figured you'd find this interesting. i've been doing some comparing between the Scion xB and my lovely car i really... really... really want, the Nissan 350Z. starting doing some mileage comparing when i noticed the mileage ratings of 30/33 for the xB on a 11.99 gallon tank and 20/27 on a 20 gallon tank. after finding all the results this is what i came to for my conclusion. i must admit i've been thinkin of trading in my xB for the an 05 350Z but now i know i wont be doing that and i'll be financing the Z as my first financed vehicle which will creat and build my credit. i can afford my payments and full coverage insurance for it at the same time without any problems so i'm not worried about missing payments due to not being able to afford it. my findings for the xB are based on my style of driving which has been pretty easy on the pedal and treating the xB with lots of care. my normal places i travel to though is the cause of my mileage. the findings of the 350Z are through freinds of mine who have them and have shared with me thier averages that they have been getting.

"so i started thinkin about mileage on my box compared to a 350Z. i wanted to check the anual cost and found that the 350Z would actualy be CHEAPER and in the long one, more efficient then the Scion xB.

Nissan 350Z is rated 20 city / 27 highway with a 3.5L V6 and nearly 280hp and lbs of torque. 20 gallon gas tank, about 2,250rpm rev at 60mph in top gear.

Scion xB is rated 30 city / 33 highway with a 1.5L I4 and nearly 87hp and 90lbs of torque. 11.99 gallon gas tank. 3,010rpm rev at 60mph in top gear.

do the math on that and it would come to the following...

Nissan 350Z - capable of around 135*hard driving*-550*economic driving*miles on a full tank based on hard driving and economic driving.

Scion xB - capable of around 87*hard driving* - 330*economic driving*miles on a full tank based on hard drivings and economic driving.

Nissan 350Z with current 76 gas station prices *2.90 per gallon regular which at 76 gas, it's not 87octane, it's actualy 89, and plus is 92 and premium is 97.* takes $58 to fill the tank of 20 gallons.

Scion xB with current 76 gas station prices takes about $35 to fill the tank of 11.99 gallons.

out of two tanks of gas with the Scion xB based on economic driving of 660miles, the Nissan 350Z actualy costs about $10 LESS then the Scion xB to go the same distance.

theres a catch though. the Scion xB in 5speed manual ACTUALY is capable of almost 40 to the gallon in city and highway as long as you don't go faster then 50mph. when you hit 60mph in the xB, your mileage is actualy about 26mpg not the rated 33mpg. the 350Z gets about 18mpg in city but in the highway doing 60-70mph based on economic driving is capable of about 31mpg. so really the question when shopping for a car is this... do you drive more in the city or on the highway/freeway?

so i've come to the conclusion, i WONT be trading in my xB for the Nissan 350Z being i can aford the car payments just fine. the Scion xB will be my city driver for the most part for shorts trip here and there and the occasional get away with the earlier planned "event" system. the Nissan 350Z will be my longer distance driving vehicle, tuned to be capable of 500hp and 580lbs torque via turbo. now some of you may think "oh well you're turboing it, it's mileage will go down the drain" not neccessarely. your turbo must spool and in order to do that, you must be keeping the throttle open, while economic driving you wont be doing this and the turbo ont be spooling unless you hit the gas harder. while just cruising the turbo doesn't spool enough to effect the mileage more then about 0.2%. it's only when you are REALLY on it and halling ***** down the road when the turbo effects your mileage. the 350Z will be performance tuned with a luxery feel to it that way it looks clean and can smoke anything it wants to ;].

so heres a tip for ya, if you're looking to get a good economic car ask your self what kind of driving will you normaly be doing? highway/freeway most of the time? or in city driving most of the time? if you need some help, let me know and give me atleast two cars to compare for you and i'll let ya know which one is best for your driving needs."

 

i got 34.5 mpg on my drive from seattle to las vegas avg speed i'd say 75mph with some stretches of 90mph. my xb is auto

 

Hmmmmm, interesting... However I get a solid 35 mpg , I-5 Salem to Arlington (540 round trip) with a stick and cruise control... and my average overall for 10k miles is 32.125.
I use "mid-grade" Shell gas.
also.. did you average in the added expense of insurance for the "sports car" ratings?

after re-reading your post... I find fault with your figures....
the '06.5 is rated at 103 hp.
also if you take 20 gallons of gas @ 32.125 mpg you will go 642.5 miles,[ but yes you will have to fill up 1 extra time] as compared to the Z only giving you 550 miles for the same amount (20 gallons) of gas.

just my 1.75 cents worth

 

yep, infact full coverage for the 350Z is less then full coverage for the xB. i first found this doing my own qouts and then after a while i did some with other people's info and still came out the same regardless of age and driving history.

my normal driving routes consist normaly from tacoma to hoodsport, sometimes to aurburn and sometimes sammamish. most of the time it's to hoodsport, theres quite a bit of uphill climb in some spots and because of the routes i need to take it makes it hard to avoid any gas hogging areas. the ratings i have for the Z are from a couple freinds of mine who travle the same roads quite a bit aswell. i normaly use Cheveron, Shell and 76 gas only being they are about the best around *76 and Cheveron being about the same whilest Shell comes in just behind them.* in city i get about 38mpg and love it but something with the higway/freeway just doesn't seem right. i've even checked to make sure everything is runing fine. air filter's still clean as a whistle, oil's been changed on the dot of 3k miles and i've used nothing but nice clean plus and premium since i got it. i granny the crap out of it during my normal driving, so i tried shifting in the 3,500rpm area to see if that had any change and ofcourse being the higher rpm's i only got worse mileage. i'm not sure... but ohwell i'm still keeping it. i mean come-on, i still have that event system to build for it for our meets. gota have some nice tunes blast'n at some point am i right or what?

 

maybe your problem is using plus/premium gas. i only use 87 gas from any brand

i know on honda engines where 87 is required, people who put in 89 or higher octane actually got less efficiency/perfomance

 

hmm, i'll have to look into that. i've been puting plus/premium to keep the valves and cylinders clean but i'll test it, though it wont change my want for the Z

 

You're making no sense whatsoever, man. If you want the Z, go for it; but don't kid yourself that it's a more fuel-efficient vehicle. I suppose if you've got a really wonky driving style, you could make an xB less efficient than a Z, but odds are you'll get low to mid 20s with a Z (more likely low), and mid to high 20s with an xB (most likely high).

26mpg in an xB at 60mph? No, more like low to mid 30s.

What on earth is all that about the size of the fuel tank? That's got nothing to do with anything. You're rationalizing way too hard. You want a turbo Z? Just go for it because you want it, not because it's efficient.

 

[quote="Gsnorgathon"]26mpg in an xB at 60mph? No, more like low to mid 30s./quote]

no... i'm getting 26-28mpg, not mid 30's and please read it all the first time, it's because of my routes, not my drive style. the Z is infact slightly more efficienty then the xB on the routes that i normaly drive because it's not having to work as hard. gas tank size was to compare how many miles of a single tank of gas and to compare annual cost over several full tank fills between the two.

 

traded my 05' tC for a 2006.5 Enthusiast Z, never regretted it for a second!