2008 minivans: Honda Odyssey vs Toyota Sienna

I get slightly poorer mileage with ethanol based fuel.
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If one owns a vehicle that has an onboard fuel computer you will discover
they most efficient speed to drive is around 70 MPH, not 60 MPH. At 75 it
is only a mile or two less but still two or three more than when I drive 55
MPH.

It may get that on a long trip, but for day-to-day driving...

From Consumer guide Automotive

Forget the EPA. Consumer Guide's auto editors drove 150,000 miles
last year. We drove to work, to day care, to the grocery store, and on
vacation. We drove through record heat, blinding snow, driving rain,
and confounding road construction, keeping track of every drop of fuel
we used along the way.

The EPA admits its fuel economy numbers are estimates. Our numbers are
real. A typical Consumer Guide test car is evaluated by at least four
editors, all of whom account for their individual fuel usage. Here are
the vehicles in each class that used the least amount of fuel while in
our care.

Honda Odyssey-16.4 MPG

Toyota Sienna-16.4 MPG

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2008-fuel-economy-champions.htm

Consumer Reports faired a little better with 19 MPG.

As one poster noted about the Odyssey

"my normal gas mileage is 17 mpg in the city and 24.5-25 mpg on the
highway. I've gotten as low as 15 mpg in the winter here (10% ethanol
fuel) and as high as 27.1 mpg on the highway (traveling by myself with
just two suitcases). I keep my tires at 37 psi, which is what made my
gas mileage increase by 1-2 mpg."

Another noted about his Sienna " I drive 80MPH and still get 24 MPG"
which I will dismiss as total BS.

 

That's not what I'm getting. I own and drive a Sienna and I calculate
over a number of trips my gas mileage. If anyone chooses to not believe
me, fine, I don't care. I know what I get in gas mileage and that is
all that matters to me. My friend who has a 08 Ody gets even better gas
mileage and he is conservative and flat honest, if he didn't get what he
gets he would say so.

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Howdy,

Let me add something to the mix...

I have an '04 Sienna AWD. I live in rural New Hampshire and
so do very little stop-and-go driving.

In the four years I have had the van, I have never gotten
better than 18 mpg, and I have a light foot.

The simple reality is that as is true for any manufactured
product there are variations part to part, and they may have
a cumulative effect.

I don't doubt for a moment that there are folks who get far
better mileage in what is ostensibly the identical car.

All the best,

 

18 Is damn good for AWD.
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That will always be true, as Ethanol doesn't have as much energy as
Petrol, but there will be no difference between Super and Regular
unleaded. Use what the car needs. My Civic Si requires Premium. If
your car doesn't, don't bother using it. It does nothing for you.

 

Where I gas up at there is a penny difference between their reg. and
their premium. I always gas up my Sienna with the premium. I can tell
the difference in performance as I've tried both. Not a blow you away
difference, but a difference. I expect gas mileage is somewhat better
with premium also, but I've never tested it. When I gas up in the next
state over that does not have state mandated ethanol based fuel I see
even better performance. I'm still trying to understand where we as
drivers of gas vehicles have any advantage using ethanol fuel.
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I don't believe that. Not at a normal gas station, anyway.

I don't believe that, either. You are under the illusion that many people
are, that premium is more "powerful". It isn't.

There is no difference.

As has been previously stated, that is because ethanol does not have the
same energy (BTU) per gallon that gasoline does. It has less.

We don't. It's a purely political sham, and is not a good thing at all.
What it's basically doing is driving up the prices of food that uses corn,
which is a lot more foods than most people realize.

 

"Kenneth" ...

AWD in itself saps MPG. That invalidates a comparison to non-AWD Siennas.

BTW, I get about 22 in my 98 Sienna in semi rural west central NJ driving.
Tomes

 

A local Toyota dealer has said that he expects a hybrid minivan from
Toyota in the 2010 model year. If it will have the Highlander drive
train, it should be excellent choice.

Mazda makes a small minivan that gets good gas milage.

--
Ron
***********
Toyota already sells a hybrid minivan in Japan. Toyota has announced that
they plan to eventually offer a hybrid drivetrain in every vehicle series.
When a particular series will be offered with a hybrid drivetrain probably
has more to do with hybrid component production capacity than the need to
develop a drivetrain.

 

I need not waste my time as I have no need to convince anyone. I know
what I get for mileage, I know what I feel in performance difference and
that is all that matters to me. The gas station is an independent and
what I said is true.
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Your mileage and performance dreams are just wishful thinking, and
indicative of what a person can convince themselves of, if they want to.

As for the gas station... Everywhere else in the country, gas stations
(independent or not) usually charge an average of 20 cents more for
Premium than for Regular. Yet you expect people to believe that in your
special place, they only charge 1 cent more. Sorry, it's just too much of
a difference to be believed.

How about you provide a link to a picture of their sign out front, which
shows the prices...? Can you do that?

 

Supposedly the ethanol is in there to "oxygenate" the fuel (ethanol contains
oxygen, gasoline doesn't) in order to make it burn cleaner. Refiners used to
add something called MTBE to gas for this purpose, but the MTBE ended up
leaking out of tanks and contaminating groundwater, hence the switch.

Ethanol does have a lower energy density than gasoline, so you can expect to
see slightly poorer mileage with fuel containing ethanol than with
non-ethanol fuell.

If I could get "premium" for a penny more per gallon than regular, I'd use
premium too. In more than 35 years of driving, I've never seen that.

 

I'd love to have a gas station that only charges 1 cent more for
super, as my Audi uses that (although I do mix in a tank of 'plus' on
a regular basis. I can't notice much difference in performance or
mileage).

My Odyssey EX averages just under 17 mpg in town and I have gotten as
high as 25 on the highway - the usual is 23. That's generally with a
pretty loaded car (5 people plus dog and luggage) and the cruise set
for 76-ish. I'm happy with that. Our old Ford Crapstar used to get 15
in town, 20 on the highway and was a piece of shit besides. ;-)

Dan D
'07 Ody EX
Central NJ USA

 

Is your email address good? If so I'll try and get you a picture.
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I just talked to my buddy who has a 08 Ody which uses only three
cylinders while on longer trips and he said he gets 32.5 MPG but that
was using S.D. premium gas, wind at back and driving the speed limit, 65
mph with a steady foot. Sadly, today so many people have a very heavy
foot, I see it all the time in city traffic and on the long highway
trips. If drivers would learn to drive like they have an egg under the
gas pedal and hold the speed down to 65 or so, they would see much
better gas mileage, also keep those tires inflated.
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Your email?
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Post a link to the picture, thanks. All can see it then.
Tomes

 

I don't own a website, besides, why should I have to provide proof, I
buy my gas there, if someone does not believe me why should I care. I
don't know these people from Adam.
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I'm not going to provide a valid email address here... As someone else
stated, a link here will allow others to see this magical sign, too.

Go to this site below, upload your image as directed (very easy), and it
will provide you a link/URL that you can paste into a post here. Simple.

http://imageshack.us/