What affects MPG the most?

I have kept a gas ledger for over 20 years and can sort of compare other winters and try to recall where I was at and conditions,etc.
but I don't ever recall not being able to make at least 300 miles before the warning light came on, so the brand new tires had to have played some part (or not!) and it was a very bad winter this past year, significant snow every weekend for 5 weeks which required 4wd most all the time since it never melted!

 

I try to stay no faster than 70mph on the freeway because of drag and run the AC only when im going 60+ mph. I find this saves me the most gas. Especially with having 33" tires and aftermarket suspension

 

X2

After accounting for tire size, I just squeezed out 17.4 and 18.1 MPG on my last two tanks with 35s, stock gears, and all of my armor, recovery, and camping gear in the truck. I was cruising between 50 and 65 for the majority of that with the AC off and on along the way

 

You run 35s??

 

Yes

 

Impressive lol what kind of chopping did you have to do to make em fit?

 

Then air them back up. You will get better milage. Tire pressure has a significant effect on milage.

People look at the chalk test as some magical thing that will tell them the perfect tire pressure for their truck, and it's not. All the chalk test does is let you know at what pressure the tread sits perfectly flat, side to side, on the road surface. Generally at this pressure you will have the best tire life, but there are other things to consider that may be more important. Or may not, tires are pretty expensive after all. Higher pressure will give better milage, and a harsher ride. Lower pressure will give you a softer ride and better traction in many off road conditions such as loose sand. Also, at lower pressures your tires heat up more. If you run them too low, and go too fast you will likely have a blowout. Higher pressure will give you better traction in snow when you want to cut through the snow and get down to solid ground. If you want to ride on top of the snow, go with lower pressure. Just because some chalk says a certain number is best doesn't necessarily make it so.

 

You get 22 mpg out of your V6 4x4 manual tranny? That's one of the best I've heard of on here. Nice

 

that is with little to no 4wd, never having engine over 3k rpms, tires inflated to 35psi, and minimal stop and go city driving with keeping speeds in 5th gear under 75mph for the most part ... defensive driving does require hitting 90mph every now and then to open up spaces between the 18wheelers
a very long time ago I experimented with optimal speed on the highway, set the cruise to about 55mph IIRC and went through a tank of 15~16 gallons and the trip meter came in at a little over 400 miles ... that was a very long and slow trip getting passed by most everybody lol
i am old enough to remember my dad's continuous bitching about the federal limits of 55mph in the early 80s ... are we there yet? are we there yet?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law

 

Yeah speed is biggest factor assuming all other factors are equal. That's really good gas mileage. Generally speaking, this would indicate a well maintained vehicle

 

oversized AT tires

 

I cut 1.75" out of my fenders and then had to cut and move the firewall back about 2.5". There are a lot of pics of the process in the thread linked in my signature

 

Shape, weight, acceleration, speed...drafting a 18 wheeler

 

i have 'heard' that if you do get behind one of the 18wheelers close enough to near eliminate wind drag you can get even better mileage
but then you have to deal with the rock chips they throw up into the windshield and those potential road gators in the middle of the road that you cannot see following so closely
saw quite a few of them on the freeway the other day right in the middle lane of +80mph traffic

no that is not me, just a random web pic of somebody wrestling one lol

 

A/C is negligible, don't not use it if you want for mileage. Nor use it over open windows if you prefer that cuz it's a wash.

Some Tacoma's are just thirsty, mine couldn't get 20 mpg if I drove 45. If you want a Taco for gas mileage get a 4 cylinder 5 lug WITH A STCK SHIFT!!!! It's the ONLY GUARANTIED decent mileage version out there. All these people that get 22-23-24 on the hwy......I dunno. Maybe they have less power than I do. It's the only explanation. Maybe Toyo. made every other one High Output.

 

Little snip snip here and there

J/K the photos @Wulf posted of the process awhile back made everyone in the other thread hug their trucks and reassure them we'd never do such a thing

 

to be fair you don't have to cut that much for 35s... I cut enough to run 37s

 

It cleaned up well in the end, it was just those half-done photos that were jarring lol

 

I prefer to run the A/C with my windows down.

 

is that 'wasting' energy?