Should I be concerned?

Yep, I bought the taco knowing that mpgs would suck.

 

You got to find the "sweet spot" when driving any vehicle especially on the highway. There is a "sweet spot" where the vehicle drives at the optimal RPM and speed. You can feel it and usually that's when you get the best MPGs. Foot is barely on the gas, just feathering. I'll tell you that it's under 75 haha. I can't really keep track of my MPG on the first gen but it's in the 16's. I do keep track with my DD, a golf TDI since it has all the gizmos to keep track of it. My commute can go from 28-30 MPG to 45MPG. Depending on how I drive it before I get on the highway and when I hit the highway, at what speed I drive. Also a huge factor is slowing down and speeding up on the highway. If you can cruise at the sweetspot without having to press the gas more than 15% to get back to speed you will save a lot. It's all about predicting the drive. You will see a big difference. If you cannot do that, might as well buy a prius. It'll give you good mpg no matter what.

 

I can afford a $300 variance in gas price, if I couldn't I would have bought a 1500lb 4 cylinder car. That's not the point for me. I save $300 when it's easy enough for me to do so. I save $30 opting for the annual plan over the monthly. I cancel things I don't need, and sometimes I shop around to get the best price (such as when I bought the Tacoma). This allows me to write off drinking good beer and put more in my savings every year so that when I retire I can enjoy waking up to a cup of coffee at a cafe in some random country, vs rolling to the Wal-mart to buy off-brand frozen dinner.

 

Whenever I see posts like this I get jealous. I'm up in Vancouver Canada and our gas prices are insane. Filled up this weekend for $1.56/liter (about $4.40/Gallon USD). I drive about 20-25k miles per year. When you gas bill and your truck payment start to be close to the same thing it just feels like you know every detail of your shoes from staring at them while being bent over so often

 

To get from 30ish to 45 MPG is a hugeeeee difference in driving style. It's like you go from "just driving" to being extremely conscious of every single thing so that you keep throttle down to a minimum.

 

Actually if your tacoma shows you real time MPG, I suggest you have that on so you can kind of see your driving behavior. You will see what gets you best MPG real time at highway speed and how your foot on the throttle and brake affects it. If you have that on versus average MPG it'll allow you to see what gives you higher and lower mpg. If you wanna squeeze out the mileage that is.

 

Smiles per

 

I find that if I run my truck @75, that's the mileage I get, if I keep it around 70 or under 2,000 rpm then i'll get 22, even got 24.something last tank of gas, so yes speed kills

 

Constantly in the mid to upper 20s mpg. Speed 45 to 55

 

v6 or v4? what is your daily commute?

 

Lol. Just wait til that first 3/4 tank top off. $15 to move the needle to F. I don’t know what else I expected lol. I’ve adapted featherfoot. You know those people that cause you headaches that leave the light slow af? That’s me now. I just changed the way I drive.

 

@Tacoma1845 profile says TRD Sport Double Cab so I assume it's V6. It's gotta be the skewp.

 

V6, 60 mile daily commute.

 

Give it 2000 miles for the computer and ECU to settle then reevaluate the mpgs

 

I just broke 22 avg yesterday for the first time. I was driving a consistent 19.5 before that, re-learning my acceleration and some other habits.

 

No one wants to accept it's their right foot. Driving like a monkey on/off surprised a truck has terrible MPG like that.

 

LOL.

 

I have a Four Wheel Camper(pop up truck camper) in the back of my Tacoma full time. The camper weighs in at around ~1000lbs and creates a huge air brake due to the size. The best I've seen is 18 mpgs and that is surprising in a good way. I tend to drive slow and try my best to stay off the pedal. Also my truck is a manual transmission.

 

What the sticker fail to mention is:

The above published MPG are if you:
drive at seal level
flat road no elevations
maintain 55MPH
avoid windy days
use 91 gas
no towing
no hauling
driver only inside

 

It's April 1st and I don't feel like finishing this email right now, so....

I've owned this truck for 1.5-ish years now and I've never gotten more than 16-18 mpg. Even on highway-only trips (Bay Area to LA via Highway 5 for example), when you "cruise" (more like "wheeze") at 75, the truck will only give you 17-18 mpg. In my case, I'm carrying extra weight with the tonneau and metal running boards so this isn't surprising. Also, one look at nose of this thing and anyone with two eyes and half a brain should know that no NA engine is going to be getting 20+ unless you drive really really slow.

For an experiment, I did about an hour on HWY 5 at 65 and I tried driving 55/60 on my local highways when traffic allowed and got 24 mpg, so it's totally doable, but is far enough off from my driving style that I'm like, eh, no.