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Originally Posted by Kristen
1a) I see the ScanGauge touted here; my vehicles have both Trip-journey and Instant MPG, Average MPG, Distance etc. Does ScanGauge add a lot to this?
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It (can) add exact cooling fluid temps, intake temps, calculated engine load, exact rpm, throttle position, ... pretty long list, though what it reports depends a bit on the car it's in.
On a diesel, I've found it difficult to calibrate - it gets calibrated to one's driving style, rather than to the actual fuel consumption.
Change your driving habits, and it'll be off again.
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1b) I don't use the instant MPG readout, it jumps around all over the place (take my foot off accelerator and I'm instantly doing 200MPG regardless of speed and whether on the flat or coming down a mountain road!). Am I missing something here in terms of being able to "tune" my driving style?
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I'd say you are.
Of course it jumps wildly - your fuel consumption is varying wildly at those moments
I use the instant fuel consumption all the time.
It gives you direct feedback about the effects of a bit less or more throttle, the grade of the road, ...
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2) I see that ScanGauge needs calibration from full fuel-tank to refill. Sounds fine. My Speedometer is pretty optimistic (+3-4MPH compared to my SatNav), thus I have little faith in the accuracy of my Odometer - does that matter?
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Speedometers are intended to show too high a value - they aren't allowed to read low.
The odometer will likely be off by less than what the speedo is off.
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or should I just consider using ScanGauge as a "relative" measurement for comparing one technique/situation with another?
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You can do that if you want.
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(thinking about it I don't believe the inbuilt MPG readout, but I do "trust" it as a relative measurement from one trip to the next)
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How does it compare to the actual fill-ups at the pump ?
Keeping track of all those numbers is the first step.
I use a rather convenient website for that (which also keeps track of my vehicle costs) :
MPG and Cost Calculator and Tracker - Spritmonitor.de
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3) I expect our vehicles have the right sort of modern conenctor for OBD-II [I can check that of course), but what I am interested in is logging the throttle, gear-selection/neutral, speed, MPG, and GPS location; can I get that from ScanGauge?
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The ScanGauge doesn't log.
For this kind of thing you'll need an iPhone / Android with the software to record these values.
These take the values off the (E)OBD2 port - using an OBD2 dongle connected by cable, WiFi or BlueTooth (though BT is reportedly bad for the sampling rates) - rather than through a ScanGauge.