Anyone get 20 mpg with 4.0L V6 ?

I'm not sure if there is another thread for this but what octane are most people using on this form?

 

Man there's a bunch of threads. This always turns into a pissing match. Just use what you want to use. The basic arguments are laid out on the second page of this thread and all you'll see is an equal amount on either side, premium or regular.

 

I say use whatever makes you feel all warm in fuzzy inside, cause thats what it is all about. 91 octane makes me feel warm and fuzzy, so therefore I buy it. Another point - everybody needs to stop bitching about the price of gas. When I start paying more for a liter of gas than I do for a liter of bottled water then I'll join in on the bitching and moaning.

 

WTF is a "liter"?

(hehe, stupid Americans and their stupid Standard measurements)

 

I'm new here so hadn't seen the other threads, nor did I have any desire to piss in anyone's breakfast-cereal. I agree that it is an individual decision and know that burning 'higher-than-recommended' octane gas isn't going to do any harm to the vehicle, so use whatever makes you happy.

I belong to a motorcycle forum that's fairly active and has a lot of opinionated and sometimes cantankerous members, and you should have seen the dogpile that erupted over whether it was better to use synthetic versus regular oil.....

 

All the arguments for premium because of the power but I have yet to see any dyno results proving it. I ran premium for 3 tanks in mine and couldn't tell any difference. Mileage was also the same. My bike is 10.8:1 and that also runs fine on regular. I refuse the "seat of the pants dyno" because you will feel what you want to feel. Gotta go with Wilson on this. Run whatever you want.

 

It's not so much the power increase as it is the mitigation of power decrease. When I'm pulling my 5000# trailer I use premium not because it gives me more power but because it dramatically reduces knock. With regular in many conditions I experienced knock when under hard load.. especially when towing. The Tacoma (like many vehicles) has a knock sensor that when knock occurs the sensor tells the ECU to reduce throttle output and a number of other things to reduce the amount of knock. That ultimately reduces overall power available as the ECU is cutting back to reduce the knock. Using premium fuel allows the engine to reach maximum potential without any knock or reduction in performance. This is why the manual says that the truck can run on Regular but for maximum performance use Premium.


As for the 20mpg. I was consistentently getting 18-20 in my 70 mile round trip stop and go California commute traffic. I added the TRD Cat Back about two weeks ago just for fun and now I consistently have 20-21mpg and haven't dropped below 20 yet (it's only been two weeks and a few tanks of gas though).

Oh and I use mid-grade gas for daily driving because regular just doesn't cut it since I'm climbing a pretty good grade every day and for a while was experiencing knock a little to regularly. My poor 94 Toyota Sienna only gets Regular and it knocks like crazy sometimes. Welcome to the new age of higher compression performance engines.

 

Yes i do, i think we've gone over this before

gonna have to disagree with you here. we've had this discussion MANY times on this site. the V6 compression ratio is 10:1 which means its right on the border for 87 and 89. it will run 87 with no problem, but because of the compression ratio, it is more efficient running 89. i get 1 to 2 more mpg when i run 89 over 87. However, i haven't noticed a difference when using 91 or 93 as far as mileage goes, but others say they notice a power increase. There is definately more potential energy in higher octane fuel, but you can only utilize the power efficiently under high compression. Putting high octane in an engine that is not designed to utilize all the energy is definately a waste of time. i have noticed the best mileage and power balance using 89. this observation is based on a year of driving and looking at my mileage at every fill up.

yeah

 

haha! i have no idea what a liter is. more importantly, what is a litre? for that matter what is "colour"? Canadians can't spell. plus they make up words like "kilometer", i'm pretty sure that doesn't exist.

I appreciate you not pissing in my cereal, i cant imagine that tasting very good. I dont think anyone thinks you're trying to piss on their breakfast goods, but on a site like this asking "what octane is best" is like asking "what religion is best". everybody has their preference as well as "evidence" to back up whatever they believe. You have as much of a chance telling me to use 87 instead of 89 as i do of convincing the pope to be a baptist. All input is appreciated but dont be surprised if it is ignored. just keep in mind its nothing personal

 

Hell I'll go ahead and throw this in here... even the big guys at the oil companies are still researching the effects of Octane on acceleration and power. Depending on where you live and the conditions you drive it can make a world of difference. Someone using premium fuel in Arizona may swear by it whereas someone freezing in Ohio may say it doesn't make much of a difference.

Here's what they currently have to say:

 

Oh yeah, head on over to TN and you'll see enough of those to make you nauseous. It's always "dino vs synth", "premium vs regular", "leaf spring TSB or not", "prerunner vs 4WD", and on and on and on. It does get old and that's why I say, use what you want. I personally notice a difference (smoother running engine, better mpg, no "sluggish" feeling) so that's what I use. I mean, I'm not going to call Child Protective Services on someone for using "only" regular, lol!

 

hello. i am currently in North Carolina, just drove over two thousand miles in the last 5 days, from Massachusetts, and so far have averaged over 24 mpg highway. cruise generally around 65 mph, 4.0 V6, 4x4, used 93 octane fuel exclusively (my unscientific test says it makes a difference). only mod is a jbl cat back exhuast (with magnaflow muffler) and a bed cap. synthetic oil (mobil one). i can post all the numbers if anybody wants to see them. i think that's pretty dang good. i have an ECO 2 on board i'm gonna install before the drive back and see if there's a difference.

 

Just reached 5,000 on my taco and I'm averaging between 18-19.33mpg whether I drive mostly city or highway, it stays in that range. Moving up to 91 octane gives me about .5mpg more (2.5% better) which vs. the extra cost (3%) the cost outweighs the benefit. I have yet to try premium. towing I get a tad over 10mpg on 87. Going to try 93 next time I tow.

Like the other guy said, Mythbusters confirmed adding a tonneau didn't help mileage, and I confirmed it as well. I drive about 2500-3k/mo for work and carry a small parts inventory with me, before I got my tonneau I got about .5-1mpg better mileage, when I hadded the tonneau it dropped. When the tonneau is not there the bed creates what's called a locked vortex. Air from the cab comes down and is moved along by the vortex, some of that air is recycled back into the vortex. When you put on a tonneau you lose that vortex and the air drags across the tonneau lowering you mpgs by increasing wind resistance. This was true with me at least. It might have also had something to do with the fact I required a fiberglass lid I could lock so I could move my inventory from my back seats to the bed, this added 60lbs to my curb weight.

Last night I did my first oil change and put in Mobil 1 full synthetic and a K&N filter. I will let you know if it affects my mileage at all. Overall, just breaking in the vehicle has increased the mpg ever so slightly, I see fewer 17mpg tanks and more 19mpg tanks. When I drive the freeway it's between 65-70.

The only time I got 20mpg was before I added the tonneau and that was an all highway trip which I got 20.5mpg, have not seen that since the tonneau doing the same trip gets around 19.5mpg.

 

You won't get any better gas mileage when towing using Premium however you will notice a difference on the grades. You may not have to gear down as early. I find with 87 that the knock sensors under load with my 5000# travel trailer get a real work out and the timing retards enough that it seems the engine is struggling. I always run Premium now when pulling and it's been a lot smoother on the grades. I can run in D on the flats most of the time as well. With 87 I was forced to stay in 4 which really eats mileage. Best MPG I've gotten when towing is 12mpg.

 

I just recently returned from a trip to Houston. On that trip I got 20.2 MPG doing 72 MPH in windy conditions.

I don't think the tonneau helps my mileage, but it sure did keep my bags dry when I was driving in the rain.

 

I haven't had a chance to compare 87 vs 91 with towing either, but I got 14mpg with 87 towing these:

 

'07 Prerunner 2wd DC V6 ...city: 18.2 (best so far)...hwy: About 22

 

Just got 21.9mpg on the way into work today. It's a 30 mile commute and the most I've seen before was 19 on this commute. I installed an AFE dry filter last night so I'm going to monitor it and see if I continue getting better mpg. Yesterday's average was 16mpg, so I'll see what it says tonight after I've gone back up the mountains.