Poor Gas mileage

i will also say, i'd love to replace the stock goodyear kevlars with the optional duratracs when it's time BUT if the kevlars hold up to what i plan on using them for- they should- why take a hit mpg wise just for a benefit i will not use- though i like the duratrac look on my xterra....

 

Agreed. One thing I really like about my Tacoma are the dual personalities we can get based on throttle input. If you want to drive it like a Prius and try to hyper mile your MPGs, Toyota has made it very easy to do that through very light and deliberate throttle input. If you dont care about MPG and want it to scoot like a scalded cat, just give it more throttle and it will obey. Toyota has given us options which I like a lot.

 

yep. and again, it's not slow. it's not a racecar- i actually traded in my 2019 mustang gt for the taco. so coming from that to this, it is not what i would consider slow. it's power is there but you have to push the pedal. i haven't reached higher than 3000 rpms though as i am not at the 1000 mile mark yet. I put on 350 miles this weekend though so am getting there.

 

19.7 mpg lifetime on a 2017 OR 4x4 dcsb auto. This morning trip to work showed 24.5 mpg as weather is getting nice and warm. In winter I have seen as low as 15-16 mpg on the same route.

 

for what it is, that's not bad.

 

I don't have anything bad to say about the wildpeaks, but I wasn't blown away either. I did lose a couple mpg staying the stock size (245/75/16 for me), and they didn't last quite as long as I would've liked. But for the price they looked great and drove great. I've actually been getting better mileage after moving to a LT265/75/16 Cooper.325*1.039 odo adjust for larger tires is:
337.7 mi/ 16.104 gal = ~21mpg

 

Mines a 2018 and I only have 15K miles on it but I've played around with a couple of air filters that produced different MPG results. mostly worst over the factory filter. I then changed the exhaust to the TRD Pro and the AFE GT Momentum CAI and have seen a huge gain in MPG. See below. I'm not making claims of HP or anything just better MPG, though the overall results are a better across the board.

 

I had horrible MPG's when I got my 18 Offroad. I live in Kansas, so one could say it's fairly flat around here...

Here's what helped:

• Try not to use cruise control, your truck will otherwise shift too soon and stay in 4th gear too long.
• Check your tire pressure. I run mine (stock OR tires) at 36-38psi when hot.
• Fuel up at gas stations where you feel like their gas is reputable.

Lately, I have been averaging 19-21mpg's. I drive 22 miles to work one way and it ranges from city to freeway driving. But there are instances when I'll fuel up somewhere sketchy and all of the sudden my truck will act like I'm driving with my parking brake on. NO POWER. So my mpg's plummet.

 

19-21 for average around town driving is about what I'm getting. I'm pleased with that and wouldn't expect anything better for a truck. I live in the Pacific Northwest and the image above was driving over a 3000ft mountain pass so I'm very pleased with that. Another thing I've added to the truck, not sure it really helps with gas mileage but it makes driving more enjoyable is, I've added the Sprint Booster throttle adjuster. This give you the ability to adjust the throttle travel and take up the electronic slack to get get better throttle response. This has been hugely helpful in driving performance. When I want throttle I get it I don't have the throttle hesitation before it responds. I adjust it to the level that I'm comfortable with and leave it alone. When I use cruise control I turn it off and let the factory ECU manage the throttle. Seems to work for me.

The one thing I've noticed about the truck over other vehicles I've owned, is it's very sensitive to various elements. fuel quality, oil change, air filter quality and flow, tire pressures, external aero dynamics all have a factor in how well the truck performs.

 

That's exactly what i noticed. The Tacoma's are extremely sensitive to random changes. I even noticed this in the weather. Certain temps seem to provide better gas mileage than others.

I mean, I know, people say "Well if you bought a truck, then mpg's is the last thing you should be thinking about". However, this mentality is WRONG. Otherwise all of the manufactures out there wouldn't be spending millions of dollars on R&D, related to efficiency gains. (Ford, RAM, Toyota, GMC...etc)

Also, I recently found out that the EPA statements on the sticker at the dealerships are tricky, to say the least. EPA's definition of "Highway" is something like 50mph, if I'm not mistaking. And the manufacture is required to only record about 10 minutes of that travel. So yes, you can get 23mpgs in your Tacoma. But only at 50mph going flat with no head wind.

 

Totally agree, and yes weather I have noticed has an impact also. Fuel, fuel fuel, poor gas, poor gas mileage, frustrating to say the least. The stock air intake is extremely restrictive, the AFE GT Momentum CAI has shown to be an improvement, (huge un-restrictive air filter). They claim HP gains but what's really happening is the HP has always been there your just freeing up the airlfow to realize it. That said this one addition has been helpful in seeing better gas mileage. I'm sure a K&N filter would be an improvement over the stock filter in the factory air intake. For the lessor price it would be and affordable option to try. I also added the TRD Pro exhaust. Sounds cool not sure how much it helps but it sounds cool. Biggest problem here is keeping my foot out of it so I get good gas mileage. LOL.

 

I easily get 19 driving around the city, and about 16mpg going 75mph+ on the highway. It's like a hybrid!
In the trucks defense, that was a lot of mountainous terrain pushing 80-100mph Wide Open

 

There seem to be 2 schools of thought for the CAI. I saw an argument against less restrictive filters that stood out to me: No one has specifically done long-term testing on CAI's. Meaning, we talk about the gas mileage increase and sometimes power changes, but no one talks about the quality of the air filtration. So basically, there are theories that say you gain efficiencies at the cost of shortening your engine lifespan, due to less filtration.

Just an argument I saw recently... Personally, I like CAI's and think they sound cool.

 

Hi I got a questionI had a 2017 Toyota Tacoma sr5 4wd v6 I only got 12 mpg with 4” lift 20” rim 33” tire the 4 tpms Are broken. The bad tpms Affect the mpg?? Plase somebody can Give me a hand i have 26000 milles in truck

 

Wow. Uh, ok.
First off no, bad TPMS sensors will not affect your gas mileage - assuming your tires are inflated properly. To test that would require the chalk test given your oversize wheels and tires.

Also, the effect of large wheels is fourfold - the larger wheel and tire physically weighs more, so requires more torque to get moving. It also effectively increases your gearing, causing the motor to work harder for any given speed. You may have noticed it shifting more than usual. In addition, your aftermarket tires may have more rolling resistance than the tires initially fitted, causing additional drag your motor will need to consume fuel to overcome. Finally, it causes your speedometer to be innacurate, in the case of larger tires the odometer will actually read less miles travelled than you have. So make sure you’re compensating for that on your math to obtain the proper miles-per-gallon information.

The 4” lift will also cause aerodynamic drag, which will affect the mileage to some extent - particularly the faster you go.

None of that really matters, of course, compared to your driving style and commute. Do you let it idle excessively, take frequent short trips, punch it from a red light, slam the brakes instead of coasting, drive in hilly or mountainous terrain? Are you at high or low altitude? Strong winds? There’s far too many factors at play here.

 

I drive 50/50 city and highway, I don't idle my truck at all really and I drive conservatively. I have averaged 23 mpg on the fuelio app.

 

I wonder what the disparity is between MT and AT

 

Where are you coming up with your info that claims the stock intake is "Extremely Restrictive"? There were Dyno results up on here somewhere that showed no change between Stock, Aftermarket, an even no filter at all.

 

Yesterday I was able to get it up to 24mpg with one extra person in the car. Highest mpg I’ve seen so far from my 2020 trd sport DCLB. I’ve noticed that 55-65mph is the sweet spot for my truck. Freeways here in Portland, OR aren’t very fast so I can drive that speed and still be going faster than 90% of the people on the road


This also without the air dam, just FYI