Not happy with tacoma mpg

yeah, that one is true. before my filter got nasty i was getting 21 to 22 mpg highway, 18mpg average with 50/50 highway city driving. which is what most prerunners are reporting. gonna get me one of them fancy AFE filters and see if i cant beat my old mileage

 

well i think we have come to a great conclusion that Taco's are badass...haha

 

The six speed isnt so bad. Just gotta treat with a light foot. Although pulling away from a stop light all balls out and slamming into second heading to the next light is really fun. Also I get alittle warm and fuzzy when the M3 next to me that tried to cut me off gets a little pissed.

good mileage, bad mileage, I love my truck

 

and I have only 2200 miles on it. But my MPG is constantly 21 to 22 MPG with a mix of country and city driving. I use a ScanGaugeII to monitor my fuel usage and shift to neutral when I can. My highest MPG was over 24 at one point on a trip. What I'm saying is first look at how you drive. That's the best thing you can do to get the most out of your fuel the soonest. The second you decide to drive more conservatively that's the second you start saving fuel.

 

my sister has the escape hybrid- she is getting around 30 mpg....on flat roads mostly city driving. over 30 mph the gas engine is doing the work. that little engine is gonna suck the gas down while going up a hill compared to a torquier v6.

My ranger got 14mpg consistantly.

My first tank of gas i got 18 mpg on the tacoma already, and that was beating on it. 400 miles since i picked it up saturday.

 

Ok, having read thru this entire thread I have just a question or two. If you loved you F150 so much, why did you buy a Tacoma 4x and not a F150 4x? If you were so concerned about gas mileage, why didn't you pull the trigger on a hybrid first?

Everyone's been right so far about engine break in. You've got less than 1000 miles on the clock, give it time.

 

Well, like others have said, it's not broken in yet. I noticed improvements at 5k, 10k, 15k, etc. I noticed smoother acceleration, idling, shifting, etc. Granted I have the 6spd so it might take longer for that to break in, but things are definitely better with 45k+ on it now. Although, I didn't see any mpg improvement until the AFE Pro Dry drop in filter. I got 17-18mpg for almost 2 solid years with highway, city, country road, and hilly driving. Removing the secondary air filter made it respond quicker and idle better, but did nothing for MPG. First tank with the AFE I got 19.6ish, and the next full tank gave me 20.3ish. I haven't done a full tank and calculation in a few months as prices (and pumps cutting off at $50) have compelled me to put $20 or so in here and there as needed. I also have a cap so I don't have the best aerodynamic shape going on. But the 5,000 mile mark is true! They say 500 miles to break-in in the manual, but damn! They really should change it to 5,000 miles!

 

Didn't you get some free lifetime service maintenance incentive from Toyota as well when you turned back your Ranger for the tacoma? You'll have to figure that into your numbers if Ford doesn't throw that into the deal correct?

 

Talked to my dealer about the mileage, he said don't even think about it until at least 15 k miles, takes a long time for the 4.0 to break in. I work in the oilpatch and sometimes have a thousand mile round trip to get to work and back; I'm getting around 21-22 driving 70 with about 400 pounds of cargo. Haven't noticed a difference in the mileage since putting in the afe intake and pro dry filter, but I can't keep my foot out of it! It's great when the vvti kicks in about 4000 rpm, lots more top end.

 

LOL, yeah, that's the problem we all run into in doing mods.

 

If all you want out of a truck (the Escape is not) is mileage, go for it. A friend of mine has an Escape Hybrid and that thing wouldn't pull a greasy string out of a chickens ass. The ONLY thing its good for is MPG

 

^Now, I KNOW that comment came out of Huntsville and not Orlando, right?

 

errr, does it really show??

 

also not sure what size tanks you are comparing but take in consideration that the Tacoma has smaller tank than 150.

 

this thread has got to be a joke. i mean comon this guy is going to lose his shirt trading in a truck he just bought. and everyone is talking about don't worry your gas mileage will get better....lol if he's cheap about gas he'll hang himself when he finds out how much money he loses on a trade in and the cost of a hybrid. never make up the loss in gas savings... what a joke..

 

i forget where i heard this, i believe it was on tv, but some lady wanted to trade in her suv for a prius...they figured out that with how much she'd be losing getting rid of her suv and how much the prius costs, that even with the better gas mileage, it would take her 52 years to break even! she still did it!!!! stupid hippies.

 

so then why didnt he just get a 4cyl if gas mileage is what the concern is? My 4.0 didnt fully break in until around 13-15k miles; mileage increased all the way until then. i get 18-21.5 mpg out of my lifted truck with oversize tires. should be easy to get 20-22mpg with one at stock.

 

Phone the Parts dept. at your Ford dealership and ask how much a new battery is, they crap out after 5 years. Another thing to consider is the resale value, the ford will be worth way less % wise at the end. If you are a true penny pincher you have to account for this on your budget spreadsheet as well. The Tacoma has the best resale value % of any vehicle on the road.

As well it is tough to throw a dead deer in the back of the ford Escape without getting blood and hair all over the carpet and seats, you can just hose the bed of the Taco out!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

That's because many people see a hybrid as a status symbol, as though they're saving the planet when, in reality, they're actually doing more to harm it than we are. "Smug alert", indeed.

 

Why are some folks taking my thoughts the wrong way. are they so obsessed with the tacoma that they want to take cheap shots? Sad world we live in because people like this live in it. lol

you need to read my post again. tacoma wasn't working out. i thanked the ones that helped, and decided to go another route. why you got to make cynical and derogatory remarks?