New truck ordered

I averaged 18.5 mpg going from California to Alberta (1700 miles) with brand new 08 and not using cruise.
Saw 20 between fillups on one long flat leg at the end of the trip. Haven't seen it since even with ScanGauge. Averaging 16mpg in the city.

 

Truck rolled in today. First comment followed was at the local sub shop and a guy says to me " hey nice truck, new?" i replied "yes sir 2 hours off the lot, thats why all the stickers are still on it" he goes 'yea the toyota is seems good but i bought the ridgeline" in a weird tone btw..........

 

Poor guy! Probably was embarrassed for buying an over sized civic.

 

i was under the impression he thought he was better for having a ridgeline..

 

Honda Ridgelines have there place in the world, I just don't know where that "place" is ? yeah I would have taken that response as an insult, Oh well you ended up with a Taco, that's all that matters.

 

should have told him you already got a ridgeline, at the base of your helmuthead.....

 

I found it! Under my left, rear tire!

 

hahaha. nice

 

Congrats on the new truck, helmuthead. What color did ya get? Be sure to post pics when it comes in.

Mileage? Lots of debate on that one. There is a thread called "Anyone get 20mpg with 4.0L V6?" that has been going for a while and is currently active, as well as some older mileage threads. Seems like high teens is pretty average for the 6. Some guys claim that they drive fast and get "around 20" or even low 20s, but I confess skepticism......

 

Back in-the-day I briefly owned a '91 4-Runner. It had a V-6 in it which was, I think, the predecessor to today's 4.0 L, the engine used in the Taco, FJ, and probably some other Toyotas. Burned premium/91 octane gas, and got lousy mileage. Gas was cheaper then, even if you adjusted for inflation, but I remember vividly one trip out to Seattle across Washington, there was a stiff wind for 300 miles and I had to keep stopping to fill up, the wind was just kickin' the 4-Runner's ass. Obviously aerodynamics have a lot to do with it, but I figured later that I got 9mpg on that trip. We were also pretty loaded down, four adults and a pile of luggage.

Having said all of that, I think it is possible to get 20mpg easily, and you might even close in on 25, with a V-6, but to do so you're going to have to drive it pretty gently, keep the load reasonable, and have some luck where it comes to wind. If you are real interested in a whole laundry-list of techniques and factors to consider in enhancing mileage, go to www.cleanmpg.com and check out the links on hypermiling. Most of those folks are mileage fanatics and drive hybrids, but the techniques for saving gas apply equally to driving a Hummer. You might only see a 2 or 3 mpg improvement if you 'hypermile' a Hummer, but percentagewise that's quite a bit.

 

I have the double cab with the 6' bed and the V6. I live in Vermont ( where it's still winter by the way!) and I seem to average 17 mpg no matter how I drive it. Haven't had it on a log trip yet but looking forward to it if this damn snow ever goes away!

 

Do you have a scangauge or other tool to measure fuel consumption accurately or just guessing by gallons to fill/miles driven? I have not had 20mpg for the whole tank, but I can get 20mpg for an entire day driving anywhere from 30-100 miles. IMO, if I could drive on flat roads instead of climbing up and down hills all the time those daily numbers of 20+mpg would translate to an entire tank.

Don't believe me, go buy a scangauge and watch how much your mpg fluctuates and learn how to maximize it.

Or are you just saying I'm lying?

 

Well you said this:

That blanket statement would cover my 06 4.0 V6 DC 4x4 as show in my profile to the left. That just made it sound like you calling anyone with a V6 getting 20 a liar for saying that. I'm not saying it's consistent (hills around me kill that), but it happens on mostly flat trips and commuting to work. Coming home it drops around to around 16-18. Closer to 17-18 since my new air filter, but that's coming up the hills I went down for work. Head winds really affect it do.

 

Likewise, I don't consider anyone who says that he/she can get 20mpg or better from a V-6 Taco to be a liar. As I said, I think it can be done under the right circumstances. But I do doubt the cred of guys who claim to "drive it like I stole it" and then go on to claim that they get over 20 on average.

I agree with piercedtiger that the ScanGaugeII is an invaluable tool if mileage is something you'd like to improve upon over time. But at the cost of $160 there might be some concern over whether it would be false economy. That'll buy a guy about 50 gallons of gas at today's prices, 2 1/2 tanks full. Not really all that much if you think about it, but if you were able to use the SG to figure out how to save, say, 2mpg per tankful, how long would it take to amortize the cost? Damn, math is hard and I never was much good at it.....

 

Check for group buys on them! I got my SG1 for around $125 through a GB on Toyotanation.

Thing is, it's also an OBDII scanning, voltage meter, water temp, intake temp, tach, trip meter (mileage, max RPM, max temp, max speed, average speed) and others. And at the time it was only $25 more than a simple OBDII code reader at Wal-Mart. So mpg is only 1 of 4 things I monitor while driving, and it saves me from paying a dealer/mechanic or driving to Autozone to find out why a CEL is on.

 

You will enjoy your Tacoma very much.

I have had my Tacoma for 6 months and love driving it very much.

As for MPG:

Stop and Go driving -- 18 MPG

Drive to work -- 20.5 MPG

Freeway Driving (60-70) -- 20 MPG
Freeway Driving (70-80) -- 18.5 MPG

From what I can tell -- the colder area drivers get less MPG because the air is more dense and the Air to Fuel Ratio controller of the engine puts in more fuel.

Us more warmer climate drivers get slightly better mileage.

I have not done any mods to my DC, 4X4, Long Bed -- but am currently looking at the math to determine what mod's would help out in the fuel mileage department.

Bottom Line: I love my Tacoma and am very glad I bought it. It looks great, drives great, and gets great mileage for a 4X4 (my 89 4Runner only gets 22-23MPG) ---- so I am very happy and you will be also.

Very Respectfully

 

Oh, and it would be $160 to change YOUR habits for better mpg which is probably the best investment since people drop $300-$500 on exhaust, intakes, etc and have more appreciable increase in mpg. General consensus seems to be that skinny pedal control is the best/only way to really improve mpg. So it if it takes $160 for you to figure out where the sweet spots are, what distance to draft from, etc then it might be worth it.

 

I wholeheartedly agree, they are a great little tool for a number of reasons, not just for monitoring mileage. Best price I've seen on a group buy for the SGII has been around $150, but that was a few months back and maybe better deals can be had now.

 

Not to mention us Northern drivers have the crappy winter gas mix that drops mpg. And maybe snow tires and/or weight in the bed too.

I really want to take the truck down the SC where I lived for a couple years! Warm weather, no winter gas, mostly flat except for on ramps... I'd probably be getting 20-25mpg! Hell, my car was getting 40mpg doing 80 up I95 from SC to Va, and it's only rated for 34mpg according to the EPA.