I and others have sometimes posted here as to how poor their mpg can be on very short trips.

I'm curious, though, and I would be very grateful to find out: What is the best mpg anyone has ever clocked in their TCH, starting out in the morning and doing a trip of only between 3 and 5 miles?

Has anyone clocked more than 40 mpg on an initial trip of this length ?

If you have, let's hear about it

If you don't know either, how about indulging me by getting up Saturday morning and driving a couple of miles down the street and then returning and then reporting the result here.

Even if you have only the MFD bar chart to read, you could simply read that, and report a number between 25 and 40 if you are in that range or otherwise simply report "over 40" or "under 25."

If you have the Nav. screen display, turn on first by pressing ready button twice without your foot on the brake and then reset your trip mpg before turning the system on to "ready." No fair punching the mpg reset after the ICE has shut down following its initial start-up. Capturing the penalty of the initial start-up is an important part of the question.

Level ground or round trips only please. No downhill runs !

Summer or winter ?

With or without the A/C ?

Trips under 3 miles don't count, because if the stars are aligned just right you could perhaps do a mile or 2 on EV.

Trips over 5 miles don't count either because they give more opportunity to average out the start-up penalty.

 

I don't know how the car calculates MPG, but unless it calculates the actual volume of gas being used (metering it as it goes into the engine...which I seriously doubt), as opposed to checking the change in the volume of gas in the tank (which would be a guesstimate, at best, since the float mechanism doesn't make precise readings as gas sloshes around and the float bobs up and down), the MPG read out is just an approximation.
Variations tend to get overblown on short trips as they are extrapolated.
In addition, an extra traffic light or two, a few degrees variation in temperature, slight elevation changes, volume of gas in the tank (the less gas, the more imprecise the tank readings become), engine oil and air filter condition, tire pressure (hot tires give different stats than cold tires) and all the other factors (known and unknown) that affect mileage will, similarly, create wide variations when checking on short trips when the stats are extrapolated and then further distorted as they are compared to a baseline MPG average that has other variations figured in.
Even the poll's premise, to go down the block and turn around...the process of turning around is a very mileage inefficient maneuver that, on a 3-5 mile trip, might produce a meaningful decrease (a few percentage points) in calculated mileage.
I'll throw in seasonal variations in gas blending (winter gas, etc.) that can compound the comparisons.
I'll argue that mileage stats on anything less than a few tanks are producing extremely meaningless (and useless?) results. Mileage stats are averages, at best, and the only way to eliminate the many variables would be to check it after a few tanks, or more.
The assertion in the poll is that the results are 'poor', but considering that short term trips are done with a transmission gear ratio (I'm not an engineer, so I don't know the terminology) based upon slow speeds, as apposed to the highway cruising, which presumably provides greater mileage efficiency, I don't think the poor results are due to the 'start up' nature of the trip, or simply the fact that doing 60 MPH on the highway ...which sips gas, as opposed to the forces required to start (and stop and start and stop) a heavy vehicle from a dead stop ... which guzzles gas.


I hardly ever check my mileage stats anymore and only glance at them as I cycle through my non NAV display screen to check the outside temperature.

 

Going on the basis of the bar graph on the speedometer, which doesn't give good information under the 6 l/100Km mark, I'm estimating 5.5 l/100Km (43 MPG), because the bar graph is all the way to the end. This is after a 6 Km (roughly 4 mile) loop from my house and back. I can do this consistently in warm weather - not so much on a cool, rainy day - and of course impossible in our sub-zero winters. This is at an approximate average speed of 50 KPH (30MPH).

 

I have a ScanGauge and in the non winter months my trip to work (9km/5.6mi) can be in the 5.4 l/100km (~44mp/USg 52mp/Impg) range. I do use the block heater all year round.

 

When I stop on the way to work for gas on the toll road, I can usually drive on battery up to the toll road itself when exiting the gas station. I travel the toll road at 60mph for about 8 miles, and when I exit, I let the car coast down to 40mph for the ramp. I am on battery through the ramp and onto the local roads to work, where I can stay on battery most of the time. The trip is about 11-12 miles, and I have had days where I would be over 60mpg on the gauge when I parked the car.

 

Thanks to Randy and to BOFH for the useful info and for going to the trouble to convert to US mpg.

Thanks also for the mention of the block heater and the winter effect. The point of the question in this thread is the best, not the worst; so thanks for concentrating on the summer result.

I am curious, however: Just how bad would the initial short trip mpg be on your cold winter mornings when heated up with the block heater ? I'm guessing less than 15 mpg.

 

Darrel,

Thanks for supplying the relevant details.

Sounds like these trips are a little long for the conditions of the question, but highly interesting info nevertheless.

After driving some toll road you would be fully warmed up and likely at very high state of charge, and so, you would be poised to do maximum EV range.

So, how long is that distance from the gas station up to the ramp on which you stay in EV ?

Jack

 

The strange thing is, that in the winter I find it fairly easy to get the car in heretical mode which helps in offsetting the lack of any pure EV mode time. Most of the time in the winter months we were averaging 18-24 mp/USg which includes a cold (not plugged in) start from work.

 

Thanks.

Curious about that cold weather extra heretical mode bit. Any thoughts on why ?

Of course you're not likely to hit heretical mode speeds in the first 4 miles; so i'm still betting that those first 4 miles or so are pretty low mpg.

 

Actually, I can get it as soon as I am on the primary street, so about a mile after I leave my house. The only guess I have that the extra rolling resistance of cold bearings just is the right amount to trigger it, though it does not get as efficient as it would in the summer. At 60kmh (~35mph) the fuel consumption goes to ~5.0l/100km (47mp/USg) where in the summer the consumption would be ~3l/100km (~80mp/USg) at that speed.

In the summer, the first mile through our residential area with multiple stop signs and the ICE running 100% of the time I'm lucky if the SG is below 15l/100km (16mp/USg), but once I get on to the main roads it gets better