2016 Toyota Tacoma Real World Towing MPG Review: How Fuel Efficient is the new Pickup?

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[courtsm]

I was truck shopping, pretty much every brand minus Nissan. Ford 150 FX4, GMC 1500 SLE, Ram 1500 Sport and Toyotas. Don't like the Tundra much but I can respect it, it has its place. I settled on the Tacoma TRD Off Road DC manual. Decent cab for the two kids and will tow the 3500lb bunk house single axle off road trailer I plan to get soon. Simple truck, legendary reliability and good enough off road and on road. YES half tons I looked at were better in some regards, but they were also around 6-10k more with similar options with questionable domestic reliability. Couldn't be happier

[jcollin]

In my 2016 TRD 4x4 off road edition pulling over a 4, 000lb 21ft CC, I managed 14mpgs driving 60-65mph. I've also noticed the more I've broken my truck in, the better fuel economy I'm getting. I average around 20-21 around town, and up to almost 24 on the highway.

[randomman]

Let's remember that Tacoma is usually for towing small trailers, or not towing at all. The figures are great in my view. This is a go ahead for me to get a new 2016 Tacoma next week.

[hoskier]

Would love to see you repeat this with ECT engaged for all of us wondering!

[HeyBennyBoy]

Its never a real TFL video without "Mr. Truck" and his favorite weight distra--BOOTing hitch

[Bobbybeb]

Not bad for a small truck that seems to have been designed more for off road fun. People that will be towing close to that weight more often will probably buy a full size truck anyway.

[densign]

Thank you guys for everything you do to show real world testing

[doughenry]

87 Octane in CO for $1.95/gal...oh the good ol days!

[jamesbeaman]

Love these real world tests! In the past on these tests, you have compared the calculated MPGs to the MPG shown on the truck computer but I don't see that you did that this time. I like being able to see how accurate the computer number is to actual so would recommend including that when you can.

[Captndarty]

As owning a 16 Tacoma I wouldn't have believed this without seeing it but when driving from Minnesota across the plains with a steady headwind, a 1200 pound trailer at around 1500 feet elevation I averaged 14 miles per gallon at 74 mph. Between 8, 000 and 10, 000 feet in Colorado under the same weight and speed I was averaging 18 to 21 miles per gallon. Air density made a huge difference for aerodynamics. Even though there was a 25 to 30 horse power loss the fuel consumption reflected that.

[ozarkmountainhollow]

I've hauled plenty big loads with my 2002 Tacoma V6 but never at 4600rpm. that's just dumb. 3000rpm max. for me. I like my truck it's been good to me. keep it 55mph and get about 17mpg with a 4000lb load.

[ChloeDunIT]

Awesome stuff guys! So glad to see you y'all back on the road doing real-world testing!

[satberhoxhaj]

i love this truck planning to get one myself, but yeah i wouldn't do 70mph and rpm at almost 5000rpm 6speed auto ??? while towing 5600lbs doing 50-55mph would have gotten much better mpg

[Fordguy]

Yay! The return of Mr. Truck! Kent is awesome.

[joshuawebb]

In my personal experience I get much better gas mileage doing 55mph than doing 65. I have a 2014 f150 5.0. Towing a 6k lb trailer. When I set the cruise control to 65 I get about 7-8 mpg. Doing 55mph I get 12-14 mpg.

[RobbDzzz]

While flat towing on the highway, the weight is mostly irrelevant. At constant speed, drag is your enemy. The weight will effect acceleration/deceleration. Drag increases by the square of the speed, so if economy is what you are seeking, slow down. A couple quick and dirty examples 40 squared is 1600, 55^2 is 3025, 65^2 is 4225 and 70^2 is 4900, just to provide an idea how non linear drag is and why your mileage is so drastically affected by speed.

[bellracing]

The truck was never designed to run 4000rpm continuously the Toyota motors get peak torque at 3300 rpm your testing was done 2000 rpm below redline and 600 rpm above peak torque/efficiency I own a Tacoma and I have to say there a tough truck they were designed to compete with the Ford Rangers or Chevy colorado's not the F-150's that's the Tundra's job.

[johntkearns]

you goofs should do fast food reviews WHILE you're doing the gauntlet ... combo reviews. I'd never tow anything or want to drive revving that high flat out... crazy

[llibsetag]

Good test! Not ALWAYS towing, so in "real world" V6 is better on gas with "mid level type" of gas than V8 using premium level gas when just driving around.

[mxwrench]

I kinda feel like this video is a set up to establish a bias control for a future review. Throw the Tacoma under the bus so to speak. Maybe to put the F150 tow test they plan to release in a more positive light.

I still haven't seen an answer in the comments to the question whether or not the (Toyota recommended for towing) ECT Power button was used during the test. But after watching the video I will assume it was not. Also, by towing in D instead of the Toyota owners manual recommended S4 or S5 AND running cruise control (against Toyota towing recommendations) and holding 70mph (again against Toyota owners manual recommended maximum of 65mph), the truck was clearly stuck in 3rd gear the entire time revving the piss out of it.

As a 16 Tacoma owner that tows a 5k lb, 17' travel trailer, I know there was better settings to be used to get more efficient use of the engines available torque while towing. (ie. S4 transmission setting, ECT Power mode selected, and 35psi in the rear tires) Then I would have expected 10-12 MPG and a max engine rpm while cruising level @ 65mph of 3200 rpm.

However, even with these changes I would not expect to see MPG any higher than 12mpg. But the video MPG isn't what has me disappointed, it's the fact that you show the Tacoma only able to tow this load by revving 4700 rpm when this is just not true. If I was watching videos trying to decide if the Tacoma was up to the task of the occasional tow this would definitely sway me away. But it has been my experience that this just simply isn't the case with the 16 Tacoma. In my opinion it is completely capable of towing 5600 lb. without revving to the moon if towed as per the manuals recommendations.

Sorry guys, but your test is invalid in my opinion due to these discrepancies.