Fuel economy

I took my first driving test in a 69 Ford Fairlane. It was equipped with all the hot options. It had a 3 on the tree, no power brakes, no power steering, no power windows, no power door locks, and doing the parallel parking part of the test was a workout.

 

Wow - close to the car I took my driving test in, a 1970 Ford Maverick, all of the above except was automatic. I'd imagine there would be quite a bit of work involved to park the Fairlane! My 3rd and 4th cars, a '79 Saab and '84 Honda Accord, were no power steering and manual transmissions. The first 2 were Chevys with the Powerglide automatic.

I don't think the new Ford Ranger or new Nissan Frontier have manual transmission options. At least Toyota was a hold out for that, for now.

 

Yep, the Fairlane was quite a land yacht.
Plenty of room in the back for me and me brothers to play without seatbelts growing up.

 

I just got a new to me 2013 DCSB PreRunner 2WD with 37k miles on it. I filled it up once I got in my hometown and did the math on my next fill. It looks like I'm getting 18.25mpg which feels low, I am usually driving to and from work and occasionally the store. 75 percent of my commute is spent at 60mph, the other 25 or so is in light traffic in the city for roughly 5-7 minutes. Any suggestions? Air filter looks clean and the truck was well taken care of.

 

I'm new to Tacomas so sorry I don't have any suggestions - but I'd think you should be doing a bit better than the 18.25 mpg average. Automatic or manual transmission? There's not a huge difference in fuel economy between the two with 2WD and the 4 cylinder for 2013.

 

It's the auto, I ran it on my trip up from Florida and got 19 on the highway (75-85mph). Not sure what is going on.

 

I usually keep it at 70 at the most on the highway, so I can't really compare. Others with experience at those speeds would be a good reference. I would have thought you'd get at least 20-21 on that trip, but our trucks may be affected more by wind resistance compared to a typical car or SUV.

Speaking of fuel - thankfully in my state in the last few days we're seeing some gas stations at just under $4 a gallon.

 

Driving 70 miles, empty, uphill from 2k to 8.5k feet in the Sierras to get firewood, I got 20+mpg (lost 1st picture, naturally). Driving exact same route back home downhill, full load of wood, got 35mpg

Results typical for my firewood cutting trips on the Sierra Plateau.
Driving on flattish, gently rolling highways, I get 27mpg, going 60ish, Summer gas.

 

Overall you're doing better than I am. 27 is very good IMO for a typical highway. I will be using my Tacoma for getting firewood. Filled up today on the way home from work, 23.66 mpg.

 

Hills of Kentucky with around 150 pounds of tools, 22 to 23 MPG at 60/40 highway/city generally with the A/C going. In the winter with an extra 150 of gravel in bags, it is about the same, no A/C. I'd like better but it won't happen and it could be worse.

 

That seems close to mine, but yours has more weight. I think getting above 22-23mpg with a 4WD midsized truck truck is good.

 

20.7mpg for 63 miles uphill, empty, to get wood
34.8mpg same dist, full load of wood, downhill, to home
results typical, for my woodcutting trips

 

Overall very good IMO. I see yours is the 6 speed automatic which probably gets better fuel economy than my 5 speed manual.

I've been calculating the MPGs of every tank since I bought it in May. Can't this time, had the air conditioning serviced (when components are new it's cold!) which must have involved disconnecting the battery. Radio presets were lost, the clock was off, but also the trip odometer reset.

 

Getting around 22-23 mpgin my 2013 4 speed auto 5 lug access cab, around town driving no highway. Can get over 400 miles before I gotta fill up which is nice. Frontier I used to have got about 250 before empty

 

That's really good, especially for an automatic and no highway miles. I think it's unusual for a mid size truck to be able to get 400 miles out of a tank. I was able to with my '99 Honda Accord, 5 speed manual. But I wouldn't want to drive that in a snowstorm.

 

I'm getting 17mpg to 19mpg around town solo no weight on a 22 DCSB 2.7L with less then 2k miles on it with a 6A transmission..but could baby it to 21mpg but it's a real chore..normal highway speeds its 21mpg to 23mpg without trying..its setup for moderate speed, to get the best mpg..noticed if you drive too slow or too short of trip the mpg goes way down..it seems to be really happy around 50 mph..but can go even 80mph around 2k rpms on the highway and get low 20s mpg..still need more break in time and wheel time to get it dialed in at which speed vs rpm vs mpg is best..

 

Plan on getting 2 oem steel wheels and mounting studded tires on the rear this winter and see how she does in the snow. But I also own a 21 4Runner

 

The 6A seems geared really tall if you're only around 2k rpms at 80 mph. What rpm around 65 mph? Is yours 2 or 4WD? I like having a tall top gear ratio. Years ago I had a 5MT Subaru Outback that was around 3200 rpm on the highway, drove me nuts. I've heard the 2.7L 6A spends a lot of time in 5th rather than 6th on the highway unless it's level for a while. Since yours is quite new it'll probably improve. Due to much of my commute being around 50 mph once I get off the highway, and 50% of the trip is probably why I get a bit more miles per gallon than average. A double cab is a decent sized truck - around 18 mpg around town really isn't bad. The Honda Pilot I had averaged around 15-16, but was a V6. A 6A may get better economy than my 5 speed manual.

 

Being a 22 DCSB 2.7L unfortunately 4x4 wasn't even an option..would have to get a AC Access Cab for 4x4..was about 2100 to 2200rpm at 80 mph on flatish highway and still getting low 20s mpg..don't remember exactly what 65mph rpms are but it seems to go 2500rpms to 4500rpms while accelerating depending on pedal input then levels off to around 2k rpms regardless of whatever speed your at..not sure which gear it happens to be in at what speed..I'm fairly certain you could go 60,65,70 and be right around 2k rpms on flatish road not accelerating..tell you the short trips 1 or 2 miles to the corner gas station will get you 8 to 10 mpg according to the dashboard..as each time you turn off the vehicle a trip stats will show mpg, miles driven that trip etc..

 

From what I've read the 2WD Tacoma does pretty well in snow. There's someone who lives north of me here in New England that even got by some of the time without any added weight in the back. Sounds like the 6 speed automatic is good at optimizing engine rpm for the given situation.