Ok, I'm one of the complainers about the poor gas milage my xB is getting. I have never owned a car that got less the 32 mpg. Mine is getting ave of 29.
I may be b*tching too soon, I only have 1100 miles on it (just did my first oil change too). Drive it like a granny (usually under 3000 rpm, never known to go over 4000). Broke it in with care. It is A/T (my first). I didn't like the feel of the stick shift. My last car was a 95 Ford Escort hatch w/ stick and it averaged 35mpg. It died with a blown headgasket last month at 156K. Bought the xB that night. My fiance got his xA last week (read: Cute Scion family) it was backorderd for two months.

So, what can I do to improve MPG? I was told that the a/t no longer get worse MPG than stick shift. Is this not true? Should I change the tires (stock-yuck!)? I live in SF Bay area and I don't use the A/C. I use medium grade Union 76 gasoline. What am I missing? Thanks for any ideas.

 

Here's a 3 page thread that discusses these issues:

MPG on xB

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...&highlight=mpg

The August 2004 issue of Consumer Reports tests came up with the following figures for the xB:

Overall MPG (Auto/Man.) 30/32
City/Highway MPG (Auto/Man.) 23/37 25/36

Hope this helps. :D RPM

 

I wounder if you wouldn't have better luck with 89 octane.

***EDIT***
Oops! I meant 87 octane (89 is med around here I think) -- Seeing as how there is more potential energy in lower octane fuel it seems to me you'd need less of it to get the job done. At the same time I'm sure the diffrence is minimal.

 

Isn't 87 the lowest we're supposed to use???

 

Drive like grandma minus the curb rubbing.

 

#1 octane will not make more MPG or more horsepower... I have a long thread out there somewhere (search for yourself) about how octane ratings control how much your engine CAN make if designed that way... putting nitro methane or 100 octane or 87 octane will absolutely positively do nothing to give you a boost in performance or mileage... anyone who tells you differently is BSing you, or they don't know what they are talking about...

#2 a cold air intake or anything you do to the engine will not make it get better mileage... it will allow for more horsepower, but you aren't looking for more horsepower...

the essential ways to improve mileage are controlled by the driver... here's a few pointers...
#1 cruise control...
#2 windows rolled up... use A/C instead OR
#3 turn off A/C
#4 slow down, 45mph is about the ultimate speed...
#5 acceleration is the worst... so stay off the pedal, you can rev the engine all day, but stomp the pedal to 3000rpm will still use more gas than a moderate acceleration...
#6 check tire inflation (correct pressure are NEVER written on the tire, they are ALWAYS in the owner's manual)

driver's habits are what makes most of the difference that people see between the MPG ratings and their results...

okay, the crazy ways to get better mileage... hmm...
#1 draft... try to eliminate any gap between you and the car in front of you... (do this at your own risk, and cover the front bumper with nerf, cause you are gonna hit a lot of people)
#2 20mph uphill... coast downhill...
#3 always push your car in parking lots...
#4 lighten the load, leave your friends, spare tire/tools, stereo, all non-necessity stuff at home... less mass requires less power on acceleration and hills...

okay, stick to the first list... skip the second...

 

You say octane doesn't make a difference, but he said he's using 76 octane, hell I wouldn't use that low in my lawn mower. There aren't even any gas stations around here that sell that low a quality gas.

 

She said, "I use medium grade Union 76 gasoline."

"Union 76" is a brand name of gasoline like Conoco or Phillips. "Medium grade" is between Premium and Regular grade in octane rating.

Scion xB's use Regular unleaded gas. Any higher octane is not necessary. RPM

 

Union 76 is a gas station/oil company. He said he used medium grade gas (which usually is 89).....

 

76 isn't "low quality"... if they made such a thing it just wouldnt' be stable... it would have approximately the same power / unit volume, but it would only work in extremely cold climates with low compression engines...

91 or 93 octane is 91% or 93% octane (as in 8 carbons) with the remainders being made up of heptanes (7), hexanes(6), etc... if I am not mistaken, I think that heptanes have slightly more energy per unit volume, but they aren't stable, so piston engines aren't very resceptive to them...

 

My bad. It's Friday and the brain isn't working. I was thinking 76 octane, which i've never heard of. Union 76 makes sense. Hardly any of those around here.

 

That reminds me of a seinfeld episode where Kramer and Newman are chasing Jerry's Mechanic who stole Jerry's car because he wasn't taking proper care of it. Kramer and Newman took Newman's mail truck loaded with pop cans so they could take it to one of those states that has deposits to make some money and they spotted Jerry's car en route. However, they couldn't keep up with Jerry's mechanic in Jerry's car so Kramer told Newman that he had to lighten the load by dumping the pop cans and then that wasn't enough so Kramer tells Newman that he saw a donut stand 1/4 mile back and drops him off on the highway. It's a must see.

But yeah, it did work on the show.

 

Just a few extra notes on this thread.

First of all I want to thank everyone who posted a response to my original post. These notes are not intended as a flame or nag or anything, just an update. :D
1) I'm female
2) I searched threads on MPG for the xB for the past two weeks and still didnt' feel that my personal concerns were addressed.
3) I am reviewing my driving habits. Since this is the first a/t I've had since age 16 (family car, @#$!! years ago). I can see that I am driving differently. I need to increse my coasting habits as I can see that I tend to keep on the pedal until I brake - a habit I did NOT have on my sticks. I'll let you all know if it improves the MPG. Also I'm looking at the RPM more to see if I'm "gunning" it on my starts. The pedal may be more sensitive that I think. I'll experiment with exceleration habits as well. Anyone else experiencing this type of habit?
Thanks again to all the ideas, advise and support!
Cathy
Oh my gosh! Its a girl!

 

Girl or guy, your are part of forum which is for xb owners and your concerns are well noted. The mpg does somewhat suck, the functionality and space makes up for the lack luster gas milage. Yet is still better than most cars. I just enjoy the meaning of the car and the people who drive it. It more for fun and functionality.

If it would help, just go behind a big SUV and coast on there draft. HeHe, HaHa.

 

This is incorrect. The name of the game is trying to get into the highest gear possible as soon as possible and then cruise gently in the highest gear.

If you recall your high school physics, you should know that it takes the same amount of work (energy) to accelerate an object to a certain speed. The rate of acceleration does NOT matter. The total energy spent is the same.

Of course, in real life, this is not the case. With small throttle openings, a lot of energy is wasted because engine is fighting against the vacuum created by the closed throttle. Try to suck on a Coke bottle to make it collapse- it takes a lot of energy out of you, right? That's why accelerating with a fairly large throttle opening actually saves gas. However you should not go full throttle beyond ~3500rpm. At the higher rpm, the engine ECU will go into open loop and the AF ratio will dip down into the 12's or even 11's for some cars. (The exact switching point betwen closed and open loop needs to be determined with a OBD2 reader) A lot of fuel is wasted if you go full throttle at the high rpm's.

 

quit whining, 29 mpg is damn good. it the heatof the vegas summer i get 25 and I am really pleased with that. Bill

 

 

LARGER DIAMETER/CIRCUMFRANCE TIRES. In every gear your car will roll farther with each turn of the engine. That means fewer engine revolutions per mile, less fuel used per mile, more miles per gallon. You can gain about 5 to 6 percent in your mileage.

There are several tire size calculators online to help you determine which tires have greater diameters, such as:
http://www.powerdog.com/tiresize.cgi
http://www.dsm.org/tools/tiresize.htm
http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

Larger tires also, in effect, change your final drive ratio, acting a bit like overdrive. If you think the engine is revving too high at cruising speeds, larger diameter tires can drop the revs down a bit for the same speed.

Of course, there is a limit to how big a tire you can run without rubbing the wheelwells or suspension parts.

Another way to increase mileage is to run with as much air pressure as you dare. Hard tires create less rolling resistance. So do narrower tires. Go down to 185s instead of 205s, for example. The smaller the contact patch, the less friction.

Sure, there are downsides to all of this (speedo error, harsh ride, lack of traction, not looking cool, etc.) but like they say, there ain't no free lunch.

 

One of the ladies at work got a xA and was suprised to find her mileage was not as good as she expected. She said she always drove with the overdrive turned off. (talked with her casualy, and she insisted that it said "OD OFF" when she started the engine and never turned it on..dunno about that; it should default to overdrive on with no warning light on the dash on startup). I tend to get 26 or so using the overdrive turned off very briefly for passing and hills and get 30 or so on trips. Still in the break-in peroid on my Xb. But I've found it's improving a bit after the computer is learning my driving habits. Any comments on the computer learning fuel mix ratios from your habits?

 

Cathy, what kind of dogs? I bought the Xb for three reasons: I fit, our Great Dane and Dane/Boxer mix fit, and mpg.

SGF