Why bad MPG with manual (6 speed)?

No. Monitoring fuel vs mileage. I get the a.c. bit, but even in the summer i might drop 1mpg. I was more referencing the +/- 1200' of elevation to get to outdoors spots and the constant hills.

 

I'm at a loss. I've gotten pretty scientific about it and can't seem to break the 20 barrier. Roof racks cost about 1.5mpg when I have the bars on the camper shell so I usually leave them off. I'm happy with it, but would love to see mine break 20 some day.

Toyota says it should get 17/21 and I'm right in the ballpark. I think that the truck is capable of hitting the 21mpg mark, but I would need to cruise 50mph with no stops for a whole tank, windows up and no A/C.

 

I still have on my air dam, which definitely helps. Your situation may be different than mine, however. I am at sea level without any good 4 wheel spots, so I do not need the extra clearance/approach angle (or 285 tires unless I want to mall crawl).

 

YUP this is a huge difference and depending on the kind of driving you do, it has a huge effect on driving experience and fuel economy. I put 50k on a 2016 auto and have 28k on a 2017 MT and I very much prefer the MT. If you did mostly city driving and stayed less than 55 mph, I dont think there’d be any issue with the auto.

I do mostly highway driving at 65+ and the manual is performing much better. Very rarely do I have to come out of 6th gear, where as my auto almost never saw 6 gear over 65. Headwind on the interstate? Auto liked 4th gear. MT has no issue with 6th.

I’m averaging about 2 MPG more out of the MT thus far. I’ll be interested to see what the numbers look like when I get to the 50k mark I hit on the auto.

 

My truck will break 21 cruising at 65. I’m actually getting just shy of that for an average. I’m almost 100% highway driving, very little city driving which makes a difference.

 

It's a couple MPG. A few bucks per year... And for satisfaction of manual that your looking for anyways... Well worth it. Especially given "slow and special" Auto trans

 

Plus if you have the manual people can’t borrow your truck because they don’t know how to drive a manual. It’s becoming a rare skill these days.

 

Free theft prevention also.

 

It's about $5 more a week to drive a MT. I can swing it.

 

im getting about 24-25 mpg, i have a 60 mile commute to work, from fontana to LA. Its still not broken in yet, probably get better over time.

 

Thats interesting, i never see over 18 mpg in my 2017 6mt.

 

I agree with you. 6th gear is suprisingly capable on the highway. My Jeep Wrangler used to bog down on the highway with the slightest hill or headwind leaving me with an awkward “4th or 5th” dilemma. Never have that issue with the Tacoma. In fact it kind of makes 5th gear a bit redundant. Typically on most back roads im not going fast enough to justify going past 4th. On the highway though i find myself just passing through fifth on my way up to speed without much use for it.

 

Yup same here. I end up skipping gears a lot.