Yes, the tank size could be bigger but the Range Meter is Horrible

[JakeJoeBob]

The estimated range meter is horrible. Recently i've taken a few road trips in between my daily freeway comute. Since I got the truck, I agreed with the common criticism of the tank being too small and I still agree. However I'm starting to think part of the problem is that the estimated range is way too conservative. I started keeping track of MPG manually after I put 33' inch tires on. What I found was interesting. My gauge cluster says I'm getting 15.5 mpg, but according to my math from multiple road trips and comuttes it's much closer too 17.5. I don't hyper mile either, I do 70-75mph on average. If my math is right, I should be getting about 284 miles of range before the fuel light comes on at 2 gallons left, even on 33' inch E load AT's. If we count those 2 extra gallons then it's 319. Both of these are more than fine and better than my V8 4runner with a 23 gallon tank. My experience road triping about 700 miles and a couple hundred miles these last few weeks lines up with this math as well. However since putting on the tires, my "estamited range" has dropped from 250 (Not great) down to 224. Which sounds unacceptable, but again, this is not the actual range of the truck. Whatever calulation the truck does is boderline useless. I'd almost rather it not be there. I'd love to hear others thoughts.

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[bsquaredMTB]

Good to know! I need to do a similar test. I have 285/70/r17s on mine and the mileage dropped from 19.9 to 19.4 (SL tires) but I bet it's not super accurate like you've stated. Next time I fill up I'll set my trip meter and see what the calculations are.

 

[Ti421]

What a basic thing to screw up on Toyota’s part.

“The redesigned Tacoma features an all-new 12” digital instrument cluster including beautiful animations for different drive modes. Oh, and the basic trip data is wildly inaccurate.”

 

[JakeJoeBob]

What a basic thing to screw up on Toyota’s part.

“The redesigned Tacoma features an all-new 12” digital instrument cluster including beautiful animations for different drive modes. Oh, and the basic trip data is wildly inaccurate.”

It's sucks but it's a pretty minor complaint, everything else about the truck has been excellent.

 

[JakeJoeBob]

Good to know! I need to do a similar test. I have 285/70/r17s on mine and the mileage dropped from 19.9 to 19.4 (SL tires) but I bet it's not super accurate like you've stated. Next time I fill up I'll set my trip meter and see what the calculations are.

Please report back! Would love to gather some more data on this!

 

[Lando]

I agree, I haven’t minded the small tank so much as I do get 500km in the city on a tank. That’s about 310 miles. Of course by 450km it’s telling me to refuel now.
Worst truck I ever owned for small tank was my 1998 S-15 Jimmy 4wd. It would be sucking fumes at 360 km of city driving (224 miles). It was a 60 litre tank if I remember right. The Tacoma is a 69 litre tank.

 

[BearTacos]

This was as full as I could get it. Rolled into the station showing 1 mile to E. If my 18.4 mpg is correct I still had a ways to go

 

[Norsk]

I have noticed my range has increased after doing commute to work and my truck has new lightweight wheels on 285/70/17 falken AT4W SL. The mpg has gone up to 20 from 16.5 (stock tires in 285 tires).. I am getting 305 miles per tank now. Before the new wheels, it was 230-250. I can say this 4G is giving me way better MPG than my old 3G tacoma w 6MT and E load range tires!

 

[Dirt]

My experience the estimated range changes with the average mpg over several tanks. During a trip from E. OR to Phoenix, AZ area the estimated range went from 298 miles to 350 miles with subsequent fill ups. I hooked onto a trailer and started north on a full tank, near the bottom of that tank my gas gauge read almost empty and the estimator still had almost a hundred miles to empty even tho' the rig's computer was showing 12 mpg average. That changed over time, by the time I got home, the estimator was showing about 220 miles to empty after a fill up. I checked the mpg manually and reset the counters with each fill up. After dropping the trailer, it took several tanks to bring the estimated distance to empty up to 290 miles.

 

[Chico]

I did a trip on my new Trailhunter from Colorado Springs to Savannah, Georgia and my MPG avg was all over the place. On my first leg I drove from Colorado Springs to St Louis, MO. The first part of the trip in Colorado, I drove on secondary roads in freezing temperatures, and my average was around 18 MPG driving 50 MPH on average, once I hit I-70, driving 75 MPH on average and freezing windy conditions, my MPG average dropped to 16 MPG. On the second leg to Dover, Tennessee, my average was around 18 mpg again on secondary roads driving on average 50 MPH. The drive from Dover, Tennessee to Savannah, Georgia was much different, I was averaging between 19 and 20 MPG mixed Highway and secondary roads 55 MPH to 70 MPH, but a lot warmer temperature. I reset the MPG in the tacoma at every leg of the trip. When I planned my trip, I used manufacturer's MPG numbers, to budget my gas money and plan my stops along the way, well all that went out of the window, because at the end I ended up spending a bit more on gas and stopping more frequently, so the bottom line is that Where you drive, How you drive and the weather conditions are going to affect your MPG and range. Also I don't know if the so called break in period of a vehicle will also affect your MPG. In all I loved the road manners of the Trailhunter on the highway. It is a nice soft, comfortable ride and surprisingly very quiet, I can't wait to go on another long trip.

 

[Ruissimo]

My Trailhunter after 61 fuel-ups:

Averaging 18.4 mpg and about 224 miles per tank. It's hilly where I live, the cold winter certainly didn't help (single digits temperatures yielded 14 mpg at one point). I was hoping for 20 mpg when I bought the truck, and to be closer to 300 miles per tank than 200...

Having said all that, this is maybe the one negative thing about my truck, hardly offsetting the hundreds of positives it brings me every day.

10/10 would buy again.

 

[ramtour2]

Why can’t Toyota just fix this with a software update?

 

[Billy K]

From a programming point of view, there are way to many variables including your changing driving habits, temperatures, winds, road terrain, load weight, etc. to make a perfect "estimate" as you are driving over a few days or weeks. That said, they may be able to make it better with a software update, but it is still just an estimate based on conditions over the past xxx miles of your driving.

 

[zbennett]

It's kinda crazy how conservative the range meter is. I have rolled into a gas station with 10 miles left of range and filled up only 14 gallons. So I had ~4 gallons of gas still in the tank??

I have heard of a horror story where someone tried to squeeze as much gas as they could into the new taco and it back logged the fuel lines and in the end was a costly repair. So for your wallet's sake, just stop filling when the pump automatically switches off!

 

[FLAirgunner]

I just did my first fill up and it took 14.7 gallon before it clicked off. Odometer read 340 miles, it probably had 10 miles on it when the Dealership topped off the tank and I took delivery. After filling it up, the estimated range showed 280 miles! So, I essentially got 330 miles out of 14.7 gallons, not even to the point the "Get Gas Stupid" light came on, that's more than 50 miles off from what I actually am getting! This was all city driving and the calculated mileage was 22.44 MPG.

I'm taking a trip from The FL Panhandle to visit my Daughter and SIL over Mother's Day, they live in Canton, GA, so I should get a better feel for what the actual range is after this trip. Granted, it's still breaking in, so hopefully, that will improve over time and miles!

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