The Real Story on MPG with My DIY Truck Camper Build!

Adding a truck camper to your truck will definitely affect gas mileage. But the question I had when researching truck campers was just how much will it affect your average mpg.
Here are the stats for how much my 340 lb lightweight truck camper has changed my mpg on my Toyota Tacoma.
0:00 Intro
1:02 Toyota Tacoma MPG Before the Truck Camper
1:49 Initial MPG on the Interstate
2:55 Mountain and Dirt Road MPG
3:45 Total Average MPG for my 2-month Road Trip from Minnesota to Alaska and Back
5:40 Comparison to MPG with a Travel Trailer or Motorhome

[@user-hw6hb4rk9t]

2:07 I think some people are putting a thin, bicycle innertube between the cab and the camper shell, to keep the wind out of that gap above the cab. Just inflate a little, till it fills the gap about right. For the 3rd Gen 2018 Tacoma, no shell and HT tires, 2.7l 4 cylinder auto trans, I get 28mpg going back and forth over the Sierras from the High desert, thru Tehachapi and back. Same mpg going hundreds of miles up and down Highway 395 going fishing. Tootling around town is 23ish, offroading 20mpg. Currently at mixed town, highway and offroading, I'm sitting at 25mpg.

[@marcpikas2859]

Hi! My Tacoma 4.0 gets 17.5 mpg with a 600 lbs home made camper. Camper is 6’ wide and 5’ tall from truck bed with a sloping cabover for aerodynamics. Tested on a 11 K miles trip to Alaska. Never drove over 60 which is the biggest factor.

[@WanderwithKate]

Thanks for commenting with your experience. I'll have to try and improve aerodynamics a bit and see if I can increase my MPG on the highway, but your right that speed is the biggest factor. I try to keep it under 65 mph with mine, but it really hurts my gas mileage unless I'm under 55mph.

[@johnpagejr.7628]

Thanks for Sharing Kate! I am thinking of building a camper on my 1999 Ford Ranger because the fiber glass shell that I have on it leaks and I can't seem to get it stopped. I will tell you that that Toyota truck you have is one of the most reliable truck out there. You should be able to get 300,000 miles out of that truck easily if you take care of it. There are Toyotas out there with a lot more miles then that still going strong.

[@WanderwithKate]

I really hope this truck can last that long! I had a 2005 Toyota Highlander with over 200,000 miles on it before I bought this Tacoma last year. It was still going strong, so fingers crossed this truck will last well also.

[@keithwilliamson8428]

The Tacoma will last a really long time, as long as you keep the maintenance up. The camper looks like a nice build.

[@WanderwithKate]

Thank you!

[@daleley7645]

For me, speed is the biggest robber of gas mileage, the extra wind resistance of your camper might amplify that. Pretty good m.p.g. for a self contained camper.

[@WanderwithKate]

Yes, speed is definitely the enemy of my gas mileage. I'm happy with it if I can stay around 55 mph or under. Over that and it suffers.

[@MikeBabsBC]

Wow, that's pretty darned good, all things considered! With my camper, I have lost 2l/100km which is kind of what I expected. Definitely less than hauling my trailer though lol

[@WanderwithKate]

Yes. Those travel trailers really do a number on fuel efficiency. I'm glad to get better mileage with the truck camper than I do pulling a trailer!

[@stanb990]

Have you looked into Airtab type wind deflectors I've been seeing goid reviews. I'm still in the planning stages of mine and have a 96 f150 that i love It currently gets a little better than 17mpg with a cab height shell Gas mileage is a big deal to me My ranger gets around 28mpg with a tonneau but its single cab Might work wuth full size, but not a mini

[@WanderwithKate]

Thanks for the Airtab suggestion. I'll have to look into them. I'm just starting to work on some modifications to help with the aerodynamics of the build. Enjoy your build process!

[@JordanClymer-fh3pf]

Any truck getting that good of mileage (your ranger) I would have to imagine would be incredibly sluggish with any kind of truck camper on it and the extra taxation on the motor would put its reliability into question and make that mileage not nearly as great anyway. Obviously still a fantastic truck to have and I'm by no means hating on it, but I wouldn't recommend it for a camper. I have an '04 Ranger 4.0 4x4 I recently got (which I love way more than I expected) and these foam builds are the only thing making me comfortable with the idea of building a camper on even that, due to the weight reduction (the 4.0 is rated for around 1,300 lbs or so? let alone the added wind drag which is probably an even bigger hardship for the motor). Most mid sized trucks with campers I see on KZbin claim around that 17mpg you're getting with your F150 or a little less, which is probably about what your F150 would get after a truck camper is on it. So not bad! I hope you get that build done and enjoy the hell out of it 😁

[@endangeredgnome5337]

I have found any V6 truck on the open roads start to suffer with headwinds/crosswinds. What’s crazy is I was getting similar mileage towing a single axle camper with my Jeep Gladiator across Texas. Similar conditions, basically flat but headwinds and sidewinds. For long distance travel, a V8/V6Turbo/Diesel is going to get better mpg but at the cost for worse mileage or cost of maintenance over the long haul. A 2.7 Ecoboost F150 should hit or surpass the mpg numbers on the Tacoma but long term reliability can be questionable. Sometimes you get one that goes 250k with little issue, other times the motor fails at 7k.

[@adamwalker7338]

Wow, I was hoping to hear only a 2 mile drop.

[@WanderwithKate]

Yeah, I was hoping it would be a little less also. It really makes a difference on interstates. So if you want to do a lot of cross country driving and not just local trips on slower roads, it's something to consider.

[@tuckerandi]

Yeah the Tacomas are not the most gas efficient vehicle out there lol. I went from a Toyota Rav 4 Hybrid to a 2023 , now in Canada I'm logging litres per 100 km which is a bit confusing because the lower number the better there MPG you want a higher number. But I went from 5.3 l/ 100 km to on average 12 l/100 km

[@WanderwithKate]

That's a big improvement with your hybrid! I'd love to have more hybrid/ fuel efficient options in the mid sized truck category.

[@tuckerandi]

@@WanderwithKate same here , when the Tacoma hybrid comes on stream I'm going to look to trade if I can get the right deal

[@johnpagejr.7628]

Oh I forgot to say that my 1999 Ford Ranger gets about 21 MPG empty. It has a 3.0 liter V6 in it with 145,000 mile on it.

[@WanderwithKate]

That's great mileage. I really considered a Ford Ranger. They seem like nice mid sized trucks also.

[@JordanClymer-fh3pf]

@@WanderwithKate I got mine (4.0 4x4 '04) because I wanted a 4x4, they are notoriously reliable (not Toyota reliable, but close-a-damned-nuff) and way way cheaper than the mindlessly high prices being asked for used private party Toyota sellers lately. I have a feeling that is going to give vehicles like old reliable Rangers a boost as well, as people look for alternatives to spending $15,000 on a 20 year old truck with 312,000 abusive miles on it (these people are insane). Mine has 150k on it and besides a very tiny leak, the mechanic could not find anything else wrong with the truck and it runs about as perfect as you can ask for. I could easily see another 100k out of it. My brother has an Acura with over 650k on it lol. Japanese engineering is a thing to be admired. I had a great little old Honda Civic of the same year, but I wanted a truck and I had no illusions about trying to get "good" gas mileage with it. I just cruise, I hit the gas when I feel like it, I stop for gas when I need to and I pay what I pay. I hope your finances are good enough that you at least don't have to really worry about the cost of your fuel, even if you don't really like the cost. I know you didn't ask. Just felt like spewing LOL.

[@WanderwithKate]

@@JordanClymer-fh3pf Yes, the used Toyota prices are crazy. Which is why I have a 2023 instead of an older model. I would have been happy with an older truck (I was driving a 2005 Toyota Highlander with 200,000+ miles on it until last summer), but I couldn't justify spending nearly as much on a used truck as a new truck. I'm really impressed that your brother has an Acura with over 650k on it! He must be taking great care of it! And yes, I budgeted for this year off to include poor gas mileage, so no big stress there. But of course, I'd rather spend money on camper upgrades than gas, haha. And I do want to limit gas emissions as much as I can, so I'll probably play around with some options to improve aerodynamics on the truck camper in the future.

[@billgradolph5331]

You may have covered this in your previous videos but do you know what the weight of your camper ended up being? From what I’ve been researching it seems like people are losing between 3.5-5 mpg with the pop up in the back

[@WanderwithKate]

Yes, it's 340 lbs.

[@JordanClymer-fh3pf]

@@WanderwithKate granted, you will probably add a few hundred pounds by the time you kit it out all the way, but that's still pretty incredible. These foam builds have me pretty excited about doing one myself but I think it's a little ways out.

[@GrantSR]

You know... it's perfectly OK to go 55 MPH on a 70 MPH road.

[@WanderwithKate]

Haha, yep. It's just so slow compared to traffic speeds... That being said, my general rule of thumb with the truck camper on is to stay under 65 mph, even on the roads with speed limits of 75-80 mph.

[@JordanClymer-fh3pf]

@@WanderwithKate just pop behind an 18 wheeler and match him with cruise. Some states have 80mph on the interstate (and many of those 18 wheelers are even going 85mph), and of course everyone has to go 10mph over the speed limit no matter what that limit is, so if you're not going 90mph in the slow lane, you're the asshole. And if you were going just 1 mph faster than them, you'd be the asshole all over again (please reference George Carlin). Just flip your rear view mirror up and ignore what's behind you and who passes you.