What's your GX MPG? (1 Viewer)

[r2m]

I'd like to survey the GX tribe and see what kind of MPG everyone is getting, especially on their modified rigs.

What I'd like from anyone who responds is the following:

• Tire size?
• How much is it modified? e.g. bumpers, roof top tent, car top carrier, etc. basically any added weight or added wind resistance.
• How was the mileage calibrated and calculated? Gas fill-ups and GPS phone app or other electronics?
• If you want to share how far and where you went.
  
• and finally what MPG did you get!

This is my mpg.
I just came back from 2 weeks up in South Lake Tahoe and finally had a chance to do a proper evaluation of my gas mileage on my GX with it being all gussied up (as seen below).
Note, we also had skis on the roof rack = a little more wind resistance.

Going up to South Lake Tahoe from San Clement, CA.

• 1st fill-up: 21.000 gal @ 301.29 miles = 14.347 MPG
  
• 2nd fill-up: 11.000 gal @ 169.16 miles = 15.378 MPG

Heading back home to San Clemente from South Lake Tahoe.

• 1st fill-up: 12.329 gal @ 211.74 miles = 17.174 MPG
  
• 2nd fill-up: 15.102 gal @ 251.57 miles = 16.658 MPG

Average: (14.347 + 15.378 + 17.174 + 16.658)/4 = 15.889 MPG
It should also be noted that this does not take into consideration of when the gas pump determines to shut off when my tank is full (I think I was able to top-off a little more some times over other times) or the accuracy of the gas pumps measurement, albeit it should be calibrated.
Needless to say, I was pretty happy considering my 1998 100 series Landcruiser was getting about 11 or 12 MPG, with lockers, re-geared and 35" BFG M/T's. We usually needed to do two fill-ups in each direction. (We've been going up to the lake for the past 20 years)

Now, YOUR TURN!!!

 

[LTSR]

I'm hesitant to build up my GX like yours because i've done to my previous rig. It took all of the comfort and MPG away but it looks damn cool. My GX is stock and I was able to get up 20.5 MPG from the Bay Area to Pismo, around 250 miles each way.

 

[HitchCrack]

Wow I am impressed with your milage numbers. Mine is a 2013 with 100k.

Front and rear MT bumpers with 10K warn winch.
Nitto Ridge Grapplers 285/75/17 on TRD Sema wheels
Rhino Roof Rack
Dobinson MRR 2.5" lift
RCI Aluminum Skids
Dobinson Drawers loaded with gear/tools
MSA Drop slide
Snomaster 60D Fridge
Dobinson Snorkle
SSO Sliders

I typically get around 13.5 in the city and not much better on the highway probably about 14.5(this is including the difference for the tire size). Loaded with people and gear I get closer to 12mpg on the highway. loaded with gear/people and pulling the adventure trailer (2500lb) I get about 9mpg. The 9mpg is mostly because I need to keep it 4th gear to keep it from hunting around at 70mph. I am heavily considering a regear to fix the hunting and hopefully raise the overall MPG.

GX460

• HitchCrack
• Oct 29, 2018

 

[jabandsnort]

Just about to start modding my rig and I'm nervous about the results. Stock daily driving is netting me about 16.5 mpg with mixed highway and commute miles and that's using a fairly light foot on the skinny pedal.. Are you guys with big wheels and tires doing any speedo corrections or are you just leaving it to read slow?

 

[Soap]

My 2015 is getting around 15MPG with mixed driving....

 

[r2m]

I'm hesitant to build up my GX like yours because i've done to my previous rig. It took all of the comfort and MPG away but it looks damn cool. My GX is stock and I was able to get up 20.5 MPG from the Bay Area to Pismo, around 250 miles each way.

Per your comment regarding MPG, yes MPG will suffer. Thus the price of adventure!
Per your comment regarding comfort, absolutely not!!!! My rig drives as smoothly and comfortably as it did before I did all my mods to it. The trick is to match your suspension to what your load will be on your rig. If you just want to lift your rig for larger tires, sans metal bumpers, winch, etc. you would go with a much lighter suspension upgrade. If you want all the heavy bells and whistles (my rig for example) one must invest in a heavier duty suspension.

If I were to nit-pick anything it would be that I get a lot of wind noise from the rack when the sun roof is open when going over about 30 MPH and my LT285/75R17 BF Goodrich BFG Mud Terrain TA KM2 118Q RWL Tire (Tires) are just wee bit noisy, to the point that I have to listen for them. I plan on designing a front valance/shield of some type for the front of the rack to deflect wind and reduce wind noise. Just haven't had the time yet to do it.

My wife is very picky about making sure I don't ruin the ride of any of the overland vehicles I've built (regarding comfort and safety) and she won't travel with me if my rig isn't perfectly comfortable, quiet and stable for long trips.

 

[r2m]

Wow I am impressed with your milage numbers. Mine is a 2013 with 100k.

Front and rear MT bumpers with 10K warn winch.
Nitto Ridge Grapplers 285/75/17 on TRD Sema wheels
Rhino Roof Rack
Dobinson MRR 2.5" lift
RCI Aluminum Skids
Dobinson Drawers loaded with gear/tools
MSA Drop slide
Snomaster 60D Fridge
Dobinson Snorkle
SSO Sliders

I typically get around 13.5 in the city and not much better on the highway probably about 14.5(this is including the difference for the tire size). Loaded with people and gear I get closer to 12mpg on the highway. loaded with gear/people and pulling the adventure trailer (2500lb) I get about 9mpg. The 9mpg is mostly because I need to keep it 4th gear to keep it from hunting around at 70mph. I am heavily considering a regear to fix the hunting and hopefully raise the overall MPG.

GX460

• HitchCrack
• Oct 29, 2018

I forgot to mention that I DID re-gear my rig. I think I went with 5.29 front and rear. I did this when I added the front and rear ARB lockers.
The re-gear is probably what is helping me get better mileage.
Going over the passes, to and from Tahoe (there's about four passes), I never found my GX having to "hunt" for gears. Just locked in the cruise control and pointed it in the right direction!

 

[r2m]

Just about to start modding my rig and I'm nervous about the results. Stock daily driving is netting me about 16.5 mpg with mixed highway and commute miles and that's using a fairly light foot on the skinny pedal.. Are you guys with big wheels and tires doing any speedo corrections or are you just leaving it to read slow?

When you add larger tires, presently there are no options for correcting the speedo of our GX's. Just gotta live with, and keep in mind what the percentage is that your speedo will be off. In my case, almost a perfect 10% with the size tires I'm running (LT285/75R17 BF Goodrich BFG Mud Terrain TA KM2 118Q RWL Tire (Tires) ).

That being said, as noted in my opening post, I used a GPS app for my Galaxy Note 8 to track my mileage after filling the tank up with gas. Travel a couple hundred miles, fill up again and divide the amount of gas I put in the tank against the miles traveled, repeat...

So I guess the short answer to your question is yes I did take into account my tire size.

 

[r2m]

I know we're (GX 460's) a small community, but are there any more owners that want to post their mileage?

 

[Virgilus11]

2016
285/75/17 Geolander
4.56 gear

I use this mostly in weekends 350 miles trip, about 75 mph most of the times.
15 mpg average with no head wind. It will drop another two miles quickly if is windy.

 

[r2m]

View attachment 1888677
2016
285/75/17 Geolander
4.56 gear

I use this mostly in weekends 350 miles trip, about 75 mph most of the times.
15 mpg average with no head wind. It will drop another two miles quickly if is windy.

Yep, that's what killed my mileage on the way up. I had a lot of had winds and of course anytime one heads north it's always "up hill".
My ride home was much easier. No head winds. On a serious note, I do live about 100 feet from the Pacific blue (read: sea level) and South Lake Tahoe is over 7500 above sea level. So I may joke about north being all up hill, but there is a little truth in that.

 

[Chuck Thompson]

Stock 2013 Premium with 265/65 KO2's and Method 18's. ATL to Detroit and back right after Christmas. Interstate 75 both ways. 65 mph = 20 mpg. 75 mph = 18 mpg. I measured actual fuel used to compare with digital display mpg and discovered that the digital display was very accurate.

 

[DBLex1]

2015 premium - 45k miles. Highways I’ve seen 18 MPG. City driving it is typically in the 14-15 MPG range.

 

[Qball]

Stock 2013 Premium with 265/65 KO2's and Method 18's. ATL to Detroit and back right after Christmas. Interstate 75 both ways. 65 mph = 20 mpg. 75 mph = 18 mpg. I measured actual fuel used to compare with digital display mpg and discovered that the digital display was very accurate.

Interesting, stock everything here and I get 20mpg consistently going 80mph on flat land. Do slightly bigger tires drop MPG by 2?

 

[r2m]

I forgot to mention on my original post that I was trying to keep it locked in at 70 MPH (per GPS) with cruise control both ways.
So from what I'm reading, I'm losing about 5 MPG with my setup.
I'm actually okay with that! I've had far worst with my other overland rigs I've built.

 

[Qball]

I forgot to mention on my original post that I was trying to keep it locked in at 70 MPH (per GPS) with cruise control both ways.
So from what I'm reading, I'm losing about 5 MPG with my setup.
I'm actually okay with that! I've had far worst with my other overland rigs I've built.

I think the biggest offender when comes to robing MPG is the roof rack. My 80 consistently got 13-14mpg without roof rack and with roof rack I barely crack 12 with even low profile rack. I said F$&@ it and got a super heavy full length arb expedition rack/basket and got same MPG as low profile rack. My mpg didn’t really change on my 80 with 2inch lift, heavy OPOR sliders, Arb bumper with 12k winch......quite literally the only thing caused significant MPG decrease was the roof rack.

So this time around with our GX I’m sticking with factory crossbar and bolt on a cheap amazon/eBay basket for additional stuff for long trips and take it off right after. I don’t like to put heavy stuff up there anyways.

Would love to see someone do the MPG test with and then without the rack, I think there should be pretty noticeable difference. I would like to know how big of a difference the rack makes on the GX since it does have much better power to weight ratio compared to the 80.

 

[r2m]

I think the biggest offender when comes to robing MPG is the roof rack. My 80 consistently got 13-14mpg without roof rack and with roof rack I barely crack 12 with even low profile rack. I said F$&@ it and got a super heavy full length arb expedition rack/basket and got same MPG as low profile rack. My mpg didn’t really change on my 80 with 2inch lift, heavy OPOR sliders, Arb bumper with 12k winch......quite literally the only thing caused significant MPG decrease was the roof rack.

So this time around with our GX I’m sticking with factory crossbar and bolt on a cheap amazon/eBay basket for additional stuff for long trips and take it off right after. I don’t like to put heavy stuff up there anyways.

Would love to see someone do the MPG test with and then without the rack, I think there should be pretty noticeable difference. I would like to know how big of a difference the rack makes on the GX since it does have much better power to weight ratio compared to the 80.

If having a rack impacts MPG that much, than when I put my roof top tent back on and do our next trip with it, my MPG will probably REALLY suck!!!
Price one has to pay for a go-everywhere vehicle.

 

[Chuck Thompson]

Interesting, stock everything here and I get 20mpg consistently going 80mph on flat land. Do slightly bigger tires drop MPG by 2?

Yes, larger tires and/or heavier wheels will reduce gas mileage. My tires are only slightly taller than stock, and the rest of the vehicle is stock, so the penalty isn't too bad. I really like the various roof racks that are out there, but I might weasel out and go with a Thule cargo pod for our road trip this spring to the Northwest. That way, I can take the thing off for the rest of the year. Still like those racks from Rhino Rack, Front Runner, etc. Some have complained about the noise with the metal racks, though.

 

[r2m]

If you are interested in a rack I really love the rack I got from Gamaviti racks: Roof Racks — Gamiviti
Several reasons I like it is that it very low profile (read: can still get into most parking garages), has eight roof mounts for more weight distribution and most of all, it looks great (IMHO).
But I keep a roof top ten on it most of the year.

 

[KJ6IRM]

Just this past weekend I took a trip from the south bay area in SoCal to Alabama Hills. This was a about 500 mile round trip. I didn't do the calculations with fuel added vs miles driven, I'll try and remember to do that on my next long trip. I use an OBD fuel monitoring module called Automatic. CC set for most of the trip at 65mph (equates to about 68-69mph due to tire size). I'm running Cooper Discoverer A/TW 265/70-18 (32.5"), I have a Front Runner slimline and a hard shell RTT mounted to that. Misc camping/cooking gear, my girlfriend in the passenger seat and my dog in the back seat. Other than that I'm stock.

On the way up there (gaining elevation from about sea level to 5000') Automatic reported 16mpg. On the way back Automatic reported 17.9 (this included driving around the trails in Alabama Hills for several hours on Sunday). From the city of Mojave to the south bay the on board computer stated I was getting 18.9mpg "after refuel"