First road trip. Horrible gas mileage

You fools!​

 

I work for fun. I'm independently wealthy.

But I know my facts and arguing on the internet is stupid beyond belief.

Good luck to you.

 

A few months back, my wife and I took a long weekend in southeastern Kentucky down near Cumberland Gap. Before we came home, I found a place in Tennessee that had gas with no ethanol. I put in about 3/4 of a tank to top it off and we drove the 4 hour trip home. When I filled up the next day, I'd gotten close to 20 mpg. That's the best I've ever done in my Taco and I check it on nearly every fill up.
14 sounds a bit low to me. Even running 80, I'll get about 17.

 

Facts...

 

I said our parents 50's and 60's cars. You're quoting a 1970's car.
Yes, a 1963 Lincoln Continental weighed more than a 2013 4X4 V6 Tacoma (app 4300+ lbs), but only by about 650lbs. VERY few of our parents were driving a Lincoln Continental, but more likely a Rambler American (1965, app. 2500lbs), a Ford Falcon (1963, app. 2300lbs).
Heck, even in this 1969 Chevelle dealer spec guide, there isn't a model that comes within 500 lbs of a 2014 4x4 Tacoma.
Yeah, there were heavier cars, but overall, cars are really heavy these days.
Steel is not the best building material for all parts of a vehicle; it has its applications, but building an all steel car that is as safe as a modern vehicle would make modern vehicles even heavier and less efficient than they are.

 

I drive every other week a round trip between Houston and Dallas…..285 miles one way…..
Leaving Houston, speed limit turns to 75……more like 80/85 even with semis…..

2010 Tacoma sport…….did everything, plugs, new stock tires, alignment, filters, PCV valve, throttle body cleaning both sides, MAFs cleaning……..
Biggest difference reducing from 80 to 75 on cruise control…..2 mpg…..

one other change, recalibrate your computer……..there’s a procedure video on YouTube…..it involves your ignition key (certain sequence) and letting your truck idle for about 10 mins…….you need to reset it, so it recognizes all the new stuff…….plugs, clean air filter, clean MAF etc……

try it, if you watch the rpms during test, you’ll see the change.

 

I’m not sure sure what kind of Tacoma’s y’all are driving but I get 10-12 flat, granted I’m sitting on 35’s with stock gearing still but even when it was bone stock I got 13 no more no less

 

2010 Tacoma sport……stock tires, on 3rd gen rims…….all the maint I described …….Houston/Dallas 75 on the cruise control, pretty flat…..19.5/20 mpg, depending on traffic…..

pull a plug and take a look on how it burned……tells a lot, and replace with factory recommended plugs, nothing extra….

 

don’t forget he may have winter air in his tires. Summer air get better mileage so he may have to swap the air out.

 

True. Allow me to fill in the science details behind summer/winter air in tires:

Winter Air: colder (obviously) so tires are under inflated causing increased road contact and friction. Mileage decreases.

Summer Air: opposite effects due to hot air, also smells like funnel cakes.

 

When customers are concerned about poor gas mileage I tell them that they really need to pencil it out over a few weeks not just a single trip or weekend.

And forget about 18-20 mpgs at 80 mph, that's asking a lot of a Tacoma. IMO you have to keep it under 65 and drive like there's a egg under the gas pedal

That being said, you could hook up a scan tool and watch the fuel trims while driving on the highway. If the long term trims are under 8-10% while cruising at 80 mph then the fuel system has good control and its doing the best it can. If the trims are higher then there may be a calculation problem like faulty sensors, exhaust leak, etc

 

A lot has to do with the way you drive, and 35" tires are gonna kill milage.

I've got two 2012 Tacos, v6, auto, one with a two inch factory lift, and at 80 I get a reliable 18 average on both. If I was getting 13 I'd be selling the truck or fixing a problem.

 

I instantly increased my mpg by converting to Imperial gallons.

 

I have a stock 2010, 4x4, 4.0. I replaced the stock aluminum wheels with steel wheels because the aluminum ones were in such bad shape and constantly leaked. I did make myself an air dam to cover the area under the front bumper where the stock metal skid plate meets the mounting points and I've had it on for about a year. I used a 1/8"x 3"x 48" piece of aluminum. It kind of cleans up the appearance in the area.
My Ultra Guage tells me I get 0 mpg at idle and 999.9 at deceleration, with an overall average of 17.9. What's interesting my overall average has gone up from 17.7 mpg to 17.9 mpg in the last six months. It could be that I've driven a few more highway miles, but not sure that's the full reason and it also could be just summer driving.
On the other hand, my excel spreadsheet which I've used since I purchased the truck tells me its overall average is 17.3 mpg with a minimum of 9.3 mpg, (winter) and a high of 23.9 mpg. I tend to drive near the speed limits to about 5, 6, 7, mph over.
My brother keeps saying you don't buy a 4x4 for gas mileage, but I still what it to get the best it can. I could get by without a 4x4 and a pick-up but I like it for winter driving and I just like driving a pick-up.

 

I’ve did every possible fluid change, plugs, coils, filters before I put it on 35’s and never changed

 

I just did a 7,800 mile road trip and I got anywhere from 14-17. The majority of the time it was 15.5. Absolutely no rhyme or reason between gas stations. I tried non-ethanol at some stations (at a premium price) and got worse than some regular stations w/ ethanol. So thats not a thing. The mountain passes didn't seem to matter much either. I had some of my best tanks in Montana and S. Dakota.

This was with a roof rack carrying 3 camp chairs, 1 rifle case and 1 stubby case. The Bed rack carried a full road shower and 2 bikes. The bed and back seats had all the camp gear, full yeti, etc. So I wasn't traveling light.

Oh and those mpg's are also uncorrected for tires. So figure maybe .5 or .6 better if I calculate for tire size.

Heres how it looked....

 

80 mph, it’s not a Ferrari, you want 18mpg get a Prius. HAAA.