My MPG is NOT Bery GOOD. WHY?

2011 Off Road V6 Automatic No Real Mods.
I just replaced the BFG with Toyos same size.

I am now up to 650 miles and I drive mostly highway and some local driving on the snow. My latest Reading was:

15.5 MPG

I thought I should be getting 19 or higher?? Do you think the 240 lbs of sand in the back is the reason?

(But I added a hood & window deflectors, which should have compensated to raise my MPG! Right! )

BTW: I use Regular Gas 87 Oct.

What are others getting on the same truck?

 

It's a truck it sucks but your not alone

 

Probably a combo of winter gas, extra weight, new truck, and snow driving. I would wait till the summmer before I really worried about 15mpgs

 

Winter weather driving, winter blend gas.

How fast do you go on the highway? How long do you idle to warm up? How much time do you spend driving on slick roads at city speeds?

 

Mine got drastically better with every fill up untill I hit about 1,200 miles. Now I'm holding pretty strong at 16.7-17.9

 

Of course officially I only do speed limit, give and take 20, I only let it warm up for 20 seconds. I was thinking of trying 89 Octaine, but I do not want the truck to get "used to it". It should run fine at 87.

I have tried different tire pressures for driving comfort, but never below 29 PSI. I am not running 30 front and 29 back. I may take out 120 lbs off the sand weight once the ice storms go away.

Maybe when I hit it hard to see if it downshifts on the highway (especially when next to an F150) maybe it guzzles it up???

 

The 2,000 RPM and under range is your friend if you want good MPG.

 

I get a bit over 19 with mine (4x4 v6/auto stock double cab TRD with rugged trails) on 87 octane in my normal driving which is about 70 percent highway at 65-70. But I honestly don't get on the gas hard very often. One thing to check is the weight of the new tires. When I went from wimpy highway tread 265/70/16 michelins to slightly heavier and certainly more aggressive general grabber at2's in the same size on my last 05 4 cylinder it dropped 1-1.5 MPG. I'll probably run the same tires on this truck once the rugged trails need to be replaced.

 

15.5 mpg? thats good! same here, new truck (same truck) I am now around up to 500 miles and my last fill up I only got 13.95 mpg

 

It's the winter..... winter gas, and god knows what else. Normal!!

I have an 07 and I consistantly get 18-19mpg in the summer and usually around 16-17mpg in the winter. And since I've been running 150lbs in the bed this past couple winters...15-16mpg.

 

I had one tank that was 16, but most fall between high 17's and low 20's. Truck now has 7000 miles, and driving is a mix of highway and in town, along with some country roads. I drive it for work, and drive ALOT! The truck is only 2 1/2 months old. Best i can say is just drive it easy when accelorating, and try to run under the 2000 rpms as suggested. It should get better.

 

Well here's your problem!
I tried to explain to my wife what doing even an extra 10 miles over the speed limit does to your fuel economy and she didn't believe me until we got a MINI Cooper with the fuel economy computer built in. When we traveled across country and we got to Texas where the speed limit is 10 mph faster than California, we got 100 miles LESS from a tank of gas. That clued her in that speeding really really kills fuel economy.

 

The 2 wheel drive Prerunner V6 must do a lot better on the road and in town compared to 4 wheel drive.
I drive daily 65-70 and I am averaging highway and city combines 21.5.
This made a big difference on money spent from the GMC I had before this.

 

Sure you drive the speed limit, but how fast do u drive to get to the speed limit. I am sure if you keep the rpms under 2k u will get the mpg u want.
nothing is wrong with your truck, the mpg will get better in a few thousand miles. Be easy on her till she is well broken in.

 

Haven't had the problem in my 10 off road TRD.... Been getting consitant 17-18 mpg.... Keep the RPM's below 2, you will find that many times you are actually going below the speed limit (my commute is 65 miles one way through some moutains)

 

I'm paying about $1.15 a litre for fuel here. Thats about $4.40 a US gallon and the reason I bought a 2.7 litre engine. I went 320 miles on the first tank of winter gas. The weather was cold and I used four wheel drive a lot. This truck will get good mileage. Just not until I break the engine in and the weather warms up. Your's will get better too. Give it a bit of time.

 

Sorry, but why'd you change the tires out so soon?

 

14.5mpg here

 

I got 14.4 my last tank. I was shocked. Never had that bad. I mean it was below 3/4 of a tank at 80 miles. Usually it's between 105-120. I drove about 140 miles this weekend on a new tank of gas and it's back to "normal". Actually about 125 until it went below 3/4 of a tank.

Still can't figure it out. Never had below 16.2 before then. I'm usually in the mid-high 16's for winter, and a little higher when it's warmer. I'm hoping that was just a one time thing.

 

Winter doesn't help fuel mileage for several reasons:

1. Cold air overall is more dense than warm air. This seems insignificant until you're driving at interstate speeds, our aerodymanic bricks we're pushing down the road have to overcome the additional resistance.

2. If it's cold you're probably using the defroster, you're thinking no big deal but you're losing at least .5 mpg because the defroster uses the air conditioning compressor to dry out the air.

3. I takes longer for the truck to reach operating temperature, until the cats and the coolant temps warm up the engine is running either on a high idle or rich.

4. Winter blend fuels, the formulations change with the seasons supposedly to help with emissions, which is a wash if you're burning more FUEL.

5. Any changes away from stock will probably effect your mileage away from the EPA numbers. As much as we all like taller trucks, A/T tires, larger wheels, heavy metal bumpers, any and all engine mods, all will negatively effect your mileage due to increased weight, rolling resistance, and pushing more air/fuel through the engine.

All is well and good if you willing to accept the we're driving a truck and not a Honda Civic which isn't immune to winter mileage variations.