My personal experience is that too low an octane hurts gas mileage because the engine is having to detune for it. However, higher than needed octane is a waste since the engine simply can't benefit from it. I'd say your mechanics don't know what they're talking about.

I agree entirely -- those that complain about the mpg and run 70+ mph need to put their brains in gear.

The roll off in speed when you release the throttle is heavily due to engine braking, rather than aerodynamics, though no question, the xB2 is far from the most aerodynamic vehicle on the road.

Maybe for the brain dead. Even a bicycle makes it clear that wind resistance is a huge factor in ease and hence economy of travel. Higher speed just makes it harder for the engine to push through the air!

That's the drag coefficient. You multiply that by the frontal area of the vehicle to determine the actual resistance to airflow. The xB2 is designed pretty well in that regard, but the frontal area remains significant.

Oh, by the way, the coefficient is actually .32.

 

i get 18.6. Yes. 18.6
And i do not drive over 70. Toyota cannot find a problem. Mechanics cant.
22 is godly to me

 

How much of your tank percentage wise is city? Do you use cruise as much as you can? Are your tires and rims stock sizes? What mods? Auto or 5spd?

 

80% city. Rarely use cruise. 18 inch rims... no other mods. auto

 

I went from 28.5 to 25.5, mostly by going from 90% hwy to almost 50%. I still use cruise as much and as often as possible. Im sure the rims are hurting you a bit too. When you drive around, where does the tranny normally shift. I found I was able to get the best mileage at 2500rpm shifts or less. Of course thats all out the window now. I'm hanging at 25.5, equal city/hwy driving, and plenty of spirited stuff.

 

The factory steel wheels weigh 23# each. I weighed them. I am unable to get a weight anywere from the internet on my wheels "MB Wheels - Octane". Sold exclusively by discount tire. Can anyone guess what these weigh? This is a cheap one piece wheel by the way. The screws are fake.

 

Everyone thats griping about the fuel milage.....next time, do some research before you buy and if you really wanted good fuel economy, you would have purcahsed a Prius, Yaris or Corolla. The xB was designed to be an urban commuting vehicle, not a hypermiling or interstate cruising auto.

 

Its not hard to get 25-28 in the car, which is good in my book. Just depends on what you do to the car, and how you drive the car.

 

I knew what mileage to expect when I bought my xB.... but I'm getting no where near what the window sticker says.

I'm *lucky* if I get 20 city, 22-23 highway... and that's totally "babying" the throttle. It's been like this since day one. I've now had my xB for 6 months and just hit 2,500 miles on odometer.

Oh.... I've got an automatic w/ 19" TRD wheels & a CAI.

With all that being said though, I still absolutely LOVE my little "Doom Buggy."

 

We were getting like 24.5 but it seems since the rims and tires (18") now get 23.5.

It's a 2010 and we drive with ac on all the time even if windows are open. Windows are tinted 2% front and 1% back so it stays cool inside.lol

It just ____es me off that I can't get to 300miles for a tank. I will probably get a CAI or a SRI soon. Also we use 87gas and full synthetic mobil1 oil have about 5K-6K miles on car.

 

I thought the new EPA rating system they put in place a couple years ago was to reflect more real world driving. I really think toyota overstates the mpg on the sticker. The same thing happened to our Sienna. We get no where near the highway estimate. One time, I even drove 65 on a hwy trip flat land, no ac, no headwind and only got 21 and it was rated at 26.

To the poster that said to do research before you buy a car for mileage. I did plenty of research. Unfortunately my research was the internet and the window sticker. I read many reports of the scion mpg ratings much lower than actual experiences with lots of people reporting 30 mpg on hwy. Unfortunately those are proving very false. I expected to get at least 3 - 4 mpgs than what I am getting now. I was looking at a honda fit 33 mpg hwy and civic 36 mpg. I figured for the extra $300 a year in fuel costs and the fact that the xB was more comfortable, rode better, safer, cooler, it was a no-brainer. I still love my car, just want to squeeze more out of it without driving 45 on the hwy. My matrix I had got 30 consistently with the same commute route I am doing now. So based on 12k miles a year, it cost me $275 more a year to drive the scion. That is $5.23 more per week. I guess I will just cut out some of that starbucks coffee. The scion is soooo much more vehicle.

 

I just filled up today (including four gallons in a five gallon can for my lawn mower )! It manually calculated out to 27.5 mpg over 330 miles (2 gallons still in the 14 gallon tank)l I've no highway miles and lots and lots of light controlled intersections. Sitting at a light idling is typical, together with top speeds of 27 to 38 mph (depending on the stretch of road). I occasionally exceed fifty, but that's only very occasionally!

Believe it or not, I also have some performance embellishments -- CAI, P&P TB, lightweight pulley, but I don't usually tickle them -- I'm very conservative on the throttle and tend to coast a lot !

 

same here

 

Just wait...hydrogen WILL get here....eventually......

 

Not all of us have a choice on that one....The speed limit on the I-75 is 70mph.

Not complaining about my mileage, Im just glad to have a reliable vehicle that I can fit all of my art crap in :D

EDIT: I just got back from a trip....I got 29.1 mpg on the highway(AT trans). Who's complaining about going 70 on the highway??

 

It will get a little better, but not too much. The sweet spot for MPG's for me has been 2500 rpm in 5th gear about 63MPH. But once you get much faster than that you start hitting that brick wall. I get about 27-28 mpg. 70+ mph and you will only get about 24 hwy. Hope this helps

 

Who really thought that they were buying a fuel efficient car??? I loved the looks of it, like a chop top version of the Gen1. I saw the EPA ratings and knew right away that they were dream numbers based on the drag coefficient of the car along with the bigger displacement, but, didn't care about that. I have a Fujita CAI, and have eliminated the scuba tank, I get around 25.4 typical. I have gotten as high as 29 between Phoenix and SoCal, but that was being conservative with speed and throttle. That was amazing in my eyes. It wasn't supposed to be a fuel saver vehicle, just a youth oriented car with a balance of fuel consumption and "fun" for teens and with the Gen2 an older crowd too.

 

New to Scion and this site. Just purchased my 2011 xB stick shift on friday night. Two days later with moderate driving both highway and city, my tank has now decreased a little passed the halfway mark on the gauge. I also noticed the gauge decreasing significantly fast each day...all with moderate driving...did anybody else experience this? i read reviews online about the fuel economy of the car and understand it may not be the best, but its still a 4 cylinder car so i still should be able to stretch the tank for more than a week right?

 

It all depends on where, how, and how much you drive. I put on 500+ miles per week, mostly on freeways at 65-75 mph (just keeping up with the flow of traffic), so if I were to expect to get by on one tank per week I would be extremely (and unreasonably) optimistic.

BTW, if you're not happy with the mpg now, then don't even think about getting larger/wider wheels & tires that will weigh more & crush your mileage even more... just saying.

 

agreed^^^ what i do is roughly 286-300 a tank. and yes i fill up once a week or so. and thats a combo of driving safe and some flooring going on. this is not a fuel efficient car or some big gas saver. its a car. drive it!!!