why are we getting v8 gas mileage with v6's

Amen, brother....

 

And this doesn't just apply to Toyota. My wife's Ford Escape computer fuel economy calculations are off by about 20%.

 

Honestly these trucks would probably get better mileage with a V8 in them. Anytime the engine has to work less it is going to be more efficient. Case in point I built a '90 S-10 with a LT-1, 6 speed, 4.10:1 and it consistently got 24mpg due to the power to weight ratio.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I've found it to be surprisingly accurate, within a tenth of hand calculated economy at fill ups. That said, I would never use what the truck tells me as any sort of evidence of reality.

 

My hand calculations are within .1 difference from fuelly and the computer

 

The one thing we are all forgetting here is the Prius can out run the Highway Patrol. "to catch a prius you have to be a prius" . Have a truck to do truck things and a Prius to out run the cops and get 52 MPG problem solved.

 

Tank average after running most of the tank though, right? I mentioned that. Short trips and instantaneous are garbage numbers which some people are admittedly using.

 

I agree with you but I wish Toyota gave us the "option" of ordering a Tacoma with a small V8 like the engine in the first gen Tundra; I believe that was a 4.7. I find my 2009 4.0 V6 truck is under powered towing my 19 ft. bass boat or a bunch of Quads on the trailer especially on hills.

 

Long term average on my wifes F150 is 18.9 mpg. That's over 15K. My new work F150, also the V8 Coyote, is getting ~18 mpg during the break in.

The honest answer here is that most of a trucks mpgs are now dependent on how much power it requires to overcome air resistance. The F150 is now only ~300 lbs heavier than a Tacoma. Weight is within ~5% in other words. It's almost all air resistance differences between an F150 and Tacoma, and no offense to Toyota, but when you see all the venting on the Ford trucks to route air out the fenders from the front of the truck to reduce air resistance there as well as all of the other work that was done aerodynamically on that F150 truck you can tell why the fullsized Ford and the Toyota get similar mileage. The F150, even though it's larger, has better aerodynamics over it's size. That makes the two fairly close in power required to overcome air resistance. So they get similar mileage because while the V6 Toyota might need 30% of it's power to cruise the V8 needs 20% and that means they are using about the same amount of fuel.

Toyota is either cheap or can't justify spending the money on applying the amount of aerodynamic R & D to their trucks that Ford, GM, and Ram can.

That's also why so many people get bad mileage on the full sizes too. While the power to cruise is the same there is also a ton of difference in the amount of power available. All of that power requires fuel. So if you drive your Tacoma hard you probably only end up around 15 mpg because that's literally as bad as it can get. If you do that with a 400 HP full sized truck engine though, well, you'll get those 10-13 mpg numbers people talk about. At least you'll have fun getting those numbers.

Toyota isn't putting a V8 in the Tacoma. It'd blur the distinction between the Tundra and Tacoma. For the average buyer, not the few guys on here that want a V8 desperately, it'd probably not appeal to them over a V8 Tundra. I'd be happy if Toyota gave us a V6 turbo at some point.

 

I to would like an eco boost Tacoma with twin turbo. A helix turbo diesel would be nice also.

 

I had the 4.7 v8 and so far my milage is comparable with my new taco. Except the v8 was so smooth and got off the line much quicker. It was very quiet and smooth. It is hard to believe that engine in this truck would not have yielded better #rs. But I do love my new tacoma. Even with the v8 I would occasionally hit 3 rpms....so like whatever

 

Serious question. Do you turn off ect everyone you enter the vehicle. It auto resets. Reading the manual makes it sound like you should only use it when needed. But the default setting is always on.

 

It is off by default on mine.

 

It's not an "on" or "off" thing like traction control. It's normal mode, then ECT power mode, which changes shift points...etc. Default for the vehicle when its started is normal mode.

 

No complaints here. My last two trips. From work to grocery store and then grocery store to home.

 

Oops sorry. I meant traction control not ect. I think those in the higher range are in warmer states. I'm averaging about 13 mpg. I don't drag race, but with winter gas, snow on the ground, occasional 4 wheel drive, and artic wind blasting up to 40 mph I haven't been doing the best. Once the temp rises so does mpg. At this point I am not impressed with mpg, however it is a truck.

 

Traction control and VSC is ALWAYS on every time you start the truck... The operator must manually turn it off if they want it off, however it will be back on after the next cycle of the ignition. I only turn mine off in the snow lol. I like to steer with the rear axle at times in the snow, and TRAC/VSC is a buzz kill to me.

 

Do the 3rd gens have a smaller tank? Those numbers don't make any sense to me, I get 18 mpgs all day every day and get 300 to 330 miles on a tank.

 

No they don't. And of course the dash numbers don't make sense. They're not 100% accurate lol

 

Nothing controls fuel efficiency in this truck as much as the driver, I have been as low as 18 MPH when driving spiritedly to 24 when driving very conservatively. My city to Hwy is 85% to 15%