at safe distance, it will boost the mileage. Even running in a line of cars helps. Our vehicles will never get good mileage over 65mph, just the nature of the beast.

 

[lar317]

Drafting helps significantly on the highway for me. No need to tail-gate, if you can find a semi, preferably a tanker, and follow at safe distance, it will boost the mileage. Even running in a line of cars helps. Our vehicles will never get good mileage over 65mph, just the nature of the beast.

You need to be careful, if that semi swerves and picks up rocks from the junk on the side of the highway it’s goodbye windshield.

 

[MSINAL]

You need to be careful, if that semi swerves and picks up rocks from the junk on the side of the highway it’s goodbye windshield.

Agreed, I dont drive too close, no need to.

 

[DarthRico]

2024 LC 1958 Meteor gray color that I've had since November 2025, bought certified used from an Albuquerque Toyota Dealer. I've had it long enough to get a sense for the mpg. If I ever have it clean and in a good spot for a picture at the same time, I'll post one in the new member Forum.

i get 22-23.5 mpg around town. Albuquerque is a small city, so it is a mix of short highway and 30-40 mph with lots of traffic lights. I get worse on the highway 21-22.5 mph. Slightly better in ECO, but only 0.5 mpg better, not enough to justify my annoyance with the change in the automatic transmission shifting and poor pickup in ECO. I haven't used ECO in about a month.

My biggest annoyance is I can't make to or back from Colorado Springs (about 375-390 miles) on a single tank of gas. It's close but just not quite big enough of a tank. I know it is a pretty common complaint around here.

 

[ultane]

2024 LC 1958 Meteor gray color that I've had since November 2025, bought certified used from an Albuquerque Toyota Dealer. I've had it long enough to get a sense for the mpg. If I ever have it clean and in a good spot for a picture at the same time, I'll post one in the new member Forum.

i get 22-23.5 mpg around town. Albuquerque is a small city, so it is a mix of short highway and 30-40 mph with lots of traffic lights. I get worse on the highway 21-22.5 mph. Slightly better in ECO, but only 0.5 mpg better, not enough to justify my annoyance with the change in the automatic transmission shifting and poor pickup in ECO. I haven't used ECO in about a month.

My biggest annoyance is I can't make to or back from Colorado Springs (about 375-390 miles) on a single tank of gas. It's close but just not quite big enough of a tank. I know it is a pretty common complaint around here.

Welcome to the asylum.

As you get the tank down to zero miles DTE, and fill up, note how many gallons your tank holds. Subtract that from 17.9 gallons. That is how much ‘cushion’ there is when your gas gauge says you are empty. You may have enough..

You will get about ~10% better fuel economy with ethanol free fuel. The ‘Pure-Gas’ app will help you locate stations that sell it.

Pushing a brick through the air is easier done at 65 mph, than 70-80 mph.

 

[GR8Santini]

Read on the Tundra forum that some ‘22 & ‘23 models are eating up rear brakes in the early 30K mile range & blaming it on using adaptive cruise. Decided to turn PCS & adaptive cruise off our LC on a trip on Friday. Went from 16.7 on last tank up to 18mpg. This is on a newer 4K mile 2026 LC Premium w/ 33” tires on 20” wheels. Did a run today in one of our Tundras & also saw a MPG lift turning PCS & adaptive cruise off.

 

[overtrail887]

So, I figured out another little trick. On my commute and areas I know, I can get an extended coast, here’s how.

I give it an aggressive lift to turn off the ICE motor, then I pick back up throttle but only the electric motor. Then do my regular lift when I get close to my turn.

 

[legacycruiser]

When approaching a hill you let off the throttle. Reengaging the throttle means the electric motor is going to contribute. As the electric power starts to give way to ICE/turbo, give it more throttle to keep the electric motor engaged. I'll do this till I'm 5-10 mph over the speed limit and get back to coasting or lightly applying the throttle.

 

[h3dave]

I thought with all this life time mpg talk there should be a thread on sharing how to get better MPG.

First get a base line, which for everyone will be different. Don’t compare yours to someone else’s because my commute is 2 miles and others might be flat. Big tires, roof rack, etc all change things. As does fuel, btw, straight 91 0% ethanol is worth 3% alone if you are in a state that has it.

Anyway here is what I have found to get me better MPG’s.

1) Coast - Holy hell can this thing coast. I was not used to how early I could lift and maintain a decent speed. If I see a red light I lift and coast. Going down hill, coast. Find the places you can coast.

2) If the engine is off, keep it off. - This was the second most helpful thing to eke out better MPG. If you use the boost gauge and on the electric motor one there are 3 hash marks with the first one roughly 1/3 the way.
View attachment 63584
I have found if can keep it below that the engine stays off. Think parking lots, slow and go traffic where you have been coasting, hwy transitions, long downhill runs that aren’t too steep. All of this is mostly below 60 mph where I noticed it was possible to keep running on electric. Above that speed the wind resistance is too much.

3) Light foot - much less that the others and in a way less obvious. Staying out off boost and holding part throttle helped too but less so.

Everything else for me wasn’t a noticeable improvement. What’s worked for you?

Thanks for the tips! But how did you managed to have both electric and turbo boost gauge on the same side of the dash. I only have the option to see one or the other. Is it a 2025+ model year thing ?

 

[Mopper]

Welcome to the asylum.

As you get the tank down to zero miles DTE, and fill up, note how many gallons your tank holds. Subtract that from 17.9 gallons. That is how much ‘cushion’ there is when your gas gauge says you are empty. You may have enough..

You will get about ~10% better fuel economy with ethanol free fuel. The ‘Pure-Gas’ app will help you locate stations that sell it.

Pushing a brick through the air is easier done at 65 mph, than 70-80 mph.

I just did this two days ago: With 6 MTE I put in 15.53 gallons resulting in approximately 2.3 gallons left in reserve.

 

[ultane]

Thanks for the tips! But how did you managed to have both electric and turbo boost gauge on the same side of the dash. I only have the option to see one or the other. Is it a 2025+ model year thing ?

Welcome to the asylum.

 

[legacycruiser]

Thanks for the tips! But how did you managed to have both electric and turbo boost gauge on the same side of the dash. I only have the option to see one or the other. Is it a 2025+ model year thing ?

When I select the three displays option I get the speedometer in the middle and I'm able to put my mpg on the left and the turbo & electric gauges on the right. This is the main display as I drive so I can have fun monitoring what I'm doing.

 

[Sugarloafer80]

Read on the Tundra forum that some ‘22 & ‘23 models are eating up rear brakes in the early 30K mile range & blaming it on using adaptive cruise. Decided to turn PCS & adaptive cruise off our LC on a trip on Friday. Went from 16.7 on last tank up to 18mpg. This is on a newer 4K mile 2026 LC Premium w/ 33” tires on 20” wheels. Did a run today in one of our Tundras & also saw a MPG lift turning PCS & adaptive cruise off.

The adaptive accordion is a real PIA on our highways and yup, eats rear brakes....never as smooth as true cruise control. Acts like a sheep just following the vehicle in front even when they are lousy and do +/- 5-10 mph......no thanks. I tried it and experienced the same thing.

 

[Mopper]

Adaptive cruise is only as good as the in-range vehicle in front of you. I very much like that you can go back to old school cruise control with newer Toyotas.

Btw, Has anybody used Carista on 250?

 

[Slippers]

Adaptive cruise is only as good as the in-range vehicle in front of you. I very much like that you can go back to old school cruise control with newer Toyotas.

Btw, Has anybody used Carista on 250?

Yes, Carista works fine with the LC250. I've used it to disable some of the warning chimes and ANC.