Fuel Economy

[Racer X-8]

Originally Posted by Black Yaris

the complete opposite happened here in Toledo, the gas prices skyrocketted, to over $3 a gallon, wich was unherd of at the time

Holy Toledo!
hehehe, sorry, I just had to XD

But yeah, really, that's very strange and I haven't a clue why? Different resources affected differently? Our fuel surely was affected by Katrina, sudden loss of like three pipelines that come from that area, we had stations closed from being out of gas. I didn't see that since the crap that went on in '74.

Stuffy, man, be careful about coasting with your engine off, without the engine running, you can use-up your power brakes - you know, the brake booster runs on intake manifold vacuum...? And oh yeah, you could loose your power steering and your steering wheel could lock, right?

About the environment and stuff, yeah, best to keep it outta this thread I guess. I gotta hit on one thing,,, the increased pricing is making it now cost effective to tap other petroleum sources that were up till now not cost-effective, such as the Canadian Tar Sands - that up there is boomtown going bonkers expanding like wildfire from what I hear... the local infrastructure is bursting at the seams from the population explosion of all that going on. It also made major leaps and bounnds with new technological breakthroughs on how to get it out of the frozen permaforst tundra up there, but the increased petroleum pricing is what sent it over the edge. I heard that our #1 petroleum source is now Canada. Somebody do the checking on that, I seem to recall that I saw that myself, but I still can't believe it myself. And there's more oil up there than all of the Middle-east oil fields combined. I can't believe that myself either...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_sands

And there's a whole lot more oil that just isn't being touched yet either.

I'm all for getting away from petroleum as a fuel - it is most definitely going to totally run-out one day. But while we're going to something else, it's nice to know that we can kinda take our time and not be in such a chicken-with-its-head-cut-off rush about it. Hydrogen scares me still. Oh, ok, sorry... [lid put on it]

[nsmitchell]

33MPG on Premium gas. I gave it a shot. 75% hwy and 25% city. I was going pretty fast on the highway trips. Not taking it easy at the lights either. :)

[Racer X-8]

Originally Posted by Racer X-8 from my 1-2-07 post #910

Okay here it is, hehe. A couple things I can point out:

The downward trend in the beginning is mainly I think due to the drop below $1 per gallon just after the 9-11-01 attack. The price of gas dropped un-naturally low for some reason.

The major spike in 2005 was from the shortages due to Katrina.

The last thing I see is - it looks like we're in for a major price hike again... soon...

US $$$ per US gallons. Regular gas - the cheapest I could fairly easily find.

Here we go again. This price gouging is repeating last year's precisely by date and pricing...

[swng]

I have come across an article about understanding fuel economy ratings. It is admittedly long but I would recommend it:

http://autorepair.about.com/cs/gener.../aa022501a.htm

[Racer X-8]

Good article. It mentions one thing that I see people do a whole lot that just really irks me - when they leave their car idling. Heck, I even turn it off when I'm in a line at a drivethru! It's just wasting gas (and poluting), letting it just sit there idling. Some people think that starting your engine takes some equivalent amount of gas as idling it for like 3 minutes or something. How the heck could it? That's so un-true.

[stuffy]

well it might be a good idea to start caring at some point....i'm thinking along the lines of the environment as opposed to gas prices.

comfort of a large car is nice, but breathable air is better.

i saw an insect outside today, in canada, in january!!!!

racer-x, that's great that you are conscious of the idling engine,i shut my engine off at lights that i know are long ones, sometimes i shut it off and coast up to the light.

[BMGYaris]

you guys should probably start a new thread or something if you are going to keep talking about gas prices, but i wanted to put in my 2 cents anyway. a number of things can cause increased gas prices. Natural disasters can cause for a temporary shortage of resources which will obviously increase prices. Dont forget inflation when looking at prices, the price might be higher, but the actual expense might be the same. But, most importantly, it is a natural resource, and one that is deplinishing and is aquired from regions that are very politically volatile. Further, as the quantity of fossil fuels decrease it becomes significantly more costly and dangerous to aquire--and it also demands that we locate and build new facilities which will obviously cause for increased prices as well. And finally dont forget taxes are sometimes raised as the environment continues to be get worse.

Thus you have inflation, natural disasters, wars, and the ever diminishing quantity of actual fuel (shortages, danger, difficulty, new facilities), and taxes. Looks like damn good reasons for the price to be steadily increasing to me.

I think that the increasing gas prices are less about the man sticking it to us, and more about the future getting ready to stick it to us real good. Perhaps it is a sign of just how dire our fuel crisis is and will certainly become.

[swng]

Valid comments gentlemen.
I agree that when we talk about fuel economy, we should not only care about saving gas (=money) for ourselves but also care about saving gas (=cleaner environment) for the whole world. Also, if the prices are raised in order to get money for the building of more modern facilities and the funding of more research programs to produce fuel that pollute less, I won't mind, well, as far as I can afford to pay. But..........
Members will be glad to know that now many cities, including mine, have made, or are making, leaving a car idling for more than a few minutes illegal.

[stuffy]

About the environment and stuff, yeah, best to keep it outta this thread I guess. I gotta hit on one thing,,, the increased pricing is making it now cost effective to tap other petroleum sources that were up till now not cost-effective, such as the Canadian Tar Sands - that up there is boomtown going bonkers expanding like wildfire from what I hear... the local infrastructure is bursting at the seams from the population explosion of all that going on. It also made major leaps and bounnds with new technological breakthroughs on how to get it out of the frozen permaforst tundra up there, but the increased petroleum pricing is what sent it over the edge. I heard that our #1 petroleum source is now Canada. Somebody do the checking on that, I seem to recall that I saw that myself, but I still can't believe it myself. And there's more oil up there than all of the Middle-east oil fields combined. I can't believe that myself either...

didn't feel like starting a new thread, so i will post my lifetime fuel economy below to give this post some legitimacy.:)

yeah racer x-8, i do believe that canada is now the number one oil exporter to the u.s., besides a lot of conventional oil,they have been expanding the tar sands project like crazy, without considering to a great degree the environmental impact of this rapid expansion.
as i understand it, the process to remove the oil uses up huge amounts of water, which is taken in from the athabasca river, then put back in a "not-so-clean" state, and the effect is a lot of environmental damage in an otherwise pristine part of our country.
this part of the country is not tundra-covered or subject to permafrost, so i think the expense comes from the method of removing the oil.

the averaged fuel economy for my car, in 14 months of driving is 34.4 mpg, mostly city drivin.

[swng]

Just a brief update below. Nothing to write home about but still want to report honestly. I guess the result has been adversely affected by the failure to put a full tankful of gas into the fuel tank at the time of refilling. Sometimes this happens when the nozzle stops too soon for one reason or another.

Distance travelled
508.9 km, or
316.23 miles

Fuel Amount
41.27 litres, or
10.9 US gallons, or
9.08 Imperial gallons

Fuel Economy
8.11
litres per 100 km, or
29
miles per US gallon, or
34.83
miles per Imperial gallon

City/Highway Driving = 30/70

[stuffy]

swng, looks like our numbers are very close for vehicles of similar age.

[swng]

Originally Posted by stuffy

swng, looks like our numbers are very close for vehicles of similar age.

Good observation buddy! But trust me, I am going to report better numbers with the next tank.

[stuffy]

i think i have hit the wall with getting better mileage, most of my driving is short city trips (so basically the worst type of driving for fuel economy)

i figure if i can keep it above 30 mpg in the winter, then i'm fairly happy :)

[Yaris TTE JWRC]

I been tracking every tank i have used ever since i bought the car, and im not lying, i have 3.5k miles on it now (changed oil, no mods every thing factroy), and i have been getting twice 31MPG, and the rest of my tank got 30 MPG, it is about 3-4 MPG less of what the factory says, suppose to be 34 MPG / city, and 40MPG / HWY, i drive 70% HWY and 30% City,and i drive a 5speed, alos take easy when i drive just to see what the MPG really is on this car, but it is less than what it shoud be, any of you guys tracking ur MPG?? please dont lie about how much MPG u get, i wanna know what people and this car really get on MPG

[stuffy]

you will get better mileage as the engine gets worked in.
i've had my car for 14 months and 34.4 mgp is the lifetime avg i have achieved.
the best mileage i've had was 45 mpg this past summer on trips with 100% hwy driving.

[Blenjar]

How do you know how do you know all that? A computer in your car?

-- Blen

[stuffy]

no, i just keep track of mileage the old fashioned way.

[07WYarisRS]

Keep in mind when the tets are done for in town and hwy mileage they are done in a strait time with few cold starts and shutting the car off. if you fill up you car and drove it intown for a full tank of fuel without shutting it off you will easily hit the toyota mileage claims. Same with the hwy. If I fill the tank and drive it until empty with no stops or cold starts I can easily get toyota's cliamed mileage or better.

So much depends on the driving style, when you drive, where you drive and how often you start your car.
During the week our mileage sucks because the is driven 5 minutes from the house, at lunch the wife drives home, an hour later she drives back, then home again. 4 cold starts = 4 cold 5 minute drives. The car barely gets up to normal operating temps before it's parked again and this KILLS the fuel economy. but it's a far cry better then our truck was LOL.
The more short trips or in town the worse the mileage will be.


Also I get FAR better mileage driving then my wife does and we both follow the posted speed limits most of the time.
The difference is I tend to accelerate slower and coast longer, where she uses the brakes a lot more and has a heavier foot. When she drives the car is shifting aprox 500 rpm higher then when I drive.
Also the speeds you drive on the hwy make a huge difference. Drive 100kph and you will get better mileage them driving 120kph.

There are a few things you can do to improve the mileage as well. The biggest difference for our car was switching the fluids over to synthetics
Amsoil 0w-30 engine oil and Amsoil ATF. I can get crazy mileage (over 50mpg) if i drive on the hwy and keep it at 100-105kph and that's with an auto and car full of camping gear.
Do not over inflate the tires... so many people do this and think that it helps, follow the mfg's recommended tire pressure, it's on the inside edge of the driver door.