MPG Dropped significantly

Hello all,

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I have noticed a significant drop in my MPG on my 2012 Tacoma as of late.

I thought it might be due to the winter and using 4WD a little more, but even with tanks where I don't use 4WD, I still am not getting anywhere near the mileage that I used to get.

Over the summer/fall, I was getting around 320-340 miles per tank. Now I'm averaging around 260-270. I wouldn't be worried if it was just a little bit, but this is a pretty significant decrease. I can't imagine my driving habits changed enough to drop it by nearly 80 miles per tank.

Any advice on what to look for to address this?

 

Wait until your lucky to get 200 per tank like many of us.

 

Winter fuel blend will drop your MPG. Not sure what else is effecting you though.

 

Has it been windy lately?

If you end up driving against a headwind your MPG will drop quick.

 

New tires, hauling anything, 4wd can drop it a pretty good bit depends on type of driving done. Could be a million things. Also, gas is mixed differently during different seasons.

 

Do you warm it up before driving it? Burning gallons without going miles will affect mpg...

 

Assuming it's a 20 gallon tank, that's about a 3 mpg drop off. If it's been windy that could be a difference maker. Last weekend I got about 1750 miles of driving done for leisure. When I was driving through the wind, I was averaging about 18.9 mpg. I did a lot of driving through hills as well so I was eating up gas like it was going out of style. When conditions were ideal, I was getting 21.2 mpg. Those aren't scanguage #'s actually calculated each tank.

 

I average 15mpg (250miles) per tank on my 2013 with under 10,000miles.

I have 265-75-16 duratracs on her and the TRD Baja suspension. I was maybe getting 17mpg when stock, but no where near the 20+mpg some people claim they get.

If I was you, I would check your tire pressure. Tire pressure goes down the colder it gets and combine that with winter gas, 4x4, warm up time, and crappy weather conditions, it all adds up!

 

yikes, I'm running 10 ply 285's load E with a 3" lift, ARB and winch, with an OEM roof rack and roof basket on top of that and I'm getting 16.5-18 mpg

 

^ This.

I can get 30-60 miles less per tank between summer and winter.

 

kryten being a fellow Canadian, the OP said he was getting a high of 340miles per tank which works out to about 540km.

I think the most I ever got before the fuel light went on was about 450-460km.

How about you?

 

2011 4.0 mostly hwy

 

I got 500+ km (310 miles) when the light came on several times, however 470 - 480km (300 miles) would be more realistic.

OP has auto transmission, I have the 6MT which is worse for fuel economy.

 

I use an app on my phone to track millage and price by gas station. Its been pretty useful to me in the past with other vehicles. Since I just got my Tacoma, I don't have back logs of data like I did for my explorer but I can tell you the first tank I used (Filled up the tank as soon as I picked up the truck) I averaged almost 18mpg. That was mostly 3 hours worth of Highway and a few trips back and forth to work. Since then we have had a bunch of snow and unusually cold weather for our area. It got down to -3 the other night.

My log so far 2012 Doublecab long bed
18mpg Sheetz Gas(first full tank after picking up the truck)
15mpg Sheetz Gas(18inches of snow = a lot of 4x4, Pulled 3 people out)
16.8mpg Martins Gas(Short 2.5 hour road trip and Unusually cold weather)
16.3mpg Exxon Gas(9inches of snow No 4x4, Unusually cold weather)

Even though its not nearly enough data, Its within the range that is listed for the truck, but on the low side of the range. I'm hoping that the summer gas will move it up to the higher side. Also looking into getting a Shell for the bed, I hear that increases the average mpg a little.

I never kept a log until I saw my sister do it. She keeps a notebook in her drivers door and just fills it out while the gas is pumping. Keeping a log helps me when something goes wrong, and if you use an app(I use acar for android) you can keep track of things like the gas station you buy it from and then compare which station has the best gas.

I never had a problem with gas in my Explorer so I bought what ever was cheapest. Then I started driving my cousins Trail blazer for almost 3 months. That thing was the pickiest vehicle I've ever driven. If you didn't put Exxon or sunoco gas in it you were getting like 13-14mpg(on a V6?) consistently and the check engine light would come on. With exxon or sunoco, it was like 17mpg and as soon as you put it in and went about 5 miles the check engine light would go of.

Anyway, I didn't mean to ramble on. I just wanted to give you my readings for comparison since our trucks are pretty similar. I would blame the cold weather and gas but that seems like a significant drop. Hope you figure it out.

 

You get 26 mpg? I was jealous until I saw how much you were paying for gas. It's been less than $4 a gallon in these parts for years.

 

it is temps for me not blend. 2 mpg drop in cold temps.

 

Holy Crap Batman....And I thought my 2014 Prerunner was doing bad at 12mpg Highway and City. Sure is a long way from the advertised 17-24.

 

FYI, My full size Chevy 4X4 gets better gas mileage than my wife's new Tacoma 4X4.
Not complaining...I just don't get it?

 

11 model years of Tacoma with same engine tech? (Assuming you have a newer Chevy...)

 

its just because of winter.