My mini-road trip MPG results....
 

So Tuesday morning I headed out from Dallas to Houston to visit family and decided to see what kind of MPG I could get out of the xb2 (the longest trip its been on since I purchased). The tank was filled to the top and off I was on my 249 mile trip.

Upon arriving I was very weary because I arrived and the gas guage showed only a 1/4 tank left :tap:.

I filled it up again at the same brand gas station (Shell) and the receipt showed I used 9.45 gallons. I divided that by what my trip meter said (249 miles) and If I did the math right, I averaged 26.3 MPG. Does anyone think that is a bit low?

I did at first, but considering 3 adults were in the car (& 3 luggage cases), driving 75 mph for about 2/3 of the trip, and the temperature was in the high 30s the entire drive, I guess it wasn't too bad.

Sounds pretty good actually, as your sticker rating is based on 55mph and a single occupant with no luggage, sub woofers, and inlaws. My tC was sticker rated at 31mpg and on a trip from the Coachella Valley to OC then to Magic Mountain. I was carrying 3 passengers all over 200lbs and after the trip I divided my trip ODO by the gallons I used and it came out to 34mpg.

^ How fast were you going to get 37 mpg in your tc? That is really good! I was able to get 33 mpg in mine once going about 60ish mph.

About 60, and not making large throttle movements. I was curious how conservative I could be. Only modification is a K&N drop in air filter and running full synthetic oil.

That is not true.

http://fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml

Nice find, I did not know the testing had changed for 2008 models. Interesting that it is based on a 48.4 mph average though.

It seems pretty low for being in Texas...

I am averaging 25-26 now, which is the lowest I have ever gotten. But temps have been extremely cold and we are on winter gas as well.

Summer I rarely get under 30. I usually always average 30-33 calculated manually, 32-35 displayed.

37 MPG in a tC sounds insane to me....I drive from Cleveland to Toledo and Back (279 miles) everyday, and I only get 28 tops...I do about 77-78 MPH the whole way but I still dont think 37 MPG is possible even at 60 MPH

We too are on winter gas and 38 degrees is considered cold her lol. I know when it was high 90s during the summer I was getting quite a bit better on gas mileage(33-34 mpg average on hwy).

I wish we had the 4 cylinder camry 5th gear and final drive to get better gas mileage :(

Yeah, the 5-SPD would of been very nice, but I can't complain. No matter how great of gas mileage you get you will always want to get better. Just look at the people with the prius trying to get even better then the sticker. Our car gets great mileage compared to most cars, except the small compact cars and hybrids. We really don't have much to complain about.

For one thing I do know is, the xB hates cold weather (for other reasons besides mpg loss). Lately we have had some FRIGID mornings, below zero, windchill down to negative 20's at some point... xB sounds horrible! The creaking, popping and shifting of things inside the cabin is incredible. But I guess it gives the car more "personality" haha.

I too have noticed speed kills fuel economy in these cars and its impossible to draft as the front ends are magnets for road debre.

My tacoma I managed to reach 20mpg. That was driving 50mph in 45 zones so the torque converter locks. The torque converter does not lock unless its going to 50 or over. Otherwise I get a high 17 or low 18mpg

FYI, I dogged a camry as a rental car down i295 and a fe jackrabbit starts, I still managed 27mpg