Higher MPG and No Excessive Transmission Shifting

First of all, I'm not posting to brag, rather to share my experience in hopes that others may benefit.

I had my first little trip (600 miles) and averaged over 24 MPG highway. Also, I no longer experience erratic transmission shifting.

I drove (like my son says) Driving Miss Daisy, 70MPH, gradual acceleration, tach mostly below 2000. I rarely used cruise control until today because I wanted to keep the RPM's down and use gradual acceleration to keep the tranny in the highest gear.

It worked. The average hwy mileage is great, AND the transmission only downshifts to 5th gear using cruise control whenever going up a grade. Hey, I live in Florida. No mountains here.

I've read countless complaints about low MPG and constant transmission shifting. Both of these issues were resolved by NOT BEING IN A HURRY!

This was my avg MPG on the last tank of gas

 

I had a similar experience... What was the terrain like?

 

My mileage has gotten worse since taking delivery. Over 10k on truck now

 

Mostly flat with gradual grades. Florida is slightly above sea-level

 

I drive like grandma and still only get 16 to 17.

 

In town or on hwy? I noticed a big difference whenever the tach exceeded 2000RPM

 

Either one, seems like no difference in mpg. Just under 12,000.

 

Just returned from baseball game. My trip was just 110 miles thru rolling hills and 2 small towns and about 12 stop lights, but mostly highway. 68 degrees, dusk and averaged 25.6 mpg.

 

This nails it, I think majority of those that are complaining about MPG are keeping their foot in it and are expecting some kind of magic to take place.

 

Nah I grandma mine

 

I'm not going to discount anyone else's experience but I've had observations.
Let's agree that to avg 24mpg over a trip there will obviously be points above and below that 24mpg mark.
When I jump on the hwy and cruise flat Florida ground at 70mph and look at the "instant" readout it sits near the 20 mark on a good, no wind day.
The acceleration to that 70mph is of course below, no matter how grandpa-like you do it. It's physics. Likewise the coast off the offramp is higher and can be milked a bit. But over say 100 miles, these two events are nearly negligible. My avg over a whole tank on the hwy sits more like 19.5mpg. That's my running tank avg.
When people claim an average of 24+ I begin to scratch my head. If the "instant" isn't near or above 24 for most of a drive, the truck just won't really be able to do this unless I jerymander numbers by doing things like resetting once I'm at speed and playing with Neutral on coasts and using zero brake (which might get you killed in Jacksonville)
I've tried, hard, to get numbers like some people post. But unless I fudge like I said above it's just not happening. Maybe it really is just a truck to truck difference.

 

My avg speed probably was around 55 for the trip with the 35 mph speed limit thru the towns and the slow to stop for lights etc. I drove a prius for 6 years and was constantly challenging myself to see what works to get the best mileage. I drove the 110 miles more like I drove the prius except I did put the tacoma in ect for about 20 miles to see what difference it made and I found during that 20 miles I averaged about 23.8 mpg. For me it is just a matter of not putting the foot to the pedal and reducing the pedal to let gravity help on the down side of the hills. Trying to maintain a steady speed. I drove the pruis and averaged 55 mpg and my wife in the same vehicle that has no interest in mpg drives 45 mpg on average. Take for what it is worth.

 

Yeah os11. If I keep my speed around 50-55 my MPGs are excellent. Like 24-25ish. But 50mpg is like a neighborhood speed limit around here. Surface roads have 60mph limits all over the place. On a regular "all-American" interstate, getting over 20 is like a pipe dream.

 

Well, I would say out of the total trip other than subtracting the towns and the stops for the lights. I traveled on average at a speed of around 68 mph as the posted speed limit for most of the trip was 65. I down graded the avg to take into account the stops and 2 towns.

 

If I still lived in Chicago, I imagine my mpg would be around 12 mpg. Out here in the country with fewer cars and less need for stop and go and someone not riding your behind, pretty easy to get higher mpg.

 

Mileage-wise, the biggest factor for me, besides my right foot, is how often I start up.

 

I was in the valley over a week ago, expecting high numbers, mileage was 20 or less, got worse on the trip home when I hit Hwy 36 in CA, a very twisty road, lots of ups and downs. I'm getting over 22 up here in the mountains about 3400'-4,000'. Don't know why the flat lands effected mileage that much, going thru farm country, I was around 55-60. Where I live out of town by 9 miles, it is not level, 55 mph road. With a load of over half a ton of bagged manure, I got 22 mpg or better I think, doing freeway speeds 2/3 of the way a few weeks ago.
Duane

 

Personally I would not have a bought a V6 auto 4x4, if I was worried about gas mileage. I would have kept my Prius. We needed something that has more functional capabilities, tow light trailer, and be able to haul around some stuff if need. We still have the wife's Pruis, although I think she is planning on something else this time around when she is due to trade next year, probably Rav 4 or Highlander. I just did the gas mileage thing to see what the truck could do, but don't really care anymore. It does what I bought it for.

 

In between the Prius and the Tacoma, I bought a 2 door Jeep Wrangler, boy was that a mistake. It was more of an emotional buy. Fit me great, but not functional, purely toy, and real terrible quality. Easy to park though. Great in snow. Looks great, when it was not needing repair. Bug blaster windshield. I would have to clean that windshield in the spring thru fall every trip. It was annoying.

 

Brand new Jeep 2015 couldn't take it for a year. Bad, Bad, Bad. Potential money sink.