QuestionI just purchased a 2001 Toyota Tacoma SR5 Prerunner Double Cab. It has the 3.4L V6 EFI DOHC w/Automatic Transmission, TRD Offroad Package, Locking Limited Slip Differential and 16" Sport Wheels. It's a beautiful truck and has about 51,000 miles on it. I live in Searcy, AR so the weather this time of year is not real harsh. The specs show that the estimated gas mileage is 17/20. On the highway I'm getting almost 15 and in the city a little over 13. I don't think that my driving habits could cause such a drastic decrease in fuel efficiency. Is this normal or should I have it checked? If I should have it checked, is there anything in particular that may be causing the problem?
Other than the gas mileage I could not be more pleased with the truck. A solid vehicle just as I expected from Toyota.
Thanks for your help.
Jay W. Cherry
AnswerRemember that disclaimer"your mileage may vary" well, it's varying in your case.
It seems a liitle too far off though so you may want to have the dealer do a fuel consumption test but before that make sure that you are doing the mileage calculations correctly.
As you probably know these engines are computer controlled and any drop in gas mileage would mean excessive fuel consumption which means the engine is running in a rich condition, this in turn would trigger a check engine light, which I assume is not the case.
Here is an easy way to check highway mileage yourself:
Fill the gas tank all they way up
Drive it for 100 miles or so on the highway
Go back to where you filled the tank
Re-fill the tank all the way up again
Write down the exact amount of fuel it took to fill it up
Write down the mileage driven
Divide the miles by the gallons of fuel you used and you will get mpg.
