gas mileage

[Missay]

ok guys..i know we've talked about this before, but i couldn't find the previous thread, and i figure this is sorta unrelated since we always talked about the type of gas.

sooo...here we go..i've been doing a little math and i wanted to see how my solara matched up w/ some of u guys.

last time i filled up the car i put in
15gallon and i got 175miles=apx. 11.5 mpg!

granted, it took me 3 weeks to do it since i do so little driving taking the train everyday, so of course i'd have low gas mileage, but still!! maybe my need for RPMS is gettin a little too much lol.

this time i filled up i put in 16.5 gallons...so i reset my odo and i'll do the math again to see how it does.

[Yanks0114]

ok guys..i know we've talked about this before, but i couldn't find the previous thread, and i figure this is sorta unrelated since we always talked about the type of gas.

sooo...here we go..i've been doing a little math and i wanted to see how my solara matched up w/ some of u guys.

last time i filled up the car i put in
15gallon and i got 175miles=apx. 11.5 mpg!

granted, it took me 3 weeks to do it since i do so little driving taking the train everyday, so of course i'd have low gas mileage, but still!! maybe my need for RPMS is gettin a little too much lol.

this time i filled up i put in 16.5 gallons...so i reset my odo and i'll do the math again to see how it does.

Couple of things affect your car mileage. When its cold out your car idles at 1500 RPM in order to get warm instead of 650 or so. Also have you been filling up at the same gas station. I have found that my gas mileage varys from place to place. And if you are accelarating very quickly every time and sitting in traffic of course that'll kill gas mileage. I have found that during winter i get 3-4 less MPG then during the summer. That could also be because the air coming in is colder so to keep the A/F ratio constant more gas is added. Who knows

[Missay]

exactly yank

my solara always idles pretty high when i first start it and usually stays high b/c i always go short distances, that i know kills it too.

could u imagine if i had an suv that gets sucky mileage to begin w/?! omg..i'd get like 3mpg

[xyntax]

exactly yank

my solara always idles pretty high when i first start it and usually stays high b/c i always go short distances, that i know kills it too.

could u imagine if i had an suv that gets sucky mileage to begin w/?! omg..i'd get like 3mpg

Pushing too much RPM every green light also affects that. When I first got my Solara last November, I ran 320+ miles to the empty tank. I only gas up when that orange light lits

Nowadays, I push up to 4000 RPM every green light and a couple 3500 on the rest of the gears. I would get 280+ miles to the empty now. Stupid thing is, I still get to my destination at the same length of time if I dont speed up that much

Now, I'm saving my gas by avoiding the 4000 RPM on first gear.

[Missay]

it's just so tempting to push it tho!!

i've been told it's not good to wait for the light to come one, but i do anyways. can gas freeze?? someone warned me not to leave my tank w/ the orange light on for several days (i can still get a good 4days outta the light if i don't have work and am only doing my usual low daily mileage). they told me w/ such a small amount of gas that my tank could freeze...??

[xyntax]

it's just so tempting to push it tho!!

i've been told it's not good to wait for the light to come one, but i do anyways. can gas freeze?? someone warned me not to leave my tank w/ the orange light on for several days (i can still get a good 4days outta the light if i don't have work and am only doing my usual low daily mileage). they told me w/ such a small amount of gas that my tank could freeze...??

Yeah I know the feeling. I push it sometimes when I feel like it

I wouldn't know about freeze conditions though. Can antifreeze agents help?

[Yanks0114]

Yes if you have a little bit of gas left it can freeze, especially if its been in your tank for a while. There is no way to prevent this except to fill up. Running your tank down to the bottom isn't great either because then you are sucking from the dirty gas at the bottom of your tank because overtime stuff settles out of the gas.

[Optimus]

15gallon and i got 175miles=apx. 11.5 mpg!

granted, it took me 3 weeks to do it since i do so little driving taking the train everyday, so of course i'd have low gas mileage, but still!! maybe my need for RPMS is gettin a little too much lol.

11.5 mpg sounds ridiculously low. Even when I drive hard for numerous short distances over a couple weeks in both hot and cold climates, yet I still get at least 18mpg.

Even with the higher idle in colder temps, you should not be burning that much more fuel.
I mean that is several gallons difference.

[Missay]

i'm curious now if my mileage is too low for my driving, but i'm getting 3weeks outta it, so it's not like it's a problem. i used to drive probably an equal combo of hgwy driving and backup boston driving and i think the most i ever got outta a tank was like 275ish (i actually think it was lower)

so let's say i put in 16gallons and got 275miles=that's about 17mpg.
maybe my car is just messed up?

we should see if everyone would be willing to pay attention to how many gallons they fill up next time they're at the pump and then reset their ODO to 0miles. wait till you're almost empty and then divide the miles by the gallons. (it wouldn't be perfect but give ya an idea since the tank is never really empty when you fill up).

has anyone done this before and already know what their solara averages?

[Optimus]

I calculate my gas milage almost every fill up. Gas is so pricey out here, I need to make sure I use it with moderate efficiency.

Commute driving (6 miles each way, several stops and bumper to bumper traffic): 20 mpg
Pure highway trip: 29-30 mpg

I typically get 310 miles before the light comes on.
I have the sle v6; 30,000 miles

I've driven hard for a tank and soft for a tank and i still get 20 +/- 2 mpg.

I would personally think something is wrong if I routinely got less than 18 mpg. 11.5 mpg just does not sound right at all.

[Missay]

unless the gas in boston is a rip off (like diluted w/ water or something), could something be wrong w/ my car? what would mechanically cause a vehicle, independent of driving habits/conditions, to have low mileage?

[Yanks0114]

I calculate my gas milage almost every fill up. Gas is so pricey out here, I need to make sure I use it with moderate efficiency.

Commute driving (6 miles each way, several stops and bumper to bumper traffic): 20 mpg
Pure highway trip: 29-30 mpg

I typically get 310 miles before the light comes on.
I have the sle v6; 30,000 miles

I've driven hard for a tank and soft for a tank and i still get 20 +/- 2 mpg.

I would personally think something is wrong if I routinely got less than 18 mpg. 11.5 mpg just does not sound right at all.

I ususally average around 20mpg before the S/C and before the winter. You have to remember in california you don't wake up and have it be 15 degrees out. It does make a big difference.

[Optimus]

You have to remember in california you don't wake up and have it be 15 degrees out. It does make a big difference.

Ah, but I had the Solara in New Jersey for a year and half (2 winters) before moving to California. I actually got better gas mileage in NJ because I was not in slow taffic all the time. Regardless, your overall gas mileage should not be that far off +/- 3 mpg.

It could be mechanical problems or bad driving habits. Does the engine sound smooth?
Have you changed tires recently? the wrong rolling diameter can throw the miles way off, but you would see this on the speedometer too.

give it a few more fill ups and check the mpg. it might just be a fluke (or maybe someone is siphoning your gas).

[Gunman]

has it been recent miss? every year i think it either oct or nov1 it gets a lower percentage of i forget what, but the vechile will lag and not get as many miles. untill the spring when you get a boost back

[Missay]

this is the first time i've actually paid attention to the gallons in comparison to the miles, but i usually reset on of my Odometers at each fill up and i haven't hit 200miles on a tank of gas for a very very veryyyy long time. when i got out of school and started to do a bunch of low mileage short trips the miles per fill up went way down. even when i would drive over 50miles a day tho, i've never ever hit the 300mile mark for a tank of gas. i picked up the car on april 2nd and then graduated end of may. so that time i got about 250 per fill up. (and i wait till it goes to low fuel light and then put at least 20bucks in which would almost fill it depending on gas prices at the time)