11.5 mpg normal?

I wonder if Toyota sold him a Tacoma with 3UR-FE under the hood.

 

My truck new was lucky to get 14 MPG. I could see if you are doing a bunch of city driving and being new 11.5 being very possible. It took several thousand miles before my mileage started to creep up.

 

How are you calculating MPG? Is your rig completely stock? Are you driving in

This got an audible laugh. Well done sir, well done.

My suggestion:

• Depending on where you are in San Diego you can loop into this route from North County, Start from Down Town, or the Beach. Start with a FULL TANK.
• Figure out a nice loop to drive like the Harbor or Seaport Village, up I-5 to Del Mar, inland to Escondido through Santa Fe on Via De La Valle, back down I-15 and the go 163 to 8 and get some El Indio Mexican Food on Washington St to finish the trip downtown.
• Fill up at the Chevron by El Indio and make note of your mileage and the fuel (in gallons, not dollars)

Use cruise control when you are on the super slab and drive conservatively when you are on the scenic routes through Santa Fe and going by Lake Hodges. No ECT Power, no S mode if A/T (or don't shift at 6k RPM if in manual). You can then compare the route you drove (Google Maps) to your vehicle's trip / odometer and also look at how much fuel you burned. Don't trust the computer - trust the real world numbers that you calculate.

I grew up in SD and that was one of my favorite drives my father and I would go on. It is a great mix of freeway, highway, and scenic roads. Feel free to choose your own route. I would never believe a computer over real world numbers -- I know too many software engineers. I miss San Diego but not California and certainly not the cost.



seaport-village-to-el-indio.gpx

 

Thanks for this comment. It helps me out. Granted, I got it the week of Thanksgiving but it has been mostly city, stop and go traffic. Same driving pattern, condition, weather as my Tundra that I traded in for this Tacoma and I was getting 18 with that.

 

I mean 11.5 is low, don't get me wrong. But, if you drive with purpose and in the right conditions, it is entirely possible.

I often get single digits if I take short trips and have frequent stop and goes.

 

Yes, it sounds like you do miss San Diego. I agree with you, I love San Diego but hate the state.
Stock truck so far.
As I said, I know this is not a Prius and I figured I would get crap complaining about mpg from a Tacoma but this seems a little less than I was expecting.
I am in the OB area.
Every weekend I take a ride on my motorcycle that includes your route and even eating at the tables across from El Indio. Come visit sometime.
I will start calculating myself.

 

Dude. The mini mortaditas, chips and a big thing of guac. My guy, you are KILLING me! Such a great town and that view from the outside eating area - great spot to chill. I couldn't believe they removed that big ass tree that used to be between the seats and the parking lot. I hardly recognized the place when I visited back in 2018 b/c we used to park under that tree when no other spots were open and the car would have 1/4 inch of bird poo on it by the time we got back from eating. I didn't get into bikes until I was back east - what I wouldn't give to take my Multistrada or 1090 Super Adventure R up Highland Valley Rd to Ramona and up to Julian... you are living the dream. Except for the California part and all that comes with it.

• For what it is worth - I would be concerned too if I were getting that mileage without towing, but I would not bring it into the dealership without several trips under your belt and knowing the numbers cold
• The first thing they are going to do is dismiss the issue unless you have data to bring

 

Adding to Mr. Dangle's post, remember that sitting at a light stopped or warming up/idling your truck will read as 0 mpg. That will weight down your floating average mpg a lot.

Have you checked the head unit app for gas mileage? I believe it will give you live data on what your current mpg are as you're driving. Don't quote me on this, but I think the dash screen will do this too.

 

For those stating our trucks “Need to learn our driving style.”…….. My Truck must have a learning disability because it still (after 25,000 miles) doesn’t know I want 23 MPG not 15.5. I actually got better mileage when it was new.

 

this seems to be true. I own a 2nd & 3rd gen. The 2nd gen will have better mpg if driving like a grandma, but the 3rd gen seems to be the opposite. It’s weird.

 

do the math

 

^This right here^ I’m currently getting 9.8 miles a gallon based on a short drive to work a 5 minute warm up in freezing cold weather. When it’s summer my mileage goes back up, take a step back you need to put in at least 5000 miles for your truck to learn your driving habits. Took mine about that long.

 

Do you ever miss the sunsets? View from my house in Ramona last night

 

Occasionally, I will closely monitor my gas mileage and see what styles affect it. If I monitor the real time gas mileage in the instrument panel, I can increase my city mpg by about 3-4 mpg. I’ve found I get the best mpg by accelerating fairly quickly to my desired speed and then coasting until I need to hit the gas again. A slow, steady acceleration seems to just suck huge amount of fuel.

 

Are you sure it’s not set to km/liters? 11 Km/l is about 25 MPG. Maybe you’re doing better than you think.

 

All good points here:

I chuckled at the last one, but there's some validity to that thinking.
Calculate manually, fill-up to fill-up miles divide by last fill-up gallons. It'll vary some from time to time.
I'm anal about checking mileage. Have every calc since day one. It did improve over time (as an average).
My '21 TRD OR AC Auto w/cap has given an average 18.1 mpg calc'd from day 1 to today. High of 21.2 mpg on 100% interstate trip. Worst was 15.0 mpg with only 247 on the odometer. It DID get better!
Your results will depend on how you drive the conditions that you drive. Many discussions on here about fuel-frugal driving habits. Ya also gotta consider the conditions - terrain, load, weather, traffic, stops&go, idling time etc.
Your results may seem discouraging, so forget what the dash says and calculate it yourself. It may not be so bad. My instantaneous mpg was flaky for the first 2K miles.

 

I’ve got a 22 sport auto and my first two tanks were around 20-21mpgs. I’m on my 5th or so tank now and averaging 22 on this tanks. Decent amount of freeway driving but my area is kinda hilly too. I’d be pretty upset if I was only getting 11-12. I drive conservatively. It’s interesting hearing people say it’s worse if you drive like a granny. Maybe I should try driving it a bit harder on the next tank.

 

Damn how much is gas a gallon there?

 

I would run it damn near empty and refill from a different (known good) gas station.

Then go home and unhook the battery and let it sit overnight.

In the morning, reconnect and start the truck and let it idle up to temp.

Once warmed up, go drive it like you normally drive. Do at least three tanks from this same gas station.

Hopefully you will see an improvement.
If so, go back to your original gas station for another three fill ups. If it changes back to bad, it was the fuel. If it stays improved, then it was something goofy in the ECU memory from before you took ownership, and hopefully now erased for good.

 

CA Sucks, $4.60 a gallon.