The last few tank fulls I've been recording my miles per gallon and I've been averaging a pathetic 12 MPG. My car is a 2003.5 6mt with about 10,000 miles. I've owned it from the start by have never really cared about MPG until the recent gas increases.

I drive the car everyday. On the weekdays it is 100% city driving. My drives are only 5 miles long and it takes 1/2 hour to cover that distance. Back and forth thats 10 miles a day for 5 days = 50 miles. In the evening I also drive at the farthest 3 miles, but the trafic isn't as bad. On the weekends its more short trips of about 2-3 miles, all in city traffic. I'd estimate that my percentage is 95% city / 5% highway. Also I blast my A/C everytime I drive, usually 65 degrees at fan level 3. I also drive very aggressively. Shift at 4000-5000 rpm regularly.

So does my driving behavior explain my terrible gas milage? This week I'm going to try keep the A/c at 70 fan level one, and try to shift at 2000-2500 rpm

 

yep with the a/c on i get ridiculous gas mileage, but im averaging around 15mpg w/ the ac on and around 17 w/ the ac off, im pretty disappointed with the gas mileage also

 

Even with my short stop and go traffic I get 16 MPG which sucks to me. 12 is ridiculous. $hit I got that with mt Titan, and that had a 5.6 V8

 

Man, that sucks. Sorry to hear it. Definitely the city driving. And someone correct me if I'm wrong, but adjustnig the temp and fan speed won't do any good. The a/c will definitely affect your efficiency, but it's a factor of if the compressor is on or not; that means even if it's set to 90, and the compressor is on, it's a drain on your engine.

 

That doesn't seem to far out of whack. You say it takes thrity minutes to go five miles. Your getting no MPG when you are stopped in bumper to bumper traffic.

for a while I thought I was getting poor mileage then we took the G on a trip to Seattle and we were averaging 23-25 MPG.

Sounds like your commute sucks. Have you ever considered riding a Bicycle. It would easy to average better than 10 MPH which would still get you to work in under 30 minutes.

 

Short drives in congested traffic with a/c blasting while driving "spirited" what do you expect?

 

yes my commute sucks! It takes about 15 min. just to drop off my wife to her place which is only about 1 mile away. Then it takes me another 15 min to drive 4 miles to my job. I guess doing that 10x a week eats gassssss!

So overall A/c on low vs high makes no difference?

 

If you drive like I do, then you will average 9 to 11mpg (AC on too but not full blast).

 

"Have you ever considered riding a Bicycle. It would easy to average better than 10 MPH which would still get you to work in under 30 minutes."

my work place is about 4 miles away. I use to WALK 1 mile to work, but I don't have a bike, plus my brother in law just had to pay $3000 because he banged someone with his bike on the walkway. Bike riders have very little rights, plus I don't think you can buy liability insurance.

I don't really mind paying the money for gas, I was just wondering if that type of MPG was unusual for my driving conditions.

 

I agree. Stop and go is a big killer plus the short drives. Your car never fully warms up. You're also operating the car in the 4000+rpm range which will drink more fuel because the car will be running richer A/F ratio maps. From idle to ~3000rpms, the A/F ratio is pretty lean especially if you're only operating under light load. Jack rabbit starts and higher rpm usage will definitely result in very poor MPGs. The EPA fuel ratings for these cars were achieved by basically driving like a grandma.

 

I shift at around 2500 RPM and get decent mileage. At least 20 MPG, Also try driving on 6th at around 65-75 RPM. Your gas mileage should be better than 25 MPG. I just got my 05 6MT. I think I will be getting close to 30 MPG in the freeway at around 10000 miles.
Good luck

 

YoFool. You got a lead foot! Good for you.

 

Easy on the gas there. The traffic doesn't help either.

 

wow...
12mpg...

I get 6mt 24.2MPG in my coupe..
so much difference....hmm weird..

 

it is the stop and go city driving.

I have a short commute with lots of lights, a brighe, and several stop signs. I tend to get around 13.x mpg in the city.


BUT..........

highway driving I was able to get 26.8 with the cruise set to 81 mph on a 150 mile trip recently. The first 10 miles were through I-95 in Miami. I was able to get almost 31 mpg on that 10 mile stretch!!!

I am getting these numbers from the onboard trip computer built into the NAV.