mm, i noticed recently i am putting more gas into my tC, i was wondering was it my driving style

so i filled my tank up all the way and i went to AC from philly to see a concert (aaron Kwok) and also went a few other places. over all it was mostly highway milage.

i drove 227.9 miles and i put in 9.35 gallons of gas to fill it up

MPG = 24.37

:T

Maybe it's time for an oil change? LOL (j/p)

I used to 27-29 mpg

is there any other effects that causes lower MPG? Oil, spark plugs, etc?

 

One tank is a hard thing to base anything off of.

You could have let the car run at idle for awhile, bad fuel, excessive rpms, the weather, traffic. Its really hard to say over one tank. I follow mine over EVERY tank. I have a thread somewhere you can compare to. But one tank doesnt say much. Its the average of many tanks that will give you your MPG.

 

Check your tire pressures! Also, cars don't get quite as good mileage in the cold winter than they do in warmer months.

 

When you first got your car, you probably babied it a lot more than you do now. No racing, you drove it nice when you first got it. Now that you are used to it, you probably drive it harder, therefore, lower gas mileage.

 

wow, something I totally forgot. Yes tire pressure can affect MPG by ALOT.

 

was it windy

 

how many people (weight) in the car?

We could probably come up with factors all day. I think the thing to rememeber is it takes multiple tanks to determine AVG fuel consumption.

 

mpg is never constant, even with the same weight in the car. There are many other variables. I track mine over every tank.. and it averages about 25 mpg over time. I get as high as 32 mpg on long road trips and as low as 19 mpg in all city driving. Almost exactly what the estimated mileage for it is.

 

maybe you need to clean or change your air filter and maybe spark plugs?

 

Also an alignment and/or tire balance will affect MPG.

 

the fact that its winter might also be affecting your mpg, like heater perhaps?

 

Driving style is probably the biggest manner. You can be on the hwy, but if you keep slowing down and going back up, you'll still be using more fuel.

While my g/f had her foot in a cast, I got 22-24 mpg, when she started driving again, she got 24-26. And I thought I was easy on the gas

 

I drove to ac this weekend also.

#1 out tire pressure is probably lower by 1 or 2, not enough to pop the light on yet.
#2 it was really windy which also affects us
#3 it's freezing so you probably had the heat on the whole time.

i got 320 miles outt 11.8 gals = 27 mpg

 

The heater is not going to make a huge amount of difference. AC only has a big effect due to the compressor. Unless you are running the defrost the whole way you arent turning the compressor on heat mode.

Part of what you may see, though, is that cold air is more dense.. that means more fuel. Another small effect that contributes

 

the other thing to consider is the speed limit, time at red lights, congestion on the highway, etc, in the area you drove to.. plus when you do your mpg's next time, note the temperature outside.. as that has a big effect on fuel economy..

engifineer is correct in that even though cold air is more dense causing a natual supercharging effect, more air equals more fuel.. hence less economy.. but a really cool "power" feeling

also i also concur with engifineer, having the heat wouldn't be almost negiligible on fuel economy when compared to having the a/c compressor running..

 

Well assuming that you drove City/HWY on that tank of Gas, It sounds about right. Now if you drove say All Freeway, like a roadtrip, and only averaged 24mpg then id say it seems a little on the short side for MPG. I drive prob about 50/50 HWY/City and average about 25mpg. Havent taken it on a RoadTrip yet so i dont know how i will do on the open road stretches.

 

so many things affect gas mileage.
a lot of people stated it aleady, heres a summary:
-driving style
-weight of car
-carbon buildup
-tire pressure
-wind/rain/snow and temperature
-traffic conditions
-electrical components

also, did you know that gasoline mixtures are constantly altered to fit the need for weather conditions?

so much affects it.
i average 25 mpg, sometimes i get 26. i used to only do city driving, now i do mostly highway driving...i get the same mpg regardless

 

For kicks tonite i drove 145 miles on a full (pump off at first click) tank of gas, and refilled. My had just passed the 1000 mile mark on the odometer. I put it on cruise control at exactly (according to the speedo) 70mph and left it there the entire ride (I-10 through Fla, Miss, & Ala). That stretch is pretty flat, just a few hills. My mpg was just about exactly 30.5. It was pretty easy to keep it at 70mph without ever slowing down 'cause I never came up on anyone. Most people were blowing me by at 85-95mph like I was grandma.

I'm curious what other's out there would get if they just put it at 70mph on the cruise and left it there. The tC motor is so sweetly torquey at highway speed it hard to keep the foot out the accelerator, and that's probably why some folks are getting only mid 20's.

My motor is still running the factory oil. I'd imagine with a slick synth like Mobil1 I'd probably get another .5mpg -- and then maybe another .5mpg as the motor finishes breaking in.

 

when i was home... i put 1534 miles on my car in 13 days...

(home on leave and such... lot of visiting all over the chicago area)

anyhow...

it was ALL expressway driving, every bit of it. My girlfriend lives almost in wisconsin and my family all lives on the south side of chicago. So I was off down the road.

I took the time and altered my driving styles every day, and before i got to her house every night, i filled up my tank and noted how many miles i had gotten on how much fuel.

i found that running my car at 78 mph puts the tac at 2800 rpm... and coincidently with correct tire pressure, in the dead of chicago winter... i was averaging 34 mpg the whole time i was home.

but then again, the engine is a nicely broken in 20k and an automatic... and i babied the gas pedal and eased it into cruise control... but those are my results.

and those results are the thing thats stopping me from dropping a turbo into the engine bay... i really like not filling up my tank every other day

happy driving...

scape

 

Last time I visited home I set mine at 75mph on cruise for 9.5 hours straight other than stopping for gas and once for food. I fill up in the twin cities, fill up again south of des moines and still have close to 1/4 tank when I arrive in NE oklahoma where my family lives. Thats 630 miles. I average about 30 mpg on the trip. I have made this trip about 5 times in the tC and get about the same each time.