I'm starting to get a little annoyed by my fuel economy. It started out "mediocre" but it's trending downward over time.

My average a year ago was mid 20s. Now it's low 20s. NEVER EVER high 20s let alone 30s. I had one tank that was 30.5 and it was probably a fluke and a road trip.

 

Looks like typical cooler weather/slower warmup/winter gas decline. I see this with all my cars.

 

i am quite happy with my all4 fuel mileage

i am lucky in that i have a mobil station nearby that sells E0 premium fuel, ie no ethanol, i get much better mileage with no ethanol fuel, about +6 mpg ... ~90% of my fuel has been E0 premium

most of my driving (~60%) is on country roads, 55-65 mph with the rest split between city and highway

over the first 9,000 miles, my overall avg is 28.8 mpg

highest was 41.9 mpg, 411 miles using 9.8 gallons @ 55 mph in 5th gear on cruise

a couple notes

i leave the computer display in instantaneous fuel mileage display mode most of the time

my all4 gets it's best mileage between 3,000 and 4,000 rpm, if i use a gear that lowers the rpm below 3,000 the fuel mileage drops, so i seldom use 5th or 6th gear and in town seldom over 3rd gear

short drives, less than ~5 miles, with a cold engine and cold temps kill fuel mileage, i typically see no more than 22 mpg on the display until the engine warms up

"jackrabbit" starts and high rpm (using lots of turbo boost) kills gas mileage, my worst was ~12 mpg, ~200 miles on back roads, lots of stop signs, mostly over 5,000 rpm, mostly 2nd and 3rd gear, just after the official "breakin" period ... what i call "finishing the breakin"

typically i see on the instantaneous display:

34-38 mpg @ 55 mph in 4th or 5th gear

28-30 mpg @ 65 mph in 5th gear

24-26 mpg @ 75 mph in 5th or 6th gear

22 mpg or less @ 80 or above in 6th gear

scott

 

Scott - interesting data... I always thought that 6th was a "cruising" gear for freeway speeds - but it looks like 5th would be a better choice...

 

get out on the highway, get the instantaneous display up and try different gears at a set speeds ... i used cruise and a notepad

then get on a backroad and try the same thing at lower speeds

take wind into account, it can make a huge difference

i was going west on the interstate at 75 mph and showing 45 mpg!

turned around at an exit and then saw 19 mpg at 75 mph going east ... the wind was howling

scott

 

When my CM gets off the ship and I get the keys I will..