Toyota Tacoma "Real World" Gas Mileage

Must say, I am impressed by everyones MPG's. My entirely stock truck, winter or summer, gets about 14 city with AC on and 15 if the AC is off. Highway is around 17. Once got 20 coming home downhill from Big Bear... was so shocked I doubled checked the Scan Gauge with the math, and there it was.

No complaints though. This a a tall, heavy truck with big tires and low gearing. Exactly the reason I bought it!

 

2010 4x4 w/4.0 auto. No lift that I can see (bought used) and rolling on 265/75R16.

I'm not a heavy foot and normally stay 65, 70 max on the highway. I've been seeing around 16-16.5 mixed driving and 20 on the highway.

Somebody said these trucks don't get decent fuel mileage. Wellll, my other truck is a tuned F-450 dually. That truck couldn't avg 20mgp if I put it in neutral and shoved it out of the space shuttle.

 

Here are my fill up avg's so far on my 2015 DCSB 4x4 TRD OR (3" ToyTec Lift, 265/75/16 BFG AT KO2 Load Range E). Mostly city miles stop and go less than 50mph. I am applying a tire size correction factor to my MPG calc's in a spreadsheet.

Tire Size Speedometer Calibration

65mph is actually 67.22mph with the bigger tires, or a correction factor of 1.03

So if I put 17gal in at fill up, and have gone 270 miles by trip meter, my ratio is 1.03 so my mpg is (270*1.03)/17=16.35mpg avg

15.61
16.47
16.63
15.49
16.03
14.66

Total AVG: 15.82 (odometer <2000miles)

My truck is advertised at 16mpg city, before my lift and tires, so I guess I'm not doing so bad after all.

 

Your mpg may or may not be accurate. The correction you applied for the tire change may be accurate for the difference in mph between the 2 sizes, but it assumes your speedometer was accurate originally. My Tacoma, new oem tires, had less than 1% odometer error, but the typical 2-3 mph speedometer error. The two "meters" are independent of each other, and often have different % error. Additional error is introduced over time as tires wear. New Michelins (same size) record more miles than actually traveled.

Bottom line - use a GPS or mile markers to establish odometer error. THEN calculate your mpg with correction factor.

 

All I can say is that with sticky, studded, oversized snow tires, 265/70-17, and winter gas, I am filling up at 250 miles and showing 1/4 tank...'11 AC 4x4, 6 speed and 3.73 gears.

 

Just got 19 mpg, over 300 mi, in my '14 RCSB 4x4 MT, 245/75/16s

Usually get 20-21... few warm up idles and has been bitter cold recently

 

Good advice!

Well check my odo with GPS to calibrate my spreadsheet.

 

2010 TRD OR, bed cap, sliders, 31" tires. I'm getting 17 around town, 20-22 on the freeway calculated from the odometer and fillup numbers including the 3% tire diameter change. Scan gauge really helps me keep my foot where it needs to be. Small changes in throttle affect mileage a lot in this truck without changing your speed much. My mileage matches the Scan gauge numbers pretty well. In November/December, had two tanks in a row where I got 12 and 13 mpg but I think those involved some gas theft. I put on an Autozone locking gas cap and mileage numbers picked right up. No Engine codes from this cap yet either.

 

I use the Fuelly app when I fill up. Lately I'm getting around 14, but my average is still right around 15. That is not corrected for tires/mileage though.

 

Update. After 4 fill ups on my 2015 4.0 AT, AC I get right at 16.1 city driving only.

Update. After 11 fill ups it's now 18 mpg average. With 20.6 my best.

 

I've tracked the past 4-5 tanks of gas. Mixed drive City/Hwy 70/30 I am averaging 16 MPG. Occasionally rip into it, but mostly cruising along in traffic 45-50 mph and some stop and go.

 

Checked my mileage on a new 2015 crew cab off road trd with the 4.0 and manual. This was a combo of city driving (25%) and highway driving (75%) doing around 80mph.

I averaged 15.3mpg.

Is running premium gas worth the additional expense in these trucks?

 

No. Others will tell you it is, but it's not

 

Unless you are towing a heavy load, in which case it is totally worth it.

 

So, if I get a 2015 base 4x4 4 cyl. manual, and drive it conservatively (coasting in neutral down hills, not speeding up to red lights, shifting at 2.5k rpms etc.), would getting about 23-24 mixed be an impossibility?

 

It does make more torque lower running premium. 278 lb-ft of torque at 3700 RPM instead of 266 lb-ft at 4000 RPM.

I do get better gas mileage with regular, but it's not significant. The power difference, to me, is noticeable on hills on the highway. No downshifting at the same speeds on the same hills on 93. If I run 87 it has to kick to 4th to climb.

 

Mixed driving I consistently got 21mpg. The only times I got 24 in my 2.7L was country roads at around 50mph.

 

I got 20.8 on the last tank. First time I have checked since the highways on my commute bumped the speed limits by 5 - 10.

 

I would imagine that is the sweet spot...

 

Averaging almost 19, broke 20 last fill up.