Zman

I've already done a 500 mile tank. I think I had .7 Gallons left but it was over a year ago.

Do you adjust for the 3% error?

SentraSE-R

My speedometer has a 3% optimistic error v. my GPS, but my odometer is accurate v. my ScanGauge. Ergo, I don't make any adjustment. Looks like IOU a dinner, too. That's really good mileage to get a 500 mile tank out of your xB.

Zman

I have a Scangauge II, I use it for feedback mainly. Also because I like knowing my exact engine temp and speed and throttle pressure and all that good stuff.

I still use the trip meter on the car and the gallons purchased at the gas pump to track actual mileage.
I have my SGII reading very optimistically so it says about 40-50mpg on flat roads with moderate throttle (17-20TPS). I know I'm not getting near 50mpg though. I used to have my lower grille blocked with a piece of Coroplast but I took it out when it got hot this summer. I'm not sure how much it helped. Theoretically it should help my cD.


Too bad you live so far away. I'd like to you to try a challenging MPG route from around Winchester, VA to Morgantown, WV.
I got 40.8 mpg round trip with many mistakes, but I'm looking forward for next time I go up there. It's about 280 miles to and from. Most people use a almost a full tank and I want to use only 6.5 gallons if that's even possible.

SentraSE-R

I may have driven that road before, or at least I was in the area. I rode a motorcycle from Rockville MD into WV (to the Harpers Ferry area) and back. Some of those WV highways were STEEP, and would have been tough to get good mileage on. That said, I love hills for their P&G potential. Get the right combination of downhills, and I can top 60 mpg!

Zman

I live about 20 minutes from Harper's Ferry.
The problem with I-68 is that the down hills often are not steep enough to maintain the 65-70mph speed limit, and 70 up hill in the box is not good for mileage, but it may help to not be on the hill as long as if you were going 50.
Either way the Scangauge reports about 12mpg up hills. haha.

SentraSE-R

Assuming this is a multi-lane highway where traffic can go around me, I'd drive the downhills by pulsing to 60, and gliding down to 45-50, depending on how slow I could safely go in the traffic. 70 doesn't even enter my mind, and anything over 60 has a mileage price on our xBs. Speed limits are suggested maximum speeds, not minimums.

On short uphills, I'll build up speed to 60+ at the bottom of the hill, and DWL to about 50-55 at the top of the hill. On long uphills, I set my cruise control to about 52 mph.

SentraSE-R

I'm at 350 miles on my current tank, and barely under 1/2 tank on my fuel gauge. 250 at 1/2 tank is my normal indicator of a good tank. This time I was at 280 miles at the 1/2 mark on the fuel gauge indicator. 500 miles is pretty much a sure thing, and 550 is likely. The question is how far I'll push it before fueling. Running out of fuel in a fuel injected car is no fun.

jct

sounds like you need to keep 2 or more gallons of reserve gas on board in case you do run out...

Zman

I don't have cruise and I don't want to bother with a kit. People normally travel at 70 or 80 and truckers have to stay in the right lane and they tend to go very fast downhill, and very slow uphill. So the average hypermiler doesn't have his happy place.

That's incredible. My best half was 270 I believe, but I've gotten 250 a few times. It depends on where I have to go. I think 600 is possible if you have to go downhill a lot haha.

SentraSE-R

Well, I may have blown the current tank mileage taking my wife to a swap meet, garden center, shopping mall, and lunch this past weekend. Mileage for all that was in the low 40s.

I did buy a 2 gallon gas can, so I can fill up when I start running on fumes. A 1000 km tank would be possible under ideal conditions, if you pre-loaded your tank to the max, I think. I don't play that game, as it's not real-world.

Zman

Ah, errands.

Yeah it's not too safe and bad for the car to run out completely.

MadMike550

we just drove from Wisconsin to Memphis Tn...in the states where the speed limit is 70 MPH we averaged 23 mpg...@ about 75 plus mph

in the states where the speed limit is 65 we got between 26 and 28 MPGs

Zman

I measured my first tank of gas, 28mpg. I've never been below 30 since then.

SentraSE-R

My worst tank was 32.9 mpg, when I ran 70 mph for 70 miles to meet some friends after a late start. Pushing our boxes over 55 mph is like pushing a barn door into the wind.

jct

my worst was 29mpg cause i was hot rodding it for that whole tank...

MadMike550

do you have automatics?

@70 mph I'm pushing close to 4K on the tach

MadMike550

my 05 got about the same type of mileage as my 06 is giving me..both 5 speeds

Zman

Mileage varies so much by car and conditions that EPA is not really accurate at all. One of you may have had a tailwind or something.

jct

yrmv

SentraSE-R

That's why I tout long-term averages. I drove this morning to a computer store, and past a bridge I plan to hike in the future. Traffic was slow and two-lane most of the way, so I got to drive slow behind the big trucks and slow cars, and still got good mileage. 52 mpg for the total 90+ miles. 480 miles on the tank, about halfway between the E bar and the one above it.