Hmm. ScanGauge lying about GPH info?

 

You could sell your xD and buy a motorized bicycle which can get about 120 mpg. less weight + small engine = good gas mileage.

Course, your top speed is then limited to 25 mph or so but hey, you're saving a lot of gas!

 

You could increase the tire pressure. Anything up to the limits of the tire is acceptable (~51 psi). There is a trade off of exaggerated wear in the middle of the tire and decreased contact patch. It's really going to depend on your comfort with the compromises.

I know the cycles of all the lights around my travels. Most are significantly long. I had heard that any idling longer than 10 seconds wastes gas. You could turn the car off at lights you're familiar with and, if you're 3 or more cars back, wait 'til it's green before starting it back up. The compromise here is potentially additional wear on the starter. And if done too frequently (consecutive lights a short distance apart), your battery may drain.

As far as techniques go, anticipate what's in front of you. The more you slow down, the more energy required to recover. Use a lower maximum speed on streets. Leave a gap that allows you to coast instead of applying brakes. Be gentle with the go pedal. Go your own, slower pace, then those around you.

I tried most of these things with my Mini. Typically, in mixed driving, I get 29 mpg. After of week of drastic savings mode, I averaged 34 mpg. But it required a lot of effort to remind myself what I should be doing. And it wasn't very fun. The following week I averaged 26 mpg, to make up for it.

I believe what the Yaris guy did was drill holes behind the mass air sensor, effectively increasing the air fuel mixture and leaning out the engine. This can have a short term gain but will cause detonation in the engine as heat is not removed as efficiently. And the increased EGT could burn out the cat. And that will void the warranty. You could try it by loosening the tube by the throttle to reveal just a crack. Then the engine will draw air from there and the filter. Of course, you'd have the risk of ingesting something not normally designed to go thru an engine, but the dealer couldn't prove you did it on purpose. Good luck.

 

I have driven an automatic for my main car my whole life. My Civic Hatch easily got 35 mpg at the worst in the 10 yrs I had it. Occasionally on trips I got 45 mpg.

I knew when I got an xD I was giving up the gas mileage. Still even in heavy traffic the car should be in the high 20s. Yes it will get better mileage as it breaks in. My highest mpg so far in the xD was for a road trip, 37 mpg, 358 mi to one tank of gas.

Assuming you keep tires inflated, I recommend getting into the necessary gear as soon as you can. Try to limit the amount of time used to accelerate or decelarate. You want to travel at one speed with minimal revving.

DON'T do this before the car has gone 500 miles at a minimum. Driving at one speed isn't good for a newbie engine.

One thing I also recommend is turning on the instant fuel consumption on the xD's dash and eyeing it as you drive. It'll show you what burns up the most gas as you drive.

The avg mpg given in the digitl multi info display is always about 1-2 mpg too generous, but an ok guide otherwise.

Good luck. And yes I hope that technology catches up and we get a car here in the states that can get excellent mpg plus not have 90 horsepower. It will happen. My next car will be a hybrid, regardless since I know gas prices will only get higher in the future.

 

Yes the ECU constantly calculates the fuel injection pulse which the ScanGauge reads and displays to calculate the fuel being burned however when engine braking occurs the calculation continues but the fuel injectors are not activated so it gives a false reading of fuel being burned. It can go as high as 0.6GPH at about 4-5k RPM with your foot off the gas like going down a steep hill and the end result is that the ScanGauge reports that you have burned more fuel than you actually have. In my case about 0.5 gallons for an entire tank if I go down a lot of steep hills. Engine braking in 5th gear even at as little as 1200 RPM will still not burn any fuel - unless you have the AC on and you can still coast some distance without burning any fuel this way. I have seen the engine temperature drop quite a bit in cooler weather during engine braking further indicating that there is no fuel being burned.

As far as turning off the engine - I don't recommend it unless you really have a long wait because it burns a lot more fuel when it first starts up, about 3-5x that at idle for many seconds and may not, as most of us know, start easily just after being turned off. I figured that it burns HALF a CENT a MINUTE at idle so you are talking pennies saved for a few minutes at a light.

 

Thanks for the info. When you are slowing down it's always good to be in gear anyway, so I'll make sure I stay in gear when approaching a stop or a turn.

 

Drilling holes???

I'm getting 42+ on my tC - without any mods using a technique called Hypermiling. You can find out more at www.cleanmpg.com. It's all about using common sense when driving using techniques such as anticipatory focus, smart breaking, killing the engine when you expect to idle for more than 7 seconds...etc. PM me if you have any specific q's.

Good luck!

 

My xD just passed 2K mile mark and current tank is steady at 39-40MPG. That's driving around in Atlanta suburban town. I expect it to be closer to 36-37 pump MPG since the trip computer tends to consistently lie by about 2MPG.

 

yeah, and i'm sure the premature wear on your starter will be more than offset by the alleged fuel savings of a 42+ mpg tc. ough bull @H!t cough:

 

LOL at the players who always hate such as you.


First off, Scions have Nippon-Denso starters - the best in the industry. Very heavy duty.

Secondly, "what really wears starters down is HEAT when cranking and cranking for a long time; not alot of quick starts, as you mentioned"

Thirdly, I mostly use bump starting, so I'm even putting less wear on the starter (even though quick, non-cranking, turns does MINIMAL wear).

Read more here to get your facts straight before mouthing off your BS.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/fuel-...wear-6650.html

Regarding my mileage, not caring what you think about that. My tank fills and SGII confirm exactly what I stated.

 

heavy duty or not, if you make two or three trips a day, you use your starter two or three times a day.

if you take the time to turn off your engine every time you idle for more than seven seconds, you use your starter how often? depending on where and when your driving. not to mention that should there be some kind of emergency like police/fire and rescue, maybe an out of control semi whatever, you have decided to save some gas by sitting there with your engine off. it is not smart. period, and probably illegal since in maryland, it actually says that cars must always be in gear on the road ways.

cutting the engine at low speeds and stops is for hybrids. don't cut your engine in traffic unless there is a serious delay blocking the roadway and you aren't going somewhere for fast for sure.

 

42MPG is doable with tC. Will take a lot of practice and not "fun" to drive, but very doable. I thought I was doing good when I was getting 33-35 out of the xD, but after a bit of practice I am getting much closer to 40, even before full engine break-in and before upping tire pressure to about 40psi.

I also do not stop/start the engine, since according to SGII it only drinks .1GPH, so to save half a gallon I have to "not idle" for 5 hours. Not worth the trouble IMHO.

 

I bump start more than I cold start. Go talk to experts about how long a heavy duty starter last under heavy use. Better off, go talk to the UPS mechanics (whom I know a couple), ask what type of starter they use and how many starts per day - and how long between starters.

Point - good starters do not wear out prematurely by starting a car numerous times a day over a period of time. Cranking on the other hand is another story.

If I am at a stop in traffic surrounded by cars, how will my engine running and wasting gas help me move in an instant?

When I am at a stop light w/no power and not moving, my car is in first and I'm ready to go at a moments notice. You are correct that there are times when the engine shouldn't be off, and I make these decisions all the time.
Your opinion, and I disagree. Again I refer those that want the straight facts to check out www.cleanmpg.com. I welcome you to bring opinions to that board to speak to the people that do this all the time.

 

Thank you...and I agree that it takes the fun out of driving a Scion...but during my normal weekday commute I'm not looking for fun!

It might be a bit different for the xD - the tC is around .3+ per hour. This adds up during my week...and are part of the complete driving techniques that I practice which allow me the great mileage.

 

That xD is idling really well - I didn't think you could get the gph down to 0.1 but that's great that it gets that low. The tC may get lower if you let it idle for a couple of minutes - I know on my xB it takes about 30 seconds for it to drop down - no foot on the brake or too much electric power being used is a requirement to get it to drop down and you have to be stopped usually - if you are rolling it usually does not drop to 0.1gph at idle. It also lowers the RPM to about 650 from 800 or so when it drops to 0.1gph. Getting 42 on the tC is doing really well also and almost 40 on the xD is also very good. You should try a country road at about 40mph or less and see how you do as I have gotten 50-55 mpg at 35-40 mph speeds in my xB without turning off the engine - it kills the odometer so it doesn't measure the miles traveled when the key is off.

 

I did a clinic with an expert hypermiler, and we pulled 52+ in moderate traffic. So I know the potential is higher, but then you have to really pull extreme coasting and other techniques. I like to still drive normally w/out ____ing off people around me.

Regarding the odo cut when they key is off -> Once I cut power, I switch it back to IGN-II which is all the way forward w/out cranking. This allows the odo to continue taking mileage readings along with the Scangauge.

 

Just so you know, it's illegal to coast:
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21710.htm
Your engine will run at idle even in neutral. Just gear up and stay off the gas and it's just like taking the car out of gear, but not selfish and dangerous.

 

Yeah I have to wonder what is going on in the ECU when the motor is not running but the ignition is turned on. I know it will run the battery down drawing about 10-15 amps with just the key on . . . not sure if it is a good idea since the engine is now cooling off along with the Cat so you end up heat cycling it a lot more and considering that you are moving and cooling it further really causes some emissions issues long term.