Fuel Economy with Duratrac Wranglers

Before someone posts snarky comments about "It's a truck haha" or "buy a prius" I get that I have a truck and that it won't be insanely good on mileage, but please hear me out:

I bought a brand new 2022 Tacoma and my fuel economy was around 11-13 L/100 KM as advertised

Then I bought brand new 265/75/16 Wrangler Duratrac tires for my Tacoma.

Now my fuel economy is anywhere between 18-20 L/100 KM

I know that bigger tires like that = worse fuel economy. But THAT much worse? Is that normal?

My truck currently only has 5500 KM on it - I have a FEATHER fucking foot, I don't drive it like a donkey and I just need to know if there's a possibility that something is wrong with my truck?

I bought the 2" lift from Toyota and I have a small lift + the bigger tires - but is that really going to make my truck that much worse at fuel economy (40%+ worse)

Any insight or advice would be helpful. If this is normal then that's fine, I have no issues with that. I just want to make sure that this is normal and not something wrong with the truck.

 

Sorry to say but that's normal. Lift + heavy tires with aggressive tread will cost about 30% in efficiency. It will be more or less depending. City is worse than highway.

 

Do not be sorry my friend, I'm just looking for confirmation. I know what I was getting myself into by lifting + adding those tires, I just truthfully did not expect it to be that much.

Now I've also heard from a Toyota mechanic that he expects my fuel efficiency will be getting better at around ~15000 km - have you heard this? is that true?

 

Nothing is wrong with your truck, sounds normal to me with lift and heavier tires

 

2" Lift, Boom loss of mileage
Bigger tires, Boom loss of mileage

Buy a Prius.....

 

Yes, and I believe that Canada has the same fuel standards as the US so you will be on winter gas now. April changes to summer gas and you will pick up around 5-10% efficiency during warm months. So, break in will help and summer gas will help but fully expect about a quarter loss of efficiency.

 

Both of my 3rd gens got slightly better after some miles, the mechanic is probably referring to the transmission learning your driving habits and adjusting to it.

 

Dont have to buy a Prius...
Just dont lift or add bigger tires.

 

Thanks everyone - appreciate it. I love my Taco and do not mind paying extra for the fuel efficiency for the clearence + meaner tires - just wanted a sanity check.

 

Noisy tires means more friction/rolling resistance.

I loved my duratracs off-road but they aren’t the best at saving fuel on highways lol.

I used to get 16l /100km with a similar truck. No feathering but not too much city driving.

 

I’m lifted/leveled about 2, and just added a 1 inch block in rear to get the more natural rake back. I had 285/75 KO2s, LTs, and moved down to 265/75 Kumhos, P rated. Before the changes, I was getting about 17. With the changes, I’m now seeing 20. No kidding… honest measuring and using GasBuddy app to record actual. Smaller, lighter tires and getting the nose back down made a huge difference.

 

265/75/16s are 3.4% larger than 265/70/16s. When you drive 100 KM according to your truck, you’re really driving 103.4 KM now. Bigger tires and lift are going to hurt your fuel economy, but it might not be as bad as you think if you’re not calculating this. Also the weight of the tires makes a big difference. I just went to larger Duratracs (255/75/17s up from 265/75/16 Wildpeaks), and I’m actually getting about 1 MPG better with the Duratracs. Even though they’re .5” taller, the new tire/wheel combo is 6 lbs. lighter than the old tires/wheels, so it improved my MPGS.

 

16-17mpg in winter time is normal especially if you are driving in a city and not all highway. All highway will be more like 18-19mpg.

 

If your only getting 13 mpg 18L/100 that’s bad, I’m a 2nd Gen on 285s C load, 51lbs - 2 inch lift, canopy and I’m getting 17mpg comb. 265 tire isn’t big. I’d say it’s not the tires fault unless your running them at 20 psi all the time

 

18-20L per 100 km is a lot. I have 33x10 E load wildpeaks, 2” lift, about 550 pounds of extra weight and I easily can get 13.5L per 100km driving around the city.

I would have to drive very aggressively to get 18-20L per 100km.

 

I am pretty concerned with MPG so I got relatively light E-load AT tires - Firestone Destination X/Ts that weigh 39 lbs in the stock 245/75-16 size. I lost about 1 US MPG all around and can still get 24-25 US MPG on the highway at 65-70 MPG.