Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

The (Don't Yawn!) Fuel Economy thread!

D

dazzer21

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 18, 2005
473
4
The credit crunch is now with us and petrol aint cheap no more. So...

What do you drive, and what is the most mileage you've eek'd out of a full tank? I'll start...

I drive a 2006 Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 SXi. I've just manages 479 miles on a full tank. Don't know what that is mpg-wise. I do roughly 80 miles a day to and from work.

That's doing nothing over 55mph on motorways (annoys lorry drivers no end, especially on hills!) and coasting down hills in gear - going to do a comparison using coasting in neutral when I can.

Over to you...
 
there is a new fad called hypermiling (google it i'm too lazy). its basically how people are getting more out of their mileage by coasting, and using cruise control etc.

i coast about 3 miles a day on some inclines near my house- out of gear. im sure it saves some gas.. not sure about the amount though.
 
I read about hypermiling a little bit ago (I think it was on wired.com) and I've been doing it around town. It is really funny to watch these huge SUVs with V8s hit the gas just to get to a red light while I coast up to the light right next to them.

I've found that I'm not as angry about driving in the city anymore - it's a much more relaxing state of mind. Unfortunately I drive in North Philly a lot (not the best area) and I'll probably get shot while coasting by some F-head in a hurry to get to the next red light.

I've got the 2.0T direct fuel injected engine from the VW group. Love it.
 
I have a 4 cylinder Toyota Camry. I average around 30/31 mpg in highway driving. I get around 22/23 mpg in city driving.
 
i drive a 2001 Honda Civic EX sedan....in normal combined driving, i average 32 mpg or so.

on long trips, i can get 42/43 mpg from a full tank. :D
 
well, i used to drive an 06 Toyota Tacoma Prerunner - 4 cylinder. over the life of the truck, i averaged 24.5 mpg. i had a thing called a 'scangauge', which told me my mpg in real-time. it's a great tool.

bascially, if i drove 53 mph on the highway, i've gotten up to 32 mpg. driving over 70 mpg, i get like 21-22 mpg. it's gets pretty bad in the city though

but i just wrecked it and had to sell it. not sure what i'm getting now
 
Driving an '95 Toyota Tercel and currently averaging about 35 mpg.
Oh and US MPG, and I calculate it manually.


Might have to buy a new car this fall so the GF can drive the Tercel to teach class and finish her PhD. Joked she can pay me back when she graduates and gets a job. The world-wide consulting agency she's applying to would start her at 3x what I make :eek::D
 
I have a 05 RSX. Best I've probably seen is around ~390. I don't know I've ever been completely "cautious" with a full tank...one minute I'm keeping the rpms low...the next I'm randomly redlining 2nd on the way to 3rd...lead feet suck :( I usually get really good hwy milage since its just cruising.
 
Of my 3 vehicles, I average ~55mpg. None of them are hybrids, and one is an Infiniti J30 (20-24mpg, 300+10 miles to the tank).

My fun vehicles are a KTM 625SMC (roughly 50mpg) and an MZ 125SM (roughly 65mpg). Unfortunately, in the interests of honesty and pertaining to this thread, the KTM only gets 110 miles to the tank, and the MZ gets about 160 miles.
 
Using Air conditioning, hitting the gas a lot and braking with a lot with traffic and also not keeping your tires exactly 2 lbs over their ideal pressure make huge diferences in Economy.

My Peugeot 206Xt gave me around 29 mpg and I changed my driving habits and now I am in the 39/42 range, if traffic was not so bad in MExico city Id be at 42/47 mpg easily...but I am not complaining...

Even My wife Chrysler Town And Country give us a good 3 to 4 extra Mpg if driven smartly and have tire pressure in a good range.
 
Modern cars(newer then 10-15 years) will cut off all fuel when you coast in gear, coasting in neutral requires fuel to keep the engine running.

I've been seeing what works on my new truck, on the last tank I squeaked out 5.9MPG, my best yet. My next load is a light one, I hope I can break 6MPG with it.

Yesterday I was sitting all day and read Cummins fuel milage white paper and talked to a friend who works for Cummins for more info. I am going to try some of their suggestions and see what happens. My last truck was in the mid-6's so I know I should be able to do better.

I try to keep my idle down but I just can't stand hot weather. If the temperature is between 12ºF and 70ºF my engine wont be running when I'm parked. My engine consumes about 1 gallon/hour.
 
I really hate when people associate how far they can drive on a tank of gas with their gas mileage. I know people that do this and it annoys me to no end.

Lets say a civic has a 13 gallon tank and averages 30mpg, you can go 390 miles. A 1999 Suburban has a 42 gallon tank and average 15mpg, you can go 630 miles.

---

Anyways, I have 25 gallon tank in my Land Rover and I average now 15.6 mpg, which actually is pretty good for a Rover.
 
Feverish Flux said:
If the engine is running, in gear or not, it is using fuel.
Click to expand...

Not true.

From the 'pedia:
However, in newer vehicles, coasting in neutral may not be the most efficient method. On most cars with computer-controlled, closed-loop electronic fuel injection (including direct injection), no fuel is injected when coasting in gear as the wheels are turning the differential/transmission which in turn keeps the engine from stopping. In neutral, the fuel system must inject enough fuel to keep the engine idling as the engine is effectively disconnected from the transmission/transaxle.
Click to expand...
 
2008 Subaru Outback 5 Speed, get about 27.0 MPG with 90% city driving. Replaced a 99 Forester with all time snow tires, thats what it came with, which was also a 5 Speed, getting about 26 MPG. Reset the milage on the highway and was getting 34 MPG on the way to the Traveler's Championship which was awsome to watch, but sitting in the parking lot moving just often enough to not be able to cut the engine brought it down to 20 MPG :(.

I"m looking into getting a new civic to go along with the subie, just don't think there will be enough inventory to get one with a manual, only about 5% of the cars Honda sell are manuals, but i won't give up looking.
 
Feverish Flux said:
If the engine is running, in gear or not, it is using fuel.
Click to expand...

This hasn't been true for awhile. Even my '85 Mustang with an '88 computer cuts all fuel when coasting in gear above 1500 rpm. I've actually tested this by reading the injector pulse with a DMM. The injector pulse width drops to zero percent. I kept looking into the topic and found that nearly all modern duel injected car do this, even diesels.

Even aftermarket fuel injection systems offer this function.

I even have a mechanical diesel designed in the late 70's that does this.
 
Can you also let us know if you are just going by the in-dash computer or running the numbers yourself.

Many people have found that their in-dash computer isn't quite accurate.
 
MacNut said:
In CT the police are telling people not to coast.
Click to expand...

In a truck you have legally "lost control of the vehicle" if you are coasting out of gear.

One nice thing about being in gear is that if you need the power you have it by just moving your foot, no hand movements required.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back