tacoma gas mileage

On Thu, 01 Sep 2005 11:51:52 GMT, B a r r y found these unused words floating about:

So that's a justification for the previous poster snapping about losing gas milage while gaining 1000 pounds tow capacity to fit a macho ego?

Remember that what show off isn't usually used and -most- people never tow the max weight.

Toybloata HAD a nice medium PU with the Tacoma, then had to McBarf it with 'supersize'.

My '05 V6 6 speed 4x4 Access Cab is only good for 19-20 on the highway. You won't save much!

On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 16:42:28 GMT, B a r r y found these unused words floating about:

Get larger, get lower mpg.

My 02 Tacoma DC, finally 'broken in', is running 22 mpg at 70 highway.

2002 Tacoma 6 cylinder: On relatively flat roads (NYS Thruway), 65mph, I've gotten about 21-22. Measured on repeated, identical trips and averaged. 20 mpg on roads with significant hills. I use 89 octane gas. Around town: 17-19, depending on whether a couple of nearby nursing homes have let the residents out for the day. Hard to get good mileage behind a bunch of Crown Victorias doing 9 miles per hour.

If you use cruise control with big hills, everything goes to hell, but you probably knew that already.

if you do a cost analysis, the amount of money you would potentially lose on a car switch would not off set your fuel prices savings... unless gas goes really through the roof... like at around 6 or so a gallon...

Of course.

I wonder what the '05 would do for MPG with the old 190 HP V6?

Of course, it wouldn't tow 6500 pounds then, either.

Different suspension with less horsepower, or the same as before?

On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:10:24 GMT, B a r r y found these unused words floating about:

Less, it's heavier and more windy.

Since my average tow is 2500-3500, why would I care about some 'maximum' rating?? I'm set for 5500 as it is!

Do your tow ALL the time? Why buy larger than you really need ... Oh yes, I remember, where Yugo, ego Toyblota's new motto.

Here we go again... Is someone going to bring up how many empty pickups they see on the road?

FWIW, I bought a Tacoma over an F150 and a Dakota. The new F150 is too big, and the Dakota is, well... a Chrysler, like my Jeep. 8^(

Remember what's bigger to you just might be smaller to someone else.

The other poster was me.

I love the truck far more than my older Toyotas and Nissans.

Since you have no idea what I use my vehicle for, I'll just suggest you have a sparkling day, and I'll move on... Ta-ta!

What *do* you use it for?

Towing an enclosed 6x12 trailer. The trailer is used to move tools, like 600 pound table saws, thickness planers, and jointers. When the tools aren't in the trailer it's usually used to move furniture grade hardwoods, $100-$200 per sheet plywoods, furniture, and finished cabinetry. The materials I move need to be _inside_, away from dirt and weather, and some of the sheets and most of the lumber is 12 feet long, so I have no use for an 8 foot bed.

Sometimes, the rig needs to go over unpaved surfaces to get to where the contents need to go. I've installed a second hitch receiver on the front of the Taco for easy manipulation of the trailer.

I've found that towing 3000-4000 pounds on a regular basis with a vehicle rated at 3000-4000 pounds usually results in an early demise of the vehicle. The new Taco comfortably tows the trailer, and provides the perfect balance of size and power for my taste, without having to deal with the size of an F150, Silverado, or Ram. Getting similar performance from a Dakota would require a V8.

Last, but not least, the 2005 F150 is not available with my preference of transmission, a manual.

Back to the size is relative stuff, most of the other folks that do what I do drive 350 HP full-size pickups and SUV's.

My '05 Tundra 4WD Access Cab with 4.7L V8 always gives between 19.8 and

21.0 mpg on highways at 55-67mph. (We don't have any Interstates in north central Idaho). The '05 Tundra has more smarts in its computerized control of engine and automatic transmission. As a result, it loafs along at surprisingly low rpms until you need to pass, then take off, then drop back to low rpms as soon as you're finished passing. It behaves very differently from any vehicle I've driven before. For its weight and payload capacity, I'm very happy with its fuel economy.

I'm not sure what my '04 Tacoma Double cab gas mileage is..... but I'm absolutely sure it's alot better than the big pickups with dual wheels and 100 gallon gas tanks. Damn, that must suck. Congratulations goes to the few remaining companies who still make mini-trucks with 4 cylinder engines. The others are showing no/little forethought.

FWIW,

If you drive a pre runner or 4wd, there is around a 5.5% odometer discrepancy in your favor. So when you drive 100 miles, the odo ticks off 93. Tus you are likely getting about 1.055X the gas mileage you report. See my post:

May 24 2004, 9:21 pm

I have a 2003 Tacoma Doulecab Prerunner V6 TRD (larger tires) and have been following the mileage thread. I just got back from a trip to Florida and have some interesting data.

I set my trip odo at the Georgia border today and when I saw the mile marker for 99 miles, my trip ODO read 93.6 miles. I logged again in South Carolina

79 miles by markers and 74.9 miles by ODO. Then one last time on I77 85 miles by markers and 81 miles by ODO. If you do the math:

99/93.6 = 1.057

79/74.9 = 1.054 85/81 = 1.049

The average ratio of Actual/ODO = 1.054

I tried to check the speedo, but without instantaneous measurements it is hard to do. Over about a 10 minute average, when the needle was on 65, I calculated a speed of 66.7. However, I'm not very confident in that number.

I also logged two fill ups for gas mileage:

344.8 miles 15.147 gallons = 22.764 mpg 282.8 miles 12.222 gallons = 23.128 mpg

However, if you adjust the mpg for the 5.4% difference in actual and ODO miles, then

363.398 miles 15.147 gallons = 24.387 mpg 298.054 miles 12.222 gallons = 23.991 mpg

My old 97 V6 2WD 4Runner got consistently 24mpg on the highway so this is not that far off. As a side note, I did also keep the speed down at 65 mph and below. I have found that driving above 65 tends to burn the gas faster. Also, keeping the truck out of passing gear helps too. If the cruise is set and you come to a grade, my Taco jumps into passing gear and that tends to drink gas.

I hope this helps the discussion on Taco mileage. I'm going to run come calculations to see if the 5.4% difference makes sense for the larger tire size.

Enjoy,

Brian

studio wrote: