Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Toyota Tacoma: Current 3.5l vs Prior 4.0l

That's pretty darn good. Mostly on the valley floor or do you get into the foothills daily?

60 mile commute on flat land. In the mountains it drops to 18-20 mpg
depending how hard I’m pushing it....

I just drove one from central west virginia to western pennsylvania, not impressed...

That’s great. I wish mine would come close to that. It’s strange that there is so a wide discrepancy in fuel economy.

I can get about 22 in my 60 series land cruiser with its 12HT and 5 speed.

It really does depend on the driver and terrain, and in my case what's loaded in the back. Hunting trips to AZ from here, a couple of passes along the way including a 6300' one before I leave the state, and loaded with all my gear for a 7-10 day hunt I'll get about 17mpg.

Empty, as empty as mine gets that is with all the weight it usually has that 21 mpg like in the picture is pretty decent. If I took the fiberglass shell of, the pipe rack, and emptied the bed I bet I could get closer to 25 on the flats.

Greetings . I know this is not exactly what the OP asked for ,but close. I had a 1999 Tacoma that I bought in 2007. Put service cap on it and used it for grain dryer service and to hunt out of . Got the letter in 2008 about the rusted frames . Had it checked and was fine . In 2013 i was under truck and saw holes in frame . Contacted Toyota dealer and said I was eligible for buy back from Toyota . Originally paid right at $10,500 with tax . Drove 6 years . Toyota paid me $14,887.50 for my truck. Invested in stock market . Moved it 3 times . Last week i purchased a new Tacoma and had made almost enough to pay for 2/3 of 2020 Tacoma SR. Traded in my wife's Camry that we purchased in 2000. So didn't have to pay a lot difference .

Wife will mainly drive this . Grocery runs ,drive to our cabin to hunt etc. Seems to us we have all the power we need . We are in our early 60's and retired . Have not had trailer and quad hooked to it yet . Going to put some miles on it first . If lacking power ,we will use Silverado to haul quad. Like it so far . First 3 tanks of mixed driving we averaged just over 22 mpg.

For you 'Yota guys

https://trailtoys.net/products/magnetic-drain-plug

Wife's Lexus '11 GX 460 300 horse V8 full time 4x4 weighing in at 5500# can get 18 mpg (if I drive it)

My '14 Taco will get 19 at 65 mph on cruise & no A/C

6 sp MT

Bought the Taco for longevity....not fuel mileage

Yours is just broken in good unless you've trashed it somehow.

Year later update.
I did end up buying my Father-in-law's 2016 TRD Sport 4X4 quad cab and never warmed up to it like I did my 2010.
The 3.5L in the Tacoma never seemed to have the same torque as the 4.0L.
We traded it in on a 2022 Highlander Hybrid for the wife because they offered me almost as much as my Father-in-law paid for it 6 years ago with 73k miles on it and needing about $1500 in body work where a tree limb fell on it.
Our plan was to trade in her 2019 Hihglander but when they offered us a stupid amount of money for it we took it and I put a hitch on the 2019 Highlander that is now averaging 23-24 as a daily driver.
The '16 Tacoma was 16-17 mpg at best in around town driving.
I've been driving the Highlander for a week and do not miss the Tacoma at this point.
I'll get another truck in the future but it won't be a Gen 3 Tacoma with the 3.5L engine.

Yep, that is what a buddy of mine told me too. He much prefers his 2015 4.0 over the newer 3.5 he had. He says he hated the 3.5. He said something about getting a pedal commander right off the bat, if I buy one with a 3.5. I don't know much about that, but he says that helps with the hesitation. I'm currently looking at getting a low mile 2013 with the 4.0, so I was asking my buddy what he thought, since he's had both...

Both dogs that are harder on fuel than they should be.

I love my Tacoma. 2014 regular cab (last year for regular cabs), 4x4, 2.7 4 cylinder, 5 speed manual, crank up windows and manual locks. 20 mpg no matter how I drive it, and it’ll go anywhere. I’ll never sell it. Also have a 2011 regular cab 2wd and a 2016 4x4 with the 3.5. The 2016 shifts gears a lot with the 6 speed auto but it will sure move.

I have gotten a 2011 4 Door, 4WD Tacoma now and have had a 1988 4 Runner with the 22 RE since it was new in Sept 1987...It has a tip down of say a 30 degree angle on the block, passenger side of the engine...., and on the 2011 Tacoma with the 4.0, the filter is under the hood, right there... and facing at almost a 80 degree angle downward.
Same thing with a 93 and 94 Camry, and a 2004 Camry in the family.....

I've always changed the oil cold. and in each of those vehicles, left over night, the oil drains from the filter back into the oil pan...Until using the newer synthetic filters, I'd change the oil filters every 5K, but the oil ( synthetic Mobil 1) every 20K to 25K... no sludge on the top of the engines with V 6s or 4 Cylinders... once again, left overnight to drain back into oil pan, never had a mess all over the place under the engine.... even tho still put an oil pan on an oil drain drip pan....

These are on engines, that for business use have put a minimum of 300K on the engines, to 585K on the 88 4Runner....

The newer cartridge type filters Toyota is using now... I'll be avoiding those.. the ones I have now will probably out last me or at least my need for them...

I've gone from driving 60K a year on vehicles to where I down closer to 30 to 40 K a year....

The friend I was speaking of is in his early 70s and is pretty well set financially, G.Pass born and raised...His solution for his problem is he is going to be spending $3K on changing the axle gear ratio up to 4.88 gears or more. He figures it will be his last truck, so he doesn't mind.. and can certainly afford it...