Your actual calculated gas mileage at the pump may figure about 1 1/2 mpg less. I think I mentioned go easy the after you fill up. That gas mileage seems sensitive those first few days after filling. I find thats a good way to end up with a good overall high mpg on your next fill.

 

Also, remember you can drop your mileage a lot easier than you can increase it.

I have found myself kill a tank's average with just one quick acceleration from a traffic light, and can not get that drop in mileage back no matter how easy and conservative I drive.

So keep the mileage good and it will be a good tank, but waste fuel once, and the entire tank is ruined.

 

Thanks for the tips!

Robb

 

I read something, somewhere (don't remember where) that the car is more efficient if you can get to your cruising speed quicker than a slow gradual increase in speed. Does that make sense?

 

As you can monitor the instantaneous FE (sort of), you could probably figure this out with a little experimentation. Trying to get "to speed" at different levels of acceleration, figuring out how far you're going and what the FE is during that stretch. Not sure I've ever heard that accelerating faster is going to be more fuel efficient. Especially since (other than when it's very cold, or you're not warmed up) you can often put in some EV acceleration which uses no fuel at all.

And I totally agree on the spoiling a tank thing. I've been saying that (at least) since Feb because you're basically using the entire high-FE trip to compensate for all the low-FE startup, warmup, etc., every time you drive. Running errands on a weekend has frequently ruined a previously great tank's FE. And Feb's low temps dropped my FE so low my lifetime numbers are still recovering. And remember, temperature-wise, you burn a lot more fuel when you're running at low FE than at high FE, so those cold winter months (for those of us who have them! to the rest of you! hehe..) have a big impact. Five tanks at 30 mpg covers a lot less time than five tanks at 40 mpg. So fewer high-FE tanks to recover with in the summer, too.

Just a thought.

 

Fuel Efficiency (FE in mpg) or Fuel Consumption (FC in L/100 km) are measures that do not involve time at all — only the quantity of fuel used and the distance travelled. So, to maximize FE (or equivalently, to minimize FC), one wants to minimize, not the time, but the distance travelled at poor instantaneous FE/FC numbers, and maximize the distance travelled at good instantaneous FE/FC numbers. So yes, it's probably better to accelerate briskly for a short distance at a reasonably good instantaneous FE/FC number to get up to speed, than to accelerate slowly for a long distance at a slightly better FE/FC number.

Stan

 

Yeap, within the first month I got a rock chip that spread entirely across the window.

 

There are plenty of windshield threads, but make sure you get the acoustic dampening glass when you replace it...

 

Yes.........i was averaging around 35MPG when i first picked up my 2007 TCH too. I'm now just above 40 MPG and have 4000 miles now. I'm sure after my first oil change in roughly the next month or so, it will get better as the engine will be almost completely broken in. Congrats on the new 2008 TCH too!!