[YEE_SE]

I know this has been talked to death and I hate to bring it up again but I am curious to see what my fellow 3rd gen owners are getting with their winter mileage. This past month it has been unseasonaly cold, with highs of -27 c (-16 f) in Ontario and the last fill up I was only able to get 240 km driving on a tank. Mind you, I did idle to warm up the van in the morning and do only city driving. I'm getting 16.6 l/km at the moment and when I checked this morning, my 3 month old van has 2473 km on it. I know it all comes down to driving habits, weather and perhaps engine break-in period but I would not thought the mileage would be that bad. My wife says I drive like an old man now (slow). What an insult

 

[thanwu]

It will take some time for your new Sienna to breakin(1500miles for second generation). One thing I would like to remind you that you don't really have to idle your car too long to drive in the cold weather (30s-1min is more than enough for current vehicle). It is more efficient to warm your car with gentle driving than idle which waste gas and pollute environment.

 

[YEE_SE]

Thanks for the reply, thanwu. I hope you are right about mileage improving. A lot have said that but I figured 3 mths and 2400 km on the van should be good enough. my fingers crossed. I do try to idle no more than 2 mins but I will admit with the cold this past few weeks it was longer.

 

[thanwu]

I did not watch the mpg for my 06 Sienna XLE that closely. But it did happened to me with my 2011 Subaru Outback 2.5i limited. The mpg keeps increasing until 15k miles.

 

[jc]

I know this has been talked to death and I hate to bring it up again but I am curious to see what my fellow 3rd gen owners are getting with their winter mileage. This past month it has been unseasonaly cold, with highs of -27 c (-16 f) in Ontario and the last fill up I was only able to get 240 km driving on a tank. Mind you, I did idle to warm up the van in the morning and do only city driving. I'm getting 16.6 l/km at the moment and when I checked this morning, my 3 month old van has 2473 km on it. I know it all comes down to driving habits, weather and perhaps engine break-in period but I would not thought the mileage would be that bad. My wife says I drive like an old man now (slow). What an insult

Read this article.

http://green.autoblog.com/2009/11/12/greenlings-why-does-mileage-drop-in-winter/

Regards, JC.

 

[YEE_SE]

Thanks for the link JC. Its understandable winter would cause worse gas mileage but I am surprised at how much worse it is with the Sienna. My previous car, 05 Cadillac CTS had a 3.6l engine and I would not notice a big as drop as I do with the van. Granted it did weigh a ton less. I just wonder if there is something not working properly with my van. I plan to bring up the mileage in March to the dealership garage when I have them do my first oil change. They will probably scoff and tell me what I already know, driving habits, weather, gas quality, etc...but does not hurt to ask.

Hopefully, what everyone is saying about break in is right and the mileage will improve.

Thanks.

 

[YEE_SE]

I've decided to take my van to dealership on Monday. I've noticed more and more a rotten egg smell coming from the exhaust and at first I thought it was the car in front of me. I thought it was odd that it was my van as I usually only smell rotten egg exhaust when other cars accelerate hard in front of me and this occurs when I'm driving at a constant speed and no one is accelerating like a maniac . I know a bad catalytic converter can cause the rotten egg smell, which also causes bad gas mileage, so let's see if it this causing bad mileage.

I'll do a visual check of the converter too, see if there is blue or black metal discoloration on it.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Checked the catalytic converter and I have to say I was a bit surprised. I thought it was made out of stainless steel but it is rusted completely and for a 3 month old van, that surprises me. Changed dealership appointment to tomorrow.

 

[VCM]

I am from the Toronto area and I've been getting around 400km on my 2013 Toyota Sienna purchased in November 2013.

 

[YEE_SE]

The dealership checked my van for trouble codes and found none and told me the rotten egg smell was normal and I probably had bad gas in it. I try to debate it but no use. Catalytic converter was normal too, normal to have rust on the stainless steel. The grade of stainless steel is no doubt low on it. So, the dealership just told me to gas up at a different gas station and said to let the van break in and around 12,000 km gas mileage should improve. So, in a year I should notice better mileage

Other than poor gas mileage, I'm enjoying the van. My boys love it (more than I do) and always wants to play in it and wife loves the abundance of room. Family is happy so I am happy.

Cheers!

 

[VCM]

Thanks for the update YEE_SE

 

[YEE_SE]

Slight update. It has been mentioned in many threads/posts to ensure you a/c is off, even though you do not have it on and who would think it would be on in the winter season and I thought mine was off, but a couple of weeks ago, I manual ensured it was off and noticed the "AC Off" in the DIC and my mileage has improved a bit. Not sure if it did say "AC Off" previously. I am now down to 15.9 - 16 l/100 km. It could be the warmer weather or break in period or it may have been due to the A/C. Hopefully, this improves.

Cheers.

 

[Delphi51]

I'm in northern Alberta, near the start of the Alaska Highway - lots of cold weather here. I never even noticed that fuel consumption increases in winter. I have this rule that when we start out for our nearest large town, 100 km away, I must have 1/4 tank of gas to not worry about making it. A little less than 1/4 and it shows empty when I get there; a tiny bit over 1/4 and there is lots left. This seems to hold true regardless of the season.

I do have lots of complaints about car design for cold climates. The grease in the door latches gets too stiff and the doors don't latch. The back door won't open. The back door lift supports don't hold the door open high enough and I whack my head walking into it. The engine thermostat is too hard to change every fall and spring so the engine does not get warm enough to fully heat the interior in winter. No doubt the cooler engine contributes to increased fuel consumption. Even the block heater cord is too stiff and the plastic cracks, the prongs break off and I have to splice another one on when it is 30 below.

 

[YEE_SE]

Update, mileage is back to 16.4/5 as the cold weather is back (-20 in the mornings) so I guess it was the warm period helping me out

 

[Warrenwong]

hey yee se, i'm in GTA and am also experiencing a dip in fuel economy this past winter. bought my LE brand new sept 2013 and was getting just over 600 km. but now only getting 500 km max. i chaulk it up to the cold weather and the winter gas. hopefully now that its "spring" i hope that it increases. my good man lewis1 shared that increasing his tire pressure, driving in sport mode and putting it into 6th gear sooner rather than later, as well as using supreme or ethenol free (or at least less) has helped him. i plan to apply these methods to see if it makes any difference. one thing i did notice was that in the fall on the info screen after a full tank it displayed approx 650 km to empty but now that has lowered to 540 km to empty. my question is is the CPU making its own adjustments for the cold temp? anyone else notice this? i'm hoping that number goes back up when the weather gets warmer. on a different topic all us GTA sienna'ers (sorry yee se ur in senators land) should meet up. i'd love to see whatchall do to ur rides

 

[thanwu]

I think it is based on the average mpg in your vehicle as long as you did not reset it. You will see the average is lower than before if you switch to display the overall average.

 

[YEE_SE]

hey yee se, i'm in GTA and am also experiencing a dip in fuel economy this past winter. bought my LE brand new sept 2013 and was getting just over 600 km. but now only getting 500 km max. i chaulk it up to the cold weather and the winter gas. hopefully now that its "spring" i hope that it increases. my good man lewis1 shared that increasing his tire pressure, driving in sport mode and putting it into 6th gear sooner rather than later, as well as using supreme or ethenol free (or at least less) has helped him. i plan to apply these methods to see if it makes any difference. one thing i did notice was that in the fall on the info screen after a full tank it displayed approx 650 km to empty but now that has lowered to 540 km to empty. my question is is the CPU making its own adjustments for the cold temp? anyone else notice this? i'm hoping that number goes back up when the weather gets warmer. on a different topic all us GTA sienna'ers (sorry yee se ur in senators land) should meet up. i'd love to see whatchall do to ur rides

Hey Warren, I noticed the lower kms after full tank too. I chalked it up to winter weather.

I'm in TO for a week in August so if you have a meet I may be able to make it

 

[Allbwell]

I bought my (new to me) 2011 Sienna in late November 2014 and immediately set out across Canada on my studded winter tires P235 R60 17 - heading from Halifax to the Okanogan in BC. We had mostly clear roads. With steady speeds at 110 kph I was doing 10.3 litres/100km. When I stepped this up to 130 on the Turnpikes it dropped to ll.4. The best I've seen was on the prairies on a warm day and that was 9.6 I run my tires at 35psi. I'm back in NS now and about to change to my all seasons for the summer - I'm going with Michelin Primacy MXV4. I only put the studded tires on because I was going through the Rockies.

 

[mcagagnon]

With my 2012 Sienna (60 000km) I get about 14,5 L/100km in the city in the winter. On the highway I get 10,5 l/100km (driving 110km/h) . I use regular gas.

 

[YEE_SE]

Well, after 2 1/2 years of owning this van, mileage has not improved much. Winter mileage still horrible (18+ L/100 km) and current, Spring mileage is at 16.4 city driving. I've resigned to it being poor.

 

[lipster]

My 2014 is way better than that: 12.06 L/100km city, and it is AWD. Is your temp gauge in the middle?