Gas Milage

So I'll start off by saying, when I bought the truck I wasn't expecting good gas milage. But I was expecting better highway than city. I drive in city too work and average minimum 15.5 MPG. Most I've gotten was 16.4. Once like 17.3 when I payed extremely close attention to my driving. Everything I've read that seems pretty normal.

Now I took a trip to NH last weekend. On the way there I averaged 15.4 on the highway. On the way home 16.4. And this stays true with any small highway trips I've taken so far.

60 miles of my home trip were were roads with a speed limit of fifty MPH. During that stretch i got about 19.8 MPG. I believe that was why my trip home averaged better than my trip there. But I don't understand how my city travel is getting me better mileage.

The only thing I can think is if it's because I have a six speed and the way it's geared, anything higher than 60 MPH and I have to pretty much constantly apply the pedal to maintain. Whereas the back roads driving at 50 I didn't have to really fight it as much. The truck likes to hold that speed.

Any suggestions as to what I can do to change this? It doesn't make sense.

 

It takes a trip of about 30 miles or more to typically get the 19 - 22 mpg
Anything shorter, you will average 14 to 17.
Just been my experience with my 17 automatic

 

Can we see a picture of your truck?

 

Like you, I knew what the mileage was going in, but, I figured I would do a little better than the sticker said. I have done a LOT better than the sticker said, especially around town! My town is pretty much 25mph all over town, and I LOVE the fact that my TRD Sport goes into 4th gear at 25, which makes it around 1000rpms at 25mph! Man that is like, idle! So gas mileage around town has been going at around 22mpgs, which is as good or better than my old 96 tacoma 4-cylinder! NOW, having said that, on the highway, as you noticed, if you are going around 60-65, your mileage should be at around 25mpg or higher. Of course, this is on the highway with cruise on and on flat ground. But once the speed limit goes up and you are cruising at 70-75mph, your mileage will go down drastically, to around 20-22mpg! Again, highway driving and with cruise on. Also, it gets better with more miles having been put on the truck. I did NOT do this well when I first got the truck, as the transmission had to learn my driving habits. BUT, right now, I am pretty happy with the gas mileage, all things considered, with the truck being a 6cylinder, a bigger truck, etc. Also, do NOT use the ECT button, or in other words, make sure it is turned OFF, or not ON. That will also hurt mileage because of higher rpms before gears shift. Hope this helps...

 

I'm pretty much in line with this. Mileage has been getting better and better over time. Just got 22mpg on a 200ish mile trip.

That being said, it could just be where you're driving. Sometimes you drive uphill with a slight tailwind, and downhill with the wind in your face going the other way.

So many factors with MPG, it's not even worth comparing numbers with someone unless you're driving right next to them in the same type of truck.

 

Agreed. I did what I would call, probably the best test, in that last October, I drove my truck from the SF Bay area in CA to the Outer Banks of NC and back. My gas mileage was through the roof, since I was on the highway, and I usually got 25-30, believe it or not, but that was when I was in states or places where the speed limit was 65mph. Also, I would be moving along, getting insane gas mileage, when I would come to a hill or slight incline, and the dang transmission would downshift TWO gears, into 4th, in order to ZOOOM back up to the preset cruise control speed I had set. I mean, and I talked to Toyota about this, there was NO REASON for the transmission to downshift two gears and the rpms to go through the roof from 1700rpms to over 3000, just so the truck could ZOOM right back up to my preset cruise control speed! Now, if I had the ECT button on, then I could understand it, but I NEVER turn that thing on, as gas mileage is important to me, so they should have the truck computer set so that when one has to resume the cruise control, that it would just work its way back up instead of wanting to get you back up to cruise control speed as fast as it can get there! My gas mileage would drop like a rock to around 10mpg while it was screaming at me at 3000rpms! But while that was disconcerting to look at, on the display, overall, the mileage would average between 25-28 for the most part, which I was pretty darn happy about, all things considered.

 

Thanks all! I at least know now that it can get more than 16 average.... Just didn't seem right to me. Lol