4 Bangin, Fuel Sippin, Full Tank Challenge!

Down to a 1/4 tank. Picked up a nice 60 mile round trip for work that averaged 37.4 mpg. 500.4 and it was just a hair over 1/4. Wow my cheapo phone camera really makes that dash look much dirtier than it is?

 

Had to post this trip since I have never had a trip as good as this before to and from Denver. 30 mile one way down to Whisler Bearing to get some bearings for a gearbox on the bottling line. On the way down 37.0 mpg. On the way back 46.2 mpg. Average 41.7 mpg. Stacks of empty kegs about to be filled with Avery IPA in the background. Lot's of construction so 55 or less and just the right amount of congestion so that I had the engine off a lot more than a typical Denver drive.

 

I am not too sure what kind of modifications you guys have all made, if any, but I NEVER get any gas mileage EVEN CLOSE to what you are getting. Truck is waxed, tires are at 40 p.s.i., did the "cold air intake" with the deck plate mod, synthetic oil, 2" lift, 4x2, 2.4 L, 5 speed, manual trans, 2003 Tacoma. I coast ALL the time pulling her out of gear, down hills, to red lights, stop signs, on the freeway down hill, etc., etc.. I average 65 on the freeway and 40 in the city on the road.

The BEST tank I have had, even taking into consideration the larger tires, divide mileage by 0.92, is 24.1 mpg. I average 18 in the winter and the numbers are tracking to 21 based on summer temperatures.

I do not wind out the engine, second toyota I have owned. In third gear by 25, typically shift at 2000 rpm.

WHAT THE HELL?

27 mpg, I am almost inclined to say BS, but I know others are seeing it. I still have not reached 300 miles for a tank of gas. My light comes on at roughly 11.5 gallons.

I am at the fu*#ing gas station every 240 miles, 11 - 12 gallons of gas please.

By the way, without the correction for the tires, if I only do my calculations with the odo, I get 16.9 - 19 mpg. I know that the odo is off based on the circumference of the tire and the speedo, by 0.92... so when I am driving 63 by speedo, it is actually 70. The tires are not big either, I can get the size if needed, but the correction accounts for tire size for sure.

 

Keep in mind that the 2nd Gen has a 21 gallon tank, so when you see 400 and 500 miles per tank, we are running around 4 gallons more than you are.

Also, those running in excess of 26/28 are generally "hypermileing" which involves more extreme methods, very useful on a manual transmission, such as shutting the engine off when rolling down hill. Don't try it with an automatic, you'll kill it.

 

Do you still have the factory gear ratio? Usually the speedo will indicate higher than actual speed.

The only mod I did was a tonneau cover, but I am not sure if it does help the aerodynamics to improve MPG. I did a 100 mile trip last weekend and had an indicated 28.8 MPG. Since then, my Ultra Guage is down to 25.7 MPG.

 

Keep in mind that the 2.7L engine used in 2005+ tacomas have a new engine with fancy variable valve timing and throttle by wire. I am able to get 26+ mpg without hypermilling, just regular driving.

What really causes my truck to waste a lot of gas are:
- cold morning starts
- lots of short trips
- hard acceleration/deceleration
- stop and go traffic

My truck is mainly used for work, carrying about 200-300 lbs of gear in back with tonneau cover. 34-35 psi in the tires. Use Arco fuel. My commute is mostly highway at 70 mph. I do my best to keep my speeds constant, especially when driving in the city. This is important. I am not sure if the valvetrain in the Tacoma does this, but in some engines with throttle by wire and valve timing, when engine is under cruise, the throttle is wide open and the amount of air is regulated completely by valve timing. This greatly reduces pumping losses and increases mpg.

 

It isn't only "rolling down hill", sure that is a great time to shut the engine off, but frequently it is just rolling forward with traffic toward a red light. Any incline helps, but off ramps work, approaching a turn, pulling into parking lots, work, home, etc.

I'll be gassing up later tonight, first 700+ tank in awhile, I'm loving the warm/hot weather.

 

Best tank since 2008.

701.3 miles on 19.306 gallons for 36.3 MPG.

180 miles driving to Denver and back 3 times really helped.

Only $0.40 Safeway discount, so $3.229.

 

Fantastic tank.

 

Thanks, weird as it seems I think the Michelin Rain-x tires have taken over 10-15K to break-in, I've had them since late 2009 and the first 3 years they sucked for coasting, but now they finally seem to have better rolling resistance like they advertised when I bought them.

 

Worthy,

Will be needing new tires soon, probably this fall or early winter. The Firestone LE OEM's have been great. They have never needed rebalancing and have worn perfect. Only rotated 3 times at 15 to 18K intervals. I am considering the new Destination LE 2. Read in a Tire Rack review that they are supposed to have 15% less rolling resistance, although I can not find that info on Firestone's website. They are getting great reviews and are reasonably priced. During my 3.5 miles trip to and from work I am coasting in gear about 1/4 of the time, so I am looking for LRR tires. The Tire Rack does not list them as LRR. My Firestone store is horrible, arrogant and all they care about is upsells, with slow service. Thought about Michelin's but they are a lot higher, and previous Michelin purchases have been so-so experiences.

Again congrats on the great tank.

 

Well, I technically have three:
-front mudflaps gone when I bought it
-tonneau cover, which may or may not help
-about a 50% grill block that lets the engine warm up fast, and moves more air over the truck rather than into the engine bay and down. I can run this even in summer because I don't have to cool an auto tranny and don't climb mountains or tow big trailers. Highest coolant temp I've seen thus far is 197F running the AC on a 90 degree day. Once it gets up to 100 degrees out I'll probably see water temps a little north of 200.

In addition to the other benefits mentioned in other posts, the 2nd gen 4 cylinders can also use the benefits of 0w20 synthetic oil, and 09+ come with 75w85 in the differential(s).

 

I agree, I'm comparing the Michelins to the Firestone OEM and the Michelins are just now getting close to the stock tires. I only got 46K out of the Firestones, not sure what they are rated for. Mine wore pretty evenly even at 45psi.

The Michelins are 90K tires, there should be some LRR improvements before I need another set, it won't be these again.

 

You know what, I think I might be brave enough to push this 4x4 to 500 miles this summer. I'll do it with a jerry can in the bed, just in case.

This one was 26.5 mpg.

 

That's awesome, but still a little close to push 500. Keep in mind that the 514 on 21.19, that was 24.3, but it was a matter of being broke the day before payday so I dropped a $20 in the tank and added the two together for the fuelly entry. The numbers are correct, just split between two purchases.

500 miles at 25mpg is 20 gallons. That's cutting it way too close for my comfort, even with a calibrated scangauge.
There's just no reason to run the tank that low. I think a more appropriate title for this thread would be "4 Bangin, Fuel Sippin, MPG Challenge!"

 

True, true. I'd hate to suck air and hurt the pump. If you notice my fuelly I almost always fill around 12 gallons thanks to my last truck's 4.7 miles from light until dead episode. If I can't brave 15 gallons, how am I going to do 20?

Yeah, I probably won't.

 

I generally fill up on my way home from work the day after I break 250, so most tanks are in the 350 to 370 range.

400 would be no problem, even at 22mpg that would only be 18 gallons, but my commute is 45 miles each way, and I prefer to buy gas here rather than near work because it's cheaper, so when I'm at 350, I don't want to chance 450.

 

I'm comfortable at around 350 miles but not opposed to going up to around 400. When looking at my data, I can see two distinct bins reflective of my past two work commutes. At present, a week's worth of driving is around 350 and 15-16 gallons of fuel. I feel comfortable with a weekly fill-up around those figures. I've thought about the 500 mile tank, but I'm skeptical about being able to pull the numbers off without absolutely ideal conditions. And risking a 9/10 year old fuel pump on the venture makes it more unlikely. Getting down to less than a gallon in the tank had me pretty nervous. I'm thinking I'd be running it dry to reach the number (under the current configuration). Better to optimize than to maximize!

 

Fraidy cats.