Recently I tested actual highway fuel economy of our 2016 Toyota Camry. I wasn’t very satisfied with results as the vehicle got about 35 miles on a single gallon of gas. I decided to make some changes in driving behavior and perform the test again.
According to my experiment, there are two major factors impact the car’s fuel consumption.

Cruise control

Do not turn on cruise control on the 2016 Toyota Camry if you are planning to save some gas. It certainly depends on driver’s habits behind the steering wheel, but in my case, the car tends to change gears more often when I set cruise control compare to Drive mode. Even on the small hill it shifts one gear down if you let computer to keep certain speed.
It is not a big deal if you crossing cities on interstate highways with many vehicle on the road, but once you travel hundreds miles on virtually empty roads with 70 – 75 mph speed limits cruise control just make the ride much more convenient.

Speed factor

I’ve noticed that the optimal speed for maximal fuel economy of our 2016 Toyota Camry in Drive mode on the highway is 65 mph. At that speed, crankshaft of the Toyota Camry with six-speed automatic transmission makes 1,700 – 1,800 rotations per minute when the sixth gear is on. At 70 miles per hour fuel consumption goes up insignificantly. At 75 mph there is very noticeable decrease in fuel economy.
Again, not a big for short trips – most cities have 55 – 65 mph speed limits on the highways. But once you take the 2016 Toyota Camry on a longer trip with 70 – 75 miles per hour limits – forget about 40 mpg fuel economy.

What about air conditioning?

I’ve tried to turn on and off air conditioning periodically while monitoring fuel consumption, but it didn’t affect the fuel economy significantly. It might have some impact, but it is not as significant as first two factors described.

Conclusions

Overall, 2016 Toyota Camry has very decent fuel economy for a midsize sedan. At first, I was slightly disappointed with car’s performance in term of gas consumption, but now I see you can get better numbers that 35 mph under certain conditions. The other thing is – will you ever drive in such conditions?