okay here is the deal . since i got my scion ive only been getting 22 to 25 mpg. whats up with that? i commute everyday to different places because im in construction and there are different jobsites but yeah. i dont smash this thing because i know it wont break any speed records so whats going on with my baby. please help... thanks

 

Is your xA an automatic or 5speed? If it's a 5speed, what rpm do you shift at? What is your sustained speed on the highway? The closest I've been to your mileage is 26mpg after driving 3 hours at around 90mph...

 

I get a solid 33mpg on my 5spd xA and I drive it hard all the time pretty much.

 

how new is your xA? I've read on these forums, and my dealer warned me that new engines will use a lot more gas than an engine that is broken in.

I've had my car about 4 days and I'm not getting anything even close to the mpg I should be, im getting about 23 mpg. ugh. I'm driving really conservatively (manual) right now.. being good for the first 1k miles.

 

Even during break-in periods, your XA should not be getting that low of mileage per gallon.

I would take it in.

Our XA, from the get-go, get's 33 mpg with both city/highway.

 

guess i should not complaint now. my tC get about 20 city and 30 highway drive even within break-in period. so go to dealer and have them check the engine for you, there must be somthing wrong.

 

I was very disappointed to discover that i was only getting 20-25mpg for the first 2 months (approx. 3000 miles ALL over California!) I thought it was because most of that time was either 75+ mph on the I-5 freeway, and/or city/country roads with the A/C on full blast (for my 15y.o. black baby dog!)...

Currently, I'm back home now, (only driving around 50 miles per week!) at 4200 on the odometer, and basically get around 30-36 mpg... i don't know why, but i am happy!

mery

polar white xA 5speed temporarily based in LaLa Land......(LAX)

 

My 5-speed xA has just over 700 miles on it, and I'm getting 38-40mpg! That's with a tight new engine, so I can't wait to see where it goes from here. I'm very pleased.

I'm using Shell brand gas (87oct.) and I drive pretty normal, but this little engine is pretty torqy... I just have to get on it sometimes!

I did do a break-in routine that someone suggested to me. I don't know if this made the difference or not, but the first two days of owning my car, I ran a 200 mile break-in out on country roads. I accelerated slowly through the RPM range and then slowly dropped back down to idle in each of the gears. I did that several times throughout the break-in. The rest of the time I drove it really smoothly with no harsh acceleration or stops, and no continuous speeds.

 

i'm getting 30-31 mpg..

 

I am getting 37.5 from the start and still am....3K later

 

I only get 26-29 averge. I usually drive 80MPH on HWY and 50MPH local. I though its cuz of my dual exhaust, cuz I did 35MPG before I had my exhaust bolt on...

 

I bought my Scion specifically for the gas mileage. (What I really want is a Prius, but I couldn't really afford the extra $10,000 and wasn't sure my old car -- a 2001 Saturn SW2 with 90,000 miles on it, affectionately known as the Hippy Wagon -- would survive the nine-month wait for the Prius to arrive from the factory.)

My beloved Hippy Wagon was rated at 30 and 35 mpg. If I don't beat the EPA mileage rating on a car, I take it in for service. The Hippy Wagon had dipped down into the 25/30 range, which I find completely unacceptable.

I got my xA (silver, with an automatic transmission) yesterday. I haven't fueled up yet, but after a road trip down Route 66 from Tulsa to Riverton, KS, and back -- a drive that took me through a lot of small towns with 25 to 35 mph speed limits and plenty of traffic lights and included a cruise down an old, old alignment of 66 between Miami and Afton that is little more than a gravel road with lots of potholes -- I am very satisfied with the xA. I put almost 300 miles on the car today and have over a quarter of a tank left, which means I'm already doing better than the Hippy Wagon was doing, even though a lot of this trip was *not* the sort of highway driving that maxes out your gas mileage.

I started the trip by stopping at the car wash to vacuum out the mess I made when I spilled grill salt all over the center console while transferring my condiments from the Hippy Wagon to the new car. I pulled up the emergency brake so I could get the hose under it to vacuum out the salt ... and then proceeded to drive halfway across Tulsa with the brake on before I noticed the idiot light that said "EMERGENCY BRAKE."

(I've gotta get used to the location of these dashboard lights....) :oops:

After several miles of this stupidity -- which, not surprisingly, took an immediate and obvious toll on my gas mileage -- I corrected the problem and enjoyed watching the mileage improve steadily for the remainder of the trip.

Anyway ... to get to the point here: I am very happy with my gas mileage thus far and expect it to improve as the break-in period progresses. I have always had good luck coaxing a few extra mpg's out of my cars and have found the following mistakes/problems to be the most common bugaboos when a vehicle dips below its EPA rating:

1. Perception. Nine times out of 10, when I start grumbling about having to fuel up a lot more than I think I should, I discover, upon checking my actual mileage, that I have just been driving a lot more than I realized. (Umpteen trips across town -- especially in a town the size of Tulsa -- will nickel and dime you to death.) If you're calculating the actual mileage at 25 or lower, then you obviously have a real problem with the car, not a problem of perception. If it just *seems* like it's getting crappy mileage, fill up and use your trusty trip odometer to check it before you get too worked up about it.

2. Weather. If it's hot, the air conditioner has to work much harder, which drags down the motor. You can't change the weather, but you can drive smarter. Use a reflective sunshade and park in the shade when possible to keep the car from turning into a blast furnace. The a/c won't have to work as hard to cool it down that way. If it's not unbearably hot, roll the windows down whenever you travel at speeds below 50 mph; once you hit 50, turn on the air and roll up the windows, because the drag coefficient is high enough at that point to interfere with your gas mileage. (That's according to AAA. I haven't played with my Scion yet to find out the exact "magic number" at which you should turn on the air in an xA.) When you run the a/c, set it to recirculate so you aren't constantly bringing hot air into the car for the a/c to have to cool.

3. Wind resistance. This kind of falls into that "weather" category, but you can do something about it. First, take the flag off your antenna. I wish I had a dollar for every "good American" who is pouring money into the economy of Saudi Arabia by displaying a frayed, faded American flag on the antenna of his SUV, thereby cutting his gas mileage by 3 to 5 percent. Show your patriotism by putting a "God bless America" sticker on your bumper. It won't drag down your gas mileage. Second, slow down and draft behind a semi. I do this on the interstate, and it makes an enormous difference. In the interest of safety and practicality, I follow some basic rules: A. Never draft while you're sleepy. B. Always stay in the right lane. C. Never draft unless the left lane is completely clear so you've got an escape route if the guy in front of you slams on his brakes. D. Never eat/talk on the phone/change CDs/etc. while drafting. E. Never draft behind a vehicle that is going faster than you already planned to drive; if you're hurrying to keep up, the extra speed will cancel out anything you gain by drafting. My personal rule of thumb is five under. F. Never draft behind a truck with hazmat stickers on it.

4. Topography. Do not -- I repeat, DO NOT -- mash the accelerator on hills. Stay in the right lane and putter your little self up the hill at 50 mph. Nobody is going to run over you while headed *uphill*, and you can get back up to highway speed quickly -- with minimal stress on your engine -- after you reach the crest of the hill and start back down. I learned this after many, many drives between Tulsa and my old home near St. Louis -- a route that takes me through the Ozarks, which can be a real mileage killer if you aren't careful.

5. Speed, speed, speed. Take your foot out of the carburetor and learn to slow down and enjoy the scenery. It makes the trip more enjoyable, and it makes a huge difference in gas mileage. Depending on the car, driving 10 over the speed limit can lower your mileage by anywhere from 5 to 33 percent, according to EPA estimates. While you're at it, lay off of the jackrabbit starts. Accelerating slowly and smoothly whenever possible will make a world of difference in your mileage.

6. Maintenance. Are your tires underinflated? Low tire pressure creates friction, which drags down mileage. How's the air filter? I took the Hippy Wagon in for service when it started getting doggy and sucking gas a few weeks ago. The Saturn guys replaced the spark plugs and wires and cleaned the fuel injectors, but it never occurred to them to check the air filter. The mileage and performance improved, but not enough to keep me happy. Lo and behold, we checked the air filter, and it looked like the inside of my Shop-Vac. Got back about 2 mpg right there, bringing the car within a coupla miles of the EPA rating -- still unacceptable, but a helluva lot better than it had been doing before.

7. Type of driving. How much city driving are you doing? How much highway driving? If you're doing more in-town driving, that'll drag down your mileage, too.

8. Is the overdrive on? If you're driving an automatic, keeping the overdrive on whenever possible will boost your mileage.

If none of that gets your mileage up to the level you expect, take the car in for service, and don't leave 'em alone until they fix the problem.

I hope this is useful to somebody. All of this is stuff I've learned from taking lots and lots of road trips ... and from watching the computer on my husband's Honda Insight (which monitors your mileage constantly in real time) while he drove through a variety of weather, topography and road conditions and experimented with various driving styles to see what made the little mpg monitor go up.

 

wtf... gypsy and her WEDNESDAY CAR! UGH! SOOOO JEALOUS! lol... I get 28-32ish...

 

Just filled up for the first time today. My xA is getting 37.4 mpg. The first tank took us over all sorts of road surfaces and through every imaginable traffic condition. About half the tank was consumed during a road trip from Tulsa, OK, to Riverton, KS, and back on Route 66. The trip included four-lane stretches of asphalt with a speed limit of 65 mph, winding two-lane stretches, several 25-to-30 mph cruises through towns with lots of stop signs and stoplights and things, and a jaunt down the proverbial 10 miles of bad road, over a narrow 1930s version of 66 that is little more than a gravel road with a few patches of cracked pavement peeking through to confirm that it is, indeed, the old road.

Back in Tulsa, I burned another half-tank on a combination of commuting back and forth to my job in Sand Springs (a small town five miles away) and chasing stories all over Sand Springs (I work for a newspaper). I also drove through what passes for "rush hour" here in Tulsa, which involved moderately heavy traffic, and cruised through town several times, enjoying the ride.

Not bad. If I can't coax another 5 mpg out of it on the highway when I take my next long road trip, I will be ashamed of myself.

 

Toyota hasn't made a carbureted car since the late 80s. Scions have fuel injection.

 

"Take your foot out of the carburetor" is an expression older than you (obviously). Take your foot out of the fuel injection doesn't make any sense. You understood her meaning. Stop being a d*ck.

 

what nobody here has posted is what size are there rims, that has alot to do with MPG i get about 26-28 MPG i do notice that on the highway i dont do much better but thats cuz im allways hualing butt & i have 18 inch wheels & lets not mention the fact that these cars have a small gear ratio i mean im at 80mph & my rpm is at 4000-4200 thats more than half of what the rpm tach reads

 

I have about 6000 miles on my Xa
the last two tank fulls I've gotten 39.5 mpg

I try to keep the car at 3000 rpm and below
running the A/C seems to cost 2 to 4 mpg
the car seems to coast really well

No difference at 89 octane

Before I switched to Mobile 1 for oil I was getting 35-38 (but was not really paying attention to how often the A/C was on.

 

I have about 800 miles on my xA. I got 42.2 on the tank I filled up today. But I was really taking it easy just to see what kind of mpg I could get.

 

at 4800 miles, mobil 1 at 3500, easy breakin at various spped. a highway trip yesterday and i got 36 mpg at 3500 average rpms. probably would do better if i stayed at 60 mph/3000 rpms. i wish the xA manual had a more economical gear ratio in 5th.