how many miles you have on ur g with that commute, ur like me! today i calculated after fill up and got 20 mpg even!

 

I've put on 33,000 miles so far. I routinely get 23-24 mpg.

 

Damn, for real!? I can't believe how big of a deviation there is for people who own similar cars (i.e. 5AT's vs 5AT's) & appear to drive somewhat the same, yet mileages are across the board. I have an '04 5AT, took a long trip on Monday for work up to VT and had 23 MPG, didn't drive too agressively. My best yet is 26.5 MPG a few years back...babied the throttle a lot and didn't go above 65 mph (used cruise) and no traffic, windows up. How the F do you even get that all the time, and up to 28 MPG!? I HOPE you are using 91 or 93 octane.

 

I think whether you have ethanol in your gas makes more of a difference than whether you buy 91 octane (assuming that you are driving carefully, and your car doesn't REQUIRE 91).

The last few years, my overall gas mileage has dropped from 21.1 to 20.8 mpg, so the tail off has to be worse than that to lower the average. Probably dates from the ethanol.

When I'm on the highway, I use cruise at 75.

 

I've used ethanol blended 91 octane gas (10% ethanol) twice and I ended up getting 80 mile less than normal out of a tank of gas both times.

 

It's a totally loaded RWD 03... every option available at the time..Nav, full spare, premium pkg, etc.

 

^Do you have AWD?


I often alternate between regular and premium fuel and strangely never really notice a difference in MPG, however the same cannot be said for performance. I will almost always get around 27hwy when keeping it under 75. It typically drops to 25/26mpg when traveling at speeds above 75 and during frigid cold temps.

BTW, this is not going by the on board computer (even though it's pretty darn accurate)... i calculate it myself often to be sure.

 

No, I have a RWD sedan and yes, I calculate mine by hand as well.

 

Which is a drop of 4mpg. Shouldn't be that much, since ethanol has about 1/2 the energy of gas, there should only be a drop of 5% in mileage if the gas is 10% ethanol. And depending on where you are, the 10% on the pump might only mean 5% in reality. That is just the max it can be.

Since you have only done it twice, it isn't enough to be statistically sound. Other factors like wind and traffic could have contributed to your large drop in mileage.

At least my drop has been over 20K miles.

One time 17 years ago, in a previous car, I visited Nebraska. Then, heading out to Colorado, I filled up with Ethanol. Had by far the best gas mileage on that tank that I had over 80K miles in it. 34mpg when the average was 27 on the highway. Beat the other best of 30-31 miles/gallon I ever had. When I had driven farther than the 31mpg*gallons in tank, and it was still showing 1/4 tank, I panicked and filled up again in case gauge was wrong. For years, I was convinced an ethanol blend improved fuel economy.

 

I too notice no noticable difference between regular and premium for mileage. For fuel ECONOMY, 87 octane is the best. But since, around here, it is $1.859 for 87, and 2.099 for 91, 91 would have to beat 87 by about 3-4 mpg to beat 87 for miles/dollar.

My nav computer is off too for mileage. It can read 1-2mpg more than what I actually calculate using the odometer and gas pump.

 

Weird, maybe it's the RWD vs AWD.

I can't get my AWD to get better than 23MPG


I'm gonna start folding the mirrors in and driving on 125 width tires inflated to 90 PSI with the headlights off like the Prius guys do.

 

Lol. Yeah, get some pie cutters installed too.

 

Haha, I've stopped caring. I mean...its not the worst thing in the world.



Best I've ever done on a tank is 390 with my X. I was so excited I took my phone and snapped a bunch of pics.

 

In addition to what I mentioned earlier, I've done what few guys would consider since tire width and lowering are mods many use. I have gone up in tire size, moving from the 215/55 to the 215/60 and now the 225/55. My next jump will be to a 235/55 on stock 17's. No lowering, fills the wheel well to eliminate the gap and there are 2-5% fewer revolutions per mile... which can add up. I get 22-23 city and around 28-29 highway now (approx 450 miles mile per tank). A few factors that can make a difference have nothing to do with your driving style-- such as terrain (mountainous vs flat), are you at sea level or in a high elevation region of the country (air density may be a factor), are the roads filled with potholes and road bumps, etc., etc. Essentially, some variables may be out of your control-- the most significant one for me was tire size. But I don't race or throttle my car, so it's not an issue for me!

 

No kidding....haven't heard of anyone doing that to improve mileage. Just did some quick math and looks like the tire diameter that you're running now is very close to my tire size, though mine are 245/40/19's and heavier than OEM & more friction/surface area on the road. Makes sense (terrain, elevation, etc.)...good point.

How are you calculating your actual MPG's now that your speedo & odo are off about 3% (like mine)? I have a portable GPS which tracks mileage, so that's how I calc. mine when I have my summer wheels on.