Fuel Economy

[TRD_Yaris]

Originally Posted by jay

4 more sets of numbers to report, as a followup to my prior post on this thread.

Per my regular 70/30 hwy/city mix -

5.93 L/100 km (zero A/C)
6.30 L/100 km (some A/C)

On a 1136.7 km total road trip (85 hwy/15 city, A/C running ~75% of the time) -

5.56 (!) L/100 km
In Monopoly money - 42.30 US mpg
In poker chips - 50.81 Imperial mpg

Back to the regular 70/30 hwy/city mix, and w/lots of A/C -

6.33 L/100km
...and back up to the low 6s I've been typically experiencing this summer.

It would appear that hwy running, for hours at a time, reduces the rate of fuel consumption.

Overall, these are substantial reductions from 7.1-7.2 L/100 km, when the car was still brand new thru the dead of winter. On the assumption that my driving style has been more or less the same, wear-in, usage mix, and environmental conditions seem to account for the rest of the difference.

I think my experience has been typical (no need to panic for the new Yaris owners).

Well, not much more I can add at this point. My Yaris has met all my expectations

thanks for the numbers!! your driving seems pretty typical of most "american" commuters. It's interesting to think about how summer/winter temps/conditions affect gas mileage and performance.

42+ mpg sounds pimp

[Chris07LB]

Originally Posted by TRD_Yaris

42+ mpg sounds pimp

Sweeet!

[swng]

Originally Posted by TRD_Yaris

It's interesting to think about how summer/winter temps/conditions affect gas mileage and performance.

A very relevant point for discussion here, TRD_Yaris. Thanks for showing interest in this subject. The common belief is that warm weather tends to produce better results. It should be right. Still, it would be satisfying to prove it with our own efforts here.
I hope all of us will keep on reporting fuel economy numbers year round. With a big data base, our intelligent members will be able to use their analytical minds to draw some useful conclusions.

[Pompeii66]

My first two tanks so far have yielded 32MPG.
I'm not going to get mad about it yet.
Only have about 600 miles on it so far, it's not even broke-in, plus it's been hot as hell here since I got it and the A/C is always on.

Meteorite Metallic LiftBack.

Just finished installing my XM Satellite radio today.
Spent an hour first trying to find a feasible place to mount it.
Came up with an idea, Pix/Post to follow.

[asa805]

So since filling up the tires that were low i think my MPG is improving. Havent yet used up enough gas to tell but in the first bar on the meter i did 60 miles. At my last fillup i went 250 miles (24 mpg). Im thinking i have improved quite a bit considering there are 8 bars and i already did more than 1/5th of the miles on my last fillup and i only am up to my second bar. Im not going to get my hopes up yet until i get lower on the meter. Anyone know how many miles they are doing approx per bar on the meter?

[swng]

Re: asa805's question above.
I can only speak for myself. With a few exceptions, I have been getting 40 to 50+ miles per bar. The first bar usually lasts as long as two other bars, sometimes longer.

[TRD_Yaris]

Originally Posted by asa805

So since filling up the tires that were low i think my MPG is improving. Havent yet used up enough gas to tell but in the first bar on the meter i did 60 miles. At my last fillup i went 250 miles (24 mpg). Im thinking i have improved quite a bit considering there are 8 bars and i already did more than 1/5th of the miles on my last fillup and i only am up to my second bar. Im not going to get my hopes up yet until i get lower on the meter. Anyone know how many miles they are doing approx per bar on the meter?

Tire pressure IS one of the MOST important factors in gas mileage. Though, inflating a bit too much may cause too much "floating" or bounciness in the tire sidewalls (depending on how stiff the sidewalls are to begin with).

Also, highway fuel economy is going to differ GREATLY between 50 mph and faster...how much of a difference i have not figured out yet.

The first few thousand miles tend to be pretty bad on gas, and the gas tank being kinda small makes it tougher to get a good average. My best method is resetting the trip odometer and keeping track of EVERY gallon of gas that goes in it (gas receipts help, especially writing the before/after odometer reading on each receipt). After about 500-1000 miles, you should have a MUCH better average than with 10 gallon. on a 10 gallon fillup, you might be off as much as 1 gallon since you can't EXACTly tell if you refill to the EXACT same spot as before...

As far as hotter temperatures giving you better gas mileage: i agree (from everything i've researched). Colder temperatures will give you better horsepower from the air being a bit denser, but this denser air entering the engine will require additional fuel to burn : therefore you end up using more gas. Though, a bit quicker acceleration should mean that you have to accelerate for a BIT less time..but this doesn't seem to be as big of a factor.

This thread has gone from good to EXTREMELy informative.

[Chris07LB]

Great info TRD_ !

[stuffy]

my car just hit the 10,000 km mark and i just filled up,
my average over the last 4 tanks is 6.1L p/100km or 38.5 mpg (u.s.),
i would estimate 60/40 hwy/city, driving most of the time like youthfully-minded senior citizen who on rare occasion likes to pretend he/she is a responsible yet thrill seeking teenager.

[swng]

Just filled up with 44.027 liters (please believe it, its on the bill). Traveled 648.7 km.
That's 34.65 mpg (US) or 41.62 mpg (Imp).

For your own calculations, please try this:
http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportatio...ut.cfm?attr=16

[BLKYRSSDN]

Got 5500 miles on my auto sedan, with 50% hwy driving the average over the life of the car is 38 mpg, on a trip this past week on the highway with the AC running I averaged 42 mpg, can't beat that with a stick. With gas at $3 it seems that I should've spent just $435 to drive those 5500 miles

[swng]

Originally Posted by BLKYRSSDN

Got 5500 miles on my auto sedan, with 50% hwy driving the average over the life of the car is 38 mpg, on a trip this past week on the highway with the AC running I averaged 42 mpg, can't beat that with a stick. With gas at $3 it seems that I should've spent just $435 to drive those 5500 miles

Nice to know! This verifies my observation that an auto can achieve near-stick fuel economy.

[TRD_Yaris]

Originally Posted by swng

Just filled up with 44.027 liters (please believe it, its on the bill). Traveled 648.7 km.
That's 34.65 mpg (US) or 41.62 mpg (Imp).

For your own calculations, please try this:
http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportatio...ut.cfm?attr=16

VERY NICE INFORMATION!! this IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED TO SEE, someone who has used gas receipts to verify EVERY SINGLE gallon of fuel they've put in the car down to the .01 gallon.
See, the inherent problem(s) with "calculating" your gas mileage based off one tank of fuel are:
1. Precisely refilling the fuel tank to the exact level it was when you refilled last is though, usually you're going to be anywhere up to 1/2 a gallon off (unless you REALLY know you're vehicle.. ). Therefore, if you figure your gas mileage, and you happen to be a half gallon off, this will greatly affect your math. on the other hand, if you use the fuel numbers off your gas receipts, you know EXACTLY how much fuel you used over MANY tanks, and you will still only be 1/2 gallon or so off since you only run into the problem of refilling to the same level as beginning level once. (brain fart..does everyone know where i'm going with this..i lost myself..hah haha hah i'm a little loopy right now....)
a 1/2 gallon off over 50+ gallons (about 5+ fillups) does not affect the MPG math as much..therefore leaving less room for error and more room fr adjusting to the good data you've received

2. driving for more miles will give you a much better "average" of your normal driving, giving you much more realistic numbers (realistic being what YOU will see). Just knowing a yaris will get 40+++ mpg on the highway in California in 80 degree weather with 60 percent humidity, no A/C, driving a steady 62.1 mph down a 5 grade mount in the direction with the wind isn't going to help you if all you do is commute around the corner, where you will be idling in traffic or warming the car up MORE than you will driving... personally, i drive my yaris a little faster than I know is gas efficient. Mostly because I'm driving delivery and i'm usually in a bit of a rush to make $ . Also, i tend to either skip 3rd gear (if i'm not gonna go over 40 mph for awhile) or I skip 4th (if I'm gonna be going above 40 mph like highway driving)..I don't know if this helps or hurts my gas mileage but old habits die young. I've been doing it ever since I drove my civic hatchback. it had enough power that i could actually take off in 2nd gear very comfortably..and going through gear on extremely short gears is a pain in the as$ for delivery driving 5+ hours straight...

[swng]

Many thanks for posting your useful thoughts.
I will be keeping an eye on my car's fuel efficiency on a long term basis, tank after tank, with a view to minimizing the effects of one or two times of especially good or bad results because of one reason or another, e.g. exceptional driving conditions (favorable or otherwise), or not being able to fill up to exactly the same level of the tank as the previous filling etc.
Also, I believe that starting with 2nd gear, if the car's design so permits, can help save some fuel. Too bad I drive an auto currently and therefore have limited ability to comment on aspects concerning stick shifting.
Please keep on sharing your insight!

[TRD_Yaris]

hehe..actually the "starting in 2nd gear" doesn't really apply ..only to cars that have MUCH larger engines than they were originally intended for, and short gearing. The Owners manual actually warns against starting in 2nd :P
i hope i haven't misled anyone there.. i was just reminiscing (spelling sux cuz i'm tired)

[swng]

Apart from the Yaris, the Nissan Versa is another fine example of an automatic version achieving more or less the same fuel economy as its standard transmission couterpart. Please see:
www.nissanusa.com/versa/specifications.html. Please click open the page and click "Fuel Economy" near the middle of the page, under the car's picture.
Note that not only the CVT version but also the regular automatic version can produce numbers close to or better than those of the stick shift version.
Definitely a good trend for fans of automatic gear boxes.

[Chaad32]

The Nissan Versa and the Honda Fit made out better according to Road and Track magazine than the Yaris (I'm sorry I couldn't bring up the web page), but I stil like the Yaris styling better.

[Ziv]

Update:

470 Clicks / 35 Litre.

Blast my A/C quite often tho, 80/20 Cty/Hwy. = 7.44 L/100 Km