i pick up my new xb on tuesday and plan on driving it 200 miles on friday and 200 miles back on sunday, should i avoid going over a certain speed?

 

Damn you XB1ers and your 46mpg! ;)

 

In the glove box of your new car is a thick booklet that has the recommended driving speeds for breaking in the car. You should be reading it - doesn't take long for the breaking in section and you should become familar with the spare tire and jack location because it seems the xB attracts nails to the rear tires like crazy.

 

Huh?

OK.

 

Interesting tips. I'll be putting them into practice on my xb when i pick it up

 

Got a question on this.
Lets say im coasting, flat or downhill. Is it better to coast in 5th gear or in neutral? (gear depending on speed of course)
Is 4000 rpm without touching the gas pedal use the same amount as putting it in neutral and having it float at 1000 rpms?
Does that make sense? If the engine has a high rpm from momentum keeping the wheels moving, does this in turn cause more amount of gas to be injected?
OR does high rpms from momentum only not use any extra gas?

When coasting i shift into neutral or at leas press in the clutch. I figure that if it doesnt save gas it at least reduces heat to the engine as well as wear and tear.

 

Ok 4000 rpm is like about 75mph and to even give it a little gas to keep it spinning at that speed in neutral is burning about 1 gallon an hour. If you are in neutral and idle the engine it burns 0.2gph or less. If you have it in gear and turning 4000rpm with yout foot off the gas it burns 0 GPH because the injectors are turned off. It will slow you down if you are in gear so if you need to control your speed and or slow down then leave it in gear - if not then pop it in neutral or hold the clutch in . . . but not for too long or you increase wear on the clutch and throwout bearing and the sudden release of the clutch at those speeds could cause damage. There are very few roads or highways that are steep enough to coast down in an xB and maintain 75mph - but there are some.

 

Every day i drive over a mountain and its steep enough to coast in 5th or neutral, and I was just wondering which was more efficient.
I wasnt sure whether fuel was a function of rpms and the gas pedal or purely the gas pedal. So coasting in gear the engine isnt using any fuel? I would have thought it to use the idle amount at least. (4000rpm was just a number i picked at random)

What do you mean dont hold it in neutral or with the clutch in? I know you should rev the engine to make the rpms match the speed before re engaging but is there something else?
I know using the gears to slow down the car can save the brakes, but will the increased rpms do any damage?

 

Yeah the fuel is completely shut off over 1000rpm when the engine is warmed up and maybe 1200-1300 when cold. SO engine brake reving at 4000 in gear with no gas is not burning any fuel and if you have a scangauge you will see the engine temp drop like crazy on a cold day with the heater going further indicating that no gas is being burned. It also helps lubricate the upper cylinder rings and really loosens up the engine too. On hot days you can also crank up the A/C while on those down hill runs and get some free cooling at the same time.

Don't hold the clutch in while in gear too long is what I mean - better to just put it into neutral and get your foot off the clutch pedal. Reving the engine before letting the clutch out to match RPM to speed is also a great practice.

You actually burn less fuel while in gear going down the hills and it also keeps the alterator turning over to provide power to the car so if you can tolerate the engine braking and still maintain your speed then keep it in gear.

 

So how is everyone doing with the xB and a few miles on it. I have a 36 mile one way hwy commute (65-70mph) to work everyday, other than that the car will see a little city cruising on the weekends. I'd be buying a manual.

Im getting rid a 21mpg for ranger, so if its not going to do much better then Ill go with the xD. I actually prefer the xB looks, but the mpg bugs me a little. I wish they would have not added the 2.4 and hurt the performance.

My ranger is rated 18-22 and I get 21.5, so Id assume Id get close to 28 in the xB, just dont know if its worth it compared to the mid 30's for the xD.

 

Well when they added the 2.4 liter i think they had performance in mind, but not as much mpg, I think scion looked at the tc and everyone was saying more hp bigger engine blah blah blah, and not many were complaining about mpg, so they thought shoot well put that in the new xB, but didnt take in to account that the xB serves a totally differnt purpose then the tC, it was a hit for its room and economy, and crazy styling.

But nevertheless i actually saw the first mpg improvement since i got it, i drove it highway for 3000 miles first thing, so i was getting 28.6 mpg then ive been driving about 50/50 and my mpg went down to 26.9 but for some reason im back up to 27.1 now, part of my mpg going down i think was do to winter too. So im pretty happy only a 3 mpg loss comapred to my 05 xB.

 

Well, Im wondering if 90% hwy at 70mph or less wont put me in the 28-29 range, especially with the 5spd. We have a 2007 Hyundai 2.4L 4cyl which sees 95% hwy at 75-80 5 days a week. It averages almost 29.

 

I have just over 10k miles on mine, and I do about 80% hwy driving at +/- 70mph. Average since the day I purchased it, based on real miles driven and gallons of gas pumped (not trip computer) is 26.4 mpg overall. I came out of a V8 Cadillac that got 19 mpg; with gas headed towards $4/gallon, and averaging 500 miles/week, I'm very happy.

 

26.4 is really good, just hard to pass up the numbers the xD gets. Im going to be banging my head on the wall over this decision for awhile. Good thing I have a few more weeks to decide on which one

 

You already have a Hyundai as a passenger car, and you're getting rid of the pick-up. If you need a vehicle that can haul anything around, the xB will be far better than the xD. Additionally, if you ever drive with tall people in the car, the xB is definitely the choice.

 

I guess you have a point, and 28mpg's is not really bad. The wife drives the hyundai, this next one is MY new car

 

There is a MPG issue I dont understand. The dash board will calculate the distance that you can travel based on your available fuel. I have found it to be innacurate as it will hit zero but when i fill up the tank it will only take around 12 gallons when it is a 14 gallon tank. That extra 2 gallons is an extra 50 miles i could drive.
Im wondering what they base it on. Do they think we are stupid and they need to protect us from running out of gas?

 

In your opinion, do you think the gas saved outweighs the increased wear you would get as a result of higher rpms while having it in gear?

 

I think some people who are disapointed in the mpg and dont understand cause they do mostly highway driving, is because they are going 75-80 and the rpm's are way up there, using the little instant mpg gauge, at 75 mph i dont get very good gas mileage, i think about 25 or 26 mpg, but at 40 mph im getting like 55 mpg, the only thing is there arent any highways with a 40 mph speed limit (thank God) any when you are going that slow theres usually stop lights. I know it was even worse with my 05 xB going 85 i was straight up at 5000rpms wich made my mpg drop like a rock, not quite as bad in the 08.

 

eyeeatingfish - what . . . you think you will wear out the engine before the rest of the car and have to replace it? In conservative driving that I do over the miles of a tank of gas I may save 0,5 gallons of gas by going down hills in gear - the ScanGauge keeps counting gas being burned on the down hills even though the injectors are off so it ends up being off by the time I fill up - there is some compensation in the fillup screen that is pretty close however. So figure in 100k miles of driving at 333 miles per tank saving 0.5 gallons is 150 gallons saved being in gear or about $450 at gas $3 a gallon. Not going to buy a new engine by any means - your savings could be greater if you have really long hills. What you want to do is add up how many miles of down hills you are coasting and at what speed (to get the time) and then figure 0.2gph at idle saved in all that time.