The MPG thread

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tankinbeans
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by tankinbeans »

The Focus has only been lent out once, but the Blazer has been lent out for extended periods twice... never again though. I'm done having to beg for my car back.
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by monkeyhunk »

Agreed. You'd be hard pressed to get me to loan a vehicle out. I'd possibly contribute something to this thread but "miles" and "gallons" make no sense. :D
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by IMBoring25 »

"I see what you did there," but I'm going to twist it a little bit and agree that "miles per gallon" makes no sense.

Putting the fuel consumption in the denominator makes the question not how much fuel it takes to go somewhere but how far you can go on a given amount of fuel. The former, however, is what you usually want to know.

A side effect of flipping the ratio is that it obfuscates the true amount of fuel involved when making comparisons. If you go from getting 5 MPG to getting 5.5 MPG you save more fuel than going from 15 MPG to 20 MPG. If you start at 30 MPG, you have to get 60 MPG to save as much fuel as you did going from 15 to 20.
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by Squint »

IMBoring25 wrote:A side effect of flipping the ratio is that it obfuscates the true amount of fuel involved when making comparisons. If you go from getting 5 MPG to getting 5.5 MPG you save more fuel than going from 15 MPG to 20 MPG. If you start at 30 MPG, you have to get 60 MPG to save as much fuel as you did going from 15 to 20.
This is why websites like Edmunds have a "Car Cost vs Fuel Savings - AKA Gas Guzzler Trade-In" calculator. I still agree that it is unclear with our current system and the gallons per 100 miles shows usage far better.
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by tankinbeans »

Between both cars I've been using 4.37 gallons per 100 miles.

22.88 mpg for you US types.
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by ClutchDisc »

Just got 22.5 on the S-10 today.
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by tankinbeans »

Last tank in Babe was 28.2! I can tell she's breaking in since the average has gone up steadily in the 740 miles I've driven her.
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by Squint »

tankinbeans wrote:Last tank in Babe was 28.2! I can tell she's breaking in since the average has gone up steadily in the 740 miles I've driven her.
You've driven over 700 miles in less than a week? Or am I mis-remembering when you got the vehicle?
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by tankinbeans »

2 weeks tomorrow
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by Squint »

tankinbeans wrote:2 weeks tomorrow
You're on track for over 19,000 miles/year. Is this normal driving for you?
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by tankinbeans »

Usually it's closer to 15k.
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Accordian to the trip confuser, Diesel Wrangler Unlimited got 26 mpg on a 400 mile mostly highway trip yesterday - even driving and sitting through rush hour traffic on the way out of town in the morning and on the way back into town in the late afternoon.

Refilling the tank, nozzle clicked off at 10.2 galleons, but maybe it wasn't as full as when I filled it that morning before the trip. I'd tend to believe the trip computer before I thought this thing was getting close to 40 mpg.
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by theholycow »

Those trip confusers can be quite inaccurate, but I agree with your assessment. More tanks and a continued log of data will tell the real story.
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by tankinbeans »

theholycow wrote:Those trip confusers can be quite inaccurate, but I agree with your assessment. More tanks and a continued log of data will tell the real story.
I've never taken those confusers at face value and have always hand quackulated my mileage. My average over the last 2 weeks is about 25 and change (800 miles roughly.)
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Re: The MPG thread

Post by Rope-Pusher »

tankinbeans wrote:
theholycow wrote:Those trip confusers can be quite inaccurate, but I agree with your assessment. More tanks and a continued log of data will tell the real story.
I've never taken those confusers at face value and have always hand quackulated my mileage. My average over the last 2 weeks is about 25 and change (800 miles roughly.)
Still, even if I added 2 gallons to the fill-up fuel, the fuel mileage would be almost 31 mpg.
About the time that they stopped listing instantaneous mpg, they also changed how the average mpg is computed. It is now more of a running average, weighted in consideration of previous consumption. You can't just reset it to start from an instant in time going forward.
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