[wantasienna]

Anecdotal evidence from the old site based upon responses from many old members over several years was that CE & LE got better mpg than XLE & Ltd for the 2ndGen Siennas.

I am realizing that this is a very old and long thread, but I am in the market for a 2nd gen Sienna, and I'm curious if there is evidence for this assertion that the CE and LE have better gas mileage than the XLE. My understanding is that they all have the same engine / transmission / drivetrain, and the differences are just some minor accessories like entertainment, video player, alarm, etc. So how would it be possible that gas mileage is different?

 

[paul r]

Today I had the rare opportunity to drive at 50-52 mph for 25 miles or so. This was driving across the florida everglades to Flamingo park. I saw just one car going in the opposite direction. The average MPG was 32.4 as seen on the trip computer.

 

[wantasienna]

I posted my question to this thread back in July. In the interim, I bought a 2010 Sienna LE. I got an impressive 34 MPG per trip computer on my first trip from Los Angeles to San Diego. It included short traffic jams and slowdowns, but I probably benefited from slow average speed. I drove ca. 60 mpg between the slowdowns.
On the other hand, city driving in San Diego I get only 15 mpg, although I drive very conservatively. This is with short trips of ca. 2 miles, so I guess the idling at traffic lights and possibly the cold engine are very detrimental to the Sienna's mpg. I also have a Honda Civic VX which gets me 65 mpg both city and freeway. I will use the Sienna only for weekend trips, or when I need a place to sleep

 

[grateful908]

I have a 2008 LE, 85K miles on it. I just bought it, runs great. But I put a full tank of gas in, and used the gas till the gas light came on, and my reading was 241 miles for that tank of gas. With a 20 gal tank, that comes out to 12.1 miles per gallon.... Anybody care to enlighten me? No CEL lights on, OBD reads everything in the green. Starts right up, runs quiet, doesn't burn oil.. Any suggestions on how I can increase my mileage?

 

[walrus]

I have been getting about 17 on my 2004 XLE AWD. Mostly backroads and a little highway. I just got it and it has 203K miles on it. I have done nothing to work on fuel economy yet, I am planning to clean the throttle body at some point, but it looks pretty clean so no rush. I am going to check the front plugs to see how they look before diving into the rear plugs. I will need to do the timing belt in about a year or so will probably tackle it then since I have to take the wiper cowl off anyway.


I have a feeling no matter what I do I will still end up with 17 MPG. AWD has to play a little with the mileage.


I rented a 2017 FWD last August for a road trip and got about 27/28 MPH and we were not babying it at all. very hot and AC on all the time. Very impressed with the mileage.

 

[Craigrrr]

2008 XLE FWD
3.5L
108k miles

Just filled this up since I bought it a couple weeks ago... I re-set the avg mpg computer went on a 120 mile round trip ..all highway except for 4 miles

the overhead DTE showed 333 miles the avg. mpg while driving at halfway showed 29.8 when I got home it was at 28.6 So I must say I am very happy with that over the 14mpg of the suburban

edit: this was driving at 60 mph for the first 60 miles then 65 the last 60 miles

 

[greenlight]

We've gotten as high as 32mpg on our '06 (3.3L FWD) and 30mpg on our '08 (3.5L AWD) on the highway at 65mph with favorable winds. I don't have a good average yet.



Typical around-town fuel economy in our hilly city is 18mpg for the '06 FWD and 15mpg for the '08 AWD.


- G

 

[2007rolla s]

Wife gets about 20-21 average around town and 26-27 highway driving. Ours is an 05 fwd. its alot better then my 06 envoy denali with a 5.3 gets 14-15 city and 19-20 highway lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[skrol]

We have owned our 2004 Sienna LE FWD since new and now has 205K miles and still runs great. I am a conservative driver. Fuel economy has been very consistent:

Manually calculated (don't believe the computer)
15 mpg city
19 average
24 mpg highway tops.

I am not sure how Toyota got the 19 city / 27 highway rating.

 

[Shinmai]

We have owned our 2004 Sienna LE FWD since new and now has 205K miles and still runs great. I am a conservative driver. Fuel economy has been very consistent:

Manually calculated (don't believe the computer)
15 mpg city
19 average
24 mpg highway tops.

I am not sure how Toyota got the 19 city / 27 highway rating.

I'm not sure how they got any of their ratings, but I guess you're doing better than me mileage-wise and that's the price I'll have to pay for having AWD. Looks like I'm getting around 17 pretty much all the time, although I've only had it a few weeks so far.

 

[thepauld]

2008 Sienna LE, 220k miles, computer shows 20.6 MPG combined
I measured 21 mpg doing 90mph, and 24 mpg doing 80 on trip back. This was in an 80 mph zone in Wyoming.
I would imagine much better for slower speeds

 

[mrdcmiller]

I think I have a lemon...

I have a 2011 LE FWD, I bought second hand in 2012 and it had 19K on it. Now, 7 years later, it has 55K.

The mileage always seemed off to me. I measured the tank and how much gas and mileage and looked at the computer/info screen and it barely reached low 20s on the highway. I put some cleaner in the tank and it got back to mid 20s highway. But the city mileage has always sucked. I complained to the dealer, but the dealer was a dealer.

Me: "The computer says the mileage sucks"
Dealer: "Well you can't believe the computer, you need to record the mileage and the gas"
Me: "I have and it still sucks"
Dealer: "Well what does the computer say?"
Me: "It says the mileage sucks"
Dealer: "Well you must be doing something wrong"
Me: "I'm not. Will you replace the computer?"
Dealer: "The computers never really fail"
Me: "So the van is burning too much gas, can you do something?"
Dealer: "There's no error code, so it's fine"
Me: "The computer says the mileage sucks"
Dealer: "Well you can't believe the computer, you need to record the mileage and the gas"
etc, etc, etc,

Until I have to get on with life


So, I drive around the streets of Brooklyn mostly, dropping kids off and going to Home Depot. I recently looked at the average MPG and it read 10.4mpg!

It's summer, the AC is blowing strong the whole time, but it still seems to be off. The van has plenty of power, but I've never driven a comparison vehicle to confirm. But it feels like similar HP cars. And with the FWD it seems more responsive than my old Audi A6 that was listed at 265 hp. I'm not heavy footed. I can't really get past 40 mph in town. But is 10.4 mpg really a properly tuned van?

I have two questions:

1) what do other think the AC takes as far a MPG?

2) In a bid to increase the MPG, I'm thinking of getting plugs replaced and a new MAF. Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[wantasienna]

I think I have a lemon...

I have a 2011 LE FWD, I bought second hand in 2012 and it had 19K on it. Now, 7 years later, it has 55K.

The mileage always seemed off to me. I measured the tank and how much gas and mileage and looked at the computer/info screen and it barely reached low 20s on the highway. I put some cleaner in the tank and it got back to mid 20s highway. But the city mileage has always sucked. I complained to the dealer, but the dealer was a dealer.

Me: "The computer says the mileage sucks"
Dealer: "Well you can't believe the computer, you need to record the mileage and the gas"
Me: "I have and it still sucks"
Dealer: "Well what does the computer say?"
Me: "It says the mileage sucks"
Dealer: "Well you must be doing something wrong"
Me: "I'm not. Will you replace the computer?"
Dealer: "The computers never really fail"
Me: "So the van is burning too much gas, can you do something?"
Dealer: "There's no error code, so it's fine"
Me: "The computer says the mileage sucks"
Dealer: "Well you can't believe the computer, you need to record the mileage and the gas"
etc, etc, etc,

Until I have to get on with life


So, I drive around the streets of Brooklyn mostly, dropping kids off and going to Home Depot. I recently looked at the average MPG and it read 10.4mpg!

It's summer, the AC is blowing strong the whole time, but it still seems to be off. The van has plenty of power, but I've never driven a comparison vehicle to confirm. But it feels like similar HP cars. And with the FWD it seems more responsive than my old Audi A6 that was listed at 265 hp. I'm not heavy footed. I can't really get past 40 mph in town. But is 10.4 mpg really a properly tuned van?

I have two questions:

1) what do other think the AC takes as far a MPG?

2) In a bid to increase the MPG, I'm thinking of getting plugs replaced and a new MAF. Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Getting a mechanic or dealer to fix an MPG issue is a lost cause. They don't know what you're talking about.

10.4 mpg in city driving with lots of stop and go, traffic lights, etc., does not necessarily seem out of the norm. My 2010 Sienna gets about 22 in combined city/freeway traffic in L.A., but I usually avoid rush hour, and L.A. also has freeways in the city. For a few months I did just 1.5 miles long trips with a traffic light on the way, and got about 12 mpg (no air). However, when I try to optimize gas mileage on the freeway, I get mid to high 30'ies mpg in the 30-55 mph range (doable in slow freeway traffic in SoCal), when I keep RPM in the 1000-1500 range. If you want to determine whether you have a mechanical problem, I suggest driving in a controlled speed environment like on a freeway stretch, and checking the trip mpg.

I hear the 2011+ models should do slightly better than the 2010- models.

 

[Steve In Denver]

2018 AWD, 3.5l + 8 speed auto
~18 mpg city
25-27 all highway depending on speed
21 mixed driving
17-18 towing a camper

These are all from the trip computer. The few times I have compared to manual calculations the car has been extremely accurate (unlike all other cars I have had)

 

[Steve In Denver]

10-11 mpg seems pretty low, but it is a different engine / transmission than I have, and with highly congested stop and go driving, I guess it’s possible. I get about 18 mpg in “city” driving, but it’s nothing like Brooklyn city driving. I agree with doing a test in somewhat controlled conditions. Hit the highway during light traffic and do 20 miles out and then back...I could get 28+ mpg if I drove carefully, and 25 or so driving normally. If you really want do go all out, repeat the test with the a/c off. I don’t think it will make a huge difference at highway speeds, but certainly could in slow or stop and go traffic.

 

[mrdcmiller]

Getting a mechanic or dealer to fix an MPG issue is a lost cause. They don't know what you're talking about.

10.4 mpg in city driving with lots of stop and go, traffic lights, etc., does not necessarily seem out of the norm. My 2010 Sienna gets about 22 in combined city/freeway traffic in L.A., but I usually avoid rush hour, and L.A. also has freeways in the city. For a few months I did just 1.5 miles long trips with a traffic light on the way, and got about 12 mpg (no air). However, when I try to optimize gas mileage on the freeway, I get mid to high 30'ies mpg in the 30-55 mph range (doable in slow freeway traffic in SoCal), when I keep RPM in the 1000-1500 range. If you want to determine whether you have a mechanical problem, I suggest driving in a controlled speed environment like on a freeway stretch, and checking the trip mpg.

I hear the 2011+ models should do slightly better than the 2010- models.

Thanks for the response.

I'm sure I can get a couple more mpg out of it. I just filled the tank and used about a 1/4, in Brooklyn stop-go traffic and the trip is reading an average 8.1 mpg. It could be within tolerance but it seems pretty thirsty for an unloaded minivan. Even with the air on.

I've regularly put clean air filters in. Now, I'm thinking I might put two new oxygen filters in possibly a new MAF too.

I can't face the idea of changing the plugs. I may ask the local garage what they charge. If I can get it up to 10 or 12 that's

 

[circus]

2) In a bid to increase the MPG, I'm thinking of getting plugs replaced and a new MAF. Any other suggestions?

Before replacing parts willy-nilly record the mileage, in the fall, during a trip that don't have a stop sign every couple hundred yards. Big vehicles need big air compressors that take a lot of hp to run. The slower you go the higher the hp percentage is used for AC. Probably more than what moving takes. At slower speeds it's cheaper to ride with the windows open. The AC penalty is only a couple weeks out of the year.

 

[greenlight]

The compressor in the 2011 is a variable displacement unit, and should be more efficient than earlier models.

I'd also suggest getting out on a nice flat country road at 50-55mph on a calm day, and use the trip computer to record mileage over a 10-mile segment with the A/C off and windows up. Get up to speed, reset the trip computer, and then read the average mpg after 5 or 10 miles. Let us know what mpg you see under those conditions. Our 2006 FWD would get about 30-31, our 2008 AWD would probably get about 28-29.

Every individual vehicle will vary in mpg based on quality of injector balance, transmission bearing turning torque settings, type of tire, E10 vs no-ethanol gasoline, etc.

If you're really wanting to dive into this, you could send your injectors off to a place that will clean and flow-test them for you. If you have a lean injector, that PCM will likely cause the other two injectors in that bank to run rich to bring the lean injector up to sufficient flow. The extra fuel is mostly just wasted. Having the injectors tested may allow you to optimize by grouping them in most-similar groups of 3, and reinstalling one group in one bank and one in the other.

- G

 

[Craigrrr]

Just returned from a 3 month vacation ..AZ to Wisconsin , Michigan, the Dakotas, NM, TX. MN. gas mpg … towing 3200# trailer and junk in the van we got a solid 17mpg.... unloaded not towing as we sold the trailer in MN. on the way home...we got a solid 24mpg and the van now had all our gear and other junk plus 2 adults and 2 dogs plus dog crate. So I am very pleased with our 08XLE

 

[andreas970]

I've had my 08 Limited AWD for about 2 months now, and I seem to get a pretty consistent 16. Best I've had was a tank that was almost all highway, and that was 18.2. Worst was all city stop-and-go and that was 15. So, it doesn't vary much.