It takes 5 quarts to get the approximately 4 1/4 quarts to fill the engine when you change the filter. That is unless you have a part quart left over from a earlier change.

Five quarts of synthetic oil cost about $6.60 per quart or $33. Add $6.50 for a toyota dealer filter and your at $39.50 plus tax and labor.

I ask my toyota dealer what brand of 0W-20 does he sell. His said the quart container shows Toyota Full Synthetic Oil.

 

Sounds about right. Make sure you verify the 0W-20 quart bottles going in. Otherwise, they may use the BULK oil which more than likely is 5W-30.

 

I usually change my own oil. During the winter or if it's raining, I will purchase my own oil and filter. Then have some place change it and just pay the labor. I usually use walmart as my wife likes to shop while we wait for the car to be ready. I also use their lifetime tire and rotation and have that done at every 5000 mile oil change.

 

What are your normal commute/driving habits like?

I commute on mountain roads,Freeways and I drive fast (yet sane)

I get 30MPG (or slightly lower) but on my last vacation I averaged 38MPG (relaxed driving on fairly flat roads).

The TCH is strange as far as road demographics and driving habits go.

 

I'm retired but usually drive to town almost daily. It's a 8 mile trip to town and we spend about 10 miles in town. That includes 5 miles of very slightly uphill bypass around town with 3 red lights. After shopping then it's the 8 miles back home. That's bout 26 miles daily unless we take a short trip.

I leave near the white sands national park and Holloman Air Force Base. It's all desert out here but there are some nearby mountains we can drive in. The highways out here are near all 4-lane and very flat. I get rather high mpg numbers on each tank due to the very low humidity (20%) and almost no wind out here. I use one of the top tier gasoline's listed, that's Chevron from toptiergas.com/

Your mountain roads are not so bad if you come back the same route. What goes up has to come down. Meaning you may get only 20 mpg going up but can be in the EV mode if you can keep it around 40/42 mph on the way back down. Even if not just coasting down the engine only uses .22 gallons per hour while idling at speed. If coasting fast lake at 60 or 70 that will increase to .35/.40 as the engine idle speeds up with our road speed if it's needed.

Fast acceleration and driving around 70 or faster will really hurt your gas mileage.

I get 47 mph driving at 65 mph with the AC turned off. Again, it's more where I live and not the way I drive that gets me the good highway mpg.

I would think someone in Phoenix or Tempe, Arizona would be on here also getting high mph numbers. I don't recall anyone being in the forms from that immediate area.