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best mileage for full tank of gas?

S

svtfixer

Veteran CEG'er
Joined
Feb 13, 2008
Messages
697
Location
Yonkers, NY
suppose this is regarding the performance of the car and how well it burns fuel. also never seen anyone ask this question like this.

what is the best mileage anyones gotten for a full tank of gas?

suppose year and engine matter as well as a few other factors.
 
My old Contour at ~146K, SVT upper/lower IM, TB, injectors, PCM, SVT intake with K&N filter, MSDS headers/Y, and SVT catback achieved 418 miles on 11 gallons of gas, 38MPG.

The one I've got currently; 24MPG.:mad:
 
388 miles, 33.2 MPG. Driving from Columbus, OH to Harrisburg, PA. Plain ol' 2.5 Duratec with lots of bolt-ons.

That was about 4 years ago, and it's never even come close since.
 
34.1 mpg on my '98.5 SVT, totally stock w/150k miles. All I-5 driving, "dry and dusty" road conditions, 65mph w/cruise on. Just over approx. 400 miles on tank.
 
Dang with my 2.5 I never saw more than 220 miles on a tank most fill ups were 10-10.5gallons that's 20.95-22MPG mostly city/stop and go driving. With my portmatched 3L swap and now 85% highway driving I am seeing 270miles on a tank and i normally fill up with about 11-11.5 gallons and that puts me at 23.47-24.54MPG.
 
dammit! i ended up bursting a brake line and having to gear brake the whole way home ruining my record! ive got 296 and the light is on.

i have a port matched 3l 98.5 i did not top off the tank put 10 in and the reserve tank was full so. i did nearly 200 highway maybe more .
 
418 is impressive. i believe thats possible with all highway. what motor? 2 l atx?

also the 98.5 and on is a larger tank yeah?
 
2.5L MTX, no larger tank on that car though it was a late '99 build. The drive was all rural highway through PA with some slight stop and go when we ran into trucks from the natural gas companies in a town with one main T intersection they had tied up, probably sat in that traffic for about 25-30 minutes only traversing 3 miles and that was only on the way up, once we hit NY it was all highway and that was about 5/8 of the total mileage. I don't use AC but I did turn it on for about 15 minutes in that traffic, and the cruise was disconnected so no cruise control on the way.
 
Reebs had a impressive post about his fuel consumption. I don't recall the amount, but it was a lot of granny driving to make happen.
 
I never use neutral, actually I've heard you use more fuel in neutral than in gear. I also can't be accused of babying any of my cars haha.
 
when you coast in gear you use little to no fuel, where as when you neutral fuel is required to keep the engine running at idle. So pulsing and gliding really are more effective if you can do it in gear.
 
Best I've ever seen in my '99 2.5L CSVT was 31 MPG running from Colorado Springs out east to Limon CO, then north to Brush CO, and on to Odessa Nebraska, 397 miles, 12.80 gallons, don't like to run the tank much lower than that. About 3/4ths of that would have been running 75/80 MPH on interstates 76 and 80.

I've logged quite a few trips from Colorado to Southwest Michigan, and the best mileage I ever get is the leg between Colorado Springs and about Grand Island NE, then it's always mid to high 20's east of there. More congestion maybe, lower speed limits, different gas perhaps, lower altitude? Don't know.

Saw the same thing this past month coming back from Michigan in my (new to me...) 2008 Mercury Milan Premier. Best MPG was in western Nebraska and north-east Colorado.
 
i got 400 miles on a down and back to brown county running 75-80 on the interstate and 60-70 on the hwys, with 3-4 miles on a single lane gravel road going through a forest on the mountain. car was loaded up with camping supplies
 
Miles traveled/gallons used. Lets's say I fill up after traveling 270 miles I put in 11.3 gallons of fuel. that means I would have gotten 23.89 miles to the gallon of fuel on that tank.

Personally I also have a scangauge II to help me track mileage and see what techniques work better for improving my MPG.
 
svtfixer said:
how are you guys reading your mpg? calculating after?
Click to expand...

I keep a maintenance/fuel log in my glovebox. When I fill up, I record the date, millage (odometer), trip millage, and amount of fuel. It's interesting how the trip millage can be fairly off, compared to the odo in some cars.

I used to get ~400miles/tank average when driving from Colorado Springs, CO to Long Beach, CA (1100 miles) in my 2000 SE (SVT 2.5L). Around the city, I normally get ~230Miles/12.5Gal. I get similar city results with the 3L, but haven't taken it on any long trips yet. Most of the drive between CO and CA is well in excess of 65MPH.

Coasting in gear does save fuel, especially down hill. The ECU will cut off fuel when decelerating, It's easy to see if you have a Wideband O2 installed, since it should go off-the-scale-lean when decelerating. Downshifting definitely helps fuel economy.

I read an article once where the author examined his driving habit in various cars versus Fuel economy, he noted that between a small 4Cyl, and a large V8, he got very similar millage. For example in the small engine car, he was always in the throttle to accelerate at his desired rate. In the large engine car, he wasn't in the throttle nearly as much because it was less effort for the car to accelerate at his desired rate. I think he was comparing a Toyota...something with a BMW 540i, and a Malibu, and possibly a Mercedes. I can't recall exact details.
 
To my knowledge some car's pcms cut fuel completely, while others just greatly reduce the duty cycle of the injectors. I could be wrong though. Either way it's a great way to reduce fuel used.

Also a tip if LEOs aren't to close you should accelerate downhill and coast up. You use less fuel going down. you burn a lot more pulling a hill. Just maintaing speed up a hill my mpg will drop into single digits.
 
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