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Vwbeamer · 02-21-2021, 04:33 PM

Today I did some A-B testing.

I wish I more time for this post, so I apologize in advance for no pictures right now. But I was so excited , I want share my results. To the average guy, this not going to sound exciting, but I know y'all will dig it.

Vehicle is 2019 2.7 four cylinder Tacoma with 4000 miles. The previous owner didn't drive it much.
It's a crew cab, short bed(5ft) 2WD base truck. Tires all inflated to 32 PSI.
No mechanical modifications have been made. Other than the cover which covers the last 40% of the bed, The only other mods was running boards/steps and aftermarket aluminum wheels.

Cover is made of 1/4 plywood and sits perfectly flush with the bed sides and tailgate. Weight is 15 pounds I'm guessing.

I live in Georgia and the weather this morning was 49 degree. Traffic was light and virtually no wind. The road was a four lane divided highway for most part. the fist and last .6 of a mile was a two lane road from my house to highway. The loop I ran was 7.3 miles, mostly level. Light traffic.

Speed on two lane road was 44 miles an hour, on four lane road speed was 64. I accelerated by flooring it till I got to 30, engaging the cruz and selecting the desired MPH( which you can do on this model, on other cars you can't). I did it this way to minimize the difference between runs. I also tried to brake at the same points. I let the cruz handle the gas once it was set.

I did 5 runs this morning. The MPG results are from the trucks built in gauge.

First I drove the truck for 15 miles at highway speeds to get it warmed up. It return 19.1 on this trip, mostly because of the cold start.

7.3 mile loop on fairly level road. Light traffic, so that had little effect. No wind. Only about 6.1 miles was at actual highway speeds, I would like to go on a longer loop in the future. The MPG results from these loops are not great because : A. truck isn't broken in , B. I wasn't hypermiling, I was trying to get repeatable test.

1st run with 40% cover -22.5 MPG
2nd run without cover, tailgate down-21.3 MPG
3rd run without cover , tailgate up-21.7 MPG
4th run with 40% cover 22.7 MPG
5th run without cover 22.00 MPG

The second run was a mistake. I forgot and left the tailgate down when I removed the cover. I decided to go with it after I noticed and see what the result where.

Average with Cover-22.6 MPG
Average without cover-21.85 MPG

Net results is .75 MPG gain with 40% cover.

Cost to build cover was about 50 bucks, because lumber is extremely high right now. I will post pictures soon. It looks pretty good, it 1/4 plywood with a 2X2 frame, painted with bed liner.

Estimated yearly savings for me driving 14000 miles and gas at $2.30 is $48.23 from this mod.

In a future post I will explain why I did a 40% cover, instead of 50%. I will also try a 50% cover in the future.

02-21-2021, 04:33 PM	#1 (permalink)
Vwbeamer EcoModding Apprentice Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Macon,GA Posts: 176 Ruint Taco - '19 Toyota Tacoma SR Double Cab 90 day: 23.76 mpg (US) Thanks: 124 Thanked 43 Times in 34 Posts	40% Tonneau Cover on 2019 Tacoma Today I did some A-B testing. I wish I more time for this post, so I apologize in advance for no pictures right now. But I was so excited , I want share my results. To the average guy, this not going to sound exciting, but I know y'all will dig it. Vehicle is 2019 2.7 four cylinder Tacoma with 4000 miles. The previous owner didn't drive it much. It's a crew cab, short bed(5ft) 2WD base truck. Tires all inflated to 32 PSI. No mechanical modifications have been made. Other than the cover which covers the last 40% of the bed, The only other mods was running boards/steps and aftermarket aluminum wheels. Cover is made of 1/4 plywood and sits perfectly flush with the bed sides and tailgate. Weight is 15 pounds I'm guessing. I live in Georgia and the weather this morning was 49 degree. Traffic was light and virtually no wind. The road was a four lane divided highway for most part. the fist and last .6 of a mile was a two lane road from my house to highway. The loop I ran was 7.3 miles, mostly level. Light traffic. Speed on two lane road was 44 miles an hour, on four lane road speed was 64. I accelerated by flooring it till I got to 30, engaging the cruz and selecting the desired MPH( which you can do on this model, on other cars you can't). I did it this way to minimize the difference between runs. I also tried to brake at the same points. I let the cruz handle the gas once it was set. I did 5 runs this morning. The MPG results are from the trucks built in gauge. First I drove the truck for 15 miles at highway speeds to get it warmed up. It return 19.1 on this trip, mostly because of the cold start. 7.3 mile loop on fairly level road. Light traffic, so that had little effect. No wind. Only about 6.1 miles was at actual highway speeds, I would like to go on a longer loop in the future. The MPG results from these loops are not great because : A. truck isn't broken in , B. I wasn't hypermiling, I was trying to get repeatable test. 1st run with 40% cover -22.5 MPG 2nd run without cover, tailgate down-21.3 MPG 3rd run without cover , tailgate up-21.7 MPG 4th run with 40% cover 22.7 MPG 5th run without cover 22.00 MPG The second run was a mistake. I forgot and left the tailgate down when I removed the cover. I decided to go with it after I noticed and see what the result where. Average with Cover-22.6 MPG Average without cover-21.85 MPG Net results is .75 MPG gain with 40% cover. Cost to build cover was about 50 bucks, because lumber is extremely high right now. I will post pictures soon. It looks pretty good, it 1/4 plywood with a 2X2 frame, painted with bed liner. Estimated yearly savings for me driving 14000 miles and gas at $2.30 is $48.23 from this mod. In a future post I will explain why I did a 40% cover, instead of 50%. I will also try a 50% cover in the future.