According to several research institutes I've googled, it helps considerably, as opposed to leaving your tailgate down which actually decreases your gas mileage.
I would think that if you were doing mostly around town driving, it would be negligable. For highway driving, it might save some, but I really doubt some of the claims I've seen from cover manufacturers (15% +).
They may have found 1 truck under the right circumstances that gets a huge improvement, but each would have different drag/airflow characteristics & thus diff. results. Bet there is even a diff. between KC, CC & CC long bed Titans !
Then there's the math - even if you get 8%, that's about 1mpg on the Titan. Over 12,000 miles, that means you saved ~50 gals @ $3.25 = $162. At that rate it will take 2 years to payback the average cover and 5+ years for the more expensive ARE's, Backflip etc.
Of course, there are many other good reasons to have a cover.
I put on the Trifecta for a number of reasons, any extra gas mileage was just a bonus !
If you want one and the significant other wants a reason for you to buy one than Yes they help out like you wouldnt beleive. If you are just wondering for your own benifit I would say no.... atleast I didnt see any changes in mpg.
I have the TruxedoLoPro which is a soft roll up cover. It is a great cover but I haven't seen any change in MPG (been using it for 2 years). All I drive is 65 highway miles everyday @75mph. No city driving at all.
I'm with Jarhead on this one. While my topper weighs in at about 180lbs I think the aerodynamics of it outweigh the additional weight. I didn't buy it specifically to help MPG - which I think it does do - but it was on my mind. I primarily bought it so stuff in the bed doesn't get rained on, snowed on, blown out, tossed out or stolen.
i haven't tried to figure any gas mileage with or without it.....i bought it mostly to make the bed act more like a "trunk" when i'm not hauling major items in the bed.
I thought the Mythbusters did something about this (not a Tonneau, but, the difference between a truck with the tailgate up vs. a truck with the tailgate down). Guess which truck won (got better gas mileage).....................they both got the same gas mileage, and the myth was busted.
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