OK. Car was born on (or at least adopted by me) July 19, 2004.

I live in Boston and have had VERY different MPGs all summer and early fall and want to know what people think. Here's the 411 -

xA Automatic
Used A/C ALOT during the summer
80% of my driving is highway
My average speed is 68 or so, but I bump 80 pretty regularly
I recently got 17-inch wheels and tires and mileage has dropped by 3MPG
I have tracked EVERY TANK

Best MPG ever was 35
Worst was two weeks ago with the new wheels at 29
Average is right on 33

What's the story. Normal? Should I take it in for a check-up? Oil has been changed twice (am now at 8,000 miles) and I've used 5W-30 in it both times.

Thanks,

That sounds pretty good, in Colorado I get about 30 mpg, and I thought that was good, many mods and 18's.

I was getting 37.5 mixed highway and city combined...however milage dropped after 3 tank

After looking around the site, some people complained about real LOW mileage (22ish) early on in the summer/spring and they fixed that with a dealer visit. Any input on that from anyone here?

ALSO, I'll call my local guy tomorrow and see what he recommends doing. I'm pretty sure I should be able to hit 38 on occasion.

AND I'd love to touch 40 once in a while.

J

I’m only on my third tank, but here’s my MPG for far (I have an automatic trans):

Fist tank: Drove 300 miles through dreadful weather (heavy rain, sleet, flooded roads, puddled highways, dirt roads, steep mountain roads, curvy roads).

MPG: 37 (325 miles on 8.8 gallons)

Second tank: Good weather but the same types of roads.

MPG: 40 (272 miles on 6.8 gallons).

I don’t know what my average speed has been. Maybe 45 or so. I do notice that my tac stays low, between 1500 and 2500. On a steep uphill grade, it might zip up to 3500 or so for a very short time.

All of this is on 87-octane gas. Next time I will try 92 octane and see if I can pull 45 MPG.

Side note: I am a very conservative driver. Old guy. Drive the limit most of the time. Sometimes less, sometimes more.

The xA is awesome on MPG.

on a trip from CT to Montreal this past weekend. I tried one tank of gas at 65 mph all highway 5th gear (standard obviously) rear tires 32psi, fronts 35psi, 87 octane gas, no mods, 5500 miles on the car. I got 37.9mpg. After I filled up i got impatient and went a bit over 70. mileage went down. I bet that with the gearing, at least on the manual xA, that 60 mph is the most economical speed to run at.

30's seemes to be normal. I've been averaging about 35. My worst was 32, and my best was 42.

When I got 42 I drove it real easy that tank just to see what I could get on it.

Way back in the good old days of the 50s and 60s Popular Science used to run an evaluation of one vehicle each month. One of the things tested was the best fuel efficiency speed. I do not recall ever seeing a best fuel efficiency speed above 45 MPH. These mileage speeds were tested on small quantity fuel allocations and probably flat track and little or no wind. Not reality. Real world best mileage speed would likely have been lower.

Well, all of my driving yesterday was done uberconservatively. I drove 130 miles, never went over 60, all driving was highway except about 10 miles.

I still only climbed to 31.8!!

I'll be doing three things today:

Checking tire pressure
Calling my dealer
and making faces because I want to get 40MPG too!

As I mentioned earlier, I'm running 17-inch wheels and tires, so friction is definitely an issue, but I was getting 30-32 even without driving like my grandmother.

I'll let you know what the dealer says.