z

Hey guys and gals. Been a while since I have been on the site. My Xa now has almost 32k miles on it - and no complaints. Up until a few weeks ago I have been averaging 35-36 MPG consistantly. I have tried some things that have improved on that. Before I tell you all about them,, let me give you the run down of my driving:

My Xa is an automatic with standard steel wheels and standard (original) tires.
I have made no modifications to intake or exhaust. Still running original plugs and air filter.
I drive the same route every day for work,, about a 68 mile round trip.
None if my driving would be considered "highway".
I very seldom have anyone else in the car, so most miles are solo.
60 miles of my work trip is on roads that are posted 50 MPH.
The remaining 8 miles is posted 55 MPH.
I live in Florida, which means it is flat and very hot.
I work 8am to 4pm, so I am in traffic both ways.
I can sometimes run into work without the AC on,, but almost always need it on the way home.
I run regular gas.
I am NOT running synthetic oil. Been using Penzoil 5w30 (recommended in manual)
When I fill up - I top it right to the end of the filler neck,, so I know that my mileage calculations are very accurate.

Now for the new news.
I have changed nothing but "my" driving habits by doing the following:
I never exceed 2k RPMs for the 60 miles of 50 MPH driving.
I never exceed 2,500 RPMs for the 8 miles (posted 55).
I never exceed 2,500 RPMs through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gears.
I anticipate stops / red lights and coast up to them as much as possible.
I shift into neutral when stopped - waiting for a light.
I accelerate from a stop very "gingerly" (not exceeding 2,500 RPMs while shifting.
I have upped the air pressure in the tires from the recommended 29 PSI to 32 PSI, and increase of only 3 pounds.

And finally,,, this one takes some getting used to:
I have become very aware of "pedal pressure" when driving. Sometimes you will notice that you can let up a bit on the accelerator and still maintain the same speed.

I call my driving style "old man driving", but remember,, I am driving at the posted speed limit.

By doing the above,, I have now broken the 40 MPG mark. Last two tanks were as follows:
40.3 - and - 41 MPG.

Check this out. After I fill up, I always check the number of miles I can travel before the gas needle falls from the pegged position to the full mark. Today I hit 100 miles before the needle dropped to FULL. I pulled off the road and took a pic of the gauge cluster showing the fuel level and the trip odometer (which I reset at every fill up)

I really don't think I can squeeze much more out of it. I am going to try a K&N filter and see if that adds any MPG.

In June I drove the Xa from the Tampa Bay area to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. There were two of us in the car. The rear seats were folded down and the back was loaded to the max. I hit no rain on the whole trip and the AC was on for most of it. I was not trying for max mileage,, just wanted to get there. Most of my driving was between 70 and 80 MPH. I averaged apx. 36 MPG for the trip (2,200 miles).

I welcome any comments, suggestions - or just what you mileage is along with your driving conditions and driving style.

SanchezHacker

Man I wish I knew how you guys keep getting 30+ MPG. I average about 27MPG, once I was able to get 30MPG but never again. Everything is stock except for my air filter and keep my tires at 31PSI. I also drive moderately, if the sign says 40mph then I do 40, none of that 5 over or 10 over speeding that most people seem to do and I accelerate evenly and slowly.

The only reason I can think of for my low MPG is that I do almost no highway driving, 7 miles to school and 7 back every day all in town with long red lights. About 3 months ago I bought a K&N air filter which boosted my MPG to 29 but then fell back to my usual 27mpg after a while. I've had my xA for 2 years now and have put only 18,000 miles on it, at least it hasn't given me any trouble.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I did do the snorkel removal trick, but no effect on MPG.

z

I can't imagine how your mileage can be that poor. Though it really doesn't sound like you are doing anything to deserve that mileage. My wife's 2002 Elantra GT averages about what you are getting,, and she does only short - run around - type of drives.

I have heard of several Xa drivers getting only in the high 20s to low 30s,, but I really can't understand it.. Unfortunately I guess you can't either..

cobb

You got it. Sure its fun to rev these little engines, but the differentce is rate of fuel between 2500 and 5000 rpms is about 5 gallons an hour. I can guarantee a good romp to get out in traffic will ensure the rest of the tank I will not hit or breakthe 40 mark. Use of ac, even choice of top speed has lesser of an effect that a good run from 0- what ever and breaking 3500 rpms.

Since I have read about the cam gear locking in the retard position, I too do this for that very reason and it is amazing now that I have the strup exhaust how it changes tone to do a slight lift at highway speed, then reapply pressure to maintain the same speed, yet the tone is different. I think there maybe some benefit in the timming being adjusted for ultimate economy by lifting after reaching highway speeds.

jct

i get around 53-55mile before i get off the full mark

z

Hey duck dodgers,, I was agetting abouty 65-70 miles before dropping to the full mark. Driving the way I mentioned above made all that much difference.

We - here in Florida - were supposed to get that bad storm today. On the way home from work yesterday I decided to top off the tank,, even though I really didn't need it. Here is the results. I was at 211 miles (needle was well above half tank) and I took exactly 5.1 gallons - right to the top of the filler neck.
The great news is not storm here in the Tampab Bay area.

cobb

41 mpg, not bad.

I use the half way point to judge my consumption. Just seems sometimes when I read half a tank it takes 4 gallons to filll, other times it takes 7 gallons, then I divide that into the miles traveled til 3 clicks at fill up to get my mpg.

TheUglyOne

I average about 27-29 to this day even after changing out my plugs/oil/air filter to a k&N.

cobb

I knew a guy who used his xb as a taxi service and said the same thing. He was getting 26mpg. Ive noticed however he leaves it running when loading, unloading as well as waiting for people.

My last tank was 219 miles, 6 gallons. About 36 mpg, but that is including a lot of horsing around despite my best effort to drive efficiently. The strup muffler really increases the top end and acceleration about 60. I was minding my own business on i95 last night going 60mph, then out of the blue a gang of cars and trucks came up doing 80 and darting across all 3 lanes as they approached me. I just pressed the go petal 1/4 way down and I too was doing 80 and put an end to the lane changers.

Next day I lost my cool at a home depot trying to find a parking place amongs these big trucks and trailers idling around. I zipped around the lot in 2nd gear and found a spot.

Later I had a camera person who did not record correctly as I did runs to tape the new muffler sound. Needless to say lots of fuel wasted running down the road for that. How hard is it to tape me as soon as I leave, then turn the camera off when I come back so you can get the loudness when engine braking as I came back.

Theuglyone, if you are anywhere near Richmond, VA I will volunteer to drive you car a little to see if it makes any difference. If it helps, I drove a jeep cherokee and carolla, both 08 models and got 20mpg. They were rental cars and I paid no attention to fuel economy.

jct

i don't have a auto transmission and i don't have many flat roads either too many hills but then again i'm pleased that i'm getting around 33-34 mpg in the city...

cobb

Ive driven mines like I do rental cars and worse to date was 31mpg. I cant complain either. I test drove a yaris a few months before I bought a car and my second choice was a prius, but the dealer was not interested.

I took the scion as I wanted an affordable toy with great fuel economy and edmonds forums said so vs other small cars like the aveo, kia, hhr, and even yaris in real world economy.

Basically your energy to move the car is being wasted somewhere in the engine, tranny or the pavement.

Grateful11

My xA now has 34K on it, it's an automatic with stock wheels and tires. My commute is 70 miles round-trip with about 90% of it being Interstate with a 65mph speed limit, the rest is 1/2 mile of country road with a 55mph speed limit and 3 miles of city streets. I average 41mpg, the worst I've ever got was 37 something and the best was 42.9mpg. I usually drive about 66-67mph on the Interstate. I run Castrol GTX oil 5W-20, there was TSB issued a long time ago to use 5W-20.

Super-Stormtrooper07

What is TSB ?
I've used 5w-20(Valvoline Synthetic) , and 5w-30.

I've been between 40 - 44.5 mpg average now since April.
I finished my aero project about a month ago.
I'll try and get pictures on here ASAP on that

cobb

Ive always wonder how the 0 weight zynth oiil would do. Right now I use what ever the dealer does when they change it.

z

Grateful11,
You drive about the same miles per day as I do. You have almost the same exact miles on you Xa as me. The difference between you driving and mine is that I do no interstate,, but run roads with speed limits of 45-55 mph. I generally run the whole way to work and back at about 50mph. I do get some stop and go traffic on my commute. You didn't mention A/C. Mine is generally on going into work,, and always on coming home. I really have no choice. It is darn hot here in central Florida - and very humid.. As you can see by the posts,, we are averaging better than most Xa folks. When I hear of some people complaining of the "high RPMS" that their engines are running at - I have to wonder (but hate to think anyone could be that - uninformed) if they are running with the OD in the off position. I have heard reports of auto transmission Xas running about 1k higher than mine. As we don't have any different gearing,, I can only think that they are running with the OD off,, or they have changed tire circumference drastically.
Anyway,, have a good one.

z

Has anyone out there replaced the stock air filter with a K&N drop in?? Not interested in the cold air intakes,, jut the drop in. If you have,, have you noted any "real" gas mileage increase?? Guess the question is; "Is there a realistic payback for the 40$ K&N?"
Thanks.....

Super-Stormtrooper07

K&N or TRD... very similar design, same strengths and performance basically.

The "payback" is every 25K miles, not having to then throw away your paper filter, and buy a new paper filter thats $20. Read up on the "snorkle removal" on this site.

SanchezHacker

I did the K&N drop in and noticed a brief improvement but it didn't last long, as I said in my post above. If you want to see it, check out the most I made when I installed it: https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=218000

I also did the snorkel removal and saw no difference in MPG.

cobb

I never bothered with the kn as the stock one is rather free flow looking, not the old paper style filters.

I too did the snorkle thing a few times, I too saw no improvements. I think those who acelerate harder see improvements vs those with a light foot.

jct

instead of posting a new thread amongst the other mpg threads...




it was uphill going north at 65mph and downhill heading south going 60mph and both ways i was following a semi...

yeah it did suck but hey i'm not in a hurry to be anywhere when i leave early enough

and it took me like 4 years to get 40mpg and 2 years to get 37mpg for city driving not too bad really and no my performance mods really help, i just like spending money cause its my last hobby that i spend money on...