The Daily Drive Thread: May 2008

[RH77]

I'll start off May with a good rental experience: 2008 Toyota Corolla LE. Great FE...

Full details to follow.

RH77

[Frankenstipe]

Copy/Pasted from April:

I drive about 41 miles a day to work, 84 round trip (stop for coffee and donuts ), and have been averaging 38 MPG in my 07 Corolla S with 225/45/17 tires. Ignore the 32.71 average on the left, I only started driving slower a few tanks ago. I know I could do better with the stock tire size, especially considering the price of gas now, but I just love the looks and handling benefits too much, GRIP FTW! If I have to spend more than $60 per tank (11 gallons = $40 - $45 right now) of gas then the stock tires are definitly going back on but until then it's Griptastic Grip time.

I never accelerate much past 2k RPM's and have been cruising at 60 MPH. I'm too scared to cruise any slower on my commute home, people around here drive like mad crazy a**tards. The commute there is a good time to experiment with MPG though, not a lot of people on the road at 4 a.m.

Once I have enough for a Scangauge I'll start testing and post up again but I want to get my windows tinted first, summer here is a biat** and I'm wierd about using the A/C in my car. That and people won't be able to see who the a**hole is going 50 in a 65.

I'll be done with my first full tank of May in about a two days, so far looking ok, I let my sister drive back from SF and she drives 70 - 80 MPH so instead of getting 250-ish miles at the halfway mark I only got about 200. My guess is 34 MPG, which still isn't bad.

There will be at least another 3, maybe 4 fill ups for this month, I can get almost 400 miles out a tank and I commute exactly 420 miles a week (hehehe). But I need to start getting my car washed every 2 weeks now, the Valley get's crazy dirty in the Summer, and I use a car wash 10 or 15 miles away because they do a kick ass job.

[RH77]

I haven't had the chance to get a wash for over 2 months.

If I park at the airport, the construction dust is brutal + the kick-up from the aircraft jet blast doesn't help.

Then, every week it rains, so I just forget it.

Good start on mileage Frank...

Keep us posted!

RH77

[Frankenstipe]

367.1 miles from 11.174 gallons of gas = 32.85 MPG.

A little less than I was expecting but still not bad, as long as I never dip below 30 MPG from a full tank I'm ok.

Gas was 3.859 per gallon and I spent $43.57.

[homeworkhome53]

It looks like 45mpg is doable on a regular basis and I have started doing some EOC. I'd like to set a new goal. To work and home on a gallon of gas. Then I could live up to my moniker Homeworkhome53 - on a gallon of gas. The warmng weather seems to be helping a good deal.

homeworkhome 53

[RH77]

I cracked 40!

It's rare (2nd best mixed-driving tank) -- and it's been about a year, but I scored a great tank.

41.59 MPG
over 341 Miles.

(This actually would have been much better if I wasn't running from a tornado at the start of the tank )

Changes:

• Slower, More Precise Acceleration (Thanks to Lazarus for the Training!)
• Advanced Timing
• Slower Interstate Cruise and DWL
• Minimal EOC (~5%)

The trick (and goal) is to hang on to the 40+ trend. We'll see what happens

RH77

[SVOboy]

I hate driving. /story

[cwarnar]

I hit 35 mpg. It was 90% highway but with my cruise firmly set at 55mph, I had my best ever tank going 435 miles and only using 12.2 gallons. Again this is amazing change from the 21-23 mpg I was getting prior to visiting the site.

Now that gas is really soaring I am thankful for the insight and info learned here.

Thanks gang!

[igo]

I finally started doing some eoc in my car. I have been holding off because I don't think it is the best thing for an automatic transmission, but the high gas prices made me do it.

I have been doing a bit more cycling/ I road to work twice last week and I will continue to ride if I wake up early enough and the weather is ok.

[RH77]

After the record-busting personal tank, I've been busy traversing the Midwest with fam in a 2008 Chevy Malibu LT 4-Cylinder. So far, 1200 miles and some impressive MPG, and a positive review is pending. The new design is an improvement, which says a LOT. More on that later...

But hence my absence for a few days

RH77