Manual transmission Fan Club and BS thread (All Generations Welcome)

Oops! Thanks, nice catch!

 

Interesting read on MPG, I am averaging 21.5 MPG with my 2020 MT Taco and I do not drive on interstate but county and state highways up and down the mtn's here. Just got back from a long trip with my wife's 2019 4-Runner and we averaged 20.2 MPG (AT obviously) - high winds and heat - went from home to Fort Worth and back in two days - 12.5 hours each way hitting speeds on most county and state roads between 70 & 85 - and then those small towns you can blink and miss at 45. Still like my Taco MT in the mtn's just like the control.

Sorry, I meant to mention the average is based on actual miles and gallons used not the dash average.

 

Just got back from a 1000 miles of road trip. I averaged 22 max. Speeds between 55 and 70. There was no way I was touching 23MPG at 70. Not even coming close.

Still was happy with the mileage overall though.

Edit - the manual did great in the mountains. I was actually able to get it up to around 22.5-23 at an average speed of about 40-45. Wild!

 

Just saying, but we're rated at 21mph highway and this is the test cycle:


Besting that with 22mpg average is the tops. So, FTFY!

 

I drive very gingerly for a 28 year old. I always expect to beat the consumer average on a long trip. Been able to do it in all 3 vehicles I've owned so far!

 

I get you. I don't drive gingerly and always beat the estimates with our MTs. ATs is a hope and a prayer to get close unless doing pure highway.


Edit: I wish fuelly.com would break out transmissions. Still, the MPGs that you and I get are nowhere near the real world numbers:

 

Well if you consider that about 5% of all Tacomas are manuals, it's not going to skew it much. Very interesting.

I'm still convinced, however, that the same driver can get better mileage out of an A/T. I feel like people just don't understand how to drive fuel efficiently at all.

Of course this is only just my feelings based on how sharply I see my own mileage tank between 65 and 75. I'd really like some real world experience to back this up.

 

I'm not talking about skewing the AT curve, but what the MTs get. I would bet higher.

Again, the Stock ATs don't see the OD gears at lower highway speeds. Once they're going fast enough to hold the OD gears, it is wind resistance fighting the undergeared-3.909 axles. It seems pretty obvious to me that I would be doing worse in a Stock AT.

 

I tried to skew my AT every way i could and it still got worse mileage than my MT in 95% of situations. I also drive my MT like a jackass half the time... and its still better than my AT was.

 

Huh. Really interesting. I guess the A/T in these trucks is just that bad. It sucks that the M/T gets rated for less MPGs. It ended up costing me an extra tax in NJ. "Gas Guzzler/Luxury Tax" ugh.

 

Yeah its weird. I average somewhere from 1-3 MPG more in the MT than the AT in just normal driving situation. Towing I average about 2-5 MPG better with the MT.

A lot of people think the issue with the 3rd gen is the motor, but after 50k miles in an AT, it took a 5 mile test drive in an MT to realize the motor isnt the problem (its not without its quirks though even with the MT). I’d still like to drive a stock AT with 4.88s sometime just to see what its like in the real world compared to my MT.

 

My truck is at 23 so far after half a tank.

 

My fuel lasts a lot longer now that my truck spends most of the time sitting in the garage rather than driving around the country.

 

Here is my recent tank average. Pretty close to the actual numbers as i always calculate manually. Good mix of hwy and city, i think its great. 12.6L per 100km= 18.6 mpgs. My truck sees the redline quite a bit too. Running e load ATs as well.

Drove 523 km and stil have almost a quarter tank of gas, im happy.

 

I bet.

I love having a company van on the weekdays. Quite often i fill up my truck only once a month, feels great. I dont feel bad spending extra on the non ethanol gas haha.

 

Last time I looked, I’m just over 7,000 miles for the year. That’s quite a swing from the 40k+ I had been doing.

I went from getting gas near daily to like once or twice a month lol

 

Well, I can't like that. Here, I thought that WA was on crack. That makes no sense given the ratings for a truck. Hell, the 2.7l isn't any better from a rating standpoint.

The AT is a double edge dagger. It is both the programming and the gear ratios. No win, IMHO.

 

Yeah I think the criteria was below 20 MPG combined average. The A/T is rated at like 20 or 21 or something vs 19MPG for the M/T. Cost me something like $300 or something.

 

I believe you'll make that back over time comparatively.

 

40k wow. I only have 17k miles on mine, if i keep working where i work, looks like my taco will last me an easy 15 years haha. Which i dont mind at all, i love this truck.