Fuel Economy...WTF?
 

So many of the threads I read have people listing their fuel economy in the 22-25 mpg range. These same folks say they do a mix of city and highway driving. All I can say is I get NOTHING close to this.

I drive about 5 minutes on city streets (stop and go signs and lights) and about 10 more minutes on the highway at about 80mph. I routinely reset my trip computer with each gas up and the average MPG read on the computer is about 16mpg. I drive fairly sporty, but that is usually just revving to about 4k in a few gears some of the time, a rare 5-6k each trip home, and the rest of the shifts around 3k. One tank of gas I drove like a grandma and got 20mpg on my daily route. Granted, if I sit on the highway at 70mph I'll get about 25-26mpg. Worst fuel economy on the daily route...14mpg averaged over the tank of gas.

Is this what you guys realistically get as well, or do i need a trip to the mechanic? FWIW, I'm using 93 octane Shell.

Short drives don't yield the best fuel economy. The car needs to warm up.

That's probably part of the issue...I don't get to 180F oil temps until about half the drive is done.

dont use the computer trip/mpg to calculate, instead, fill your gas to full, reset your trip mileage, then fill up again when you run low on gas and divide the miles you drove to the gallons of gas you just filled your car with.

that should be more accurate. my tacoma gets 19mpg average, so i dont see why the Z should be getting worse.

I would try different fuel too. It's possible that the station you fill up at has poor fuel; Shell station or not.

Not a bad idea to at least test how accurate it is. My drives are always a bit longer, but I never get under 25mpg fwiw, and I drive like a nut.

I have a 30 minute commute, about 20% city 80% highway. I average between 70 to 20 mph on the highway portion depending on traffic and I get a dead consistent 20-21 mpg even with gunning it onto the freeway.

Also don't trust the trip computer. From my calculations its about 1 mpg low on every tank so far.

Hmm, all good points. I'm going to top off the tank today and do the math. Will also fill up at a nearby BP instead of the usual Shell.

Good luck mate, keep us posted http://www.camaro5.com/forums/images.../happy0180.gif

Just after filling up go for a long highway drive somewhere and then compare. I bet the mpg will be significantly better.

This ^ I got 19 mpg combined in my 4Runner as well. I stopped calculating mpg, my new method is time between fill ups. 1/2 tank per 2 full weeks is a good amount for me.

I have not even looked at what my MPG is since I bought this car, I do with GMZ does. I base my usage on time between fill ups. I always fill up on Mondays now, but if I am above half then I had a good week, below...well we know I might have had some fun. ;)

For what it's worth, I never trust the trip computers so I always to the math on my vehicles (just a habit).
My first two fill-ups the computer was dead on to the tenth.
22.5, and 23.3.

I've found that how I drive around town profoundly affects the mileage.
(I know, not a revelation)
Lord it's hard to stay off that pedal at lights!!!
:driving:

I just started gathering data. Here is what I have so far...

Hey Spear... From what I've found with my '09 FX35 and this, the VQ motors don't start getting their best mileage until they are fully warmed up. When I just have my 15 minute trip to work, your mileage is close to what I'm getting. Once both of them are warmed all the way, the mileage goes way up. Just an observation for what it's worth.