Prerunner MPG woes

I can't figure this out for the life of me... this can not be right!

I have a 1999 tacoma prerunner, 4 cyl engine... 2 wheel drive...

When I bought it, i was sure id get great gas mileage (especially
compared to the crappy corvette I sold to get this truck... vette was a
6 speed, got 18 - 19 mpg easy)

Well, I have had this tacoma for a year and test my mileage upon every
fill up... im getting 20 to 23 mpg... typically 21 though.

My wife has a heavier vehicle, with a 4 cyl and gets 25 - 30 mpg...
something isnt right.

Or, is this typical for this vehicle?

thanks in advance!
Jazz Mann

<jbraly@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1128345757.478105.84810@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
>I can't figure this out for the life of me... this can not be right!
>
> I have a 1999 tacoma prerunner, 4 cyl engine... 2 wheel drive...
>
> When I bought it, i was sure id get great gas mileage (especially
> compared to the crappy corvette I sold to get this truck... vette was a
> 6 speed, got 18 - 19 mpg easy)
>
> Well, I have had this tacoma for a year and test my mileage upon every
> fill up... im getting 20 to 23 mpg... typically 21 though.
>
> My wife has a heavier vehicle, with a 4 cyl and gets 25 - 30 mpg...
> something isnt right.
>
> Or, is this typical for this vehicle?
>
> thanks in advance!
> Jazz Mann[/color]


The ONLY thing that "just ain't right" are your expectations. Apparently
you didn't bother researching the EPA mileage (for comparison, you mileage
will be less) before you bought.

It's a TRUCK ... not a sleek passenger car. And there are several other
major factors besides weight that affect fuel mileage.

Buck up! You could be getting less mileage with the V6.

--

- Philip

My son has a '98 4cyl prerunner, and I have 2000 v-6 prerunner . He gets
about 18 city, 22 hiway , his foot is little heavy. I get 18-19 city.
Absolute best hiway is 21. If you have an actual prerunner it came with
31x10.50 tire that year. Thats what hurts the economy. We love our trucks.
Scott

philip, relax...
ive owned 2 honda cars and corvette... im sorry my knowledge of the
areodynamics of a truck is lower than yours... a simple "yes, that is
average/typical" would have been fine.

thank you for your answer, curt as it may have been.


Philip wrote:[color=blue]
> <jbraly@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1128345757.478105.84810@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...[color=green]
> >I can't figure this out for the life of me... this can not be right!
> >
> > I have a 1999 tacoma prerunner, 4 cyl engine... 2 wheel drive...
> >
> > When I bought it, i was sure id get great gas mileage (especially
> > compared to the crappy corvette I sold to get this truck... vette was a
> > 6 speed, got 18 - 19 mpg easy)
> >
> > Well, I have had this tacoma for a year and test my mileage upon every
> > fill up... im getting 20 to 23 mpg... typically 21 though.
> >
> > My wife has a heavier vehicle, with a 4 cyl and gets 25 - 30 mpg...
> > something isnt right.
> >
> > Or, is this typical for this vehicle?
> >
> > thanks in advance!
> > Jazz Mann[/color]
>
>
> The ONLY thing that "just ain't right" are your expectations. Apparently
> you didn't bother researching the EPA mileage (for comparison, you mileage
> will be less) before you bought.
>
> It's a TRUCK ... not a sleek passenger car. And there are several other
> major factors besides weight that affect fuel mileage.
>
> Buck up! You could be getting less mileage with the V6.
>
> --
>
> - Philip[/color]

scott, thanks for your insightful reply.
thanks for resiting the temptation to bash me for asking a simple
question as most newsgroupies do.
lol
jazz mann

<jbraly@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1128345757.478105.84810@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
>I can't figure this out for the life of me... this can not be right!
>
> I have a 1999 tacoma prerunner, 4 cyl engine... 2 wheel drive...
>
> When I bought it, i was sure id get great gas mileage (especially
> compared to the crappy corvette I sold to get this truck... vette was a
> 6 speed, got 18 - 19 mpg easy)
>
> Well, I have had this tacoma for a year and test my mileage upon every
> fill up... im getting 20 to 23 mpg... typically 21 though.
>
> My wife has a heavier vehicle, with a 4 cyl and gets 25 - 30 mpg...
> something isnt right.
>
> Or, is this typical for this vehicle?
>
> thanks in advance!
> Jazz Mann
>[/color]
Here are the city and highway EPA ratings for the 1999 Tacoma:

2.4 liter with automatic transmission: 21/24
2.4 liter with manual transmission: 22/27
2.7 liter with automatic transmission: 19/21

It sounds like you're getting mileage that is pretty close to or better than
EPA estimates, depending on your engine and transmission.

As far as comparing with your wife's vehicle, it is difficult to make a
valid apples-to apples comparison because of differences in horsepower to
weight ratio, gear and axle ratios, torque, and driving conditions.

--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply

On 3 Oct 2005 09:05:23 -0700, [email]jbraly@gmail.com[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
>thank you for your answer, curt as it may have been.[/color]

LOL....

You have NOT seen curt.....

hang around a bit if you wanna see curt....

--

Scott in Florida

On 3 Oct 2005 09:06:31 -0700, [email]jbraly@gmail.com[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
>scott, thanks for your insightful reply.
>thanks for resiting the temptation to bash me for asking a simple
>question as most newsgroupies do.
>lol
>jazz mann[/color]

This is a kind and gentle newsgroup......

--

Scott in Florida

No problem! glad to help. Scott

On Mon, 03 Oct 2005 06:22:37 -0700, jbraly wrote:
[color=blue]
> I can't figure this out for the life of me... this can not be right!
>
> I have a 1999 tacoma prerunner, 4 cyl engine... 2 wheel drive...
>
> When I bought it, i was sure id get great gas mileage (especially
> compared to the crappy corvette I sold to get this truck... vette was a
> 6 speed, got 18 - 19 mpg easy)
>
> Well, I have had this tacoma for a year and test my mileage upon every
> fill up... im getting 20 to 23 mpg... typically 21 though.
>
> My wife has a heavier vehicle, with a 4 cyl and gets 25 - 30 mpg...
> something isnt right.
>
> Or, is this typical for this vehicle?
>
> thanks in advance!
> Jazz Mann[/color]


See Ray's response and then realize this:

The PreRunner is a 4WD Tacoma without the front running gear. It gets the
same suspension and the same TIRES as the 4WD version.

I bet if you swap out those tires your mileage will increase.

Or, add the front axle and a transfer case and have an AWD...

On Mon, 03 Oct 2005 12:30:25 -0400, Scott in Florida wrote:
[color=blue]
> On 3 Oct 2005 09:06:31 -0700, [email]jbraly@gmail.com[/email] wrote:
>[color=green]
>>scott, thanks for your insightful reply.
>>thanks for resiting the temptation to bash me for asking a simple
>>question as most newsgroupies do.
>>lol
>>jazz mann[/color]
>
> This is a kind and gentle newsgroup......[/color]

Riiiight...

Scott in Florida <JustAsk@Florida.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>On 3 Oct 2005 09:05:23 -0700, [email]jbraly@gmail.com[/email] wrote:
>[color=green]
>>thank you for your answer, curt as it may have been.[/color]
>
>LOL....
>
>You have NOT seen curt.....
>
>hang around a bit if you wanna see curt....[/color]

Yeh...just lookit the boot tracks on my head... :)
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)

i had the feeling that it was related to the big tires.. thanks guys!

[email]jbraly@gmail.com[/email] wrote:[color=blue]
> I can't figure this out for the life of me... this can not be right!
>
> I have a 1999 tacoma prerunner, 4 cyl engine... 2 wheel drive...
>
> When I bought it, i was sure id get great gas mileage (especially
> compared to the crappy corvette I sold to get this truck... vette was a
> 6 speed, got 18 - 19 mpg easy)
>
> Well, I have had this tacoma for a year and test my mileage upon every
> fill up... im getting 20 to 23 mpg... typically 21 though.
>
> My wife has a heavier vehicle, with a 4 cyl and gets 25 - 30 mpg...
> something isnt right.
>
> Or, is this typical for this vehicle?
>
> thanks in advance!
> Jazz Mann
>[/color]


Do you have big grippy tires on it? Tires like that can cost several MPG
on a 4 banger. Put some smooth street tires on it and pump them up to
near max pressure and you should see a noticable mileage boost.

--

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