Fuel Mileage Thread

[Nerd-Vol]

I did a search but didn't find one. Does anyone else here track their mileage of their vehicle? I use it as a way to track my driving habits, the condition of my vehicle, and how unreliable my car's mpg computer is.

For those who don't know how to do it, simply go fill up your car. Reset your trip meter. When you fill up the tank again, take the miles on your trip meter and divide it by the number of gallons you put in your car. Note, this only works if you fill your tank to full.

To streamline things here is a template:

Car Make:
Car Model:
Model Year:
Fuel Mileage:

Additional Notes:

 

[Nerd-Vol]

Car Make: mazda
Car Model: mazdaspeed 3
Model Year: 2007
Fuel Mileage: 22.1

Additional Notes: I was concerned with this mileage. I had just completed an oil and filter change and did not understand why my mileage was so bad. My vehicle is rated for 18mpg city and 28mpg hwy, although for the very next model year it was rated at 16mpg/26mpg with no changes to the vehicle.

I suspected at the time it was my new commute using Henley street to get to i40 instead of James white parkway.

 

[Nerd-Vol]

Car Make: Mazda
Car Model: Mazdaspeed 3
Model Year: 2007
Fuel Mileage: 25.1

Additional Notes: Turns out it was my route choice. This recorded fill was yesterday after a week of taking James white parkway to work. Taking Henley street to I40 involves 8 stop lights with at while James White only has 3.

 

[9296potsguy]

Car Make: Toyota
Car Model: FJ
Model Year: 2010
Fuel Mileage: 16

Notes: Truck is on a 3" lift with heavy wheels and tires. I get better mileage in town than on the interstate. Mileage drops to 12 when using E10 blended fuel. I use pure-gas.org to find non-ethanol blended fuel when traveling.

 

[orangeblooded2]

Ford
Mustang
2002
Fuel milage 21\30
V6

Can't say enough about Full synithic Motor Oil (Mobil One). Those Fuel milage numbers are 4 over and 3 over what Ford said they would be when I bought it new. 10.6 years later at 100,000 miles these numbers still hold true. Have to use a 89 fuel though.

 

[Slydell]

Car Make:Buick
Car Modelark Avenue
Model Year:2002 -Yeah, it's an oldie
Fuel Mileage: Around town=18-20 Freeway @ 70 =29-30.

Additional Notes: I don't have any notes. It's a fat old man's car. I'm a fat old man. Go figure.

 

[Aavoxx]

There are apps that will track this for you, FYI.

 

[volfanbill]

Car Make:Toyota
Car Model: Corolla S (Same engine as all Corollas though)
Model Year:2004
Fuel Mileage: 34-37

Notes: It fluctuates a little if I have to do a lot of driving on base for one reason or the other. I typically just bike as most of my trips (S Shops, JAG, MedShed) are within 3 miles.

 

[WallyBalls]

Car Make: Honda
Car Model: Civic lx coupe
Model Year: 2009
Fuel Mileage: 35.7

Additional Notes:
35.7 is latest tank. Worst has been 28.9 (almost exclusively city driving in August). Best was 40.2 on a drive to Florida.

Commute about 60 miles a day (sometimes more), mostly highway. Had a chance to buy the Civic from a family member...gave me the opportunity to park the Silverado until weekends. The thought of burning all the extra gas, chewing up tires, etc just to say 'I drive a truck' was driving me nuts. Been a great little commuter car.

Brought me back to where I started loving quick little cars. Makes me want to get in to a 3, an Si, ST, something like that.

 

[Obsessed]

Car Make: ford
Car Model: f250 4x4 crew cab
Model Year: 2004
Fuel Mileage: 18 in town/ 21 on highway

Notes: truck has 253,xxx miles now. Mileage was better with stock size tires. In town was the same but on the highway I could get 22 sometimes 23mpg.

New truck is too new to get accurate readings just yet.

 

[YorkVol]

Make: toyota
Model: Prius
Year: 2007
Mmileage: 44mpg

Note: daily commuter, mileage drops if my wife has it for a week.

 

[YorkVol]

Make: chevy
Model: Suburban
Year: 2008
Mileage: 14.5

Note:Inone

 

[Nerd-Vol]

Car Make: Toyota
Car Model: FJ
Model Year: 2010
Fuel Mileage: 16

Notes: Truck is on a 3" lift with heavy wheels and tires. I get better mileage in town than on the interstate. Mileage drops to 12 when using E10 blended fuel. I use pure-gas.org to find non-ethanol blended fuel when traveling.

I hadn't considered pure gas vs ethenol into the equation.

Also 12mpg is terrifying, I pray that you can put 87 in there.

 

[Nerd-Vol]

Car Make: Honda
Car Model: Civic lx coupe
Model Year: 2009
Fuel Mileage: 35.7

Additional Notes:
35.7 is latest tank. Worst has been 28.9 (almost exclusively city driving in August). Best was 40.2 on a drive to Florida.

Commute about 60 miles a day (sometimes more), mostly highway. Had a chance to buy the Civic from a family member...gave me the opportunity to park the Silverado until weekends. The thought of burning all the extra gas, chewing up tires, etc just to say 'I drive a truck' was driving me nuts. Been a great little commuter car.

Brought me back to where I started loving quick little cars. Makes me want to get in to a 3, an Si, ST, something like that.

That really makes me miss my old integra. I could drive it as hard as I pleased and it would still give me 27 in the city. With the mazdaspeed I have to realize even if I never get into boost and drive like a nun, 20-22 is all I can hope for in the city.

I think my all time low for the car was at the dragon and that was 17 or so. Amazed it was that high given how much time I had the throttle wide open, and the computer read 3.1 mpg.

 

[Crew]

Car Make: Ford
Car Model: Mustang GT
Model Year: 2009
Fuel Mileage: 21

Car Make: Chevrolet
Car Model: Silverado
Model Year: 2000
Fuel Mileage: 15

 

[Obsessed]

I hadn't considered pure gas vs ethenol into the equation.

I just did some reading on this. My new truck is flex fuel. I've never owned one before.

While ethanol is a option, it's not cost effective. The efficiency of it as a fuel is not good. Worse fuel mileage and the price difference can't justify the expense.

Regular gas with methanol in it sucks too. Regular gas will net 2-3 mpg over that 10% mixed crap

 

[Nerd-Vol]

I just did some reading on this. My new truck is flex fuel. I've never owned one before.

While ethanol is a option, it's not cost effective. The efficiency of it as a fuel is not good. Worse fuel mileage and the price difference can't justify the expense.

Regular gas with methanol in it sucks too. Regular gas will net 2-3 mpg over that 10% mixed crap

Same price for all of it too? So the corn folks money, the gas people get money, and actual humans get an inferior product.

 

[Obsessed]

Same price for all of it too? So the corn folks money, the gas people get money, and actual humans get an inferior product.

E-85 here is about .50 a gallon cheaper
Mixed 10% methanol gas is about 5-6 cents cheaper than regular old 87 octane

We actually tested the theory on the methanol blend. Test vehicle was a 2006 dodge crew cab 4x4 with a 360 engine ( half ton truck) mileage was significantly lower on the blended fuel. Father in law couldn't believe it. He quit buying gas at Walmart.

Oh and the blended fuel will burn up small engines. Like weedeaters,blowers, mowers etc

 

[Obsessed]

Same price for all of it too? So the corn folks money, the gas people get money, and actual humans get an inferior product.

Oh and e85 is heavily subsidized and is expensive to make compared to regular gas.

 

[volinbham]

tracking mine is depressing - I focus on SPH (smiles per hour)

 

[Nerd-Vol]

tracking mine is depressing - I focus on SPH (smiles per hour)

Supercharged cars aren't know for great mileage. You ever look at an rs5? I think you would love it. R8 might tickle your fancy, seeing a lot of them recently.

 

[WallyBalls]

That really makes me miss my old integra. I could drive it as hard as I pleased and it would still give me 27 in the city. With the mazdaspeed I have to realize even if I never get into boost and drive like a nun, 20-22 is all I can hope for in the city.

I think my all time low for the car was at the dragon and that was 17 or so. Amazed it was that high given how much time I had the throttle wide open, and the computer read 3.1 mpg.

I love the damn thing. I actually thought I'd get tired of it, but the longer I drive it the more I like it. Pull up to the pump, 10 gallons for a fill up, and I have to absolutely flog it to get below 30.

 

[9296potsguy]

Ethanol is just less efficient fuel. A gallon of 100% ethanol will give you 2/3 the BTUs of 100% gasoline. E10 will give you worse mileage no matter the vehicle and E15 is on it's way. I've read really bad things about Suburbans that run on E85.

 

[Obsessed]

Ethanol is just less efficient fuel. A gallon of 100% ethanol will give you 2/3 the BTUs of 100% gasoline. E10 will give you worse mileage no matter the vehicle and E15 is on it's way. I've read really bad things about Suburbans that run on E85.

I think if the vehicle was tuned specifically for E85 it would do better. 102-105 octane but you are right on the btu's

 

[orangebloodgmc]

My truck ran better when I ran E85 although it was a bit balky when the weather was cold. Mpgs dropped a bit, but it burned cleaner and damn sure was cheaper. It's only subsidized because of the ArcherDanielsMidland and Cargill lobbies that have large stocks of corn, whereas it could be made cheaper from sources like sweet potatoes.

Aside from driving habits, the number one thing for squeezing out the most mpgs is tire pressure -- put it at recommended, then another 5psi or so over that, or just at the very top of the allowed range for your tires. Low Rolling Resistance tires help too, but not as much as the tire pressure, and they are a trade-off with less traction that you might not can justify in the winter.

Synthetic crankcase oil helps a bit, synthetic gear oil would help if you had a manual (I've put that in before). Change your plugs and gap correctly, change your air filter -- that aint hard at all. Put in a bit of Lucas fuel injector cleaner in your tank. The main sensor that will mess you up on a vehicle with a few yrs is the O2 sensor. When that starts to go bad, your engine gets confused about how much fuel is needed to be pushed thru. You may have one or two O2 sensors but get autozone to check if bad then you can change them. Next thing along those lines is EGR valve -- it can get caked with carbon, but you can clean it, just buy a fresh gasket for putting it back on.

There's no one silver bullet for any of this but it all helps. But if you have a bad mpg vehicle, none of this will help you much. A 10-15% increase on 12 mpg aint squat; 10-15% on 40 mpgs just sounds a little better.