This One Feature Will Improve Your MPG On The 2022 Toyota Tundra

What is the main difference between a big pickup truck and a big SUV? Obviously, it’s going to be the fact that the SUV doesn’t have a bed in the back. However, with overall improving gas mileage and better functionality, more and more suburban families are starting to buy pickups as daily drivers. People buy trucks like the Chevy Canyon, Rivian R1T, and the soon the Ford F-150 Lightning. While these are pickups that can be functional as a work truck, a lot of people buy them as regular daily drivers just to either have a truck or maybe they do the occasional 4 bags of mulch hauling once a year.

Nevertheless, Whether or not you use your truck as work or daily, your bed may not be used all the time. Now for the average owner, this may not be a surprise but perhaps you want to protect the polyurethane bed or maybe you just want your truck to look cooler. Here are a few bed covers that not only look cool but also give better gas mileage to your 2022 Toyota Tundra.

So when adding a bed cover to your truck, you are probably going after 1 of three things. First, you probably want to protect your bed from the elements which is normal because polyurethane is very expensive. Second, you may want your truck to look cooler. I always associated covered trucks with NASCAR trucks. Those look super cool, and I would give anything to take a spin around in one. Or third, you are getting a bed to improve your gas mileage. When going at speed, the bed in the back creates an airless vacuum of warm temperatures that don’t dissipate the air in a correlated manner. This makes your truck spew out uncontrolled vortices out the back.

So how do you combat these problems? Derek Ryder also asked this same question on Facebook’s Toyota Tundra Owners group. He said,” Need several suggestions on bed covers...preferably hardcovers.” Now when you buy a 2022 Toyota Tundra, you can opt to get the OEM bed cover which is a fold-over style and basically is the bottom shelf bed cover. It does the job for a low price. Adding the bed cover is an additional $700 on Rough Country’s website. But maybe you want something a little more stylish. Perhaps something color matching.

Well, in that case, Bryan Bandeaux commented saying, “UnderCover Elite LX bed cover. ABS plastic. Painted to match.” So, this one is a color matching hardcover which for the 2022 Toyota Tundra is about $1500 at the most. While this does provide better aerodynamics than the OEM one, it is almost twice as much in cost and does the same exact thing. Plus, it’s going to be a pain in the back to load a pallet of mulch into your bed. However, it looks about 10x cooler than the OEM one.

Robin Wright-Broughton suggested that you get the “RETRAX PRO XR.” If you don’t plan on adding any other mods to your 2022 Toyota Tundra or maybe you just have an unlimited budget, this is the one to get for you. Not only is it a hardcover but it comes with little mounting plates to attach things to which under-speed, act as spoilers creating downforce thus making your Tundra more aerodynamic.

This bed starts at around $2000 but luckily you get free shipping. So the question remains, is a bed worth it? Well, we don’t really know the exact MPG gained from a bed cover but we do know that it does increase it so you’ll probably get a few fiscal benefits there along with the cool factor and preserving your bed. Besides, your truck will look like a NASCAR truck while still being able to carry the kids home from soccer practice.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite truck bed? Let us know in the comments below.

Harutiun Hareyan is reporting Toyota news at Torque News. His automotive interests and vast experience test-riding new cars give his stories a sense of authenticity and unique insights. Follow Harutiun on Twitter at @HareyanHarutiun for daily Toyota news.