Half a kilotank in my Scion xB
 

I filled my box's tank Sept. 6: 499.3 miles on 10.309 gal. (48.4 mpg). I had lots of gas still in the tank, so I set a goal to get 550 miles out of my next tank. Thursday I did it.

I put a 2 gal. gas container in my Scion in case I started running on fumes. I made my goal in the city limits of Davis, just before the elevated Yolo Causeway. I didn't want to run out of gas on the causeway, as it's an unsafe place to be stopped. So since I'd made my goal, I pulled into a gas station and filled up. First thing I did was pour the gas out of my container into the tank. Bad idea, as the spout was too short, forcing the can at a shallow angle, and I couldn't empty the container. There was about .4 -.5 gal. of gas remaining in the 2.1 gallon container. I filled the tank from the gas pump, another 9.082 gal.

Distance traveled was 552.5 miles. If I used 10.682 gal, I got 51.7 mpg. If I used 10.782 gal, I got 51.2 mpg. Even if I'd used 11.082 gal (which I didn't), it would have been a 49.9 mpg tank.

from the boxy model?

Thats incredible !! I too am shooting for a 500 miles tank out of my xD. I keep chickening out because of the dam bubble gas gauge which is extremely inaccurate. I may take a page out of your book and carry a small gas can just in case.

Kudos on the milestone ...

Thanks, trikkonceptz.

Yes, Nden. It's the boxy model.

I drove a friend to DMV today to finalize a car purchase, then did some experimenting on a 10 mile country road loop. I did five iterations of the loop, trying different loads and pulse/glide deltas. My worst mileage was 63 mpg, and my best was 67 mpg.

Tonight my wife asked me to drive her to her office, as she left a bottle of Coca Cola in the freezer there. It's only a 3 mile drive each way, but I managed 49 mpg doing it. The secret is to climb a big hill first. I got 22 mpg for the first mile and a fraction climbing that hill. Then I coasted the rest of the way to her office, going down a long downhill and building speed to climb a long uphill to her office. At the halfway point, I was averaging 40 mpg. Leaving her office, I coasted downhill to sea level, and P&Ged through an empty industrial park, raising my trip average to 48 mpg. I have a 100' elevation gain on that way home, and then I can coast most of the way home through a 25 mph residential zone. I always gain at least 1/2 mpg average on that last leg home, if my trips are 10 miles or less.

Hi,

What size is the tank on the original xB? My wife's xD's tank is ~1 gallon smaller than the tank in my xA. My best tank was 559.something which was ~53.6mpg. We ran out of gas in the xD at about 420 miles (luckily we were ~1.5 miles from home and a friend came with a can of gas in ~15-20 minutes) -- mostly because the FE is not as good.

11.9 gal. capacity, according to the specs. Low fuel light goes on when you're about 10 gal. down.

Very impressive driving:thumbup:

I need to start trying this. I have mountain passes all over where I live.

That isn't too inaccurate. In my 4Runner there is a 18.5 gallon tank and the light comes on when you are 14.5 gallons down.