2004 ES330 mile range display
02-19-15, 09:30 AM
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2004 ES330 mile range display
So, I recently bought an Es330, and I feel that it's not giving me as much gas as it should. I put around 10.9 gallons in it, and the range miles display on the dashboard showed an increase of roughly 160 miles (before: ~50, after ~210). And I know that the range may be inaccurate but... I don't think it should be that low still.
02-19-15, 01:29 PM
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I haven't had the chance to hand calculate it yet, I will after a week, I just put 10.9 gal in yesterday and it was at 67135 when I did so I'll update you when I refill it
02-19-15, 03:44 PM
#5
The dashboard range calculator and estimated mpg always seem so sensitive to me. They change while you're driving, based on your driving. I think they're more instantaneous than an overall outlook. For accurate mpg and miles per tank I think you have to calculate them by hand.
02-20-15, 07:54 AM
#6
The miles to empty display is mostly useless. It basically takes the estimated amount of fuel in the tank and multiplies by the recent average fuel economy to get the range. The actual range is going to depend on the mileage you are getting on the current tank, not the mileage of the tanks before. If you've been driving a lot in the city and the average mpg has been low then the estimated range will be too. A few weeks ago we took my wife's 04 ES330 on a 500 mile mostly highway trip. Most of her driving is in the city, so her average fuel economy has been 16-17 mpg. When I filled it up before leaving the MTE display read around 260 miles. When we got to the destination, about 220 miles away, the MTE display still showed over 100 miles. Because the actual mpg was higher than the average that the range had been based on, it was underestimating the range. The next time we filled up the estimated range was over 280 miles. The tank didn't hold any more than it did the last time, but the recent average mpg had gone up because the last tank was getting 27 mpg instead of 17. At the next fillup it displayed nearly 300 miles because the average mpg had continued to go up. Now that it's back to primarily city driving, the MTE range will start to decrease again, so it will overestimate the range for driving in the city.
As has been mentioned, you need to find out what your actual mpg is, and the only accurate way to do that is to keep track of the miles driven and gallons consumed. Miles per tank is not a very useful measurement because you will seldom put exactly the same amount in each time. A mile and a gallon are always the same, so mpg is much more useful and will make your comparisons to other peoples mileage more useful.
The way I do it is to fill the car up, don't top off when the pump cuts off, and get the receipt. Write down the mileage since last fillup and the average mpg displayed, assuming you reset them at your last fillup, and reset the trip odometer and avg mpg display. You then divide the miles by the gallons to get mpg and can compare that to what the avg mpg display showed. I've found the one in our car to be pretty accurate, off less than 3% overall. You need to do this for a while to get a true picture of the mileage you're getting, because it can vary significantly from tank to tank depending on the type of driving you've done. Keep a log, either a spreadsheet or even just a notebook, and you will be able to detect changes more easily. Lots of people get all worried and start chasing problems that don't exist because they don't really know what mileage they've truly been getting.
As has been mentioned, you need to find out what your actual mpg is, and the only accurate way to do that is to keep track of the miles driven and gallons consumed. Miles per tank is not a very useful measurement because you will seldom put exactly the same amount in each time. A mile and a gallon are always the same, so mpg is much more useful and will make your comparisons to other peoples mileage more useful.
The way I do it is to fill the car up, don't top off when the pump cuts off, and get the receipt. Write down the mileage since last fillup and the average mpg displayed, assuming you reset them at your last fillup, and reset the trip odometer and avg mpg display. You then divide the miles by the gallons to get mpg and can compare that to what the avg mpg display showed. I've found the one in our car to be pretty accurate, off less than 3% overall. You need to do this for a while to get a true picture of the mileage you're getting, because it can vary significantly from tank to tank depending on the type of driving you've done. Keep a log, either a spreadsheet or even just a notebook, and you will be able to detect changes more easily. Lots of people get all worried and start chasing problems that don't exist because they don't really know what mileage they've truly been getting.
02-20-15, 01:22 PM
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The miles to empty display is mostly useless. It basically takes the estimated amount of fuel in the tank and multiplies by the recent average fuel economy to get the range. The actual range is going to depend on the mileage you are getting on the current tank, not the mileage of the tanks before. If you've been driving a lot in the city and the average mpg has been low then the estimated range will be too. A few weeks ago we took my wife's 04 ES330 on a 500 mile mostly highway trip. Most of her driving is in the city, so her average fuel economy has been 16-17 mpg. When I filled it up before leaving the MTE display read around 260 miles. When we got to the destination, about 220 miles away, the MTE display still showed over 100 miles. Because the actual mpg was higher than the average that the range had been based on, it was underestimating the range. The next time we filled up the estimated range was over 280 miles. The tank didn't hold any more than it did the last time, but the recent average mpg had gone up because the last tank was getting 27 mpg instead of 17. At the next fillup it displayed nearly 300 miles because the average mpg had continued to go up. Now that it's back to primarily city driving, the MTE range will start to decrease again, so it will overestimate the range for driving in the city.
As has been mentioned, you need to find out what your actual mpg is, and the only accurate way to do that is to keep track of the miles driven and gallons consumed. Miles per tank is not a very useful measurement because you will seldom put exactly the same amount in each time. A mile and a gallon are always the same, so mpg is much more useful and will make your comparisons to other peoples mileage more useful.
The way I do it is to fill the car up, don't top off when the pump cuts off, and get the receipt. Write down the mileage since last fillup and the average mpg displayed, assuming you reset them at your last fillup, and reset the trip odometer and avg mpg display. You then divide the miles by the gallons to get mpg and can compare that to what the avg mpg display showed. I've found the one in our car to be pretty accurate, off less than 3% overall. You need to do this for a while to get a true picture of the mileage you're getting, because it can vary significantly from tank to tank depending on the type of driving you've done. Keep a log, either a spreadsheet or even just a notebook, and you will be able to detect changes more easily. Lots of people get all worried and start chasing problems that don't exist because they don't really know what mileage they've truly been getting.
As has been mentioned, you need to find out what your actual mpg is, and the only accurate way to do that is to keep track of the miles driven and gallons consumed. Miles per tank is not a very useful measurement because you will seldom put exactly the same amount in each time. A mile and a gallon are always the same, so mpg is much more useful and will make your comparisons to other peoples mileage more useful.
The way I do it is to fill the car up, don't top off when the pump cuts off, and get the receipt. Write down the mileage since last fillup and the average mpg displayed, assuming you reset them at your last fillup, and reset the trip odometer and avg mpg display. You then divide the miles by the gallons to get mpg and can compare that to what the avg mpg display showed. I've found the one in our car to be pretty accurate, off less than 3% overall. You need to do this for a while to get a true picture of the mileage you're getting, because it can vary significantly from tank to tank depending on the type of driving you've done. Keep a log, either a spreadsheet or even just a notebook, and you will be able to detect changes more easily. Lots of people get all worried and start chasing problems that don't exist because they don't really know what mileage they've truly been getting.
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02-20-15, 01:48 PM
#8
Thanks for the info, it really cleared things up because I just got the car and I was freaking out about the mileage I was getting in regards to the mile range display in the car. I didn't know it was as you said. I'll try doing the calculations like you said on the last part for a while to see for myself. Also, can you tell me how I would go about resetting the trip odometer?
02-20-15, 03:40 PM
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