Improve MPG

I've been reading alot about people being upset with poor gas milage. If you drop the tailgate during highway travel you can improve your mpg by 2 to 3 miles to the gallon. It doesn't do much good for around town driving but at high speeds with alot of wind resistance the tailgate acts like a mini parachute. Anyway, if you do alot of highway driving it should help out a little bit. I'm sure alot of people are already aware of this trick but i thought i'd share the tip anyway.

 

thanks for the info i have seen alot of people even just remove there tailgate would that be better less weight and the wind can travel through

 

I've seen this disproved on Mythbusters in an F-150.

They showed that an open bed with the tailgate up was better than tailgate down or even with a cover. On the truck tested, a bed net was the most beneficial.

I think it is possible for different trucks to get different results, so I'm not here to give a blanket statement even though it would be nice to see practical tests with the different styles of Tacomas we drive. I do however like my tailgate up just fine, and I'm not sacrificing my asthetics for the look of a net.

If mileage was one of my top three concerns, I would not be driving a truck.

Thanks for the suggestion, though. All comments should be appreciated.

 

It would be cool to go on a long cross country trip so you could test it directly. Travel with the tailgate up on the first tank and then lower it for the second tank and see if the results vary. If anyone goes on a long trip they should try this and report back with the results. I agree with Tacoman though, if my first concern was milage i would not have gotten a truck.... much less a V6 quad cab with 4 wheel drive. If i can improve milage thats great but if not i don't really care.

 

Some areas of the country do not allow driving with a dropped tailgate and can end up causing you to get a ticket.

 

Driving with the tailgate down can actually hurt your MPG. Your truck is designed to form an air pocket in the bed which allows air to flow over your truck with ease, when the tailgate is down you loose that air pocket and can cause more drag on other areas of the truck.

http://www.trucktrend.com/features/consumer/163_0506_tailgate_myth

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/stories/20060122/localnews/59878.shtml

 

I can attest to that! I drive from the Rio Grande Valley to San Antonio often and I've tried both driving with the tailgate down and up. When I drive the the gate down, I definitely get better mileage and you can feel the difference in the drag! I haven't calculated the actual miles per gallon difference but that might be something that I try soon!

 

Do you think Tacoma's with the 245 treadwidth get better mileage than those with 265 treadwidth?

I went from 265 to 255 and I could detect a significant difference, but now that some Tacoma's come with 245 and others 265...it makes me wonder.

 

You know, I have the PreRunner with the Extended Tire Life Package... I don't even know what size I am running on. All I know is that I am disappointed with their (Dunlop AT30?) performance.

 

Mine should say, I didn't see a significant decrease when I went from 265 to 255.

 

Hmm that's wierd. Mythbusters tried this tailgate down vs tailgate up deal. They said it's better with the tailgate up. But you guys have noticed better mileage with the tailgate down. WTF. Does anybody have any actual data regarding this?

 

I was once told that continually driving with the tailgate down eventually will make your bed get out of square to the point that the tailgate won't even shut. And since the new Tacoma's have composite beds and not steel anymore it could possibly cause extra stress on it. I don't have any facts on this but if anyone else here does please share them.

 

...and resurrecting an old thread...

My mileage increased slightly with the addition of my Access LE tonneau cover on my 07 AC, but my DC didn't go without. So, I don't know if it made a difference. The composite bed on these trucks will bend and flex, but it will come back to its original shape most of the time.

I agree with lsocoee, Mythbusters only tested on larger trucks with more weight and very different aerodynamics from our Tacomas.

 

245s are better than 265s less rotating mass. Back in the day I had a 84 yota and that thing with the net got better mpg than with the tailgate up and on the truck.

 

I think you can buy something like a spoiler or air wing in one of the packages for the TACO. Is toyota telling us something? I think the better way to get better gas mileage is to put a diesel in it!

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

RME

P.S. You guys tell me your way smarter than I am or ever hope to be!

 

Please, Toyota, give us a 3.0 D4D Turbo Diesel!!!