Fuel Economy

[swng]

Originally Posted by Lafiro

I get the same thing.

This tank si strange cause I did not follow the rules of accelorating slow and not driving at the speed limit, but somehow, the half-way point on the indicated didnt lose that bar until 242miles!!!! Which is a record for me!!

But watch it start blinking when I hit 310miles or so :( I dont get how I lose 3 bars in 60-70miles, but lose the first four after 200-240miles.

As you described it, it is strange. IMHO, under normal conditions, it is unlikely that three gauge bars can be lost in a matter of just 60-70 miles considering that the same car has covered 240+ miles for the first half of its fuel gauge range i.e. half the number of the bars (NB:not the car's real range). It is my presumption that all relevant conditions have remained more or less unchanged. Otherwise, anything can happen, right? Yet on the other hand, it is not too unreasonable for the last bar to start blinking at 310 miles (about 500 km). All gauge bars are understandably not equal when it comes to the distances that they individually cover but your case appears a bit too weird.
The car should presumably be under warranty and I would suggest taking it to the dealership for a checking.
All the best!

[Lafiro]

I did that one when my last bar started blinking at 240miles or so for a few tanks. They said it was bad gas, and even took a cup of it out and showed it to me in the room with everyone and they said it smelled bad. Lets just say I never went nor want to go to a BP station ever again. But they told me that they would not do the work to check the fuel tank/filter, and that the ECU didnt show anything wrong, and this was even after I insisted. Whatever maybe I was pushing it but I dont like how I drive like a grandma most of the time, and all I get on average is 3mpg more. :( I could race the car all I want and drive at 90mph all the time and I would always average atleast 26-29mpg. I drive slow, and now its just 32. Lets see tomorrow when I fill her up.

And that was also the tank after pushing the car to the gas station cause I ran out of fuel!! Stupid me forgot to put gas i the car and ignored the miles that day. Ran out completely at like 336miles or something which isnt that good either.

Anyway, its at 310miles right now and still got a bit more I suppose before it starts to blink!

Maybe it is the crappy air filters they are putting in the car?
I mean I got the pil changed to synthetic and changed the tranny fluid and it didnt really do anything, but the car felt a bit stronger.

[swng]

Thanks Lafiro for the additional information above and the friendly communication as a whole. I think you have done a lot of things conscientiously trying to bring about some improvement. Let's hope that it is just the gas that has caused you the relatively low F.E., as the dealership seems to have claimed. Frankly 26-32 mpg (US) is not too good but also not extremely bad. IMHO, improvements are not impossible.
There are better ways to drive to save fuel other than just to drive like a grandma. Here are some tips that may be worth going through (again, if you already have):
http://www.howtoadvice.com/SavingGas
There are lots of similar tips on the net, with some contradicting the others. I have chosen this particular link for you because among others, Tip #7 thereof seems quite relevant.
Please keep on reporting your progress on this thread if you don't mind.
Thank you in anticipation.

[Bredayaris]

I've got my 50 mpg today, but i can do it much better.

My boardcomputer said that i can drive 434 miles with one tank of diesel, but my boardcomputer is very negative. And it's better to have 1/4 filled up of your fuel tank.

In the Netherlands it's called : ''het nieuwe rijden'', the new driving.
You have to drive in 4th gear if you go 31 mph, but if i do that my dieselengine doesn't like that. It revs less than 1800 rpm at 31 mph.
43 mph in 5th isn't good for my engine too i think.

[marcus]

well i finally hit the highest mileage average.. 44 miles/gal. about 15.6km/liter, and 6.4/100 km... i had to go back to premium gas. I know I know "premium doesnt give you better gas mileage" but hey i gain 3miles /gal switching over.. or it could also be the break in period kickin in..big coincidence though..i got almost 10000 km on her. oh well...lets hear the negative comments! hehehe..

[Lafiro]

Originally Posted by swng

Thanks Lafiro for the additional information above and the friendly communication as a whole. I think you have done a lot of things conscientiously trying to bring about some improvement. Let's hope that it is just the gas that has caused you the relatively low F.E., as the dealership seems to have claimed. Frankly 26-32 mpg (US) is not too good but also not extremely bad. IMHO, improvements are not impossible.
There are better ways to drive to save fuel other than just to drive like a grandma. Here are some tips that may be worth going through (again, if you already have):
http://www.howtoadvice.com/SavingGas
There are lots of similar tips on the net, with some contradicting the others. I have chosen this particular link for you because among others, Tip #7 thereof seems quite relevant.
Please keep on reporting your progress on this thread if you don't mind.
Thank you in anticipation.

Hey thank you.

I will follow this. Would it also make a difference that I have two nice amps still connected to the battery? I would assume all extra demand on the alternator would then mean less miles per gallon? Specifically since I removed the two sub's the 2600watt amp is still connected. The 4 speakers then are connected to a 1200watt 4channel amp which is always on and I always listen to music. Maybe this is affecting it as well? But I cant assume this will affect it any at all?????

[petesimac]

Okay, so I had my first instance of premature bar droppage; I usually get about 46 miles per bar, not including the first one which varies from 68-75 miles, and the second one which sometimes gets me 50+ miles, so when my bar dropped 20 miles short of this, I was disappointed. It happened while idling in a bank teller line; I would normally have turned my engine off, but there was only one car ahead of me and it looked like she was done. So as I'm waiting, whoosh, the bar drops, and I grumble. Once it's my turn, I pull up and turn the car off. After my business, I turn the car back on, but the bar is still down. I head off down the road, I'm coasting down a hill and "pop" the bar comes back :) So, how often has this happened to any of you, and why does it happen? Any thoughts?

[marcus]

Originally Posted by petesimac

Okay, so I had my first instance of premature bar droppage; I usually get about 46 miles per bar, not including the first one which varies from 68-75 miles, and the second one which sometimes gets me 50+ miles, so when my bar dropped 20 miles short of this, I was disappointed. It happened while idling in a bank teller line; I would normally have turned my engine off, but there was only one car ahead of me and it looked like she was done. So as I'm waiting, whoosh, the bar drops, and I grumble. Once it's my turn, I pull up and turn the car off. After my business, I turn the car back on, but the bar is still down. I head off down the road, I'm coasting down a hill and "pop" the bar comes back :) So, how often has this happened to any of you, and why does it happen? Any thoughts?

gauge bar aint accurate..actually they are very inaccurate... all that matter is what you get an the end of your 7th bar..mine leaves me about 4- 5 liters once the last bar starts blinkin..

[stuffy]

Originally Posted by marcus

well i finally hit the highest mileage average.. 44 miles/gal. about 15.6km/liter, and 6.4/100 km... i had to go back to premium gas. I know I know "premium doesnt give you better gas mileage" but hey i gain 3miles /gal switching over.. or it could also be the break in period kickin in..big coincidence though..i got almost 10000 km on her. oh well...lets hear the negative comments! hehehe..

hey marcus, i also noticed an improvement in fuel economy when using a tank of premium gas.

i made the same 600 km round trip on two weekends, one with premium gas and one with regular.

the premium tank was 41 mpg with poor traffic conditions, the regular tank was 36 mpg with better driving conditions.

i know they say it doesn't make a difference, but that has not been my experience.

[marcus]

Originally Posted by stuffy

hey marcus, i also noticed an improvement in fuel economy when using a tank of premium gas.

i made the same 600 km round trip on two weekends, one with premium gas and one with regular.

the premium tank was 41 mpg with poor traffic conditions, the regular tank was 36 mpg with better driving conditions.

i know they say it doesn't make a difference, but that has not been my experience.

you got it. the question is is it worth the extra money for premium gas to get the extra mileage? also i put premium only because the engine runs quiter on it specially during acceleration....but be ready once other sees this we gonna get jumped.. with "oh premium dont give us better mileage and stuff" hehehe good luck!

[BailOut]

Well, it looks like the premium gas worked for a few of you but my MPG actually decreased by 9% on 93 Octane vs. 87 Octane.

Perhaps it's because my driving style is so different.

[marcus]

try 89 instead of 93 thats too high of an octane for our car.. maybe u may notice the diff... again i only do it for the engine running slightly quieter on premium..89 ofcourse.

[BailOut]

I've done that. 89 Octane = a loss of 5% MPG, 93 Octane = a 9% loss.

I tried 2 tanks in a row of each to get a more accurate test (and the low numbers hurt my running tank average). Without a doubt I consistently get the highest MPG with 87 Octane.

Aside from my much calmer driving style two other things that may make a difference for me are that we're always on 10% Ethanol here and I'm at a higher altitude than most folks (my home is at 4,500ft., my office is a 6,350ft., and I traverse an 8,900ft. summit to get there).

[jmharn]

Does anybody notice that the 2008 yaris mpg ratings are lowered from 34/39 to
29/35? (mpg, that is)

I asked my dealer, and he mentioned that it has something todo with the government's policy to conduct the test has changed in 08...anyone second that?

[ern-diz]

Originally Posted by BailOut

I've done that. 89 Octane = a loss of 5% MPG, 93 Octane = a 9% loss.

I tried 2 tanks in a row of each to get a more accurate test (and the low numbers hurt my running tank average). Without a doubt I consistently get the highest MPG with 87 Octane.

Aside from my much calmer driving style two other things that may make a difference for me are that we're always on 10% Ethanol here and I'm at a higher altitude than most folks (my home is at 4,500ft., my office is a 6,350ft., and I traverse an 8,900ft. summit to get there).

facinating...i just filled up with my first tank of 91...have been running 89 and it appears as though to start i'm getting a bit better mpg with the 91 than i have with the few tanks of 89...as far as conditions go, i'm in socal and its been warm (besides today lol)...trying to figure out what would be the best octane to run for engine life vs. FE...87, 89 or 91...

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by jmharn

Does anybody notice that the 2008 yaris mpg ratings are lowered from 34/39 to
29/35? (mpg, that is)

I asked my dealer, and he mentioned that it has something todo with the government's policy to conduct the test has changed in 08...anyone second that?

The EPA changed the way they do the test to reflect the way people are actually driving rather than how they are supposed to be driving, starting with the 2008 model year.

http://fueleconomy.gov/feg/ratings2008.shtml

[swng]

Originally Posted by Lafiro

Hey thank you.

I will follow this. Would it also make a difference that I have two nice amps still connected to the battery? I would assume all extra demand on the alternator would then mean less miles per gallon? Specifically since I removed the two sub's the 2600watt amp is still connected. The 4 speakers then are connected to a 1200watt 4channel amp which is always on and I always listen to music. Maybe this is affecting it as well? But I cant assume this will affect it any at all?????

Once again thanks for the communication and your interest in the subject of this thread.
I am no expert but I know that amplifiers do not run with 100% efficiency. Some amps (for that matter, sound systems) can have a higher efficiency then the others. When an amp is switched on, a certain power, which has to come from the gas you buy, is lost i.e. not producing sound. Say if the amps' average efficiency is x %. Then each time an amp is on, (100 - x)% of power is simply lost. At the same overall sound level (deep bass requires a lot of power anyway), the greater is the amp's list power, the more power, hence your fuel, is likely lost. A distant analogy is that at the same speed and carrying the same driver, an SUV uses more fuel than our Yari. Most amps consume a certain power whenever turned on, whether the volume is turned up or music is played at all or not. A visible circumstantial evidence of the power lost I am talking about can be found in the big heat sinks (the multiple heat dissipation fins) that are built into the high power amplifiers. Apart from whether they are electrically safe to touch, those things are very warm or even hot to touch after the amplifiers have been switched on for some time. Even when we are not talking about amplifier efficiency, generally, using the sound system consumes power. Again, some systems are more efficient than the others, but no sound system can run without using power. As a rule of thumb, heavy bass consumes the most power.
I submit that for comfort (e.g. masking the noise), pleasure, safety and convenience (i.e. traffic and weather reports etc) and alertness (that is keeping you from falling asleep whilst driving), there are certain advantages of turning on the sound system, so the fuel is not consumed for nothing. However, bigger sound systems usually mean bigger fuel bills.
Just a further note about http://www.howtoadvice.com/SavingGas, there are some links to a few very useful articles at the bottom of the page. If you have time, I recommend that you go through them, at least cursorily. As a disclaimer, I wish to point out that some gas saving tips may contradict with some others and they are to be adopted (or otherwise) with good sense, with reference to the local laws and driving environment, and at one's own risk.
Just my humble opinions. Correct me if I am wrong. Please post here often.

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by voodoo22

Do you have Shell gas around there which put 0% ethanol in their V-power? I wonder how that would result. I can't see you gaining over 9% based on no ethanol. I only use regular and can't justify spening over 10% more for gas when the car doesn't need it. After years of buying premium, spending less than $30 on gas at the end of the week is something I don't want to give up

I only use Shell gas and E10 is a mandate. Regardless of the Octane level, if you buy it in Nevada or California it's 10% Ethanol. In the cold months it gets worse as our Winter fuel - by mandate - is E10 RFG (reformulated gasoline).

This helps the lead-footers produce much less emissions, which is a good thing, but by proxy it robs the proper drivers of lots of mileage.