Im over two thousand miles on my 05 tC, and i think my gas mileage is terrible. I have been going an estimated 80-90% city driving with the rest highway miles. I recorded my last two full tank miles and i had about 240 miles then about 250 miles with both tanks almost run dry. With the 14.5 gallon size tank this equates to roughly 17 miles per gallon. Now in my eyes, that is terrible for this car, especially with what it is advertised as. Is this a problem and is there anything i can do about it? Any input would be appreciated, thanks.

 

OUCH I have been averaging about 26 mpg in city (auto) . Tire pressure might cause a drop in millage but not that much of a drop . Thing I would do is check your tire pressures make sure they inflated to the right pressures , then take it to a dealer . Also depends on traffic situations , if you sitting in traffic bumper to bumper not moving alot and if you put your foot into the gas alot , But even then when I drive hard I still get about 20 mpg . I have also noticed that if I go to gas stations with bad gas I will get poor millage . Try different gas stations , best I know what to tell ya

 

yeah i agree with TCRS1.0 .. check your air pressures.. you could even go 2 lbs higher.. it will result in a more firm ride, but your mpg's will go up a bit.. I had the same problem with low mpg's when i got the car.. was down to like 19.. and i have an auto tC.. I tried a different gas station and it went much higher. I have been using Shell gas.. been working great. so maybe if you can, try shell in a tank and see what happens.

If you're still getting bad fuel economy after trying shell and putting 2lbs of air more into the tires.. then see the dealer, the wheel alignment could be out causing a drag and thus causing bad fuel economy..

 

Wow, i would kill for that mileage. Well im not sitting in any traffic, tire pressure seems alright, and i switch between gas stations. I mostly use Exxon and Hess. I need to do something about this.

 

Are you keeping track of how much gas you are putting in or are you basing your math on the tank size?

 

It is advertised as 19-22 in the city. The gearing is what kills it.. It would not perform near as well if they geared it to get better mileage.

 

That is also a good point. When the light comes on, or even when it is on the empty mark you still have a couple of gallons or so in the tank. So if you are calculating from there then it comes out to about 20 mpg, which is dead on for the city.

 

Agreed. Even if you are taking it well below the "R", you are still maybe only adding 12 gallons when you fill up. 250miles/12gals = 21mpg, which is pretty good for city driving and also if you have your AC running.

Hell, one time I ran my car until the needle was over the light and the car still had 1 gallon left when I filled it up.

 

I think the biggest problem here is the way you are calculating your mileage. You can't just drive until you think you're almost empty, and then go by the size of your tank. You could still have as much as 3 gallons in there, and that will change the figures quite a bit.

Try doing it like this:

-Fill your tank all the way up. Try to remember how you "topped it off". like: Was it two extra squeezes after the first time the pump clicked off?

-After filling the tank, zero out your trip odometer before you pull away from the pump.

-drive as you normally would untill your tank is down to about 1/4 or less (no need to run it dry).

-go back and fill it up again using the same method as in step one.

-now, see how many gallons it took to refill the tank. Also, see how many miles you've driven since the last fill up (on the trip odo). Devide the number of miles by the gallons.

Example: If you drove 275 miles and it took 11 gallons to top it off, you averaged 25 miles per gallon.

 

Maybe its from toting those drums around town.. j/k
off subject, but do you have any trouble carrying around your kit in your tC? i haven't attempted mine yet.

 

i average about 29-30 but i drive 90-95% freeway. i'm very happy with the numbers considering how high it revs in freeway speeds. i drive around 80 usually and it hovers just around 4000 rpm.

 

And even calculating it right you should do this about 10 times under similar driving conditions and take an average. The mileage is figured at about 19 - 22 mpg average. It will not be the same every time. May be 25 mpg sometimes, may be 17 others.

 

I also noticed with mine if I keep the rpms below 3 K my gas millage is the best (auto) . Trust me it takes a while cuz I still like to bury my foot into it from time to time

 

Gas mileage is always going to suck ___ if you combine mostly stop and go city driving with regular octane (which is what I'm assuming you're using with that abhorrent mpg). Save up and throw in a tank of 93 octane and you'll see a huge difference.

The tC gas guage is a weird one. You can go 50-75 miles (maybe more) before the needle even moves. Then once it begins to drop, it moves quick. Weird.

 

Not again, for the last time...higher octane does not increase your mileage. But whatever, it's your money.

 

Ummm...no, you wont.

 

There is a small difference due to more confined (in a time sense) combustion, but it is far from huge. Maybe a few miles per tank at the most. And measuring that is hard since mileage can fluctuate much more than that.

 

I drive about 80 percent highway. From Palm Beach to the Keys every weekend. I see a difference. Got 390 miles out of a tank once.

 

Out of how many gallons?

 

That can happen with any gas in the car, that is why they rate it AVERAGE mpg. You will see some pretty big fluctuations from the average. I have seen between 25 - 35 on the highway in mine.