newest member of the 500 Mi/ 800Km club
 

I barely got into the membership, I have a bad habit of filling the tank as much as possible before hit the road again. LOL

This is me thinking out loud....

Well that experience did not last long. I am not sure if this was a fluke or not but I am back to average readings. I doubt that I will break 700 km in this tank. I am sure that it is not connected with the replacement of the brakes, as soon as I lift my brakes the car will roll on a 0.4% grade(my driveway lol). My driving habits have not changed significantly, however I have started some carpooling (in reality increases my commuting mileage by 25%) but the per tank mileage takes a hit with shorter trips... instead of 4 - 100 km trips I now have 2 - 100km and then 2 - 50 km in a two day cycle.

For now on I guess I will track weather conditions and lengths of trips.

The route and passenger weight may of played a part perhaps your driving style changes slightly while carpooling or your tires need air, pump up to max sidewall pressure and coast more often with your carpooling passengers.

Also fill to a level on the filler tube and use that level for all your fill ups, also use the same gas station and stall.

I squeeze near a gallon into my tank after the auto fill has stopped and always fill to the same height in the filler tube. To empty before refilling I drive 75km after the low gas warning light comes on to maintain continuity with fill ups

I was able to squeeze out 527 miles out of this tank using 9.088 gallons, and I had a kayak on top the car twice during this tank.

I'm shooting for 60 mpg and 550 miles next tank, although I'm probably going to be kayaking again this weekend, so it's going to be an uphill battle

I always fill up at the same gas station, use the same pump, at the same time (early morning) and always fill to the second click, so my mileage is pretty much spot on every tank.

There's a 500 mile club?

I would say no. Miles per tank is not a very useful metric since tanks sizes vary so much.

I got nearly 700 miles on one tank in my old pickup. But that's because it had a 36 gallon tank not because it was efficient.

How about a 50% club, where everybody's beating EPA averages by 50% or more. There'd be a ton of members in here

With my CRX I'd be getting Top 10 mileage if I was in the 50% range! One of these days I'll get there.

Many people beating their EPA averages are cheating. On Ecomodder there's no break down of the percentage of city vs highway use. Someone who does 90% highway driving will easily get a Hypermiller status tag vs someone who only drives in the city.

It would really be a 'I drive mostly on the highway club'.

I also fill to max capacity and typically at the beginning of a trip that is longer than 10 kms. However I have to endure rural life with garages that are not 24 hour unless I take a detour off of my path. lol There is one section of my commute where I dont have ready access to a garage for nearly 45 kms, therefore I bounce between 3 garages.


If you were to look at my path to and from work you would notice that I have over 70 kms of highway out of a total of 100, but luck would have it the my urban/ rural driving only includes a dozen of one cycle lights. due to the time of day that I get to work, I am able to get through most without stopping.

Unless I get screwed by bad commute times I can actually get better MPG's in my rural and urban sections than I do on the highway.

Remember your parents telling you that they had to walk uphill in snowstorms both ways to get to school.... I have to drive both ways with a 10 to 30 km direct headwind.

North east in the morning, south west in the afternoon. Apparently I chose to live 100km on the wrong side of Halifax. I live southwest of Halifax..and some days it sucks watching the fuel rate go from 6.3 or less LPH to 7.5 plus the moment I get on the highway on those windy days.

I am convinced that the winds are causing me my greatest pain. BTW I can not slowdown too much on the highway to compensate. it is only one lane each way with the odd passing lane up hills.

Rural driving will return the best figures, the NEDC defines the city cycle as having a 27km/h (21mph) aveage speed. That's New York City type traffic. It also happens that my GPS average is 27km/h.

You'll always get best economy in top gear at the lowest possible speed. But in the real world that usually means stop go traffic.

The very term 'highway cycle' is misleading, that's why it's been renamed 'extra-urban' in the rest of the world.

In mine I just barely break the 500 mile test, if I baby it....













.....on a 40 gallon tank.
The VX, same on 7, guess which one I drive more.

Welllll...it depends. I've seen others state on here, and this is true of my current and previous cars, that we get better mileage in stop-and-go traffic and in-town driving. Credit lower average speeds, lower terminal speeds, and more opportunity for EOC, DFCO, and neutral coasting.

I am tracking my mileage on Fuelly, which breaks down the percentages of highway versus city driving.
I'd have to agree with Vman that I do well BECAUSE I drive only stop-and-go surface roads, with only a couple of long stretches in my 21 mile commute. I couldn't get anywhere near the results I do if my commute was all highway. I have many opportunities for EOC, and then a couple of P&G opps on the straight stretches. I don't see it as cheating, I just take advantage of every opportunity I can to save fuel. Every driver has a different car and commute, and we all need to customize our cars and driving habits to the best fit for our particular situations.

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/cowmeat/festiva-2

Irony as it seems, my rear brakes have malfunctioned. Grinding noise on the way home after 6900 kms of use. Sounds like a fun day of brake system repair....

I will let you know the results later tomorrow. There was no indication of drag or pull... only a significant drop in fuel economy and now noise. I am hoping that my calipers are not the culprits....

Fair enough, city streets aren't a problem for FE, but traffic density can be. I certainly get better ecomony if I avoid the 5km/h jams.

One sticking rear caliper is being replaced tonight. I was clamping correctly when applied but would not release correctly creating enough drag to produce significant heat. Rusted slider pins which I did fail to check when I put the pads on at the end of march, and I have reason to believe that the caliper is now suspect from all of the heat generated.

The part costs 220 which will be quickly recouped from fuel savings and not having to replace pads every 7000 km. lol

Maybe I will be back to making good numbers like I did last month. I will refill right after I get the repair done for a fresh start on my ongoing goal of breaking 500 miles, plus clearly define the effect of poor brake function.