First of all, thanks for all your suggestions. I've tried to change my driving habits - pulse and glide, etc. I've only seen a little improvment in the mpg. I went from 31 to 34 mpg. I'm averaging 36 mpg on the freeway at 70 to 75 mph.

My tires are set at 35 psi (manual says 32 psi). I got 30 or so mpg in my old corolla.

Brought it to the dealer and he said to just let it break in. I'm not that pushy and hate confrontation. I have over 1,000 miles on it right now.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation?

 

That still sounds incredibly low. Are you doing a lot of hard acceleration and passing on the freeway? That would do a number on your...err, numbers.

 

No.

I'm going to wait a little while longer to see if my car needs a little more breaking in. If it doesn't improve, then I'm going to tske it back to the dealer...

 

Gracie,

I only got in the high 30's / very low 40's until about 3K miles in my 03. After that the car seemed to "break through" and I got 44-47 regularly.

One comment on your highway speeds - 70 - 75 MPH will hurt your mileage. After 40 MPH, wind resistance becomes you biggest enemy to mileage. I forget the math, but the difference between driving 60 and 75 is significant in terms of the energy your car has to expend to go that fast.

Now I know that depending on where you live you may not have much choice about how fast you go. Some folks on this board go 70-75 by choice. Highway driving has been the topic of a lot of discussion here. I know on the freeways in LA or maybe around DC it may be dangerous to not move with traffic. However if you do have the choice, experiment with going 60 MPH over in the right lanes for a tank and see what happens. You may add 5-10 minutes to your drive, but you'll get a much more accurate read on your mileage. Other folks here have gone so far as to change their routes to surface streets where they can cruise between 40-50 mph.

Although you said the weather is 40-70 degrees, temps in the 40's will have a small impact (maybe 1-2 mpg over say 50-70 degrees).

Good Luck!

 

 

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1306

 

Not true, in my experience; went from 47mpg in the 70s down to 38.8mpg in the 40s. I do lots of stopngo, though.

 

My 07 hit 47 on the first 1/2 tank. After that I started to drive it very differently and on the 2 and 3rd 1/2 tanks I`m @ 52 MPG.
Running @70-75 MPH will kill your MPG`s
I run 65 with the cruise on, use good judgement in traffic and keep my foot regulated. I also never let the RPM`s run past 2500 to 3000 up hill. And never run past 2500 RPM on flat roads. I try to run between 1800 and 2200 RPM`s for the most part. I use the the assist as much as possible up hill and hardly ever pass anyone...
I like it when other drivers ride my bumper... The wind push gives me better MPG.

 

Here is the complete date for my car since I've owned it. This is the monthly average with typical temp range (Month (XX-YY)). Each month has between 2 and 3 tanks of data per year (for a total of 10-15 tanks or 8-12 tanks) that comprise the average. Jan and Feb have 5 seasons of data (03-07), March - Dec four (03-06).

Individual experience will vary.

Month MPG
Jaunary (20-30) 42.4
February (30-40) 44.0
March (40-50) 45.2
April (40-50) 45.9
May (50-60) 45.6
June (60) 46.1
July (70-80) 45.6
August (80-90) 45.5
September (70-80) 47.7
October (50-60) 47.0
November (30-40) 44.8
December (20-30) 42.6

 

Are you looking at the instant feedback (mpg at that moment in time readout)... use that to judge how delicate to accelerate. Try to keep the number as high as possible and try to feather the accelerator.

NOTE: The above technique should be built into the car!!!! And not the driver.