Toyota Tacoma "Real World" Gas Mileage

The Rubicon's are tuff off roaders, but they are hard on gas, I've heard. Your new truck will do a lot better than that I think. It takes the tacoma's a little time breaking in. When the battery cable is disconnected it resets the ecu back to factory settings, including mpg's.In my case its taken about as long to re-break it in. It immediately went back to 17.5 mpg. It's, I guess, ( relearned me??). I did learn a lesson, don't pull the battery cable unless I really have to.

 

So far I've owned an 81, 86, 89, and currently own an 01 TRD offroad and a13 dbcb TRD sport. All bought new. All 4x4's. In my case, all manuals. ( I made my living as a factory master trans tech). The Toyota's, just made a connection with me. They're, just plain fun to drive!!! By the way, you got a nice truck!

 

Thank you; I tried to make it show up as a big picture but maybe I can't do that on a tablet, so I made the avatar better.

So as a transmission expert, how long can I get out of this clutch? I have never worn one out and I had an F150 with 241,000 miles on the original clutch. And that was a Mazda M5OD transmission so not one noted for durability.

 

I have over 700,000 miles combined, on all 5 of those trucks,,, 187,000 currently on the 01. I've never replaced a clutch in any of them. Never had to. If a guy (knows) how to run a manual, ( right), clutches last a LONG, LONG time.. None of these trucks have been babied, but, they've been well taken care of. Plenty of 4 wheeling in all but the 13. Its obvious you're one that, knows how, to run a manual. I doubt you'll have any trouble. By the way, some of the stories referencing the 6 speed on the websites are related to a faulty throwout bearing that Toyota used 05-09. Other than that it's a fine transmission. A short story,,, I took my 13 in for one of its warranty oil changes this fall. There were 2 service writers on duty. They asked me if I would pull my truck into the bay, because neither one knew how to drive a stick!!!

 

That's good to know. Yeah, and you're right, it's not necessarily people who drive hard who ruin a clutch, but people who have no mental picture of what's going on in there and do stuff like hold it in place at a stop with the clutch partially out or downshift by just dumping the clutch and let the clutch soak up all that speed.

Very funny story about the dealership. At mine, they said, "Oh, you've got a stick," but the guy apparently didn't drive it too badly because it didn't lurch or anything when I watched him drive it into the garage.

Other funny story about the dealership. I was going to change the oil at 3k to get the break-in oil out, then use the dealer for the free 5k service. But after I drained the oil I could in no way, shape or form get the filter off. If it had been out of warranty there are things I could have done, like grab it with something that would destroy it while taking it off. But for a new one I just filled it up with Mobil 1 and figured I just paid $25 for a partial engine flush. When I told them at the dealership they said for some reason they put the oil filters crazy tight on the 2.7 at the factory, and showed me a special wrench they use to get them off.

 

LOL. There is a big difference between guys who (can) drive a manual and guys who (really know how to). A bent shifting fork is almost always operator error. A burned clutch is almost always abuse or operator error.
Anyone who knows how, can extract the best mileage out of their vehicle with a manual. The exemption being final drive ratios. That's simple math. A truck at 70 mph with a final drive ratio of .72/1 will get a little better mpg's than the same truck at 70 mph with a final drive ratio of .85/1. The auto is .72/1. A very good transmission, by the way. The manuals ratio is .85/1 in the 6 speed and are very good transmissions also. Manuals, because the operator is directly involved in its operation, can be subject to different failures. Most can be directly or indirectly attributed to its operator. They are usually repaired by the manufacturer under warranty, as a courtesy.
Since you have the 2.7, and I see you live in Indiana, you deal with cold temps also. If you could keep track of your mpg's and ambient air temps we could get an idea if the 2.7 is as sensitive to air temps as I suspect the 4.0 is.
By the way, your final drive ratio is .81/1. 4th gear ratio is 1/1. Your rear diff gear is a 4.10.

 

Yes, with the not-too-tall overdrive and the 4.10 in my truck, the transmission and differential seem well matched to the engine. It revs higher than most other vehicles I have had (but not the VW) but still seems to get good economy. I will be keeping track of the mileage so it won't be hard to write down the temperature at each fill-up.

And, your comments bring to mind a few other advantages of manual transmissions. No one ever asks to borrow my truck, and no one ever wants to drive when they're riding with me. When people experience riding with someone who actually can shift without pitching them forward and backward with each gear change, they know they just better not attempt it. So, it's fun to have something not everyone knows how to use, sort of like an old slide rule.

I have not yet researched the best gear oil for this transmission (or the diff and front diff). Any recommendations? And how often do you change yours?

 

I prefer Mobil 1 synthetic 75w- 90 personally. I run mobil 1 5w-30 engine oil exclusively. Other tech's have good things to say about redline

$28 75w-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75w-90 for manual transmission's. The synthetics just have a longer life span and are less prone to viscosity breakdowns. Auto manufacturers are moving toward 0w20 synthetics, they are getting slight mpg increases with it. I personally don't like 0w-20's, engines are noisy using them. My advice on oils, use whichever brand name you like, as long as its (full) synthetic. Stay away from blends.

 

Likewise, I was leaning toward Mobil 1 for all the lubricants because I have used it in engines for years now.

Funny, in another thread I was told to go read bobistheoilguy.com and "educate myself" (actually I have read that site and many others for years) after I suggested that 0W-20 might be more for fuel economy than engine longevity. (Of course I would never nor world I encourage anyone else not to use what the manufacturer calls for during the warranty.) My first thought that the super-thin oils were a questionable thing came when I owned a 1992 Ranger. With 5W-30 the valves clattered loudly for 5-10 seconds on cold startup. On 10W-30 this did not happen. On that truck they gave the choice of 5W-30 or 10W-30 with the lighter weight "preferred," so I was able to use the 10W-30 This points up what I consider a possible misconception regarding the thin oil lubricating better at startup. While this stands to reason in certain ways, isn't it also true that thicker oil is more likely to maintain a film of protection on these vital parts after engine shutdown?

I am with you on synthetic blends, too. If you think about it, they could put one drop of synthetic in a quart of mineral-based and call it a synthetic blend. It's probably not that blatantly bad, but since there is no labeling of the percentage of synthetic in the blends, I have just never used them.

 

I think, on your 2.7, the manufacturer calls for 0w-20. Stick with that if for no other reason than the warranty. Mobil 1 makes an excellent 0w-20. I could be wrong but, I don't think oil manufacturers make a 0w-20 that's (not) synthetic? They do in the case of 5w-20's. The thinner oils flow with less resistance hence the (slightly better mpg's?). My suggestion on 10,000 mi oil changes,,,, change the filter at 5000 mi and top off the oil.

 

Yeah I will be using 0W-20 for at least 60k owing to the powertrain warranty, and you're right that at least currently the only 0W-20 I can find in the local auto stores is synthetic.

The 2.7 actually has a 5k oil change interval recommended by Toyota. Having become used to the GM oil life system (which I did like) changing every 5k seems super often and I was surprised to find that in the manual. But hey it means I get five oil changes free from Toyota under the free 2 yr 25k service.

 

My Taco has stock suspension and drivetrain w/ 4.0 L. In Colorado at about 5,000 ft above sea level I have been getting about 21-21.5 mpg in the summer and about 19.5-20 mpg in the winter. Mountain driving I'm getting about 17 mpg. I'd imagine mpg is better when you're closer to sea level but I've haven't had personal experience with that yet.

 

19/20 mpg, 50/50 Highway, back roads. Limit the jackrabbit starts unless you need to. Works out to about 400 miles to each tank of gas.

 

Pretty close to what I get. Last fill up was 20.25mpg.

 

25 mpg highway and 15-16 mpg city with 4 cyl AT rwd.

 

Show off!

 

Stock except aei cai, and throttle body spacer, trd exhaust, ALL fluids Changed, Intake Cleaned, new plugs, in cabin filter. I've never seen over 19 mpgs unless I'm doing 65 on a freeway the entire tank. 18 mpgs usually

 

2011 trd sport dcsb 4x4 4.0 auto btw

 

I do 25% city and 75% hwy. i stay easy on the pedal also. larger tires throws my odometer off 9.4 miles every 100 miles according to my gps. (meaning when my odometer says 100 I've really gone 109.4 miles) 16.5-17 gallons every fill up 380-400 miles every tank so I'm about 22-23 mpg thats with an auto v6 on a full 3" all the way around.

i have also noticed the RPM change about 300-400 when highway driving. someone told me the timing of the motor will change depending on driving habits. when i first got the truck it was not near as good as what it is now.

 

I noticed something strange. I horses around 3 tanks ago. 4x4 and goo song it quit alot on the street. Got 17mpg. Next tank 18 normal driving. Then 19 and then back to 21.2. The three tanks after goofing around I drove how always do but seemed to take 3 tanks to reset itself