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Jason, A.K.A. Oliver Enterprises, I've tracked the MPG of every vehicle I've ever owned since the 72cc 1980 Honda C70 I had in 1983. My 30 MPG is legitimate, and it's happened more than once. Three times, in fact.
Tires were OEM size, I do not use cruise control, tires had 38-40 PSI in them when cold, and if I had to slow/re-accelerate, I'd do my best to not touch the brakes and to stay in the highest gear possible when gathering speed.
The key to high MPG in any vehicle, and I've owned a wide variety of them, is having a very steady throttle foot (or hand). Not a steady speed...and that's the problem inherent with cruise control...but a steady throttle. Cruise control is reactionary. It cannot see traffic slowing half a mile ahead. It can't "see" grades approaching. This is where it fails in regard to maximizing MPG. Using my foot, I can very slowly increase speed before a hill, or if I see the crest of a hill approaching, I can back off as I crest it instead of cruise control's behavior of staying at a high throttle openings until it gets back to the programmed speed. I'd rather let gravity do the work.
Oh, and if the engine is spinning above about 1,500 RPM, and the car is in-gear, if you aren't on the throttle (like headed downhill), the fuel injectors shut off 100% and you're getting infinite MPG. People who shift to neutral aren't doing themselves, or their transmission, any good.
Many people are so ham-footed with the accelerator, they're oblivious to the fact they constantly speed up and slow down on freeways/interstates.
My three 30 MPG tanks have occurred on long trips, all starting with a full tank of fuel, with minimal stops, and good luck with traffic. Even one trip which utilized TX-190 to bypass Austin on the way to San Antonio, which had about 70 miles of, um, elevated speed followed by 30 minutes in stopped-dead traffic on I-10 thanks to construction, resulted in mid-20s. The most common Texas Interstate speed limit is 75 MPH, so 80-85 is common.
Furthermore, I don't take what the car spits out as being MPG as gospel. I keep a small notebook in the car with a line for each gasoline stop. Miles, trip miles, date, pump gallons, calculated MPG (taking into account any corrections, if needed*), and car-reported MPG. Whenever I fill a page, I key it all into a spreadsheet I built which tracks not only MPG, but also shows how much error the car has in its calculations. By averaging everything over time, a clearer picture emerges.
Certain tires may change the figures, different commute times affect it, as does when oxygenated fuel enters & leaves the marketplace.
I found, after about the first 10K miles, the car's MPG reading is about 6.25% high, compared to miles/pump gallons, and using pump gallons, my L averages 20.8 MPG.
I should update my spreadsheet because I've put an additional 7K miles on it since last update.
*I correct for built-in car error using a long, flat, straight piece of road and GPS, then work this into my spreadsheet's automated calculations
I think mckelley your description of how you achieved that 30 MPG makes Oliver’s point about taking it with a grain of salt. You’re driving very carefully to achieve better MPG, you have your tires aired 7 PSI over the reccomwnded pressure, so on and so forth. Most people driving normally aren’t going to achieve that.
Driving normally with 31 PSI in the tires I get 25-26 HWY, which is still excellent seeing that mine is AWD.
When I say 'porpoising', it's not just like it was in 1973, but there's still a hint of it on certain types of road heaves.
I checked my dashcam to determine if you could see the difference between settings, and unfortunately, you can't.
"Comfort" is quite comfy. "Normal" is likely almost identical to coils. "Sport" is noticeably tighter than either of the others, and can be borderline flinty on beat-up pavement.
When I take mine to autocross, I'm going to trick it into maximum damping and have all four tires at 45 PSI.
No, this car isn't intended to compete in timed events, but that's the appeal (to my somewhat warped self).
I've seen footage of a late-70s Mercury four-door being autocrossed, and it was mighty impressive. The guy knew his car quite well, and the only thing he'd done to it, at least that I could tell, is remove the wheel covers so they'd not fly off.
I want to say it had whitewalls, in fact. I need to find the footage...I'm almost 100% certain it's on the web, somewhere.
It's rare I like the feel of recommended inflation pressure* in tires on my cars. I prefer a less-squishy sidewall, and over the years, I've learned where tires need to be to keep wear even based on my driving style and conditions.
In fact, I dropped the pressures down to about 32 after these trips to see if ride quality improved at all (I didn't think it did) or if MPG took a hit (it didn't). However, steering response felt squishy and wet traction turned surprisingly bad. Granted, this was on 75% worn Pirelli P7s, but I like a tighter feel to steering.
The Continental DWS06s I had put on about a month ago are not 245/45/19 in size, they're 255/40/19. Why? I wanted a tiny bit of wheel rim protection, which the 245s did not provide. Unfortunately, these are about 2.5% smaller in circumference (though tire sizing is its own slippery slope), so I really should wire up my Yellow Box and correct it at the transmission.
My highway acceleration/deceleration habits come not from maximizing MPG, but when I was in college, I had a few different driving jobs, all of which involved passengers. Smoother ride = better tips, so I got to where I'd look as far ahead as possible so as to minimize forces felt by passengers. My goal was to make them feel as if they weren't in a tour bus, but a room which magically arrived at various places. It was environmental training, if you will.
At the same time, I've had a few tanks of fuel in the LS in the high-teens because the car is remarkably fun to hustle.
Holding a steady throttle is a side-effect of many years of motorcycles. Well, and that it's both more efficient and easier on the hardware than speeding up/slowing down all the time. More comfy for passengers, too. I've ridden with some people who I'd swear have a goal of incessantly varying speed at least 15 MPH on the freeway and love to feel their transmission shift in/out of overdrive constantly.
* remember, recommended inflation pressures are a compromise the manufacturer makes between ride and efficiency. They are also germane to only the OEM tire, and by OEM, I don't mean the same model from the tire manufacturer, but rather, the ones made specifically for the automobile manufacturer. It's quite common for tire makers to make changes to existing models at the request of automakers. Make them quieter, less expensive, in a specific size, whatever.
So, that inflation number is valid for the original tires, only...unless you replace said tires with the same ones from the dealer, and those are the ones made for Toyota.
My new Conits I run at 39 PSI, at least for now, and they feel just right. Depending on wear patterns in about 10K miles, I may change it a little, but I think this will be fine, long term.
Wow! I'm that way with motorcycles, but not 4-wheelers.
Part of it may be because I had 8 months, or so, of full-on max damping because of a loose connection on the electronic dampers, and that's the only way I'd ever felt the suspension.
People really have no idea just how stiffly this car can ride if you have air suspension and it's at max damping all the time.
Thank you to everyone for your feedback! I drove the LS in Wichita Falls while visiting family and loved it. It’s a 2014 with 27k. The dealer made me a great offer on my trade and a fair price on the LS so I’m now the proud new owner. Looking forward to having it as my daily driver.
Thank you to everyone for your feedback! I drove the LS in Wichita Falls while visiting family and loved it. It’s a 2014 with 27k. The dealer made me a great offer on my trade and a fair price on the LS so I’m now the proud new owner. Looking forward to having it as my daily driver.
congrats, beautiful interior, the bamboo really pops with the black leather, great car, enjoy!
Congrats! You will love it even more the more you drive it.
Man this car is a dream. I made the 350 mile drive back to San Antonio from North Texas on Saturday and couldn’t get over how smooth and pleasant it is to drive. It is a bigger car than I’m previously accustomed to but the quietness and refinement more than offset any adjustment I’m having to make. I even think my drive home from work today felt noticeably less stressful haha. So glad I made the jump.
Man this car is a dream. I made the 350 mile drive back to San Antonio from North Texas on Saturday and couldn’t get over how smooth and pleasant it is to drive. It is a bigger car than I’m previously accustomed to but the quietness and refinement more than offset any adjustment I’m having to make. I even think my drive home from work today felt noticeably less stressful haha. So glad I made the jump.
No better car on a road trip in my opinion. My only complaint is sometimes I feel like I'm going about 75mph and look down and I'm doing 95mph... They're so quiet and smooth it's hard to not speed. Enjoy your new ride!
11-22-17, 06:36 PM
