Can you get good mileage with 6 cylinders?

I only seem to get about 18 mpg at best. It is just a stock 4wd extended cab truck.

 

Is 18mpg bad? I only get 18-20mpg with my 4 cylinder. Is 18mpg on the highway or in the city? Do you drive on flat ground or hills?

 

I've got a 95.5, 4wd, Extended Cab, 3.4, manual; all stock
I run 31 10.5 15's; got Redline oil/fluid in everything
Use Chevron 92

Get around 22 if I take the freeway at 75mph
Get around 24 if I keep it under 55mph

Edit: 70mph is generally my freeway speed

 

I get 18-20 depending on how I'm driving with a 01 DCSB with 265/75/16 Destination M/Ts. kinda shocking ain't it lol

 

haha I am getting about 16-18 on my 02 DCSB 4x4. Running 265/70R17 BFG A/T

 

throw the fucker in neutral

 

Based on this, 16-20mpg looks realistic.

http://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/tacoma/2001/gas v6

 

I get 17 pretty much constantly. 3.4 5 speed. AC

 

3.4l in auto double cab. Mid travel. 33 bfg at in d. I get 17. Keep it under 65 on the freeway.

 

im getting 20.2 with my double cab 4x4 V6 auto.

keep your foot out of it.

by contrast..Frankenstein gets like 10mpg.

 

My mileage is plummeting now that my typical commute is one mile when the engine doesn't even get warm

 

Used to get 18-20 when I ran the stock Goodyear 31" street tires. That went to about 16 mpg when I got some 31" Les Scwab mudders a few years later. Now I'm getting around 14 on 33"x 12.50 Procomps.

 

dang i am torn between 33s and 31s for my next set. duratracs on my 98 tacoma 5 speed

 

75-80 mph gets me down around 16.5-17mpg

65 gets me 19-20 mpg

55 I don't even know yet lol I'm gonna have to go on a road trip that consists of no highways to figure that one out.... And I consider those great mpg cause my lifted gmc is lucky to touch 13-14 if its all down hill lol

 

I live in the country so it could be a little of each. There are not a lot of areas that are flat either. From what I am reading it looks like 18mpg is not to bad. I had hoped to be able to get more. Oh well

 

Best I ever saw in my truck was 22mpg and that was driving 55mph on a flat highway with no wind. Doesn't matter if I drive like a grandpa, I still get 16-17mpg regularly. I actually believe it helps to drive like a maniac, I see better mpg numbers. Those claiming 20+mpg at 75mph are on crack. About as bad as the guys claiming their Dodge Cummins on 35" tires gets 25mpg towing 10k uphill

 

Absolutely. MPG's actually doesn’t have all that much to do with the engine.

Think of it this way:

An object that weighs xlbs needs y amount of energy to move from one point to another. The energy comes from the fuel but energy is lost in:

-Internal/External friction
-Burn efficiency
-Drive train efficiency/Transmission gearing

Typical engines burns fuel at a 25-30% (up to %35 with DI engines) with an additional 20-30% efficiency lost in the power train. That means of all the potential energy in gas, only ~%15-20 is actually used (% varies with engines/cars).

This can get more complicated as most engines have different efficiencies based on the RPM’s they are running at. Variable Valve Timing helps increase efficiency over a wide RPM band and a well-tuned transmission can help keep the engine in its max efficiency power band. A CVT transmission can maintain the engines RPM’s (keep it at its max efficient RPM at the cost of performance) and adjust speed by dynamically changing the gear ratio (as seen in most hybrid cars).

In the end, the idea that bigger engines are worse for MPG’s is kind of a misplaced concept. The only way a bigger engine adversely effects MPG’s is:

-Heavier. More inertia to overcome
-Typically has more internal friction

And of course, don’t forget the Manufacture design factor: Bigger engine/transmission/drivetrain/etc… are generally designed to perform (either go fast or pull/carry heavy stuff) not sip gas.

Now if you are just referring to the Tacoma, not really. You can lighten the truck, get smaller tires and comparable gearing, and drive like a crippled grandmother.

 

I routinely get 400 miles per tank.
My best was 23 on a long freeway run with AC off going 60-70mph
100% stock 2002 V6 ext cab TRD AOD

New Michelin street tread tires
Mobile1 5/30
I burn Chevron 90 octane marine gas only (100% gasoline no corn)

 

My manual 3.4L 1998 TRD is completely stock and I average around 21. Sometimes worse, sometimes better.
My commute is about 55 miles a day, 16 of those are interstate driving 70-85 mph. The rest of those are city and backroads.

 

Hypermiling FTW!!