MPG? FYI. Why Your Tacoma Gets What It Gets

About 21, but I drive a lot of highway on weekends with about a 3 mile commute to work daily

 

Ha, for sure, it's all relative, I just think it's reasonable to hope to achieve numbers in the ballpark of those advertised. I'm not looking for modern car numbers, I'm looking for 2017 Tacoma TRD OR DCLB numbers. Or even 2008 Tacoma TRD OR DCLB numbers. My truck is stock and I'm not a leadfoot. I'm not trying to get those crazy 28mpgs, I'm just hoping to get within 10 or 20 percent of the ratings I used as one of my decision points when I chose this truck.

 

Just a little FYI here on my Tacoma mpg:
I have gotten as good as 28 mpg for over a 60 mile trip.

I have gotten as low as 12 mpg for a full tank.

Both were drastically different driving styles in different places at different times of the year.

The 28 mpg was basically using hypermiling techniques. 500' elevation, spring time with low humidity, flat interstate, 60 mph, no air conditioning and following a truck way too close. 28 mpg for about 60 miles.

The 12 mpg was local here in the mountains this past winter. Zero degrees, snow out the ass, 4WD all time for a full week.

My point? A 16 mpg swing in efficiency all because different driving conditions and style. I average about 18 in city and a bit over 20 on the highway. But, we are all different and drive different.

 

Sure. Now, of course 'drastically different driving styles' covers a lot of subjective ground, but I would argue that a swing like that is crazy, and again to me points to the 'intelligent transmission' as the source of my woes.

With my 08, I got 25 MPG coming down to the bay area from lake tahoe (about a 6k foot descent over 250 miles) and I got 20 MPG going from the bay area up to lake tahoe, with full camping gear and a dirtbike in back. Driving style matters, but it seems to matter a lot more in this truck than in other vehicles, and I feel that in its attempt to 'read' my style and predict my driving, it's screwing me with unintelligent decisions.

Of course, sitting here blaming something (thus far) outside my control is lazy, cowardly and not helpful, but it isn't necessarily incorrect. Absolutely might be incorrect, but isn't necessarily. I think that this is the reason that this forum is littered with (presumably) otherwise reasonable people (and yeah, I think I'm a reasonable and not unintelligent person) pulling their hair out and searching for answers, which certainly may lie entirely within the simple physics laid out in post #1, but may involve something more. And if there is something more, I'd like to find it and address it so that I can get the performance out of my truck that I payed so damn much to receive.

 

***
You fixed taco lean...

 

Missed it, thanks. Not much mention about it though.

 

No worries! There'll be a two more pages in just a couple of seconds.

 

Good idea, but she rides in the bed. I think the main issue is aerodynamics.

 

My question has always been "How come Domestics can get away with 3:50 rear gears and 32 or 33" tires, with a 300 HP engine" yet the Japanese haven't caught on how to make a proper running 'truck' engine that doesn't NEED 4:something's out back?

 

The north American market is unique in that full size monsters are the best selling vehicles. I don't think any other country is like this. Sure, trucks dominate a few other markets like Australia. But, the Hilux and the Ranger dominate those markets, and they are diesel trucks.

I am sure most people in the world scratch their heads when they see Americans in upper-middle class suburbs driving around in Huge trucks that don't haul anything, and never tow anything.


The fact of the matter is. The corporate big-wigs in Japan don't understand the American truck market. That's why they allowed Americans to take over the Tacoma for the 3rd gen, and that's why they are going to give more control over the Tacoma to Toyota of America.




http://www.autonews.com/article/20180326/OEM02/180329837/toyota-truck-translator-mike-sweers

"TOYOTA CITY, Japan — Toyota's truck guy in Japan, Michigan transplant Mike Sweers, looks straight out of central casting as he struts across the Toyota City technical center campus in his close-cropped goatee, auto-tinting eyeglasses and black cowboy boots.

If there were any doubt about his macho 4x4 credentials, Sweers insists he had never even sat in a Prius until being transferred to Japan last year. In fact, the hybrid's noiseless push-button ignition baffled him so much that he repeatedly pushed it thinking something was wrong.

Sweers is lead engineer for the full-size Tundra and....."

 

Don't fall for the hype man... they know exactly what they are doing. Just because it's in an article don't make it true.

 

The biggest influence on my MPG is the wind speed and direction. I will copy and paste below a post I made a few months ago about an aerodynamic mod that I did which improved my MPG by just over 1MPG.
Originally, I posted this mod that I did just over 2 months ago in another thread but will be updating some results here. I installed an aerodynamic under body pan to reduce drag and hopefully regain some of the MPGs I lost when I added larger tires and wheels.


The following results are from a trip that I drive once a week.
25.5MPG
25.1MPG
26.1MPG
23.9MPG (huge headwinds)
25.9MPG
24.7MPG
The next 2 results were taken after I removed the pan since I was taking it to the dealer for service.
24.1MPG(no need for AC)
23.6MPG(AC needed)
The average with the pan is 25.2MPG and the average without is 23.85. the pictures below were taken with the pan on.


The following is the original link with more information.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/what-have-you-done-to-your-3rd-gen-today.399305/page-3813
post76254

The above results were from the same trip and the same conditions with the exception of wind. The wind could either increase or decrease the MPG by 1 MPG. Hope this helps.

 

I have wondered how skids might impact mpgs.

 

Have you guys ever parked next to a Silverado/F150/Colorado? Just look at the front of a Tacoma compared to those trucks. It seems my bumper is about a foot higher stock. Those trucks have exteemly low front bumpers/chins to try and extract every little bit of mileage out of it. I don't mind paying a bit more in gas to not have to worry about parking blocks for example.

 

Fords and Rams fronts seem like they are an inch of the ground..

 

Approach angle means nothing if all that you ever crawl over is the curb to the driveway.

 

Electric Radiator Fan: yes
Active Aero: Its a truck and we already have a chin spoiler on non Off Road models that people take off.
Active Cylinder Deactivation: Personal experience with Honda Pilot pistons rings dried up for the cylinders that deactivated and overheated and cracked. No thanks.
Engine start/stop: Most annoying shit ever and would require more replacements ( especially when introduced into off roading environments I would speculate)
Aluminum/ High Strength steel: We already have composite beds with dual C channel high strength frames.

Our trucks were built for off roading... look at ground clearance and frontal wheel exposure that increases drag.

 

An excellent read. I just came back east from colorado. While I was there (never below 6000ft) I was using 85 octane gas, compared to the 87 I use at home.

At home, I often try to drive as conservatively as possible. My best mpgs are low 18s, but my typical tank average is about 17.5.

In colorado, I was at elevation and climbing alot. I Kept the transmission in S mode and never allowed it to shift above 5th gear. Most of the time I was in 4th, with downshifts into 2nd for extended periods at 5000 RPMs. I was there for aweek and was surprised to see tank averages stayed the same or slightly better than they are at home.
All the mileage info was based on the truck's computer though. Nor sure how that happened, but if some one knows I'd like to hear.

 

Good read! Thx for breakdown

 

My truck turned over 20K miles today... in nine months.
My "lifetime" average so far is 19.96 mpg, lets call it 20 mpg. My driving habits are 80-20 highway to city. No real mods except AT tires that would influence efficiency. Overall, I think the truck is performing as advertised. I have had no real issues and the truck feels like it will go 250K no sweat and minimal maintenance.
Since mine is a manual, it pulls strong, especially at 3500 rpm lol. Going from 3rd to 6th at 70 mph is always cool.

I just wanted to update this thread to show that, even driving hard, this truck performs as advertised.