Great mileage is possible

Traded my last Tacoma at the end of July for a new Tundra. I had reservations, and one of those was about the fuel efficiency. Lot of people online make a big deal about how it's a gas hog and "desperately needs a tech update". But, I figured it's a very tested and proven engine; one major out-of-warranty repair of those competitors' trucks will wipe out their fuel savings quick.

Also, I was only averaging around 17.5-18 mpg with my last Tacoma. On long trips it was capable of up to 21 mpg, best it ever saw was 22. I keep spreadsheets and hand calc every single fill-up. The way I saw it, at current prices and usage, even if I only averaged 14 mpg in my Tundra, it's only another $50 in gas per month; not nothing but not going to break the bank either.

But, I'm happy to see that so far mine is capable of much better than that anyway. My Tundra is a secondary vehicle. I have a long commute and use an Impreza to go to work. The Tundra gets used for everything else, weekends and evenings. It doesn't do great with purely local trips/use, but it sure makes up for it on the long trips. I was happy with it before, but this past week I took it on a long trip. No towing or significant hauling, just driving with a bunch of luggage and stuff in the cab. Very, very happy with the results.

I'm ok with the lower numbers for local use as it's a lot of low speed, stop and go, idling while I load things, driving around the farm, etc.. But it's great to know if I want to take it on a trip, I can nearly match my old 2nd gen Tacoma.

Just to clarify, "Comp MPG" is what the computer readout said for the tank. "MPG" is simply the trip divided by the gallons.

ETA: 5.7, everything stock. Also the last pic was taken prior to getting around to filling up. The other two were taken at the gas stations.

 

Congratulations my friend, you got yourself a unicorn! Lucky!

 

I enjoy the sound of that 5.7 too much to drive mine that conservatively!

 

No doubt about it, I was driving at an easy pace on that long trip, light on the accelerator.

 

My truck will get that kind of mileage. 17 - 19 MPG on the interstate at around 75 MPH and 19 - 21 on the State Roads at 55 - 60 MPH. Overall average is 14.5 - 15 MPG combined since most of my driving is in town.

 

I also traded in my Tacoma for a 2018 Limited. Tacoma was averaging 19.5-21. My Tundra now has just over 11k on it but im only getting 13.8-14.5...on a good day maybe just under 16 on a trip. I do have 35×12.50×20's tho. One thing i have noticed is if i fill up at the local Circle K with non-ethanol 89 consecutively, my mpg stays above 13.5. If i stray and fill up at another station 1 or 2 fillups with reg 87, i start noticing my mpg dipping into the 12's.

 

My work had me commuting up and down I5 for a few months with the Tundra. I found the sweet spot to be right around 67-68mph, and I could hit 21.5-22mpg.

That was using adaptive cruise, and hitting the occasional traffic jam.

As mentioned, it seems to be idling these beasts that really cuts the numbers.

 

Best I ever got was following my dad and grandpa when they were driving uhaul truck and me behind them at 55 to 60 mph from Reno back to Fresno area I was getting 25 mpg.......my daily driving avg is 14.5vwith Nitto Ridge Grapplers 295 70 18

 

Do I detect a pattern difference between Sheetz Gas and Shell Gas?

 

Nah, that was purely because I always get Sheetz around home and there was no Sheetz where I went. But the first tank of the trip which was still excellent was on Sheetz gas.

 

Hard to believe, tbh. Even with pussyfootin’ the gas, always using cruise control, etc. the best I ever saw was 16.9

Now I have 295’s and further don’t care.

 

My numbers are all manually working the accelerator. I never use cruise control.

 

My truck is brand new, but had the chance to check mpg on a 150 mile I-26 trip this weekend. Truck said 15.6....actual was 16.4,
that was running with traffic at 80-85mph. I'm happy, after driving a 5.4 gas F-250 that got 11.2 doing nothing!

 

I came from a Tacoma as well, only it was the 2.7 4cylinder. In my normal day to day driving it was barely getting 20mpg. Idling didn't kill the mileage as bad as on the Tundra though.

My 4.6 averages 16.7 in the same driving as the 2.7 4cylinder. I consider that pretty good since it has 2x the horsepower.

 

I've been towing in town a lot lately and it is showing a 13.5 avg. I am thinking about disconnecting the battery and letting it re-boot. Is this snake oil or will that really let it start learning again?

 

It won't learn anything new.

 

I bought my 2017 SR5 5.7 4x2 CM in July 2017. The truck currently has 47K miles on it. I've never reset the fuel economy calculator so the 16.9mpg that the computer shows is the mileage for the life of the vehicle. Interestingly, I notice that number creep up when I set the cruise on 75ish vs. 65ish. Agree with what the others have said about the long term durability of these vehicles making up for the fuel savings that can be had in other trucks.

 

I probably average 14 - 16 around town with out load. I've gotten 21.5mpg on a 95 mile drive, mostly hwy at 60-70 mph. Longer distances at highway is very nice, coming from a 99 F150 5.4l that would normally get 14 mph now unloaded. Towing my 2000 lb pop up Aliner camper with camping gear loaded in truck, I get 14.5 - 16 mpg [with mountain passes, some at 5000 ft elevation gain]. I am quite happy with the Tundra. My wife with long legs has become a fan, with the room the Tundra gives in the CM. It's the only vehicle that we have owned she has not put the seat all the way back. The disadvantage is that we use the Tundra more than expected, leaving the BMWs in the garage. Go figure.