You know you are in too small of a car when you can touch all the windows in the car from the drivers seat! LOL

 

Yup, no solution is going to save any money for quite a while on the payoff unless you drive 30K+ miles/yr. A $500 programmer will take you 3 years to break-even on fuel mileage assuming you gain 2mpg and drive 12K miles/yr. You won't likely net 2mpg just from a programmer. Even a cheap tonneau covers run $500-$750, so if that gives you 1mpg (debatable), it will take you about 8-10 years to break even with the fuel savings.

See where this is going? You can drop money on "fuel saving" mods all you want to, but the break-even on your investment is going to take a significant time. Much less trying to come out ahead on the ordeal. If you buy a programmer/tonneau cover and use the truck as a daily-driver for 10 years or longer, it's probably worth it. Otherwise you're just pissing money away in the name of better fuel mileage.

If you want a programmer for the better performance and shift response, great, but consider the possible increased fuel mileage as a side benefit.

 

I use Michelin tires with the street tread pumped up to 40psig. I also noticed an improvement with the Superchips tuner. Everybody jumps up and down about a "canned" tune. but my truck is stock and the tuner is for a stock vehicle. the only way to get a tune that isn't "canned" is to get a tune done on the dyno.

The latest article I read on tailgate up or down, mesh tailgates, or covers was about one that GM did. According to this article the tonneau cover was the only one that improved mileage a little. they said the mesh was worse than having the tailgate up.

 

Either way, even if a tonneau does anything, the initial cost won't be worth it if you're trying to get better mpgs and save money.

However, if the op doesn't care about money and wants to simply get the best mpg possible, then sure, he can spend thousands and maybe get 2-4 mpg more than he does now. Haha

I have a cover on my bed only to keep things dry and secure. I didn't get it for any other reason.

 

http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2006/12/e..._revisite.html

Tailgate Up or Down Revisited: Mesh tailgate, hardcover, tailgate removal

See: Tailgate Up or Down

For the original myth they did a driving test and a water vortex test, both of which showed that you save more gas with the tailgate up. Their viewers suggested that they test three new conditions:
•Hardroof cover over pickup bed
•Mesh tailgate
•Remove the entire tailgate

They had a much simpler test setup this time. They had an electronic flowmeter hooked into fuel line of Jamie's pickup. Adam: "For anyone out there that wants to e-mail telling me that we screwed up this test, we have already calibrated this thing, to this car. So it's going to be perfect!" They drove the pickup truck up and down the stretch of 101 around Candlestick and the Cow Palace.
•Tailgate down: 5.2 gallons/hr @ 55mph. 1.2 gallons/hr @ 25.
•Tailgate up: 5.0 gallons/hr @ 55mph. No reading for 25mph given, but tailgate up was once again confirmed as more efficient.
•Hardcover over pickup bed: 5.0 gallons/hr @ 55mph. 1.2 gallons/hr @25mph
•Tailgate mesh: 5% more efficient
•Tailgate removed: about the same as tailgate up and hardcover
Mesh was most efficient by 5%
still busted

5% of 5.0 gallons is 0.25

Seems to me from recolections I have, they speculated that a sloped hard cover from top of cab to top of tailgate or rear of bed ("fastback style") was maybe best ...... can't recall if they tried that ?????

I too have a cover for security, looks, and to keep stuff dry and free from prying eyes, and I only ever have tailgate down when loaded long.

 

Thanks for posting that! It's definitely worth noting as some strongly believe a cover will help with mpgs. Not that I'm here to prove anyone wrong at all, but it's good info to have so someone doesn't waste money on a tonneau cover strictly for mpg purposes.

That said, I love my cover for the reason I bought it. Securety and to keep the bed dry.

 

Tonneau cover may not save ya MPG with an empty bed, BUT I haul stuff in my bed, which causes the air to bounce around in there. On a 400 mile trip, Edge Tuner, K&N air filter, Tonneau cover , I get about 20 mpg. thats up from 17-18. I know tires, tuneup and all that other stuff play a big part of MPG. I'm happy with this setup. Just installed a Flowmaster 50 muffler, Just cut out the old one,(Big Monster) and welded in the new one, Still single exhaust. Will see on my next trip what happens to my MPG adding the muffler.