Am I the only one who thinks gas tank seems SMALLER than advertised?

According to Toyota's specs, the Tacoma's fuel tank is supposed to be 21.1 gallons across the board on all models. I will usually wait till my 'miles to empty' display shows about 20 miles before I fill up. If the tank is truly 21.1 gallons, how come I can NEVER get more than 17 gallons in the tank before it runs out the fill hole?!? Also, I have seen people post their 'miles to empty' here in TW before and seen several close to and a couple OVER the 400 mile mark. All I can ever get mine to show on a complete fill up is about 310...! Anybody else noticing this???

 

The truck will drive well pass the "0 miles to empty" mark. However, I wouldn't recommend it. If not for running out of fuel, it is hard on the fuel pump as well.

 

The truck has 3 gallons left in the tank. But says empty at 0 miles to keep the fuel pump submerged and cool.

 

(Reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld, lol.)

I have always filled it before that point. Think I got down to like 4 once. It just strikes me as weird that my 21.1 gallon tank only 'seems' to hold about 18 gallon.

 

If you know that for a fact, that makes sense for what I'm experiencing. STILL wish it had a bigger tank. Even 5 more gallon would be nice. I'm a real estate appraiser and am always driving...

 

I know for a fact its 21 gallons.
Try this
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/34-gallon-fuel-tank-long-range-automotive.492434/

 

This. Low fuel light comes on with A few gallons in the tank. For some reason 2.3 gallons is standing out but maybe it is 3

 

The tacoma has a 4gallon-ish reserve. Has since last gen.

 

It's one of those.

 

It’s just reserve capacity. Nothing to get excited about.

Do you really want to run out of gas?

 

3 gallons! I thought the same thing as OP after a bunch of 16-17 gallon fill ups but never stopped to think why. I’m literally on 6 miles to empty right now. I’m gonna ride her into the blackness of 0!

 

Are You worried about running out of Gas? Do you take Long Drives and never seems to have the "Gas" to get you there? Why Problem solved! Just simply Stock up! never run out of Gas again!

 

I never let my truck get lower than a 1/2 tank before filling up . Letting your fuel level to well under a 1/4 tank can /will damage the in tank fuel pump !!

 

Yup, the OBC is VERY optimistic. More of a legal issue for Toyota than anything else. Don’t want someone to run out of gas right at or before 0 DTE, so they built in a healthy buffer in there.

This has proven to be false many times. Although I do make it a habit to refuel at 1/4 tank, so I don’t find myself without a gas station when running out of fuel.

 

Dude I drive 32K miles a year. The tank is plenty big enough, unless you can go six hours without getting out to pee and stretch lol.
I usually put over 19 gallons in during full up because I live on the edge.

 

Grandma, is that you?

 

I rode with my son to Chicago in his '18 F150 Platinum and it has a 35 gallon tank. We live 275 miles south of Chicago. It was nice to fill up at home for $2.55/gal, drive there and then back south far enough to not have to buy the $3.05/gal gas in Chitown. The sad part is he has the 3.5 Ecoboost in a crewcab 4x4 and got better mpg's than I average in my Tacoma, lol.

I posted this cause I did not know about the 'unaccounted for' reserve and would really like just a little bigger tank. Obviously others have felt the same. What's the most 'distance to empty' you all have seen in your trucks?

 

Yeah, those Ford’s with the 36 gallon tank is awesome. 700 miles range, I think.

While I wouldn’t mind a larger tank, it would only further drive down the paltry payload. May also mean the tank hangs down lower.

 

Drive it till you run out of gas , fill it up , get back to us

 

Try and drive a car that only gets maybe 5-7mpg !!