am i nuts? or is my car just really effecient

[bevboyy]

Damn that's impressive, especially with that tranny. My merc gets me 32 mpg on average. Mind you I'm driving average of 105 kph..

[smutts]

Trolling for a reply on the $8.08 a US gallon we pay in the UK. We are so jealous!  

[RabbitJockey]

but u guys get better fuel haha.  and your money is worth more, and you guys always get cooler cars in europe too. i didn't fill up yet but it looks like its not really doing that good honestly i have about 140 miles on it so far this week.  and the gauge is moving normal.  i have hard time driving slow though too but i have done fairly well especially on the highway

[RabbitJockey]

so out it took me 6.544 gallons to go 226.2 miles. sad really. it comes out to 34.5 mpg...  so i'm going to say that my driving behaviors do little to effect my fuel consumption cause i drove very slow for all 226.2 miles.  i did check my tire pressure the fronts were both good but the one rear was down around 32 and the other side had leaked down to like 15 haha.  i hadn't checked them in a while.  i'll have to drive slow another week and see what happens with the proper tire pressure, i'll also throw in a new air filter since i haven't changed that in like 20k miles

[jtanguay]

i'm doing some tests to try and increase my mpg.  i have a feeling the pump isn't developing enough pressure, so i'm trying libbybapa's trick to increase pump pressure (gentle taps)  with about a tank in between.  so far it feels as though my car is running better... not much but noticeable?

[mtnsammy]

I agree with prothe, I keep hearing folks tell me their trucks are getting 20-28MPG with over sized tires and 4X4. I think some need to retake math classes. I am dead on with my odometer and have averaged the MPG with my Samuria 1.6TD and 30" tires. I get average 35 MPG when it runs. My big truck no matter what I do still gets 13 MPG. If I could average 50 MPG in a Jetta I would go for it since they handle very well in the snow/ ice combo I get here in Big Bear.

[RabbitJockey]

i don't understand that because when you put on bigger tires it throws off your odometer


anyways today i got 39.25 on 161.6 miles, all i did was add more air to my tires and revert to my old driving habbits haha, i think 40mpg while driving at what ever pace i feel like is pretty good.  too bad fuel is so damn expensive.

[Slave2School]

If you use a taller tire with the same tread width there is lower rolling resistance so some gains may be possible on the highway (not to mention taller gears).  In town may suffer :S  crap shoot I say.

[harry_the_face]

I would like to weigh in on this mpg discussion.  There is one more factor that has not been mentioned and that is following distance of the car in front of you.  In racing, drafting is known to increase fuel economy.  If you believe the show Mythbusters the test they did showed that a following distance of 30 feet increased economy by something like 20%.  

Taller tires can save fuel but only to a point.  If your driving a gutless 84 Quantum like me, increasing the tire diameter to much can make climbing hills harder and therefore use more gas.

I agree that you have to take the average of multiple tanks to be the most accurate.  The more miles the smaller the margin of error.

I like this thread though, it is a good discussion.

[RabbitJockey]

i used to like drafting but its too dangerous haha, they say u need 1 car length for every 10mph, so i'm not going to follow a car at 2 car lengths at 60mph, no thanks i value my rabbits life too much for that haha