Right, the braking is a symtom(sp) but light braking could also alow you to carry more speed alowing you to use less gas getting up to speed again.

 

Actually if you know the duration of the traffic light and when it will turn green you can reduce some speed ahead of time so that you are not getting there so soon and if you time it right the light will be green and you will still be moving when you get there. Not coming to a complete stop saves a little gas and every bit helps. I have started timing the red and greens on the more changy lights I hit every day and am getting it down pretty good. Have had a few turn green with a car or two then turn red again in 15 seconds but usually they stay green for 50 seconds or more and red for 30-45 seconds and ones with car sensors change to green in 10 seconds once a car arrives if they have been red for a while. Up hill stop signs are the best because you coast up to them without braking thus not wasting any gas because you have to climb the hill anyway. It's the ones at the bottom of a hill that are killers - that's where a hybrid pays a little with regen braking. Anyway todays driving for about 2 hours going 49 miles averaged 49.3mpg.

 

^^The first part is a more indepth version of what I said...You said it better.

 

I think the most important thing to remember is:
Cruising speed doesn't have as big of an effect on MPG as Acceleration....Cruising at 80 for most of a tank got me damn good milage but if you jump on the gas and floor it to get to 80, you use WAY more gas. I heard that it takes more gas to get from 0-30 than to get from 30-60 because it takes more energy to get something moving than to keep it moving.

 

yeah i got 400 mpg on a tank once with all highway miles...i was in awe.

 

???400MPG??? or do you mean 400 miles on a tank?
*If it was the tank how much gas did it take to fill it up?

 

lol... ooops.. i think he meant 400 MILES....

yea... i've done that too... filled it and it was like 12.7 gallons for me.... long, mostly highway trip when i did that.

 

Just remember you tC guys have bigger tanks and get pretty good mileage at 70-80mph because of the smaller body size as well as the xA but when it comes to the xB then slower is better and not stopping is better too. I can't say exactly what the MPG is at higher speeds because I have some much firction reducers in my engine and tranny that it still is very good mileage i.e. up hill at 65mph I get 36-38 mpg where others are getting 28mpg but cruzing at 80 mph is definately a gas eater unless you are drafting and have a tail wind of about 20mph too. I heard some tCs getting over 30mpg at 75-85mph probably because they finally get enough load on the engine to warm everything up.
Lets watch the G and H keys they are RIGHT next to each other.

 

yeah i def. meant 400 miles to the tank...

oddly enough, i noticed my mistake driving home from work...wierd.


although 400mpg would be pretty sweet

 

That would give you a range of 5,800 miles per tank.

At the rate I drive, I'd only have to fuel up every 6-7 months

 

gah, i wish i drove that little...i have a 07 got it in oct 06, already have a little over 12K on her....poor girl i'm runnin' her hard.

 

yeah well i got my 07 in oct 06 and I have over 21k miles, that hurts a whole lot more, let me tell you

 

Here's Consumer Reports tips for better MPG.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...-406/index.htm

We forget how inefficient the engine is when cold. Good tip here is to combine short trips into one.

 

great find.

yeah all my friends tell me that i lose mpg when i drive with the AC on...glad to hear it doesn't really make a difference.

 

Run the A/C on recirculate most of the time and on the lowest fan setting and it takes very little power and gas to run it. ALso keep the car moving so the radiator condensor stays cool and that reduces the load on the compressor pump as well. You can also crank up the fan when you are slowing down since that would be free power from the engine and help slow you down a little extra . . . if only the ECU didn't increase the gas to then engine when the A/C was running like that.

 

thank you oh wise one

 

If you live in CA, the gas here is less efficient.

In VA I was getting 27mpg in the city, here in CA I get about 22mpg in the city. My commute to work is the same as well, 3 miles and takes about 8-10 minutes.

On my drive from VA to CA last summer I got about 35 MPG cruising at 75mph with my car fully loaded down, I put everything I owned in my Scion TC.

But as soon as my wife and I put CA gas in each of our cars, our gas mileage dropped on the very first tank of CA gas.

 

350-370 mpg here. 29.5-30.5 miles per tank the last 3 tanks. w00t w00t

 

D00d that's bullsjit...Why do we get the jacked up gas?

 

Emissions - probably a different formulation for polution reduction and you may also have a lower oxygen contant in the air - I have a theory that is why I get better gas mileage when driving in the woods and on counrty roads than in the city or highway.