Fuel economy differences by year?

I'm on my 2nd Tacoma- My first was a 2017 4wd Dbl cab Sport 6 Speed. I bought it brand new with 7 miles on it. Unfortunately, a lady pulled out in front of me and it was totaled.
I replaced it with my current (used) 2018 4wd Dbl Cab Sport 6 speed and it had 26k miles on it at the time I purchased it in August (I'm now at about 34K).

My question for the masses- Is there a huge difference in fuel economy between year models?
When I filled up my 2017 the computer usually gave me an estimate of around 385-390 miles till empty. This 2018 rarely gives me over 315 estimates.

A few things lead me to believe the previous owner drove this truck mostly in stop/go city traffic and I'm sure that has something to do with the previous calculations- but shouldn't the computer "re learn" for my driving conditions/habits? Unless- its just the differences in tuneing per the year of MFR.

any in-site/advice and info is appreciated.
Thanks Team.

 

I'd love to know as well. My old 2016 used to get 21 mpg pretty reliably.

My new 2021 now only gets around 16.9, which is really confusing to me.

Here's to hopefully learning something new today!

 

As a Tacoma owner you should know that this information means absolutely nothing. It's worthless. I'm the original owner of my truck (I've owned it since it had 10miles on it, now 27K miles), the DTE usually reads 324 miles. It used to read in the 380-390 range. I still get the same 20-21MPG and can average over 400 miles per tank.

It all depends on my driving habits though. How fast I drive, if I'm driving in a hilly area, if there's a strong head wind, if I have bigger tires or am hauling/towing...

 

People have stop looking at that worthless computer. Do the math at fill ups.

 

Forget the math, when it gets towards empty just fill it up and keep driving

 

This

 

you shouldn't look at the DTE to compare vehicles. just simply calculate it as suggested above.

i would expect them to be close but there are many variables as you know. tires and air pressure alone can affect MPG and be the difference between two otherwise identical trucks.

 

I think unless you reset the trip odometer, the avg MPG is continually influenced by the previous MPGs, which will skew your results.
As an experiment at next fill-up, reset the trip OD, and see what you get.

 

The distance to empty calculation is also influenced by how much gas you filled up with last. I have noticed that when I fill up with 100+ left on DTE, it starts out at a smaller DTE. When I drive until almost E, the new DTE is larger.

 

That's interesting. I've noticed my DTE has gotten gradually lower over time with each fill-up so I've stopped paying attention to it. But I've never reset my trip odometer. I wonder if resetting it will affect the DTE number. I want to try that now.

 

@brymac76:

These are the real answers to your question.
REAL overall fuel mileage depends on how YOU drive, the kind of trips you make each time you start your truck, the number of times you use remote start, etc.
BTW, there are numerous threads on TW about DTE. Perhaps you could read the responses.

 

I may have been mistaken about resetting the trip odometer, it is just what I do on the fillups and am probably confused.
But I think on the HeadUnit THERE IS a means to reset averages. I think there is at least two or three: Trip AVG, Tank AVG, Long-term AVG?
As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This message will self-destruct...

 

Max distance travelled on one tank

2005: 680 km

2018: 820 km

Those are best tanks in my Tacomas. All highway and on flat roads. I log all fuel and distance travelled for work. This is on Shell summer fuel, 91 Octane, no ethanol. YMMV

 

Number of miles driven divided by number of gallons = your mileage

The secret formula. I'm sorry that your dashboard swag can't figure it out.

 

I had a 2017 limited (just traded it 2 days ago) - but on that one I could go into the menu, eco screen and reset the history. If you have that option I would try it, along with resetting the trip meters as was suggested.

 

You can look at Tacomas by year on Fuelly;
https://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/tacoma

Looks pretty even to me..

 

820 km? How?!

 

Short answer:
No

 

I can see how this is possible...

820KM = 509.524Miles.

509.524 miles divided by 21 Gallons (the tank on your Taco). Assuming you have favorable weather, road conditions and you don't speed...your Taco (a few Taco's can achieve this - like the 4cyl's or the V6 2whl drive), 24-25MPG.

If you average 24.263 MPG, you can hit the 509.524 or 820KM mark. Basically you'd have to top off the tank then set the cruise control for your road trip and drive non stop until you fill up again. It can be done, but certain criteria has to be set first.

 

Fair enough.

That’s like running on fumes though, I would never do that to any of my vehicles.