Surprisingly good gas mileage yesterday.

After complaining about my gas mileage I was surprised that averaged over 23 mpg on a longer and trip yesterday.

Driving around town and on longer trips in the past I average around 18.5 mpg. Yesterday I drove 61.2 miles from Colorado Springs to Denver at 75-80 MPH and averaged 23.2 mpg.

I just passed 7,300 miles on the odometer, maybe the Taco is getting more efficient as it breaks in. I'll take it.

 

Tailwind.

 

Downhill

 

I did a 50 some mile trip today with the warmer temps now....fuel mileage went up from an average of 19.5 mpg this winter to 21.7 mpg now. Should go to 23. something this summer again.

 

My truck loves Summer too,

 

Make sure you check the old way as to miles driven divided by gallons used to fill up after resetting trip odometer beforehand. Usually comes out less than what the trucks computer tells you but sometimes it may be more. Either way its more accurate.

 

Correct, most likely to be conditions.
I just got home a few hours ago from the farm, 110 total miles, first half was directly in to a stiff 10-15 mph wind (gusts to 20), other half of the trip with the same wind blowing from my right to left. I normally get 20-21 all highway,,,, averaged 17.1 today.

 

I don't think I've ever seen over 20. So enjoy it

 

Is summer fuel mixture hitting the pumps yet?

 

I was gonna mention this, i drive 60 miles a day, 6 days a week and magically last week i all of a sudden went from getting 21/22 to 23/24 mpg.

 

I was pleasantly surprised recently also. I think I hit a combination of two things.. I took the 480 lbs. of tube-sand bags out of the bed (Winter traction here) 3 weeks ago ... And summer blend gas showing up. On my 4-Banger, I went from an average of 19 mpg during the winter and am now averaging 24 +- mpg.

 

It was pretty windy yesterday. Seemed to be N, NW. I'm getting ready to make that same drive tomorrow. Be interesting to see how I fair.

 

New owner here. Does putting in Premium gas help at all in mpg....even just a little bit in your experience?

 

Not in my experience.

 

I tried that when I first got my truck. One tank 'reg', next tank 'premium' (Non-Ethanol here) .. etc etc etc. Back and forth.
On the premium, I did get about .6 mpg better. But, the premium here is $1.00 a gallon more expensive. No noticeable performance gain either. All in all, not close to being cost effective running the more expensive gas.

 

I fill up with 91 at Costco since the lower gas is only 86. The owners manual recommends 87 or better (I believe). Can't speak of performance & mpg's since I've always used 91

 

The cold winter kills my fuel mileage, you can watch the fuel gauge drop during warmup. Even the temp gauge works a bit wonky. Soon as it got warm here the temp gauge no longer works as it did...now very normal.

 

A 62 mile trip is too short to hang your hat on for increased fuel mileage.

Set up for a long time average of MPG over several months and multiple tanks of fuel.

Your increased mpg is most likely due to conditions. Perhaps it is from the truck "breaking in". Although, modern vehicles don't require a "break in" period like in the days of yore. Even so, when "break in" was required it was only about 500-1000 miles. Your at 7300+ miles well past the old "break in" distance.

FWIW, I track my MPG using a simple calculation in an Excel spreadsheet. I'm able to track fuel costs per gallon, average distance each fill up, that tank's mpg and long term average mpg. I also use the spreadsheet to track maintenance intervals, keep repair and maintenance records and associated costs. So, far...the highest mpg I got from a tank was 19.4 mpg on 360 miles burning 18.5 gallon. Long term average is much less due to impact of winter, cold temps and winter fuel.

Many things impact mpg. Environment, weather, terrain, maintenance, tire, tire pressure, driving style, fuel, .........

Suggest to track mpg with something more long term than the dashboard system.

 

Doubtful, but maybe some. Helpful article: https://www.convenience.org/Topics/Fuels/Changing-Seasons-Changing-Gas-Prices

I also don't think summer fuel would explain a 25% difference in fuel economy. I agree with the tailwind hypothesis.

 

A few weeks ago I went on a weekend trip and decided to not take the interstate and go the back/local roads instead. Staying around 55mph at the highest for the majority of the trip, my 2017 made 25.9MPG. Sadly the local roads were closed due to work/accident, so I had to go in the interstate on the way home, which dropped me to about 20MPG.

I usually drive on the interstate and maybe get 19.5-21MPG in spring and summer. The higher speeds definitely have an impact. I was getting around 17-18MPG recently, so I assume the gas is changed over to the summer blend now, which helped on that trip.