Unless you are stock, dont idle, and drive exactly the same way I do it's tough to make a direct comparison.
You've got wider tires, a cap, and rack, right? and if you were headed to maob my guess is you were loaded to offroad. Things make an impact.
It's pretty heavy. I'm not decided yet but I'm honestly thinking im going something lighter. looks cool but i dont think i need all that extra coverage.
I just drive normally. 70-75mph. just did a loop from SF bay to sacramento and back got 22.1. stock everything right now.
Drives got be long enough to warm up. My daily 2 mile commute is pretty ass for sure.
eh its worse than epa but epa tests are shit.
I look at it this way: It's a lifted truck with 33s and a ton of armor. I can get 22mpg on the highway without doing anything special. im happy with that.
Offroad worse for sure, but outside of like, Dalton highway fuel station closures im not...
They are windless, but they include the coefficient of drag of the vehicle in their MPG calculations.
The tests are indeed shit: https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml
They do two highway tests. Both start warm, so these estimates are wishful thinking for 90% of our drives...
Not so much from gear IN the bed, but from the 500 pounds of camper shell and roof top tent and other shit that are sitting ontop of the sides of the bed.
If you aren't loading up your bed sides with 500+ lbs you dont need to worry about it.