Ok, I'm one of the complainers about the poor gas milage my xB is getting. I have never owned a car that got less the 32 mpg. Mine is getting ave of 29.
I may be b*tching too soon, I only have 1100 miles on it (just did my first oil change too). Drive it like a granny (usually under 3000 rpm, never known to go over 4000). Broke it in with care. It is A/T (my first). I didn't like the feel of the stick shift. My last car was a 95 Ford Escort hatch w/ stick and it averaged 35mpg. It died with a blown headgasket last month at 156K. Bought the xB that night. My fiance got his xA last week (read: Cute Scion family) it was backorderd for two months.

So, what can I do to improve MPG? I was told that the a/t no longer get worse MPG than stick shift. Is this not true? Should I change the tires (stock-yuck!)? I live in SF Bay area and I don't use the A/C. I use medium grade Union 76 gasoline. What am I missing? Thanks for any ideas.

So, what can I do to improve MPG? I was told that the a/t no longer get worse MPG than stick shift. Is this not true? Should I change the tires (stock-yuck!)? I live in SF Bay area and I don't use the A/C. I use medium grade Union 76 gasoline. What am I missing? Thanks for any ideas.
Here's a 3 page thread that discusses these issues:

MPG on xB

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14658&highlight=mpg

The August 2004 issue of Consumer Reports tests came up with the following figures for the xB:

Overall MPG (Auto/Man.) 30/32
City/Highway MPG (Auto/Man.) 23/37 25/36

Hope this helps. :D RPM

I wounder if you wouldn't have better luck with 89 octane.

***EDIT***
Oops! I meant 87 octane (89 is med around here I think) -- Seeing as how there is more potential energy in lower octane fuel it seems to me you'd need less of it to get the job done. At the same time I'm sure the diffrence is minimal.

I wounder if you wouldn't have better luck with 89 octane.

Isn't 87 the lowest we're supposed to use???

Drive like grandma minus the curb rubbing.

#1 octane will not make more MPG or more horsepower... I have a long thread out there somewhere (search for yourself) about how octane ratings control how much your engine CAN make if designed that way... putting nitro methane or 100 octane or 87 octane will absolutely positively do nothing to give you a boost in performance or mileage... anyone who tells you differently is BSing you, or they don't know what they are talking about...

#2 a cold air intake or anything you do to the engine will not make it get better mileage... it will allow for more horsepower, but you aren't looking for more horsepower...

the essential ways to improve mileage are controlled by the driver... here's a few pointers...
#1 cruise control...
#2 windows rolled up... use A/C instead OR
#3 turn off A/C
#4 slow down, 45mph is about the ultimate speed...
#5 acceleration is the worst... so stay off the pedal, you can rev the engine all day, but stomp the pedal to 3000rpm will still use more gas than a moderate acceleration...
#6 check tire inflation (correct pressure are NEVER written on the tire, they are ALWAYS in the owner's manual)

driver's habits are what makes most of the difference that people see between the MPG ratings and their results...

okay, the crazy ways to get better mileage... hmm...
#1 draft... try to eliminate any gap between you and the car in front of you... (do this at your own risk, and cover the front bumper with nerf, cause you are gonna hit a lot of people)
#2 20mph uphill... coast downhill...
#3 always push your car in parking lots...
#4 lighten the load, leave your friends, spare tire/tools, stereo, all non-necessity stuff at home... less mass requires less power on acceleration and hills...

okay, stick to the first list... skip the second... :roll:

#1 octane will not make more MPG or more horsepower... I have a long thread out there somewhere (search for yourself) about how octane ratings control how much your engine CAN make if designed that way... putting nitro methane or 100 octane or 87 octane will absolutely positively do nothing to give you a boost in performance or mileage... anyone who tells you differently is BSing you, or they don't know what they are talking about...

#2 a cold air intake or anything you do to the engine will not make it get better mileage... it will allow for more horsepower, but you aren't looking for more horsepower...

the essential ways to improve mileage are controlled by the driver... here's a few pointers...
#1 cruise control...
#2 windows rolled up... use A/C instead OR
#3 turn off A/C
#4 slow down, 45mph is about the ultimate speed...
#5 acceleration is the worst... so stay off the pedal, you can rev the engine all day, but stomp the pedal to 3000rpm will still use more gas than a moderate acceleration...
#6 check tire inflation (correct pressure are NEVER written on the tire, they are ALWAYS in the owner's manual)

driver's habits are what makes most of the difference that people see between the MPG ratings and their results...

okay, the crazy ways to get better mileage... hmm...
#1 draft... try to eliminate any gap between you and the car in front of you... (do this at your own risk, and cover the front bumper with nerf, cause you are gonna hit a lot of people)
#2 20mph uphill... coast downhill...
#3 always push your car in parking lots...
#4 lighten the load, leave your friends, spare tire/tools, stereo, all non-necessity stuff at home... less mass requires less power on acceleration and hills...

okay, stick to the first list... skip the second... :roll:

You say octane doesn't make a difference, but he said he's using 76 octane, hell I wouldn't use that low in my lawn mower. There aren't even any gas stations around here that sell that low a quality gas.

You say octane doesn't make a difference, but he said he's using 76 octane, hell I wouldn't use that low in my lawn mower. There aren't even any gas stations around here that sell that low a quality gas.
She said, "I use medium grade Union 76 gasoline."

"Union 76" is a brand name of gasoline like Conoco or Phillips. "Medium grade" is between Premium and Regular grade in octane rating.

Scion xB's use Regular unleaded gas. Any higher octane is not necessary. :roll: RPM

Union 76 is a gas station/oil company. He said he used medium grade gas (which usually is 89).....

You say octane doesn't make a difference, but he said he's using 76 octane, hell I wouldn't use that low in my lawn mower. There aren't even any gas stations around here that sell that low a quality gas.

76 isn't "low quality"... if they made such a thing it just wouldnt' be stable... it would have approximately the same power / unit volume, but it would only work in extremely cold climates with low compression engines...

91 or 93 octane is 91% or 93% octane (as in 8 carbons) with the remainders being made up of heptanes (7), hexanes(6), etc... if I am not mistaken, I think that heptanes have slightly more energy per unit volume, but they aren't stable, so piston engines aren't very resceptive to them...

My bad. It's Friday and the brain isn't working. I was thinking 76 octane, which i've never heard of. Union 76 makes sense. Hardly any of those around here.

#4 lighten the load, leave your friends, spare tire/tools, stereo, all non-necessity stuff at home... less mass requires less power on acceleration and hills...

That reminds me of a seinfeld episode where Kramer and Newman are chasing Jerry's Mechanic who stole Jerry's car because he wasn't taking proper care of it. Kramer and Newman took Newman's mail truck loaded with pop cans so they could take it to one of those states that has deposits to make some money and they spotted Jerry's car en route. However, they couldn't keep up with Jerry's mechanic in Jerry's car so Kramer told Newman that he had to lighten the load by dumping the pop cans and then that wasn't enough so Kramer tells Newman that he saw a donut stand 1/4 mile back and drops him off on the highway. It's a must see.

But yeah, it did work on the show.

Just a few extra notes on this thread.

First of all I want to thank everyone who posted a response to my original post. These notes are not intended as a flame or nag or anything, just an update. :D
1) I'm female :wink:
2) I searched threads on MPG for the xB for the past two weeks and still didnt' feel that my personal concerns were addressed.
3) I am reviewing my driving habits. Since this is the first a/t I've had since age 16 (family car, @#$!! years ago). I can see that I am driving differently. I need to increse my coasting habits as I can see that I tend to keep on the pedal until I brake - a habit I did NOT have on my sticks. I'll let you all know if it improves the MPG. Also I'm looking at the RPM more to see if I'm "gunning" it on my starts. The pedal may be more sensitive that I think. I'll experiment with exceleration habits as well. Anyone else experiencing this type of habit?
Thanks again to all the ideas, advise and support!
Cathy
Oh my gosh! Its a girl! :shock:

Girl or guy, your are part of forum which is for xb owners and your concerns are well noted. The mpg does somewhat suck, the functionality and space makes up for the lack luster gas milage. Yet is still better than most cars. I just enjoy the meaning of the car and the people who drive it. It more for fun and functionality.

If it would help, just go behind a big SUV and coast on there draft. HeHe, HaHa.

#5 acceleration is the worst... so stay off the pedal, you can rev the engine all day, but stomp the pedal to 3000rpm will still use more gas than a moderate acceleration...


This is incorrect. The name of the game is trying to get into the highest gear possible as soon as possible and then cruise gently in the highest gear.

If you recall your high school physics, you should know that it takes the same amount of work (energy) to accelerate an object to a certain speed. The rate of acceleration does NOT matter. The total energy spent is the same.

Of course, in real life, this is not the case. With small throttle openings, a lot of energy is wasted because engine is fighting against the vacuum created by the closed throttle. Try to suck on a Coke bottle to make it collapse- it takes a lot of energy out of you, right? That's why accelerating with a fairly large throttle opening actually saves gas. However you should not go full throttle beyond ~3500rpm. At the higher rpm, the engine ECU will go into open loop and the AF ratio will dip down into the 12's or even 11's for some cars. (The exact switching point betwen closed and open loop needs to be determined with a OBD2 reader) A lot of fuel is wasted if you go full throttle at the high rpm's.

quit whining, 29 mpg is damn good. it the heatof the vegas summer i get 25 and I am really pleased with that. Bill

quit whining, 29 mpg is damn good. it the heatof the vegas summer i get 25 and I am really pleased with that. Bill

LARGER DIAMETER/CIRCUMFRANCE TIRES. In every gear your car will roll farther with each turn of the engine. That means fewer engine revolutions per mile, less fuel used per mile, more miles per gallon. You can gain about 5 to 6 percent in your mileage.

There are several tire size calculators online to help you determine which tires have greater diameters, such as:
http://www.powerdog.com/tiresize.cgi
http://www.dsm.org/tools/tiresize.htm
http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

Larger tires also, in effect, change your final drive ratio, acting a bit like overdrive. If you think the engine is revving too high at cruising speeds, larger diameter tires can drop the revs down a bit for the same speed.

Of course, there is a limit to how big a tire you can run without rubbing the wheelwells or suspension parts.

Another way to increase mileage is to run with as much air pressure as you dare. Hard tires create less rolling resistance. So do narrower tires. Go down to 185s instead of 205s, for example. The smaller the contact patch, the less friction.

Sure, there are downsides to all of this (speedo error, harsh ride, lack of traction, not looking cool, etc.) but like they say, there ain't no free lunch.

One of the ladies at work got a xA and was suprised to find her mileage was not as good as she expected. She said she always drove with the overdrive turned off. (talked with her casualy, and she insisted that it said "OD OFF" when she started the engine and never turned it on..dunno about that; it should default to overdrive on with no warning light on the dash on startup). I tend to get 26 or so using the overdrive turned off very briefly for passing and hills and get 30 or so on trips. Still in the break-in peroid on my Xb. But I've found it's improving a bit after the computer is learning my driving habits. Any comments on the computer learning fuel mix ratios from your habits?

Cathy, what kind of dogs? I bought the Xb for three reasons: I fit, our Great Dane and Dane/Boxer mix fit, and mpg.

SGF

#5 acceleration is the worst... so stay off the pedal, you can rev the engine all day, but stomp the pedal to 3000rpm will still use more gas than a moderate acceleration...


This is incorrect. The name of the game is trying to get into the highest gear possible as soon as possible and then cruise gently in the highest gear.

If you recall your high school physics, you should know that it takes the same amount of work (energy) to accelerate an object to a certain speed. The rate of acceleration does NOT matter. The total energy spent is the same.

Of course, in real life, this is not the case. With small throttle openings, a lot of energy is wasted because engine is fighting against the vacuum created by the closed throttle. Try to suck on a Coke bottle to make it collapse- it takes a lot of energy out of you, right? That's why accelerating with a fairly large throttle opening actually saves gas. However you should not go full throttle beyond ~3500rpm. At the higher rpm, the engine ECU will go into open loop and the AF ratio will dip down into the 12's or even 11's for some cars. (The exact switching point betwen closed and open loop needs to be determined with a OBD2 reader) A lot of fuel is wasted if you go full throttle at the high rpm's.

okay, where do I begin on this one... I see your direction, but you aren't taking "physics" into account... you are not remembering the "work" part of the formula... and work is directly controlled by the amount of "force" required to move an object over a "distance"... so if you stomp the pedal you will see higher speeds within a fixed distance because your level of acceleration is increased, BUT reduce that level of acceleration over the same distance and you will require MUCH less power to accelerate to a lower speed over that same distance...

remember MPG has nothing to do with time... it is DISTANCE per ENERGY... so my point is that over the fixed distance you will use less energy... remember F=ma... the engine makes the F... the m is the "weight" of the car... and the a is the acceleration, reduce that number and your F goes down... therefore less gas...

I am not trying to destroy what you are saying, but be careful when you state fact and you don't have all the information that it takes to back it up... I am no stranger to physics, my degree is in mechanical engineering, I work with high horsepower applications for a living...

Yup!

Spomeone at the end of this thread mentioned driving habits. That is the #1 reason for mileage discrepencies.
I can drive hard, and get the mileage fown to 26-28 mpg. I can also have easy starts and no full pedal to the floor acceleration and get on the highway for 3 hours, and get 37 mpg.

It will vary on your driving Mood! It is also better to keep an average, because some pumps will click off and not fill as much as some others. As well as you may have a half gallon or so differenc between fill ups.

If you feel you are driving easy and still getting bad mileage, then ask your dealer to look at the car. Why not?

Good luck

Gary

Hi all. I orignially posted here about bad mpg. Since then, I've done some experimenting and found a way to improve my mpg.
What a pain in the butt!!!!
1) Coast, coast, coast. I got my foot off the pedal more and let the car coast a whole lot more. This was the biggest change and improvement.
2) Putt, putt, putt. The car is a cruiser, not a chaser. Its happiest puttering around at 25, 35, 45 and 55 mph. Anything above 65 got BAD milage. 70 was a stretch. 80 was a joke, you could see the gage fall every 10 miles.
3) Turtle vs. Hare. Slow and steady wins the race.

I really dont' like the fact that I have to baby this car so much. My old beater Escort would get 35 mpg even when I tore around in it, passed cars, drove 90 (CPH pretend you didn't hear that), etc. Too bad it blew the gasket.

Yeah, I guess I'm still having buyers remorse with this car. :?

Mileage figure for my first tank of gas:

276.3 miles on 8.8 gallons = 31.39 mpg

And I wasn't even trying. I often ledfoot it away from lights, blast down the on ramps, cruise the highway at 70-80 mph, etc. About half that driving was highway stuff. I'm running stock tires and have an automatic.

I was having trouble with the mpg on my box, ive had it for 3 weeks now have 1100 and am getting like 29 mpg and couldnt for the life of me figure out why, and than it hit me one day like a ton of bricks to the groin. I have a serious problem with my lead foot, the pedal is almost to the floor taking off from lights (dont usually go over 3500 but that doesnt matter) and on the interstate i average 80-85mhp unless traffic slows me down. So yeah, stop with the lead foot and dont have the rpms to high on the intertsate. another thing, this has nothing to do with this post. i know xb/xa have super small engines but they need 6 gears on the manuals. a little over 4 grand at 80 mph is kinda high, put in a 6th gear and bring it down to say 3 grand.

I was having trouble with the mpg on my box, ive had it for 3 weeks now have 1100 and am getting like 29 mpg and couldnt for the life of me figure out why, and than it hit me one day like a ton of bricks to the groin. I have a serious problem with my lead foot, the pedal is almost to the floor taking off from lights (dont usually go over 3500 but that doesnt matter) and on the interstate i average 80-85mhp unless traffic slows me down. So yeah, stop with the lead foot and dont have the rpms to high on the intertsate. another thing, this has nothing to do with this post. i know xb/xa have super small engines but they need 6 gears on the manuals. a little over 4 grand at 80 mph is kinda high, put in a 6th gear and bring it down to say 3 grand.

Either a 6-gear transmission or a less agressively geared 5-speed would do the trick. I realize they probably put a very short final drive in the car to make it a bit more "peppy" around town, but it is absolultely killing our highway gas mileage. Interstate speed limits in FL are 65-70...and we usually average 5-10 over the speed limit. Anyone traveling with me on the highway who isn't familiar with the Scion immediately says "Shouldn't you shift into 5th?". Heck, I even ask myself sometimes if I left it in 4th based on the rpms the motor is turning on the highway.

I wonder if this transmission is found in other Toyota models. Curious if there is a lower numerical final drive available. Not quite an easy installation, but worth it for those looking to optimize highway gas mileage.

Please remember that the Scion xb odometer reads about 4.5% too low. So your MPG should be adjusted by 1/(1-.045)=1.047, or 4.7% upwards.



See this thread for more discussion:

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18976&highlight=

Phil [/url][/u]

the worst if gotten in regaurds of MPG is 29 - which was pure city driving w/ a/c in 85-95 degree heat...BTW, I usuallly shift at 4-5k

The best I got in regaurds to MPG was 40!! I went on a 180 miles trip- oh yeah, when I went to fill up- it only took 4.4 gallons!!

I average with mixed driving around 33-35

keep in mind people that the xB is only rated 31-35 MPG Manual. And the auto in 30-34 I belive. that is a crappy figure because other compact cars (2004 Civics) are rated at 31-38!!

Im not mad because my xB has style- and i got 40 MPG on my last road trip!! whoohoo!!

The reason that the more miles you get on the car the mpg's get better is because the car will run leaner. During the initial break in period they run the car a little richer so that everything will seat properly, and not overheat. After that period, the ecu will let the car run leaner. Also, after reading a few things about the ecu, the "i" in vvti is for intelligent, that means that it will learn the way you drive the car, so the more you drive slowly the better it will get over time.

I am not sure what my mpgs are. I drive mine on the week end. It is my play/toy car. I usually just cruise around town in it. I will drive it hard every once in a while. But I will say, I was not happy with the hwy mpgs when I first got it.
Hope this is a little better explaination.

the second tank ever to be run thru my xb got me 32 mpg. not to bad from what you guys are reporting.

If you look at your original window sticker for your xB, you will see that it lists the gas mileage in a range between 25 and 40 (in tiny print) with the average being 30 to 34 (big print).

As my mechanic told me and as I have experienced with my xB, you have to wait for your engine to "wear in" so your gas mileage will actually improve the more you drive your car.

Follow my trusted mechanics recommendations; I changed the oil and filter at the first 1000 miles to get all the metal chips and assembly lube out of the new engine.

I noticed a definite mileage increase at 3000 miles.

I now have 5000 miles and run Valvoline DuraBlend (a ½ synthetic ½ oil mix) and a TRD free-flow air-filter. I get a about 31MPG with “spirited” driving.

Not bad for a box on wheels with limited aerodynamics, eh?

:D

I've got about 5500 miles on my xB. The BEST mileage I have ever gotten was 28 mpg on just my last tank.........and I BABIED it like you wouldn't believe. I am generally a lead foot driver..............and driving like this for a whole tank was killing me. I accelerated slowly......never revved past 3000 rpm. Usually cruised at under 2000 rpm. If I was on the freeway.......I kept it at 65 mph. Man......this was torture. I seriously get very nervous when others are passing me........cause I'm usually the one passing them.

Now.....this 28 mpg was a HUGE improvement for me...........as my previous maximum had been 24-25. My average mpg was something like 21-23. My LOWEST mpg ever was 17. Obviously that was a LOT of redline driving. But, the fact remains that I have to excercise a very disturbing amount of self control just to get a MPG number that many of you consider crappy.

Hopefully my car just has some more breaking in to do. I'm sure the fact that the temperature is usually over 100 degrees here in Vegas doesn't help. The temp makes for pretty thin air.......and I usually have to run my AC. And perhaps it also doesn't help that I still haven't changed my oil filter.

KiL

I find that I am getting about 28 MPG - I have a MAJOR lead foot though and like to press the gas pedal :oops:

Of course, I think this is great because my 4-runner only got 15 MPG.................

If I could only get the lead out of my foot and put it into my @ss :?

Every 7th day....push it around the city...sorry boys i hate to say that.... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Been tracking my mileage since day one on my xB. I've gotten a high of 34.192 babying the car for a tank and a low of 23.6 on my first tank. Overall, for the first 19 fill-ups (4087 miles) I've averaged 30.119. My driving is 400 highway miles a week and then probably around an additional 100 miles around town. I do think that I'd get better mileage if I didn't have such a lead foot on the highway (usually approx 80 or so). Compared to many cars on the market of comparable size, I feel that my Scion is giving me great performance.

Bontster

Things that effect gas mileage:


Tire pressure
Stop and go traffic
Using the A/C
Speeding
Rapid acceleration and braking


http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/drive.shtml

<<< Repost from other thread >>>


The Fuel Ionizer and Grounding Kit won't improve your gas millage. Neither will the
Tornado... http://autorepair.about.com/cs/productreviews/fr/aafpr052002.htm




Try a free-flow air-filter like the TRD Performance Air Filter
http://www.brandsport.com/trd-00602-17801-011.html

Or a Cold Air induction system
http://www.brandsport.com/toy-pts26-52040.html

And try switching to Synthetic Oil
http://www.allsyntheticsgroup.com/fuel-economy.html

And read these articles on "How to improve your gas mileage"
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/drive.shtml
http://www1.excite.com/home/info/learn2/tutorials_qa_overview/0,14899,auto_817_0,00.html

:D