maximizing MPG - My experience with manual Tacoma

[Pablo]

Let's say you have a car/truck. You/I can't just change to a new vehicle (in this case just for the hypothetical discussion below)

There are quite a list of variables that impact MPG - many in maybe three categories, let's just say those you can control, can't control and maybe some control. I mean oil, drive lubes, tires, pressure, wax job, load, RH, weather (AP, temperature), engine tune, fuel, driving style, roads, traffic, and a whole of other variables. I can't control the weather, but I can choose my oil. Fuel is a huge one and somewhat controllable. I can choose where I live, but I'm not moving for MPG impact, because I love hills, for example.

What I will say though for most every road situation, I can control my driving style. No secret sauce there, not sciency or mystery based.. Now breaking that down to the next level, let's say no lead footing it. Duh obvious. I mean in most ATs just drive with a raw egg under the go juice pedal. Again - DUH.

SOOO?

With my MT Tacoma the one main thing the gets me up to 21 MPG (normal 18-19-20 mpg maybe) is getting into 6th gear as soon as reasonably possible without lugging it. Sometimes skipping a gear. No dawdling in 3-4 for sure. Yes I have seen a delta seasonal fuel. I've been doing this many tanks now, quite repeatable, for a few years. I don't see it with oil, that's for sure!! Hahaha

 

[CKN]

Not doubting your experience. You are credible. However-some claims about mpg across multiple vehicle forums are at times outlandish. It's like guys measure their manhood based on how many mpg's they can get out of gallon of gas. MPG figures are like the Twilight zone across the Internet...at least in my experience.

 

[Pablo]

Not doubting your experience. You are credible. However-some claims about mpg across multiple vehicle forums are at times outlandish. It's like guys measure their manhood based on how many mpg's they can get out of gallon of gas. MPG figures are like the Twilight zone across the Internet...at least in my experience.

I wish I could get another 10 mpg!!

 

[KCJeep]

You lost me at "no lead footing it".

 

[KrisZ]

To me it seems people love to post their best MPG they got one time, or maybe few times and make it seem like that's their normal MPG.

Personally, I can usually get city MPG pretty much in line with EPA numbers, maybe sometimes better. But highway MPG is usually worse for me because I like to drive pretty fast on the highway and I hate staying below 65mph when the road is almost empty.

 

[CarbonToast]

City: Driving style and lots of coasting
Highway: slow down, keep it at 72mph or less.

I started only driving 72 on the highway for short trips(2-4hours). Where i live the speed limit is 75 and most are going 80-85 mph. Stay in the right lane, let everyone pass, slow down even more to lets turcks around you, save my MPG vs 5-10 minutes per hour of driving.

 

[Cujet]

I tend to drive a good number of miles per year. In years past, well over 2000 miles per week for my job. As a one-way for me was 1350 miles! Even now, the FL-TN commute is 800 miles each way. Every 2 weeks. Plus retirement travel.

Points: Going slow wasted so much time, despite the fuel savings, I was saving just a few $ per hour, not worth it. AND, the higher the vehicle MPG, the lower the $ savings by going slow.

F150 W/2.7L ecoboost 21mpg
F150 W/5.4L V8 13mpg
F150 W/5.0 V8 18mpg
F150 W/3.5 ecoboost 19mpg
Jetta TDI 42 MPG
Jaguar X-Type 2.5L manual transmission 27mpg
Jaguar F-Type 3.0 25mpg



My conclusion is that 32-33mpg is where the balance lies, and mirrors this graph:
The money saved by moving from 35 to 60 mpg moves the $ from $114 to $67, or saves ya $47.
By way of comparison, my moving truck costs me $1000 to drive 800 miles.

 

[KrisZ]

I started only driving 72 on the highway for short trips(2-4hours). Where i live the speed limit is 75 and most are going 80-85 mph. Stay in the right lane, let everyone pass, slow down even more to lets turcks around you, save my MPG vs 5-10 minutes per hour of driving.

I find the opposite valuable. Saving 10 minutes per hour may not be much on trips that last an hour or two, but add up pretty quickly when the trip is 4 hours or more.
I used to drive for mpg, but with kids, all of our trips lasted forever because of frequent stops and me sticking close to the speed limit. So I started to prioritize time over mpg and our trips became more manageable from time perspective. Well worth a bit of extra fuel costs when your trip is 15-20 hours long.

Let's take a 1000 mile trip as an example.
- at an average of 65mph, it would take 15.3 hours
- at an average of 72mph, it would take 13.8 hours
- at an average of 80mph, it would take 12.5 hours.
- at an average of 85mph, it would take 11.7 hours.

The time savings are significant when they add up over long trips.

 

[Pablo]

I’m not necessarily driving slow, just getting into top gear as fast AND as smoothly efficient as possible. Almost as good as an AT!

 

[AZjeff]

I find the opposite valuable. Saving 10 minutes per hour may not be much on trips that last an hour or two, but add up pretty quickly when the trip is 4 hours or more.
I used to drive for mpg, but with kids, all of our trips lasted forever because of frequent stops and me sticking close to the speed limit. So I started to prioritize time over mpg and our trips became more manageable from time perspective. Well worth a bit of extra fuel costs when your trip is 15-20 hours long.

Let's take a 1000 mile trip as an example.
- at an average of 65mph, it would take 15.3 hours
- at an average of 72mph, it would take 13.8 hours
- at an average of 80mph, it would take 12.5 hours.
- at an average of 85mph, it would take 11.7 hours.

If you can average 85 mph you must be driving over 100 mph. With kids even faster.

I've been looking at this all wrong. From now on the older I get the faster I'm driving cause I don't have as much time left to waste. Look out!

 

[hjp]

TDI - I punch it and smile
LX470 - I punch it and cry

 

[hjp]

I find the opposite valuable. Saving 10 minutes per hour may not be much on trips that last an hour or two, but add up pretty quickly when the trip is 4 hours or more.
I used to drive for mpg, but with kids, all of our trips lasted forever because of frequent stops and me sticking close to the speed limit. So I started to prioritize time over mpg and our trips became more manageable from time perspective. Well worth a bit of extra fuel costs when your trip is 15-20 hours long.

Let's take a 1000 mile trip as an example.
- at an average of 65mph, it would take 15.3 hours
- at an average of 72mph, it would take 13.8 hours
- at an average of 80mph, it would take 12.5 hours.
- at an average of 85mph, it would take 11.7 hours.

The time savings are significant when they add up over long trips.

The time savings at 85 vs 65 is staggering, and on an open highway in a maintained and capable vehicle, the risk assumed at the increased speed is minimal.

On a Friday after work, I would drive from San Diego to Tucson with my wife to visit her family and traveling at 85 or so, could turn a ~6hr trip into a ~4.5hr trip and that meant getting in at a time where we could unwind and rest, still enjoying Saturday and enough of Sunday before leaving, without being in a total fatigue state from arriving at 2AM or later vs midnight.

Going much faster than 85 is unnecessary and puts you into a range where reaction times are too greatly impacted to apply good judgement in a moment imo

 

[skyactiv]

Drove from Columbus, OH to St. George, UT and back in June in my VW Jetta GLI 6 speed. Two days to get there, two days back.

Day one headed west 34 MPG, day two, 31 MPG.
Going back east day one was 33 MPG, day two was 34 MPG.

Two people and luggage. Not spectacular fuel economy but we drove fast. Much of Utah has an 80 MPH speed limit and 75 MPH and Kansas and Colorado.

Has an APR 87 octane tune 290 HP 320 torque. Turbo for the win in the mountains.

 

[KrisZ]

If you can average 85 mph you must be driving over 100 mph. With kids even faster.

I've been looking at this all wrong. From now on the older I get the faster I'm driving cause I don't have as much time left to waste. Look out!

I used that as an easy example, but doesn't matter which speed you choose, your average will of course be lower. In the end the time savings will be very much similar though.

 

[Zebra312]

I just don’t get in a hurry. Five under is perfectly fine.

I’m also the guy who will almost always take the long way, avoiding interstates. I’ve got zero problem making a six hour trip in ten.

 

[supton]

I had a Scangauge in my Tundra and I swear, I could get better mpg in 5th than in 6th... as I was sticking to the backroads, 60mph and slower, and that thing could not hold 6th on the hills at those speeds. 5th with a locked convertor was better than 6th unlocked (or worse, a double kickdown to 4th). YMMV for sure. [I know you're rocking an MT so you "automatically" will do better than me trying to outsmart the ECU. I was doing all I could to keep that convertor locked when I could. Slippage and heat = waste of gas.]

Lately I've been trying to keep to 70 or less, there's been grumblings about increased enforcement and I do save a few %. And it doesn't change the time spent as most of my trips are under an hour. But long trips? forget it, get me there quicker. Plus at some point I'm fighting boredom.

I did leave my winters on for the summer as I hated the tires and want them gone (plus the a/s got a nail). 195 so maybe the more narrow tire helps? CVT so it's turning as slow as it can regardless.

 

[meep]

Agree with OP. The lowest rpms under throttle reduce pumping losses. Legit. I’m pressure sure part of the current secret sauce over computer controlled throttle/CVt combinations optimizes the combination of open throttle position and taller drive ratio, with consideration for the engines torque curve, for a given commanded torque value. If you can keep the throttle open more, pumping losses are reduced.

My sons 1.5T civic MT could be coaxed into 6th very early in the acceleration cycle, I’ll guesstimate 45 mph. The engine could do it no problem under casual accel. I hardly needed the other 5 gears to get there. First, second, then depends on what’s needed next … 4th? Skip 5..

 

[Legs4Arms]

Let's say you have a car/truck. You/I can't just change to a new vehicle (in this case just for the hypothetical discussion below)

There are quite a list of variables that impact MPG - many in maybe three categories, let's just say those you can control, can't control and maybe some control. I mean oil, drive lubes, tires, pressure, wax job, load, RH, weather (AP, temperature), engine tune, fuel, driving style, roads, traffic, and a whole of other variables. I can't control the weather, but I can choose my oil. Fuel is a huge one and somewhat controllable. I can choose where I live, but I'm not moving for MPG impact, because I love hills, for example.

What I will say though for most every road situation, I can control my driving style. No secret sauce there, not sciency or mystery based.. Now breaking that down to the next level, let's say no lead footing it. Duh obvious. I mean in most ATs just drive with a raw egg under the go juice pedal. Again - DUH.

SOOO?

With my MT Tacoma the one main thing the gets me up to 21 MPG (normal 18-19-20 mpg maybe) is getting into 6th gear as soon as reasonably possible without lugging it. Sometimes skipping a gear. No dawdling in 3-4 for sure. Yes I have seen a delta seasonal fuel. I've been doing this many tanks now, quite repeatable, for a few years. I don't see it with oil, that's for sure!! Hahaha

Maybe it's just me but you don't come off as a person that needs to be overly concerned with fuel mileage.
Is this an experiment just to try to achieve maximum MPG's?
The day I stop living life on the loud pedal is the day I surrender my seedless gonads

 

[Pablo]

Maybe it's just me but you don't come off as a person that needs to be overly concerned with fuel mileage.
Is this an experiment just to try to achieve maximum MPG's?
The day I stop living life on the loud pedal is the day I surrender my seedless gonads

Im jealous of wife getting 38 mpg

More of commentary on variables that control MPG. Maybe someone will make a list. Three categories

 

[oil pan 4]

Drive 10 over the speed limit in my Nissan leaf.