RaginCajun

There is absolutely no way to calculate exact mileage unless you pull the gas tank and run a stand alone tank with a specified amount of fuel in it. Instead of talking mpg's let's see how far a tank will take you. I usually run about 310 miles on a tank. Now it will go up or down depending on how well I top off the tank. Just because you fill up and the gas pump stops doesn't mean its actually full. I have managed to get and entire extra gallon of fuel in the tank before after the pump shut off. To get upset because you believe your mileage isn't up to par is absurd. Not to mention there are many other factors which effect engine efficiency.

evosky

haha, with only 1600 miles, maybe take it a little easier on your engine ? give it time to break in and settle, at least that's my opinion. As for not knowing how CA people drive, i don't know. However, I do drive aggressively from time to time, but I choose to keep it at a relaxed pace to make the most of my fuel. East Coast conditions are very different from CA, so i'm sure you don't know how us East Coast people drive .....

exactly. i did 288 mi. and filled up 9.255 gal. with mild topping off. hills make a big diff in fuel consumptions too.

jsigone

i've been easy on the motor, drove it like a grandma for the first 500 or so miles. Stepped it up a bit til about 1200 miles and now it good to go and rev it up and use what lil power band it has to pass poeple and get up to freeway speed on the onramps.

ciscokid1970

I live in the Dallas area. I have a 15mi commute each way. Dallas has traffic similar to LA, lots of cars and freeways look like parking lots.

I drive 80% road traffic and 20% freeway. I do not drive with the windows down so I always have AC on. Mine is a auto and I keep it in OD so my revs stay low. I never punch the accelerator, from a stop my engine never really goes above 4k and while driving stays close to to 3k.

Yes you can get close MPG calculations if you use the same pump at the same gas station when you fill up. If your calculation does not make sence...that pump may be ripping you off (it is becoming common nowdays for pumps to be 10% in the favor of the gas station) so you pay for 11gal but only get 10gal. This is the real reason I check my MPG every fill up. Also check your tire pressure and make sure your oil is filled and clean. I change my oil every 4k mi and keep my tire press at 35psi.

Spring time driving back and forth to work, mostly stop and go, AC set to 1 = 30mpg

Summer driving back and forth to work, mostly stop and go, AC set to 2 = 29mpg

2 long distance trips 75mph for 300mi each way with less than 4 stops and slow downs = 36mpg

I am still very happy with mpg, No car out there has this much space at this price that gets close to this mileage. I hear the Xa gets a little better mileage due to aerodynamics and lower weight, but not as roomy or cool looking.

I hope one day to see Toyota make a good Turbo Diesel motor for their cars OR a hybrid version of the Scion Xb that would be cool.

TheRealBoxster

I average around 320-330 on one tank

RaginCajun

I will bet people will notice their overall mileage per tank is close to the 300 mark or a little over. I say that's fine with me. With 300 miles to a $28 fillup, I can't complain. I have a dakota with a v8 that takes $60 to fillup and I only get 350 miles out of it. Do the comparisons and don't complain so much.

jsigone

exactlly, my 240sx cost 45 to fill up for the same 300 miles to run, the box is 30-31 bucks to fill. Cali gas prices suck.

Big_Kill

RaginCajun... how can I say this politely... You're full of baloney! Uh... no... how about I strongly beg to differ.

DON"T TOP OFF THE TANK! Go to the same station, preferably the same pump and fill to first click and then STOP. Do that every time. Your calculations won't be exact, but they'll be pretty darn close. Closer than if you top it off every time.

Figuring out how far you'll go on a tank does NOTHING to compare to other vehicles. Trying to figure out how far a tank will take you is at least as inexact as figuring out mpg if you are topping off. (Of course, you could top off untill it flows out the tube down the side of you car every time. That would be somewhat exact.

If you DO top off every time, you are correct, you'll have no way of knowing exactly. But if you fill it to the first click and stop, you're much closer to putting the same amount in every time, hence a fairly close mpg estimate.

d0tSpLiT

The last few tanks, I averaged 35 a tank, my dad drove 1300 miles going to and back from LA, and filled the tank 3 times. The average is about 34 MPG. I drive 50/50 freeway/city city driving but I still average 34 MPG. I do have the YDR intake with a K&N filter and I do put premium (91 Octane)

RaginCajun

How can I put this nicely...... If you knew basic math it doesn't matter how much you put in it how much you take out that's needed. You calculate fuel economy by dividing miles driven by fuel used. Unless you empty your tank every time and run till your box dies you have no idea how much fuel is left in the tank. Being off by as much as 1 gallon will throw your figures off. You guys keep _____ing and complaining about gas and how you don't get the EPA estimated- that's the key word here- miles per gallon. Why not opt to not buy those bling bling wheels and mods and use it to put gas in your car. Threads like this are pointless because everyone takes mpg's literally. For me anything that does better than my dakota is an improvement. WOW

Big_Kill

DOESN"T MATTER HOW MUCH IS LEFT IN THE TANK!
It's not math... it's algebra. It's not how much you can squeeze in, it's that you put the same amount in every time. First click brings you pretty close. You have not responded whether or not this is a valid way to calculate. You keep spewing the same drivel.

I DO agree that it is very easy to be off. I squeezed in 4/10s of a gallon to get an even 25 bucks on a gift card one time. When I went to calculate. without the 4'10 of a gallon it was 38 miles to the gallon, with it, it was 35. (That was on a lower number of miles than the 300+ I usually have.)

Then skip 'em. Some people bought thier boxes mainly 'cause of the mpg. I know if I was getting under 30, I'd be P.O.'d.

RaginCajun

I thought algebra was math. Idiot. The odds of every person stopping at the same staation and usuing the same pump is high to say the least. Not to mtntion you are talking about a mechanical valve in a gas nozzle which isn't calibrated to stop at the same point every time. If you knew how they worked you would understand that they are very vague when it comes to being exact. A simple splash which comes back into the nozzle will shut it down. On my dakota I have to actually pull the nozzle out some to make it continueousely pump because it keeps clicking itself off. The only real facts which can be used to calculate mileage is the exact amount of fuel used to go a given distance. Being off on you calculations like you said by as much as half a gallon will yield different results. And I reply to these posts to make sure guys like you know that algebra is math and maybe you should study it some more.

Jenna

When driving to TN from WA just recently, I got nothing but 26-27 mpg. That's with airconditioning on, 80mph speeds, a cargo box on top, a little extra weight and lots of mountain roads.

Usually the same xB, while stop and go on my paper route and with same cargo box, gets anywhere from 28-32mpg, depending how nice I drive it.

Big_Kill

Wow, cajun, you're really ragin'. Good moniker.

Anyhoo, the downtube on your Dakota probably just doesn't match the nozzles on most pumps. You can pull it out a half an inch or yurn it a little to one side or the other to make it work. You haven't said how your xB handles the pumps so I'm assuming (and you know what that means) that it fills up just fine.

You seem to misunderstand that I was mostly agreeing with you that most people's technique for figuring out mileage can flucuate given only a few variables. What I was trying to do was eliminate as many variables as possible. It IS possible to visit the same pump to fill up. I'm not a big mpg freak either, but I WAS curious as to what I was getting and this is the most consistant way.
>>The odds of every person stopping at the same staation and usuing the same pump is high to say the least. <<
I made it a point to get to the same station numerous times in succession just for a short time. Sure, some people can't do it, but many can I don't think the odds are as high as you think, at least for a short term.

>>Not to mtntion you are talking about a mechanical valve in a gas nozzle which isn't calibrated to stop at the same point every time. If you knew how they worked you would understand that they are very vague when it comes to being exact<<

As to your contention that a mechanical device cannot deliver repeatable results, you are grossly misinformed. EVERYTHING was mechanical until just a decade or so ago. Carbs, rpm and torque ratings, GAS PUMPS, etc., etc. And we relied on those figures to some pretty good results

Given the same car at the same pump, it can be VERY accurate! In a gas pump handle you have two valves: the main valve, which is actuated by the oversize trigger you squeeze to make the gas flow, and the check valve, which lets gas flow out but won't let anything back in again, thus reducing fire hazard. In the seat of the check valve you have a little hole. To the backside of this hole is connected a Y-shaped tube. One branch of this tube runs down the nozzle and exits at the tip while the other runs back to a diaphragm connected to a release mechanism on the main valve. When you squeeze the gas pump trigger, gas running past the hole in the check valve sucks air out of the Y-shaped tube. (This is because of the Bernoulli principle: a moving stream of fluid tends to pull things in from the sides. Take my word for it.) As long the end of the Y-shaped tube exiting at the spout is unobstructed, air is simply pulled into the tube and nothing much else happens. However, as soon as the gas in your car's fill-up pipe gets high enough to cover the end of the tube, a partial vacuum is created therein, which yanks on the diaphragm, releases the main valve, and shuts off the gas. If the gas happens to be especially foamy one day, it may actuate the release mechanism prematurely, with the result that you end up with less than a full tank of gas.

Now, if some cars, like your dakota, have downtubes from the filler hole that prevent good flow, it doesn't work. Granted. But I've not had that problem with the xB as of yet. So I'd be willing to bet good money that by using the same car, at the same station, at the same pump, that first click is stopping the flow of gas with the same amount inside the tank every time. (Or, close enough for government work.) Yes, you may get some foamy gas that might change things. But the numbers for my car are soooo consistant, given the miles driven and the amount of gas put in to the first click, that one foamy tank will stand out like a pomeranian in a pack of bloodhounds.

Basically, I just took exception to the fact that you didn't seem to think that any talk of mpg was worth the bandwidth and I still say you're full of baloney and I think I've proved it.

Oh yeah, algebra IS math, of course. But you keep on throwing around so many variables as to make it useless.

Look at the post of yours that started this:

>>There is absolutely no way to calculate exact mileage unless you pull the gas tank and run a stand alone tank with a specified amount of fuel in it.<<

I think I've disproved that.

>> Instead of talking mpg's let's see how far a tank will take you. I usually run about 310 miles on a tank. Now it will go up or down depending on how well I top off the tank.<<

And how is that different from mpg??? Won't it also go up or down depending on how many jackrabbit starts, how many lengthy trip to 4 and 5000 rpms, sitting and idling in traffic. What makes how far a tank will take you soooo much different from mpg??? And again, unless you top off the tank right to the top of the fill tube, and unless you car is faing the same way, uphill or down hill or sloped to the right or left, the calculation either way don't mean squat.

>> Just because you fill up and the gas pump stops doesn't mean its actually full. <<

It doesn't have to be if you use the method I described. You just have to start with the same amount in the tank when you set the trip odo to "0."

>>I have managed to get and entire extra gallon of fuel in the tank before after the pump shut off.<<
If I was a flaming, tree-hugging , liberal, (which I'm not) I kick your behind for releasing all those noxious gasses into the air by topping off. ( I generally top off myself when not trying to get "good" numbers for mpg.)

>>To get upset because you believe your mileage isn't up to par is absurd. <<

This was the kicker. You are saying that anyone who bought the box over another vehicle because of its noteworthy gas mileage and then gets upset because they don't even come close to the advertised figures is a fool. And you basically say in another place that people who DO get close to the advertised ratings are fools because there is no possible way to calculate mpg anyway "unless you pull the gas tank and run a stand alone tank with a specified amount of fuel in it."

>>Not to mention there are many other factors which effect engine efficiency.<<

Now there's a correct statement and one I can agree with. Too bad it doesn't help the thread in any way.

So there ya' go Mr. Know-it-all. I've explained my position twice. I don't know what the big deal is with you, but I'll not need to explain myself again. Wasted too much time already. The people that get it - get it. And the people like you... well.

rdclark

Yes, the amount of gas you get into the tank in a given fill-up can vary - with the pump, with the slope of the ground, with the air temperature, with your altitude above sea level, even.

So instead of getting all panty-twisted over the calculations for a single tank, you just keep recording and calculating your mpg over, say, ten fill-ups.

Then you know that for your car, in your location, with your driving style, your average overall mpg is whatever it is. And that's useful (and accurate) data.

If you want to be more analytical you do what some people do and keep detailed records, noting what special circumstances (a road trip, a stretch of bad weather, the switch between summer gas and winter gas) might apply to that particular tank.

But unless your results are so far out of spec so that there's obviously something mechanically wrong with the car, you may never know what makes one xB seem more efficient than another.

For example, during some parts of the year, where I live, the prevailaing winds blow from the northeast in the morning and from the southwest in the evening. I know this both from meteorological data and from the fact that I bike-commute about 3/4 of the time, and for me these are headwinds both ways. It takes me 10-15% longer to bike that route when I have to fight the wind.

An xB commuting the same route would be hitting that same headwind both ways, and I'm quite certain it would get consistently worse gas mileage than one going the other way. It's hard to imagine a car that would have to work harder to compensate for a headwind than an xb!

But how often has anyone mentioned prevailaing winds in their discussions of mpg, eh? My point is: understanding the forces that contribute to the bottom line of fuel efficiency is not a simple matter, and not all of the contributors are necessarily obvious.

RichC

Big_Kill

Exactly! simply and elegently stated. "What's your "average" mpg."

brambling

Why have these long winded discussions about mileage? Here is the actual sticker:



Relevant section highlighted:



If you are getting in this range, there is nothing to report...might as well complain about wiper fluid usage or something else...

There is a 10MPG range there for driving style, AC, dubs, whatever.

I've been getting about 36MPG for my first few tanks, very light AC on highway, stock vehicle.

Big_Kill

Speaking of which, I've had to fill up my wiper fluid bottle 3 times and the box is barely two months old!










JUST KIDDING! (ducking and running)

metal112524

i made a 1000 mile road trip... just got back happy to say that i got consistent 34 mpg....doin 70 on super

RaginCajun

The people like me continue to drive their boxes and not _____ about MPG's. Believe what you want, calculate whatever you will and continue to use your algebra. There are to many variables to calculate correct fuel consumption. Keep filling up at the same pump as long as you want until your head turns purple. It makes no difference to me. There will be at least 2 more of these threads like this in the next week. Why dont you push your riggamarole off on someone else. The end.