New to forum just a basic question

Hey folks how are you?
I am a first time Taco owner. Fell in love with the 2017 TRD Pro cement grey and got one in April. I have 6000 miles on her now. My question is this....and if this is already covered in another post i understand and will delete....but, why am i only getting around 11 to 12 mpg combined. Is this normal for these new Tacos? And will the OEM cold air intake make any differance?

 

Sounds low. I usually get 15-16 as high as 20. Check your calculations. Unless that's all dirt. I think there's an MPG thread.

RZ Rob

 

Hmmm

 

10-11 MPG is way low. Are you running an automatic transmission if yes then are you driving in D and not 4th or 3rd gear? Parking brake off? Tire pressure around 30 PSI? Driving up hill both ways? Have the dealer check for codes if all else fails.

 

Welcome aboard . These things get that kind of mileage when towing.

 

Welcome to the world! If you're like I was when I bought my 2016 OR , I would sit in it in the driveway for hours trying out all the neat features (crawl control ect.) When it's running and you're going nowhere, it's kind of rough on the mgps.

 

you can't look at mpg when you run to the store, winter is the worse time for mpg, long warm ups, windy days, winter gas sucks, last summer, I checked my mpg on every trip to work, 56 miles, 30 on the freeway @ 68mph=23mpg 15 miles @ 50mph=26mpg This Winter, not good, tank average probably 18 or 19, just think of all the time it spends warming up to melt the ice on the windshield.

 

Yep, that seems way low. Keep checking stuff.

Welcome,

G.

 

All the above and also check, and if needed adjust and even bump up your tires Psi a couple lbs from the recommended setting. when I checked mine during the real cold snap a couple were rediculously low. Now they are all 32.

If you keep your highway speed’s under 65 mph or so you will do a lot better than pushing it well over that, and yes city driving in stop and go and short trips will definitely kill your mpg.

Letting your truck idle to warm up will suck gas down and winter blend gas is terrible also, it will get better.

I commute into Philly from the burbs and avg 16ish mpg’s with a tank best of 18 and I even had 6 tanks straight of 14’s in the cold weather but like I said a lot of those real low ones were prior to me checking the tire pressure and included some 4x4 use. 5500 miles on my truck currently.

Your location plays a major factor as well, I don’t think I could ever get consistent low 20s per tank (per trip sure and I do sometimes) like these other people are posting due to my commute and the short trips I sometimes have to make. Sure, if you live in an area where you can take back roads with not many stop signs or traffic, and not many hills every day then of course I’m pretty sure you would see a lot better mpg’s as well.

 

First welcome OP . Overall those MPG's are way low for a stock truck. Even in the winter, I average low 20's and summer 21 to when driving normal 23's. Do you have a lift, tires, cap, and thing other than a stock truck?

 

Something is way.....way wrong.

My 4x4 SR5 SBDC daily driver with 45 mile interstate commute and offload on fun off work days has been getting 19.5-21 mpg on every fuel up since I've had it.

 

If your Tacoma is still in stock form and you're not towing or carry a camper top with a load, driving less than two mile trips in traffic, then something is wrong and you need to go see the dealer.
The sooner you get to the bottom of the issue the better because with that kind of low mileage you maybe prematurely aging your cats, and they're very $$$to replace after the warranty expires.

And btw, WELCOME to TW!

Cheers!

 

First - welcome. Second, make sure to check out the "Tips" threads (links below). Lastly, I get 15 - 17 when going 70+, but at 55 I get 22 - 24. Even in trails (did 68 miles in 7 hours) and still get around 15.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-mods-tips.428840/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-3rd-gen-tacoma.411911/page-118#post-16797703

 

No

No

It could be all the extra weight from carrying that heavy cement around.

Just kidding. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Hope you get it figured out. Its sad to be getting v8 MPG w/o the benefits.

 

The automatic transmission mapping in these trucks is awful! The transmission is fine, so is the engine, contrary to many complaints found on this forum.

The engine, however, needs to operate between 2000 and 3000 rpm's to be efficient. The OEM map keeps it between 1100 and 1800, hence all of the gear hunting and lugging that is so prevalent. This is also a major factor in the crappy gas mileage.

Luckily, this can be fixed! I'm not sure what Toyota engineers were thinking, but I suspect they were trying to comply with some sort of stupid California regulation that we all have to suffer through.

The first fix is through OVTune, which involves reflashing the ECM, which I'm not willing to do on a new truck that's still under warranty.

Option two is a device called 'Shiftsense Pro v2'. This is a complete plug and play solution that requires no modification to the truck and uses the truck's sequential shift system to remap the shift points.

Since installing it, my truck runs as it should have from the factory, and my mileage has significantly improved. It feels like a whole new truck!

 

How much is the Shift Sense, I get around 17-20 mpg but rolling at under 2k rpm all the time and going 65 is killing me and when i take it above 70 I watch my mpg gauge go all the way down.

 

$185.00. Just Google it. You'll find it on line.

 

Just because I'm a nerd, I had to do the math ... assuming you can go from 17 to 20 MPG with that device, at $2.50 per gallon of gas it will take 8,387 miles to break even on the price of purchase, assuming no other costs incurred (installation for less tech-savvy person, warranty implications).

 

Well, I plan on driving my truck till the wheels fall off. If the Shiftsense Pro v2 is paid for within 8,300 miles I would consider that a win! That leaves me 190,000+ miles to reap the benefits from it. Also, It's hard to put a value on the enjoyment I'm having driving my $42,000.00 truck without the frustration of a jacked up transmission map. (Thank you Toyota!)

Remember that the Shiftsense Pro can be completely removed within minutes without a trace, so I don't see a warranty issue. Really, all it's doing is utilizing S-mode, which I can do manually, but Shiftsense is doing it automatically in a way that should have been done from the factory...

 

Nothing to add but my 2 cents here.

I have a more or less stock 2017 trd sport with the 6MT.

Stock tires and wheels at 37psi cold. Currently getting 18.2mpg lifetime (from the computer in the truck) at just under 5k miles. And I drive it like i stole it. 50/50 mix of interstate vs surface streets.