My 2025 Toyota Tacoma Improved 5 MPG, But, I Had to Install a $1,400 Exhaust, a $400 Air Intake, and I Have To Run 93 Octane Gas To Get It

No way, your looking at a vacum gage ,it will not unless you trick the 02 sensors or due a mod tune.the computer will not!!! Not let you get better mpg ,that's the problem ,the emissions will through un burnt gas out your tailpipe before you get better mpg .or go overseas were you dont have this ridiculous emissions.

With the numbers provided, getting +5 mpg.. It costs .003 cents more per mile just to run premium before adding upgrades. So he is out $2k and spending extra for fuel

If he just used regular gas (not premium) I get that he will break even at 73,804 miles. If he uses premium, he'll never break even with gas costing $0.80 more per gallon. The extra cost of the premium gas eats up any savings he is gettng with the better fuel economy.

I'm not an engineer either... but math is not on this mans side. 3.22/gal averaging 22 mpg is roughly 0.146/mile. (14.6 cents per mile) vs 4.06/gal averaging 27 mpg is roughly 0.15/mile (15 cents per mile)

So he is still spending more per mile due to the increased cost of fuel. He'd have to be getting 28mpg on 93 to break it even. And even at 30mpg it he would be saving 1 cent per mile. Driving 92 miles per day commute he would save .92/cents per day, and it would take him 2,173 days to recoup the 2k he invested in the parts/install. On a 5 day work week (not taking into account holidays, PTO, sick days etc) that means he works 260 days a year, meaning it would take him over 8 years to break even.

So.... yeah. Not worth it. If you want cool intake and exhaust notes, go for it. But the math doesn't support doing it for cost savings.

Those cold air intakes are nothing but snake oil. And as far as the exhaust system goes, I usually just wait until the factory system rots off. As I did with my last car. And my neighbors muffler shop welded on one of those used flow master muffler at a fraction of the cost. Because said muffler was used, and the prior owner thought that it was too loud.

Actually a question... does the truck still have the catalytic converter? If not, there's your mileage increase.

After 209,187 miles you'll recoup your costs. Nice!

It is completely common for vehicles to improve in MPG as they break in. And with premium fuel. The exhaust and the air intake likely had little to nothing to do with it.

If you are so concerned about fuel economy, why didn’t you buy a Prius?

The reason your mileage improves is because of break in on drive train.
Higher octain fuel does not deliver better mileage due to the fact all gas levels have the same specific energy.
Too bad you still cannot keep up with a stock ranger.

Don't believe it. No matter what you do to that truck your gas mileage isn't going to improve as much as you say. If it was possible Toyota would be doing it from the factory because they have a huge incentive to meet and exceed government standards for manufacturers. Plus you kill any warranty repairs you may need in the future. Foolish to spend that much money to maybe get 1 or 2 MPG's better.

First let me say if I drive 60-65 mph, my bone stock 2016 ram 1500 pentastar gets 27 mpg on 87 octane. That being said if Toyota could get a 29mpg Tacoma by tweaking the intake and exhaust I'm sure they'd do it. The cost for Toyota to install such equipment would be drastically less than what this guy paid. Fact is Toyota, and ram, and Ford, are surprisingly qualified and very competitive on these matters of engineering. He's definitely wasting his money on 93 octane gasoline as the engine wasn't designed to run on 93 octane and actually you will get less power by not using the recommended octane

As others have stated, the mileage I crease is likely due mostly to the break-in of the powertrain. Even if running premium does manage to give a 5mpg boost the extra price makes it nearly identical in cost for a given distance. Likely the premium MAY contribute to a 1 or 2mpg increase at most, so would be more expensive.

In regards to the 2000 upfront, I would say as long as it wasn't 100% to try and get better mpg then why not. It will never pay itself back via fuel savings (for having a less restrictive system) but if you want a nicer sound and maybe some better throttle response(depending on the setup) then go for it. But don't do these mods for the sake of fuel savings.

They need to run it on regular gas for awhile again and see if there's a difference, but 100% I'd be running regular gas in that

I have just under 1500 miles on my 2025 Tacoma SR5 and can average 26 mpg on interstate by keeping my damn foot out of it and I'm running 87. Cost me nothing. 😂

I bet the mpg increase was due to the switch from winter gas to summer gas, not due to any of the owner's modifications

I have tried running on 93 Oct ( premium) and got that 5 extra mpg when compared by same route, same price same time of day drive , full tank, make the test drive refill and calculate, one have to try replicate even your gas feet pressure, without doing any tuning or change. Obviously with a new tunned exhaust, kn filter might get another 3@5 improvements by same driving conditions.

If it's mileage you desire, Toyota makes a wonderful truck called the Prius. Trucks get truck mileage, in case you didn't know.
I swear my 21 extended cab 4wd Tacoma was bigger than my dad's full size 81 F150. They are not small fuel efficient trucks. Well, compared to the Mastodons the big three make, I guess they small-er. I'll stick with my "new" 04 Tacoma 2wd and its 25 city 28 hwy mpg.

I get that without all the hassel. You just learn how to drive smarter, and take life at a slower speed.