Question for 4.0L V6 Scangauge Users

I'm taking a roadtrip tomorrow (1250 miles round trip) and would like to know if somebody could help me out with where the sweet spot is for MPG. This is a business trip so I'd like to drive as fast as possible to get there and back, but if driving 65 is going to give me significantly better MPG than 75+ I might consider easing off the gas some. Can anybody help me out?

 

Bump.

 

When I used my scangauge..if I kept the rpms just under 2k my best mileage was attained. I do not remember what the speedo read. I set the cruise to the just under that 2k mark. My truck is a 2006 4x4 V6 auto.

 

I'd say 65-70. Above 70 it really takes a crap.

 

65 does give you better MPG than 75. I try not to look at it to ofter as I'm always over 70 and averaging about 15, but at 60-65 you should be able to get atleast 18-19MPG depending on how many hills.

 

In my previous roadtrips I've gotten 19-20 actually and I think I kept it between 70-80. I usually drive about 8 over the speed limit. I was just hoping for some good data on where the Tacoma's sweet spot is. You'd think that'd be something they'd include in the manual. But I guess I'll prolly try out keeping it just under the 2K RPMS.

 

Slower = better,,,, strangely enough. I believe the real max mpg spot is actually around 45-50 mph, but that just doesn't seem realistic.....

On my DC v6, 45-50mph gets around 29mpg, while any speed increase from there equals lower mpg.

 

29 mpg?!? Wholey shit! I don't know if I'd get that rolling down hill. But yeah I heard that the sweet spot was around 55, but I was curious as to how drastic the dropoff was above that. Because like I said, I got like 19.5-20mpg on a road trip where I had to have averaged 65 at least. I wish I had a scangauge for this trip. Oh well, I'll probably end up just driving as fast as possible to get there and back. I hate road trips, especially if it's not for something fun.

 

I'm jealouse, I usually keep it at about 80 or so and get around 15-16mpg. I do have more hills down here.

 

Actually I'm just up in Dayton and I'm always headed down through Kentucky to Clarksville, TN. But I've actually never gotten below like 17.5. But I'm pretty easy on the acceleration and concious of coasting and not using cruise to accelerate up hills and whatnot. I think one trip I even hit the 21 mpg mark. Of course this is all based on manual calculations so there's bound to be a certain margin of error.

 

Thats not surprising, I'm a little trigger happy when it come to the gas. I still get a little thrill everytime I open it up.

 

29mpg? typo...??

 

Yeah, I noticed after I got my new muffler on I was gassing it much more often just to hear it. But I've mellowed out now and am trying to get back north of 17.5 MPG.

 

No, 29mpg on the SG point in time mpg reading,,, NOT the tank/trip avg. At a steady state 45mph I get this from the SG. Note that I have NO ABILITY or DESIRE to run 45mph steady on a single tank, or for more than a few minutes, so cannot verify the long-term milage

BTW, my tank avg mpg's fall between 15-16 city / 20-21 hiway (65-70mph), depending on the mix of city/highway/sitting around idling.

 

Yep, I found the sweet spot is between 37 to 45 and that will yield MPG in the high 20's on flat terrain.

These trucks are also very sensitive to temperature, this summer I made 2 trips across the state which include up and over and back one pass with a 3,000 ft elevation, I kept the speed between 60 - 65 and the 1st trip averaged 20.6, the 2nd gave 20.3

Late fall I made the same trip and averaged 18.6

My summer average was 19.3 and as soon as the temps dipped below 50 my average dropped to 18.2 and now with the temps averaging 40 my mileage has dropped into the mid 17's, only have a couple tanks but will keep track of it through the winter and see where it settles out at.

 

Well I'm glad it's not just me. I usually get high 17 to low 18 MPG but these last couple of tanks have been under 17.5 MPG. I was beginning to wonder wtf? I thought it might've just been the fact that I warm my truck up for about 15 minutes in the mornings.

 

^ I've never really followed my mpg's with previous vehicles, but my first year with the tacoma I'm noticing the same thing.....around 19 mpg combined hwy/city in the summer and decreasing as temperature goes down. Winter gas and cold air are robbing me of mpg's. Make sure to keep those tires aired up.

 

Warm ups in the driveway will kill the average especially for shorter trips.

If I go out, fire up the truck, plug my phone in, adjust the heater, and then drive off when I hit the first stoplight down the road from me the scangauge will show somewhere around 12 - 13 MPG average.

If I go out and fire the truck and let it warm up for 2-3 minutes, when I hit the stoplight the scangauge will show 4 - 6 MPG

It takes a pretty long trip to average in those low numbers from the driveway warmup but still overall the average MPG will take a pretty big hit

 

If you do get "seasonal" gas then yes, definitely has a detrimental affect. Where I'm at, it's "seasonal" (ethanol'd) all year round. I actually see my milage increase with cooler weather. My last tank was 19mpg, where I usually get around 18 for that kind of driving mix.

 

Hmmmm, I've never heard of seasonal gas until now. How do you know if you're getting seasonal gas or if it's "seasonal" all year round?