Highway gas mileage sucks.

Just wondering, how miles you got on the truck? Is it a DCLB? It's the heaviest option so the advertised mileage will appear to be overestimated. Like others said, there are other factors like winter gas that lead down to worse mileage.

I really think the Taco is designed for what it's supposed to do, to zip around town and run errands. So it does great cruising at traffic speeds of 55mph, and mileage simply goes to shit if you "force" it to haul ass.

I had a DCLB OR, and it was a great truck. But I wanted a pavement queen for 2+ hour road trips I frequently do, and with my driving habits (riding around 80 on the left lane), I traded it for a Tundra.

That thing is more comfortable for those long trips and cruises at 80 with 17mpg, which isn't much less than the taco. So it was the better truck for me. Again, the taco is great and I miss it sometimes... I just couldn't change my habits for it.

 

Fuel is measured by its energy yield; conflating energy with power can be confusing.

For instance, ethanol has less energy than gasoline per volume, so it burns quicker which is why your mpg takes a hit on E10 gas. Even though it has less energy, an engine can potentially make more power with ethanol (if it's designed/tuned for it) because of the higher octane rating. A lot of guys run E85 because it's way cheaper and more readily available than race gas but still super high octane (+/-110)... Terrible mpg, though.

 

Toyota ant spending millions on the Tacoma. If they did this thread wouldn't exist and we'd have front lockers plus ko2s instead of a snorkel on the pro, but I do agree about people justifying their purchase of items.

 

My bad. Been doing power density comparisons all day. Just had it on my brain.

 

Even Toyota knows better than to buy KBRO2's.

 

Stop and think how much it would cost to, say, have a team of maybe ten engineers driving and testing five Tacomas for several months. There's a million right there. Now add in the engineering time and prototype builds... yeah, I'll stand by my millions haha.

Only a very few would ever want front lockers and even less would want KO2's as stock tires. You have less than a thousand people here on the 3rd gen section of Tacomaworld. They sell 17K a month.
R&D is really expensive.

 

All of the money Toyta has made off recycling/interchangeability of parts, and running the 2nd Gen for 10 years would easily fund that, lol. We all could have had automatic headlights, power seats, etc, lol.

 

You are right. Unfortunately, even if you only change the windshield wiper arm, you are going to have to do a ton of testing. While there is a lot of common parts with the 2nd gen, there is a lot of differences too.

 

Comedian here

 

If Toyota listened to all the bullshit everyone wants on here a Tacoma would be priced at about 100k

 

On flat highway, 70mph is about the breaking point where mileage will start dropping.... 75mph and it will drop a good bit. 80mph, you really aren't worrying about mileage.

 

@TXTaco13 they come standard on the TSS models. Even the 2wds.

 

I had a stock DCSB Sport yeaterday for a loaner car and this made me a little sad. This a rolly stretch of highway that I drive home everyday. The net elevation change is maybe downhill by a total of 2 feet otherwise its pretty dead level.

Cruise set at 65mph the whole time just as I do in my Offroad with 265/70 KO2s and rock sliders. I get 18-19 in that truck.

 

Yes, my chief mechanic at my dealership is nuts too. Nice guy though. He "never heard any weird noises" every time i complained about something (rear diff howling) but if one of the younger tech's drive it, they hear it right away and get it fixed.

Of course i know that driving habits effect mileage significantly, i wrote that in the post you quoted "(hot weather, downhill or flat only, cruise control, no A/C, etc.)"

Here are the EPA ratings for the 2018 tacoma (4x4 V6 manual, V6 auto and 4cyl auto). Nowhere near close to 7.2 L/100km. And you can see that 12 is normal.

 

1" lift and 34" tires i still get 18-20 mpg in 5th gear doing 65-70
planning to do 4.88 gears in the future suppose to help it get into 6th on highway speeds

 

Hot damn those are nice wheels, what brand/size are they?

 

Mickey Thompson Classic III Black Wheels
MTT-2479412
Wheel, Classic III, Aluminum, Matte Black, 17 in. x 9.0 in., 6 x 5.50 in. Bolt Circle, 4.500 in. Backspace

wrapped in cooper discoverer at3 285/75r17s

 

but then again the TSS model that is exclusive to either GST/SET doesn't apply to mainstream Toyota usa. that's a special upcharge SR5 with jacked up pricing for new wheels and tires and bling.

 

Thank you! I haven't shopped for wheels before, because I like the stock OR wheels... but those I am going to look into. Very nice.

 

If you like the beadlock look, I'm partial to the "classic lock's" http://www.mickeythompsontires.com/wheels/classic-baja-lock