lost 20% fuel economy by stepping up one size on my tires. is this normal.

Are you comparing summer driving to winter driving? That will absolutely make up the 80km distance, as well as heavier tires.

 

Assuming you replaced the stock rubber with the Duratracs:

-You went from a non-aggressive tire to one of the more aggressive ATs out there = higher rolling resistance.

-You went from 265/60R18s to 265/65R18s so add the 3.3% like you said

-First winter with the Taco? Winter mileage sucks, short tips in town in winter I'm under 300Km / tank (and no, that's not accurate, just a rough idea).

 

But it did meet my expectations until i found out they build the US version much differently than the canadian model.
So i guess i should of taken the time to study the canadian version of the options that came with the limited canuck taco. I dont know if you've had the pleasure of looking at the jbl/tacoma operators manual, but its as thick if not thicker than the trucks owners manual. It was going to take time to find out where they were hiding all the mpg info in that stereo.
I was originally looking to buy the sr5 package. But as most people do. We looked at all the build levels. For an extra 80 bucks a month i could ditch the sr5 for the top of the pile limited. For myself i thought i deserved having such a truck, having sold all my toys with the welcoming of our first little one 5 years prior, and having to drive a yaris for that time, It was a small reward for the sarifices. I mean the sled is gone. My days of beating down the muddy snow covered logging roads were over but i still needed my truck. So after comparing specs amongst the tacos i was set on the limited.
now i was assuming that what i was reading on the .com site would be identical to what they sell north of the boarder and i was happy with the options. I mean for whatever reason they down graded the bilistiens but i was okay with that as the suspension would be dealt with down the road as funds would allow. So once the truck got home and i had the chance to study the manual i jumped in the cab to explore all the wonderfull things this new truck could do. Well after trying to find menus in the head unit that did not exist i gave toyota a call. Well i was told that they never released all of the plus options like milage calculators, tire sensor info and entune in the canadian build. Also they dropped the passenger seat delete from our version even thou it was a key feature in the cdn brochure. The reasoning was that the canadian market wasent interested in these options... really? Wtf. Where are they getting this non sense from. I mean they add gps. Back up cams. 7 speaker touch screen stereo's and i dont get the option of tracking milage. My 2010 work van has it. My 03 volvo wagon has it. And some how it doesn't get installed on a limited vehicle. So in a way i feel like i really didnt get what i paid for... at the time our dollar was pretty much par with the US dollar and the limited was 3 grand less south of the boarder. With more options of course. I had the keys. There was no taking it back. I have to live with it. Or at least until this new model comes out this fall,lol.
Sorry for the rant. I've owned 4 yotas so far. This is my second pick up. I will always pick toyota over the rest im just dissapointed with what i think is a non deserving limited badge on my truck. And the large mpg hit i took by putting more aggresive tires on.

 

Third winter with the truck. Picked it up nov 2012. I was getting 500km during the first 15-20k then i was averaging 600 plus. Immediate hit when the duratracs got installed in september. Still pretty warm out so its got to be the weight and compound being so soft. Wonder if i could compensate by getting lighter rims!?

 

There's really no need to recalibrate anything. 3% is a relatively small difference. Over 100 miles you've only driven 3 miles more than that. At 60 mph your going 61.8 mph, or kph. It's really not a big deal.

So if you want to calculate your mile per gallon, take the mileage when you next fill and add 3% to the mileage. Then divide by how many gallons it takes to fill.

 

Very upsetting story about your limited. I think the top of the line is actually the TRD OR or Sport. For the price difference from those to limited you can make it your own luxury truck. I have my scangauge to tell me all of my numbers and though mine is not, it can be neatly placed with no wires showing. I would buy a TRD (or an SR5...) and just build the things I want. I know it's more hassle and unwarrantied but it will make you love the truck more.

 

Dude, this isn't just Toyota. Everyone makes a different model for the US and Canada. In the USA the TRD Sport doesn't get heated TRD cloth seats (a common complaint on here from 'Merica) but in Canada we do. If you really had of done your research you would of figured out that there are some key differences between a US Tacoma and a Canadian Tacoma. I love my Canadian Tacoma to be honest, I just wish we had US pricing up here .

Buy a Scangauge (>$200 from the Canadian vendor). It'll give you all the data you want and more. I love mine, I had another manufacturers device before it and I'd recommend the Scangauge over everything else. I got mine here from a Canadian vendor and the staff was excellent on the phone when I called about order/delivery times: http://www.giffordautomotive.com/SGC/index.php . Just don't forgot to pick up a mount as well. I went with the rear view mirror mount and it looks professional IMHO.

As for your tire/mpg issues, did you switch from a P rated tire to an LT tire as well? If you did that's going to cost you just as much mileage as the size change does. LT tires tend to be heavier with more layers that increase rolling resistance and decrease fuel economy.

 

I have an '07 6cyl manual access cab with a cap, 2" lift and bull bar (some wt, not much). Went from stock tires at 17mpg to BFG TA KO's E 265-70-17 rated on same rims and gees, I'm getting 13-14, wow, all during winter, no change in driving habits. Gas is cheap now so not complaining too loudly but damn...I would like to at least get 20 as with my '99 6cyl manual taco. Thing is with Taco's for me it's about their longevity reliability and fun factor.... efficiency and cost...well maybe I should have bought a SMART car - not happening.

 

You should be getting way more than 17MPG with stock tires, 2" lift, and a cap. (If you're trying, that is)

The 2" lift doesn't really negate much MPG. I went from 3" drop to 2.5" lift and lost 1 whole MPG. The cap should add 1-3MPG at highway speeds and the bullbar, well, isn't helping but shouldn't hurt that bad. I get 23-25 in my 4.0 DCSB with 2.5" lift. That's with highway tires of course.

 

If you have a gps you could figure out how far you travel then check your mileage.

 

I've lost at least 1/2 that much simply changing the brand of tires on an automobile.

 

You were averaging 600+? that's in around 11 L/100km, or over 21mpg. I drive pretty efficiently (when i want to) and i would have to drive flat highway at 65mph with cruise set in 25deg C weather, low humidity and windows cracked (no A/C) to achieve that kind of MPG. Is that your average driving?

Regular driving with stock tires, 550km would be considered a good tank. I don't think you're that far off from normal, even with duratrac's. Next thing, when you say 500km to a tank, how many litres are you filing up?

 

Thx Chopper, regarding my possibly driving it 'hard'...... I'm in Slc utah and maybe its the elevation or something but I can't relate to some members here at TW shifting at between 2 an 2.5k rpm and rarely get up to 3k before shifting (I have a 6sp stick - maybe they all have automatics), but at anything under 2.5k I'm not "lugging" the engine per se but at that low rpm I have no throttle response so I keep it at 2.5-3k before shifting (at least in the 4th, 5th gears). I don't think I drive it hard really but, damn there is no way I have any throttle response under say 2350rpm at freeway speed - is this considered driving it hard at consistenly over 2,500 rpm. I've recently had the plugs changed, rear diff fluid looks good, I knocked out the charcoal filter, waiting for AFE pro s dry filter to arrive, bought a scan guageII (not yet installed). At this point I think I've given up on gas mileage and to get my 'range' back I'm looking into a 15gal or so transfer tank to put in the bed (gravity feed). Running the truck stock before I changed anything I never got above 17.5mpg, now with bigger tires, it really sucks, go figure. Thx for the feedback.

 

No problem. And yes that is considered hard driving. It may be elevation, but I am at sea level never going above 2K RPMs. I try to shift around 1800 and while that is slower than most would like, I think it is an efficient shift point. I don't really need throttle response at highway speeds, I get to speed and keep it. If ever need be I just hit the gas and do whatever I need to do. Lol. What is your cruising RPM? Mine is around 1600 or so at 60MPH

 

I'm NOT trying to be "that" guy but I think it's the opposite as far as MPH adjustments for bigger tires.

I have LTX M/S2 255/70R16s and a couple of weeks ago I "dialed" in my ScanGauge for the Speed Adjustment using my GPS. My speedometer said I was doing 72 or 73 but my GPS said I was doing 69 so I adjusted my ScanGauge's Speed Adjustment with a -4% (probably on the higher side but I prefer being conservative). I asked ScanGauge if this was correct and they agreed it was. I obviously haven't recalibrated my speedometer because like you said it's not a big deal.

 

Use GPS w /trip meter function is about the only way I'm familiar with, to actually re calibrate the speedo would be a major PITA.

 

Your math is incorrect. If you went from 18 mpg to 16, you lost 2mpg, or 11%.

And yes it is normal to loose MPG by going up in tire size.

 

Bigger tire means it is going around further (more miles) but the truck still thinks it is turning the same as with the smaller tire. Result is you are going slightly faster than indicated and overall mileage is slightly more than indicated.

 

Ok baring the fact that I have a 6sp stick and you an automatic and I'm at 4.5k feet higher elevation than you (that's apples to apples right....lol) Anyhow..in my next post I'm going to report the following and if you would do the same (or anyone else that has a 4.0 6sp stick with 165/70/r17's, otherwise stock). 1) Gear and RPM in which we're at crusing spd 50, 60 and 70 mph (70 is std freeway speed around here). Minimum stable RPM's. 2) Time in seconds at wot (as a measure of throttle response) it takes to increase speed from the above by 10 mph. For example, (hypothetical) cruise at 50mph at 5th gear at 2000rpm takes 5 seconds to get to 60mph. (this is probably no joke with my truck, we'll see). BTW, my concern about throttle response at those speeds is NOT for racing or performance reference, but rather I really think I'm going to be 'lugging' the engine (aka not in the rpm sweet spot for a stick) to increase rpm's from those crusing speeds and I just want to prove or disprove it for my self. 3) I'm also going to also report how my truck performs at your suggested 60mph at 1600rpm along with what gear that is for my stick. Maybe by comparing notes I can figure how much is due to elevation and how much is due to my aggressive driving habit . Thanks again.

 

Not according to this http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/tirecalc.php?tires=245-75r16-255-70r16.