MPG on 4 door long bed V6

I've only driven about 1k miles since I bought mine last week, but I'm ranging between 15 and 18.5 mpg. I was hoping for better, having come from a fuel sipping MINI.

 

Anyone claiming more is just gaming the system.

On a long slog going east through the mojave I can eek out 19-20mpg over the course of a tank... but that’s about as good as it’s gonna get. “Highway” at 65mph is a lot different than “highway” at 75mph.

Sure, for shorter sections you could see 23-24, but it would be farcical to claim That consistently tank after tank.

 

Yeah, my highway speed it more like 80... Probably not the best for gas mileage.

 

It would seem that this topic could go back and forth ad nauseam haha. There are simply too many variables, like driver input or habits, speed, tires, ect. I agree that there are situations where mpg concerns should take the back burner. So far I can only speak to my city commute as I have not taken it on a long haul anywhere. Our highway speed through the city is 60mph, I do stick to that or slightly under. Always in the right lane unless I need to pass.

My Dad taught me how to calculate mpg when I fill up and I have been doing it every tank on every vehicle since I was 14, just a habit now. I like to see the numbers and see if I can make adjustments that will be reflected in those numbers. A personal quirk I suppose, but I'll still get after it if I need too.

I can attest to this driving my wife's Jeep to Albuquerque. 75 mph there and 65mph back saw a difference of ~5mpg. Plus an hour of drive time.
Is that trade off worth it? Probably not.


I'm just a dork guys, I like numbers and graphs and crap. Don't kill me just yet.

 

I am a dork too! I always calculated my mileage with real math before I got the Fuelly app and I like that I can track my maintenance as well. Back when I was going those speed posted before I had a 99 Grand Prix GTP (with a a few minor bot-ons but still went 13.8's IIRC) and a 91 Toyota MR2 5spd Non-Turbo. The MR2 at 75ish would get about 34mpg. If I went 70 it would get around 38mpg!! The GTP would get around 28mpg at 75mph, pretty impressive! I did see one trip with the MR2 at 44mpg once, almost made it the whole way one 11gal tank!! But there was a pretty massive tail wind. I did somewhat nerd out about that, kinda made me think about what I could actually squeak out of it if I tried. But I was 20 and didn't think that far into it! lol

With the truck I don't worry about too much unless it really starts getting low, like into the 12mpg range. Especially in the winter where in Iowa we sometimes get a couple weeks where the high doesn't get above +0F.

 

I didn't know there was a fuelly app, it's going to take me a few days to fill in all the maintenance information from the last month.
Those are pretty awesome numbers, fun cars too! My Fiero would pull 28-30 with the iron duke. It was definitely not going 75mph though haha.
Mmm you've got to love those low temps. The wind chill though, that'll sneak up and bite you with -10F or more real quick.
I grew up in Ohio so, I am familiar.

 

HA! I had an 84 Fiero with the iron duke as well! Mine was the 4spd manual, not the nicest but I had a lot of fun with it in high school.

The fuelly app even has a way to post up it to your signature on here with current stats and how many fill-ups. I haven't looked into how. @grizquad has it in his if you go back to page 2.

 

I think the Tacoma V6 powertrain can be pretty darn efficient. Its the weight/height/aerodynamics and mods that drag the MPG down.

 

I put almost 30k a year. Dclb w canopy and gear I usually average 300-320 when the light comes on.

 

Mine was an 84' too, I like the look of the notch-back and either the original nose or the aero nose.
I did notice his signature had that block. Maybe once I get my job back, I barely drive right now.

This is why it's hard to peg it down, so much variation. I am pleased with the efficiency of the 4.0.

I imagine I'll probably end up settling in around here. Especially going up into the mountains.

 

12-14 mpg for me... 4 inch lift, 285/70/17’s and a heavy foot.

 

I got new tires, Cooper Discoverer AT3 LT 265/75R16 Load C. I had originally ordered the AT3 4S' but there was a mix up and the LTs showed up instead. So I just rolled with them.

We took it up to the mountains this weekend, about 400 miles round trip.
The highway speed limit was 75 mph.
On the way up I kept it around 70 mph (72.45 with speedometer error) and pulled 17.6 mpg (18.25 mpg with error) over the first ~120 miles loaded up with gear.

I didn't fill up again until I got back home so the other 280 miles were about half off road and the rest highway back. I drove 65 mph (67.275 with speedometer error) on the way back. The average with mixed driving was 20.4 mpg (19.07 mpg with error).

EDIT: After reviewing my mileage and fill ups and doing the maths and calculations I found that the trip was actually ~400 miles, not 450. I also did the calculations for my speedometer error with the larger tires, while it is not much of a difference it was still cool to crunch the numbers. It changed my mpg findings a bit and I have added those next to the original ones above.

Also for those who may be new or just interested,
I put together a bit of info for calculating the error % for tire changes to help with mileage and speedometer calculations.
If you are one who already does your mileage, or one who doesn't care to bother letting the thought of that ruin your day, this may not be interesting to you!
I like the numbers part of it more than anything, just figuring it all out. At the end of the day, I mean seriously, what are we driving here? T-rucks. Don't all go crazy at once

So here;

Assumption:

1. The odometer “calculates” the distance based on the number of revolutions for the tire it is calibrated to, 245/75R16 in this case.
2. The diameter of the stock tire is 30.5 inches (245/75R16).
3. The diameter of the new tire is 31.61 inches (265/75R16).

Observations:

1. The revolution of a tire is equivalent to the circumference of the tire.

Fact:

1. The Circumference of the tire is equal to PI times the diameter.
2. 1 Mile = 5,280 feet.

Calculations:

1. The Circumference of the 31.61-inch tire is PI * 31.61 = 99.3 inches or 8.27 feet.
2. The Circumference of the 30.5-inch tire is PI * 30.5 = 95.8 inches or 7.98 feet.
3. Calculate the revolutions required to travel 1 mile on stock tires (5,280 feet with 245/75R16). 5280 / 7.98 = 661.65 revolutions.

Intermediate Conclusion:

1. For every 661.65 revolutions of the tire, the odometer will register 1 mile.

Further Calculations:

1. In 661.65 revolutions, a 31.61-inch tire will travel… 661.65 * 8.27 or 5,471.84 feet.
2. For each 661.65 revolutions, the odometer will increment by 1 mile even though the vehicle has traveled 5,471.84 feet. Therefore, a vehicle with larger tires will report less miles driven by the odometer.
3. By taking the rotations of the new tire, 638.45 and multiplying by the circumference of the stock tire, 7.98 feet, we can find how much distance the larger tire will cover by the time the odometer increments by 1 more mile. 638.45 * 7.98 = 5,094.83 feet. So then 5,280 – 5,094.83 = 185.17 feet.
4. The difference in distance is 185.17 feet for each mile driven. 5280 / 185.17 = 28.5. Actually traveling 28.5 miles will cause the odometer to be off by 1 mile.
5. The percentage of error can be calculated with (1 – 5,094.83 / 5,280) * 100 = 3.5%. That is, 5,094.83 / 5,280 = 0.9649, 1 - 0.9649 = 0.0351, 0.0351 * 100 = 3.5%.
6. More simply, 100 / 28.5 = 3.5.

Speedometer error an also be calculated with the 3.5% error from the mileage calculations.

Speedometer Calculations:

1. At 100 MPH the actual speed traveled will be 103.5 MPH.
2. To find the error at any other speed you take the given speed, 65 * 0.035 = 2.275. Then add that to the given speed, 65 + 2.275 = 67.275 MPH.

Conclusions:

1. For every 100 miles traveled you will add 3.5 miles for the tire error.
2. Over the length of 1 mile, this adds up to 185.17 feet.
3. After “actually” traveling 29.5 miles, the odometer will be “off” by 1 mile. It will read 28.5 miles.
4. At 100,000 miles the odometer will be short by 3,500 miles.

A Larger Jump:

1. A 2017 Jeep Wrangler that came with 225/75R16 tires moves to 275/65R18 tires.

2. 225/75R16 has a diameter of 29.3 inches, therefore a circumference of 92 inches or 7.66 feet and covers 689 revolutions per mile.

3. 275/65R18 has a diameter of 32.1 inches, therefore a circumference of 100.7 inches or 8.39 feet and covers 629 revolutions per mile.

4. 629 * 7.66 = 4,818.14

5. 5,280 – 4,818.14 = 461.86

6. 5,280 / 461.86 = 11.43

7. 100 / 11.43 = 8.75%

8. 8.75% means that at 65 MPH the actual speed is 71 MPH. It also means that at 100,000 miles the odometer will be short by 8,750 miles.


Final Conclusions:

1. If the error is small, like the 3.5%, the difference over time is obviously less significant and probably does not warrant a recalibration if you don’t want to do that.
2. While jumping up to a much larger size does not necessarily warrant a recalibration either, it is worth it if you care to keep your odometer accurate.

 

After reading I’m kinda happy about my mpg

285/70/17 Toyo open county AT2s w/ offset that can’t remember
Arb bumper and smittybilt winch
Snorkel
Yakima roof rack
Leveling kit
camping loaded (two people, two dogs, gear and two spares) I’m getting 16 mpg without computations for the change in miles, from the oversized tires.

I’ve hit 21, also with out the conversions of miles, but that trip was mostly down hill....

I’m about 3 mph faster on my speedo then what google says I’m doing so maybe I’m in the 12s? Don’t know how to figure those numbers

regular city driving I’m in the 15s and winter I’m in the 13 mpgs

but I usually go between 240-300 miles on a tank and rearly get to E

 

with E Rated 285s and some armor i was getting 14ish mpg with a hypertech speedo corrector. It eventually dropped to 12 and a bit lower. When I changed the plugs they were roasted and likely the sudden drop in my plugs.

Pull and check the park plug gap and make sure its all good.

 

I'm running 285/70/17 C load Ridge Grapplers and get 17 to 18 running 45ish to work with a few stop signs and lights. Usually around 19 going 65. Now this is on summer fuel. Winter fuel I drop to 15/17

 

Had a DCLB 2015 TRD Sport. Went a size up on my tires with C Rated BFGs and was seeing 15-16mpg, tracracs prob didnt help. My 5.7 Tundra with tracracs gets the same gas mileage that my 4.0 Taco was seeing.

 

i did new plugs the day I threw the oversized tires on, also I’m a mechanic so every couple oil changes I scan my truck... I’m the paranoid type and though nothing is wrong I check anyways, the tire change from 265s was probably the culprit.