how many mpg do you get?

[vadimax]

^ confirmed !

Thanks Star Halo!

Aerodynamics is funny science. Not all vortexes are bad.

 

[markr6]

That's bizarre! I'm going to chop off the top of my Jeep

 

[vadimax]

That's bizarre! I'm going to chop off the top of my Jeep

Better make it "Unlimited" -- longer body has better MPG

 

[Elmie]

Wife's 2014 Volt - 379 mpg L O L
2016 X3 diesel - 29 mpg 90% city driving
2007 911 GT3 - 16 mpg

Volt has been simply amazing. Her last visit to the gas station was this last January.

 

[idleprocess]

I've owned a number of vehicles in recent years:

• 1995 Ford Ranger (2.3L I4, 5spd manual, extended cab, longbed, camper cover): Managed something like 27 highway / 20 city. Allegedly had "economy" gearing that made onramps, climbing hills, and passing quite challenging. I recall a ~1-2 MPG bump once I removed the several hundred pounds of junk I was hauling for quite some time in the bed. I don't particularly miss this vehicle due to its terribly anemic engine.
• 1996 Ford F150 (Longbed, 4spd auto, 4WD, 5.0L V8, lifted by previous owner to the point that this really tall fella could just step into it): This vehicle was a pig: ~12 highway / ~10 city to the extent that I cared to calculate. It looked it too - dings, scratches, and gouges visible from all angles that it carried better - as the last of the square-bodied Fords - than modern aero trucks. On the precious few occasions that I made road trips, I was thankful that it had dual fuel tanks and could carry almost 40 gallons of gas. I miss this vehicle - it was an excellent occasional-use work truck despite its constant tale of low-level mechanical woes and despite its tendency to break suspension components going off road.
  [*]2003 Ford Ranger (3.0L V6, 5spd manual, extended cab, initially with camper cover): I've seen around 25 highway / 20 city fairly consistently. Didn't notice much of a change when I removed the camper cover which I do not miss. Unlike my 1995 Ranger it has little trouble maintaining highway speed, climbing hills, and passing. Still in inventory as a secondary vehicle and despite my fondness for the F150 it's more appropriate for my occasional-use work truck needs.
  [*]2008 Mazda 3 (2.3L I4, 5spd manual, hatchback): 30 highway / 24 city. A fun daily driver that delivered relatively consistent mileage no matter how hard I flogged it; tire wear was the tell in that case since throwing it into corners was the appeal rather than acceleration and deceleration. I'd still have it were it not for the rod knock it suddenly developed, apparently due to no-notice oil loss during a road trip and I wanted neither to spend a huge percentage of its worth on a rebuilt engine nor spend multiple weekends learning how then attempting to rebuild the engine myself.
  [*]2018 Subaru WRX (2.0L turbo I4, 6spd manual, sedan): ~32 highway / ~20 city. Pretty much all the positives of the 3 but with roughly double the performance and AWD. Accelerates onto the highway with authority and passes with pretty much none of the planning required in all my other vehicles (save the F150 which tended to encourage other drivers' planning to stay out of my way). Launch from a stop, smash the gas to get onto the onramp, or execute a few passes where you lurch into a +20MPH overtake and the realtime MPG-O-Meter will let it know what it's cost you instantaneously, this "lap", and for the trip odometer. My work commute is overwhelmingly on local highways and the realities of traffic patterns means that I take different routes to and from to shave some 30+ minutes off time spent driving: the morning commute is a bit too hectic to allow for cruise control but keeping up with traffic I can typically best 30MPG home-to-office; afternoon there's far less traffic and I've gotten as high as 32 office-to-home.
  

I fully expect my next ride to either be fully electric - with specifications better than those published for Tesla's much-hyped Model 3, for markedly less - or be a strong serial hybrid something like the Chevrolet Volt. I seriously pondered the Chevrolet Volt - and vaguely regretted not having an electric vehicle during the hilarious-yet-infuriating post-Harvey Dallas gas crisis - but the projected reliability, packaging compromises (rear seat is almost as bad a rumor as it is in 2-door coupes), and boring utilitarian-driving philosophy ultimately pushed me to the WRX. I suspect that had I been able to delay the purchase by 1-2 years I would have been rewarded with a plethora of long-range EVs and far better public charging support than exists today. Pluggable hybrids on the other hand are curiously dissatisfying, hard to find with meaningful electric range (Chevy Volt and BMW i3 seem to be it), and few if any look to be in the automakers' development pipelines.

 

[HarryN]

I test drove a 2014 bmw 328ID (diesel) the other day. If the rated numbers are anything close to reality, it is not far from hybrid territory.

 

[StarHalo]

Hybrid for city, diesel for highway.

 

[moldyoldy]

I've owned a number of vehicles in recent years:

<snip>

• 2018 Subaru WRX (2.0L turbo I4, 6spd manual, sedan): ~32 highway / ~20 city. Pretty much all the positives of the 3 but with roughly double the performance and AWD. Accelerates onto the highway with authority and passes with pretty much none of the planning required in all my other vehicles (save the F150 which tended to encourage other drivers' planning to stay out of my way). Launch from a stop, smash the gas to get onto the onramp, or execute a few passes where you lurch into a +20MPH overtake and the realtime MPG-O-Meter will let it know what it's cost you instantaneously, this "lap", and for the trip odometer. My work commute is overwhelmingly on local highways and the realities of traffic patterns means that I take different routes to and from to shave some 30+ minutes off time spent driving: the morning commute is a bit too hectic to allow for cruise control but keeping up with traffic I can typically best 30MPG home-to-office; afternoon there's far less traffic and I've gotten as high as 32 office-to-home.

I fully expect my next ride to either be fully electric - with specifications better than those published for Tesla's much-hyped Model 3, for markedly less - or be a strong serial hybrid something like the Chevrolet Volt. I seriously pondered the Chevrolet Volt - and vaguely regretted not having an electric vehicle during the hilarious-yet-infuriating post-Harvey Dallas gas crisis - but the projected reliability, packaging compromises (rear seat is almost as bad a rumor as it is in 2-door coupes), and boring utilitarian-driving philosophy ultimately pushed me to the WRX. I suspect that had I been able to delay the purchase by 1-2 years I would have been rewarded with a plethora of long-range EVs and far better public charging support than exists today. Pluggable hybrids on the other hand are curiously dissatisfying, hard to find with meaningful electric range (Chevy Volt and BMW i3 seem to be it), and few if any look to be in the automakers' development pipelines.

the salesman that sold 3 Subarus into my family told me that his dealership encourages all of their salesmen to drive each of the Subaru models for a while as a demo vehicle. so, the time came for him to try out the Subaru WRX STI 2.5L Turbo 6spd manual. he made it about a mile down the mixed-speed highway, turned around and drove back to the dealership. His words: "that Auto was simply too hot". His personal Auto is an Impreza....

As for electric vehicles, I looked at them more than once in the US and Germany. Even if the rather short range is adequate for the daily drive, in my view the primary deficit of all electric vehicles are the widely disparate charging methods and connection requirements, charge time notwithstanding. Charging needs to be at/near your residence since charging on the road is nearly unavailable because of incompatible charging connections and methods of payment in Europe. I read many (European) driver tales of wasting serious time driving from location to location attempting to find a compatible charging hookup and a payment method that they could use. no, it is not a case of slide a credit card thru a slot and plug in. major problems with charging any electric Auto in Europe. Not sure if charging electric Autos away from 'home' in the US is really any better. A physician told me that there was a single Auto charging post at the hospital he worked at and the same vehicle was always hooked up. my bottom line: hybrid is OK, all electric is not. On the other hand, from what I hear/read, many hybrid Autos in the US do not really obtain better 'fuel' mileage than a normally aspirated Auto w/o a battery pack. The 'hybrid' aspect simply allows a larger vehicle to be accelerated faster.....

 

[StarHalo]

from what I hear/read, many hybrid Autos in the US do not really obtain better 'fuel' mileage than a normally aspirated Auto w/o a battery pack. The 'hybrid' aspect simply allows a larger vehicle to be accelerated faster.....

There's sort of a grain of truth to that if you're talking about early 90's era economy cars vs current hybrids; a Geo Metro 3-cylinder comes very close mileage-wise versus a current Toyota Prius on the highway, but the Prius' ability to not use the engine around town gives it a sound advantage in the city. The two cars aren't remotely comparable otherwise, the Metro is a death trap by current safety standards, aside from being very small and very slow.

 

[moldyoldy]

There's sort of a grain of truth to that if you're talking about early 90's era economy cars vs current hybrids; a Geo Metro 3-cylinder comes very close mileage-wise versus a current Toyota Prius on the highway, but the Prius' ability to not use the engine around town gives it a sound advantage in the city. The two cars aren't remotely comparable otherwise, the Metro is a death trap by current safety standards, aside from being very small and very slow.

I concur with the observation that the Geo Metro is a safety trap. even the Mercedes SMART is not a lot better.
BTW, Mercedes is offering the electric SMART.

However to support your observation, here is a site that lists how the Toyota Prius MPG changed over the years.

I acknowledge that my direct experience with engineers driving a Toyota Prius comes from the early 2000 years.
an engineering manager acquaintance with a Toyota Prius - which I drove a couple times - reported that he resets the MPG indicator once a year: somewhere in the 40-42MPG depending on winter temps.
Another engineering acquaintance upgraded in 2016 to a Toyota Prius V and likes it a lot.
His Prius V mileage is also impressive - somewhere in the 45-50mpg over the first year.

 

[orbital]

+

Mazda Skyactiv-X coming in 2019,, diesel mpg on unleaded

hotlinked image removed


compression-ignition

 

[StarHalo]

The Smart FourTwo is infinitely more safe than the quarter-century older Metro; 90's eras cars would fold at the passenger portion of the frame in 40mph tests, similar to the way Chinese cars do today; aside from that the newer car has ABS and a compliment of airbags. Lousy pricing though, the same money would buy you a Honda Fit that gets the same gas mileage but significantly more car in every category.

 

[raggie33]

im going to try for 120 mpg ,

 

[HarryN]

Hybrid for city, diesel for highway.

I don't disagree, it is just interesting that the 328ID is rated 31 city / 42 highway, which is pretty respectable for that size vehicle.

 

[alpg88]

Hybrid for city, diesel for highway.

not all hybrids made for city, i had 2011 sonata hybrid, it was great on highways, but in the city it was no better than my 4 cyl accord, in the winter it was even worst, low 20s was norm. ford escape\toyota camry hybrids however are great in the city. my 1996 oldmobille with 3,8l v6 did 19 in the city, but it was larger, and pick up was way better than sonata or accord. so if your intent to drive in the city mostly stay away from sonata hybrid.
actually some people managed to do about 1000 miles per tank on highway with sonata. but the way you need to drive to do so, is not for everyone. i sure would not drive like that, i hate driving close behind trucks, but it does help with air resistance, and you should not do over 40mph to get that range, so engine does not kick in often. there is a thread on Hyundai forums about it. things people do to save few bucks is unbelievable.

 

[markr6]

things people do to save few bucks is unbelievable.

LOL I hear you. Not for me...somewhat frugal is OK, but I'm not planning on taking it all with me. Some people will drive down the street to pay $2.29 vs $2.33. Four cents x 15gal = $.60. For me, being able to make all right hand turns opposed to getting in/out of the other station is worth the 60 cents. Milk will swing 60 cents and noone blinks an eye.

 

[StarHalo]

I don't disagree, it is just interesting that the 328ID is rated 31 city / 42 highway, which is pretty respectable for that size vehicle.

Because you don't realize how small the 3-series is until you sit in it; it's the same size as a Honda Civic.

things people do to save few bucks is unbelievable.

Google "hypermiling", it's an art form..

Some people will drive down the street to pay $2.29 vs $2.33. Four cents x 15gal = $.60.

And they don't realize that if your car recommends premium and you use regular, you lose MPG and thus the few cents per gallon you thought you were gaining..

 

[moldyoldy]

^ .... once again StarHalo nails the question of using Regular in a motor designed & tuned for Premium. check here and here.

Thanks StarHalo!

 

[markr6]

And they don't realize that if your car recommends premium and you use regular, you lose MPG and thus the few cents per gallon you thought you were gaining..

Speaking of that, what happened to the usual 10 cent gap? Regular, mid and premium always went something like $2.09, $2.19, $2,29. ALWAYS! Maybe a penny in either direction but that was it. Now it's $2.33, $2.65, $2.99.

 

[alpg88]

Google "hypermiling", it's an art form..

.

i've done better, we had a long discussion on Hyundai forum about it. yes you are correct hypermiling is the term. however imo, it is just a fancy word for tailgating, and being a danger on the road.