MPG decrease when towing with 4 Cyl.

Can anyone tell me what to expect for a decrease in mpg when towing a properly balanced Palimino camper weighing (plus cargo) 1600 LBS, and a vehicle cargo weight of 650LBS, at speeds not exceeding 60 mph for the 4cyl auto, access cab Taco. The Taco that comes in Timberland Mica
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Hmm...can't give you a specific answer, but I'd feel safe saying roughly 2-3 mpg decrease at most.
I have a v6 and towed a flat bed trailer with some quads, probably weighed less than 2000lbs, about 60-70mph for roughly 250 miles with some hills and my decrease was about 2mpg.

 

Palamino is a pop-up right, not a hard side? If I am correct in that assumption, then you are looking at a 2-3 mpg drop at most, and probably near zero drop if you have a cap on your truck.

The tacoma handles the weight it is rated to tow just fine, it is the air resistance and drag that costs them the mileage.

 

Isn't that the truth! My enclosed snowmobile trailer kills my mileage, add winter driving (4x4 at times & heat blasting) plus hilly terrain, the scangauge shows a whopping 11 mpg at times even with a light foot. Heck, don't even need the scangauge, more gas fillups tells me every time!

 

You'll experience a 2-3 mpg drop on flat land. Hills will lower it more.

 

Hi Foxysandchick....you to my south ...me to the north...Canadain gallon is exactly 20% larger than US gal......heh....we have something bigger than youuuuu our gallon.......but I did conversions and 4cyl auto gets 26 mpg city /36mpg/hwy for Canadians (a guide) by gov. standards testing. US mpg for this engine I beleive is city 21 and hwy 29. I have 4000 miles on Taco and I got 24mpg with the towing.....I am suppose to get 36 mpg per gov./Toyota standards for normal highway driving. That is a 30%drop, and my speed was never over 60mph. In fact I probably averaged 55mph and all hwy speed. I will send this to Maverick491 also. He did reply to my question also. So I am concerned and only because I don't know what is normal mpg for towing specific things. I should also state that so far I have not done better than 29mpg without towing. I realise we just finished the cold season which does reduce engine efficiency. I am also driving in 3rd auto and not using OD as recommended by Toyota and the towing bible, which I agree with. So if you come across proven results for typical towing mpg decrease, I would appreciate knowing the results in future. Thanks sincerely, Bryanc

 

Hi Maverick491....Palamino is a pop-up.....US made just like my Taco and nice..... Maverick my Taco has 4000 miles on it, I have a diamond back aluminum tonneau cover and I carry another fine US product...my Grumman canoe on the racks that are mounted on the tonneau, which should provide for good wind resistance. Please review the reply I sent to Foxysandchick for details on the mpg, the US standards for this Taco and our Canadian stated mpg ratings for this truck. I feel I have a 30%drop in mpg. I will note my mpg attended in future with serious effort and will contact you again to hopefully determine what is normal for this truck etc.
The 4 cyl handles this load very nicely, and my choice of 4cyl was a good one. So if stats could be accumulated to determine % decrese typical in mpg for towing with 4/6cyl I think many would benifit from this. So thanks maverick and look forward to hereing some proved results. Bryanc

 

Canadian mileage ratings are a joke. The US mileage ratings are now pretty accurate since the EPA changed their calculation. My experience from my past 4 vehicles, is that when driving a vehicle normally, you will get roughly the (cdn) rating in the city, and right in between the city highway rating on the highway. Normal driving to me is keeping up with traffic, 10 overish, BTW.

 

Good morning Isthatahemi:
Canadian milage ratings generally are not attenable. I think they are used to rate vehicles equally accross the board for people to compare. You are right in that no one drives at the testing standards used. Those standards being:city driving 7.5 mile at 20mph and top city speed 57mph for 23miles. Highway test is 10 miles of driving at 48mph and 60.6mph for 13miles on hot engine start and 5000 km on each vehicle tested. The ratings are recorded. The Tacoma is rated at 36mpg highway and 26 city. That gallon is exactly 20% larger than the US version. So the US milage rating for tacoma by our testing would be 29mpg hwy and 21mpg. I realise I will not reach those ratings with The Tacoma, although with my Subaru Legacy (past) 2.2 135hp that vehicle was very close sometimes on hwy ratings. So with Tacoma so far on two trips as I stated, reached 23.8 and 24mpg (Can) with the towing I was doing at the speeds I stated, as accuratly as I could measure at fill ups. That is 30 % less than the ratings by Canadian standards. Others tell me that I should get a drop of 2-3mpg so that is not close to the 30%drop I am getting with the towing. My results if measured in US gal would have been: 19mpg on the highway which is a ways off the 29mpg rating stated for the Tacoma using US gal and Can testing. I know I will never get 36mpg hwy driving at 60mph constant....maybe in OD with the final drive ratio of 0.705 for 4th instead of the 1.00 ratio in 3rd gear that I drive in when towing, no loads no head winds, and down hill. So I hope one day to accumulate enough trips to be able to say....this or that. At this time it seems my mpg drop is much more than 2-3 mpg. I am surprised but not concerned about the results, but would like to know what others get.
Thanks, BryanC

 

Hi Isthatahemi: a photo of the tow job...........

This is a test.....I am better at making tonneau covers in alu. than doing photos at the computer
BryanC

 

Isthatahemi....see no photo....will try again later bryanc

 

Hi Isthatahemi we are trying to do this photo thing

Here goes again

 

Back from the dead.....
Mileage drop while towing for my 2009 4X4 Access Cab 4cyl was from approximatly 12L/100kms (20usmpg) to 15L/100kms (16usmpg). This if for a 2700# camper, with approximatly 1000# of people and junk in the truck, travelling 110kmh (70 mph). Both numbers seem low, but that was off my scangauge, and it seems to be very accurate. The odometer is off by 4.5% on my truck, and that is factored in.