499.8 miles
8.612 gallons
$3.619/gallon
58.04 mpg
4.05 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
It was a low tank, with the MFD reading around 63 of 64 mpg, but I was really surprised by the very low calculated result of 58 mpg for the tank, which I haven't seen in regular (i.e. not a roadtrip) driving since last February in the freezing weather. This was a tank of 60°F weather!
But...it wasn't altogether accurate, as the bladder somehow filled A LOT, and then some, with some fuel spilling out at the end. We'll stick with the official numbers anyway, good motivator to do better next tank!
Showing posts with label low mileage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label low mileage. Show all posts
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Seasons are a-changing
First autumnal evening in the high 50°Fs tonight, and an immediate and obvious shift in the opening mileage of my trip, with the magic 157°F mark reached slowly and deliberately over a lengthier distance than the summery usual. Achieved around 66 mpg on a trip where I would get around 70 mpg. Small, but a sign of the seasonal drop to come.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Fill-up, Friday, April 22, 2011
483.1 miles
7.910 gallons
$3.899/gallon
61.07 mpg
3.85 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Whew, first tank over $30, gas is indeed getting pricey!
This tank started out terribly, with a couple trips out of the ordinary. One roundtrip was about 14 miles at under 50 mpg (with hypermiling!), and there was an evening where I took the highway in a heavy rainstorm with constant heavy winds and 40 mph gusts. I got the lowest mileage of any "lengthy" trip ever on Wentworth that night, a nightmarish 46 mpg (nightmarish is used lightly - the worst mileage imaginable in my car is over double the mileage of the average American passenger vehicle).
I still managed over 60 mpg for the tank, which is more a testament to the slightly warmer temperatures than anything else. It means that besides the trips I listed above, I averaged around 63 mpg. I'm pretty sure I could get near 70 mpg for a normal tank in warm weather and great conditions, but I have a feeling I'm going to be much more limited than most in the attempt by the terrain of my commutes.
Maybe I should start parking at the top of the big hill near my house and walking a couple miles home? :-) Seriously, for most of the week that would make a huge difference. I've previously calculated using about 20% of all the gas in a 27 mile trip in the first 2 miles, a trip that I do at least three times a week. On that commute the other week, with the big hill at the beginning, my 5-minute mpg bars were as follows:
25 mpg, 100 mpg+, 95 mpg, 100+ mpg
Maybe just for one tank I could take drastic measures for the fun of it!
7.910 gallons
$3.899/gallon
61.07 mpg
3.85 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Whew, first tank over $30, gas is indeed getting pricey!
This tank started out terribly, with a couple trips out of the ordinary. One roundtrip was about 14 miles at under 50 mpg (with hypermiling!), and there was an evening where I took the highway in a heavy rainstorm with constant heavy winds and 40 mph gusts. I got the lowest mileage of any "lengthy" trip ever on Wentworth that night, a nightmarish 46 mpg (nightmarish is used lightly - the worst mileage imaginable in my car is over double the mileage of the average American passenger vehicle).
I still managed over 60 mpg for the tank, which is more a testament to the slightly warmer temperatures than anything else. It means that besides the trips I listed above, I averaged around 63 mpg. I'm pretty sure I could get near 70 mpg for a normal tank in warm weather and great conditions, but I have a feeling I'm going to be much more limited than most in the attempt by the terrain of my commutes.
Maybe I should start parking at the top of the big hill near my house and walking a couple miles home? :-) Seriously, for most of the week that would make a huge difference. I've previously calculated using about 20% of all the gas in a 27 mile trip in the first 2 miles, a trip that I do at least three times a week. On that commute the other week, with the big hill at the beginning, my 5-minute mpg bars were as follows:
25 mpg, 100 mpg+, 95 mpg, 100+ mpg
Maybe just for one tank I could take drastic measures for the fun of it!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Lazy (Wo)Man's Instant Higher Mileage Solution
So you might've had a heart attack over the weekend when you were driving by the gas station and realized that prices popped up by $0.15 to $0.20 or so. Sure, $3.30 in Little Rhody, but you can make yourself feel better by remembering that Europeans are paying around $8 a gallon...
Luckily, as gas prices increased 5% from one day to the next, you can decrease your gas consumption by a similar number without much work.
Your tires. They're filled with air, and they need to be. Underinflated tires give you worse handling, significantly more wear and tear on the tires causing early and pricey replacement, and of course steal easily obtainable mpgs from you. If you haven't checked them recently, you're likely below the recommended tire pressure since a. admit it, you may not have felt like checking ("I don't even know how!"), and b. it's winter, so your psi will naturally decrease with the colder temperatures.
To find the pressure in psi (pounds per square inch) to which your tires should be inflated, check the chart likely stuck on the inside of your driver's side door. If not there, check the owner's manual.
Rather than give a step by step, here's a convenient write up at eHow.com. If you don't have a tire gauge, you can buy one for $5 at your local hardware store (oh, go support the little guy!). Gas stations are starting to charge for air, so try to find one that doesn't.
Also, it is possible to inflate your tires slightly beyond the recommended pressure. Firstly, realize this is at your own risk. Secondly, the previous statement is largely because I imagine I have to say that. Thirdly, realize that is a safe practice that can improve handling and increase mpgs by a small but noteworthy percentage. You will feel an ever-so-slightly harsher ride, but I can assure you it's nothing anyone would even notice unless you pointed it out.
On my Prius, the factory recommendation is 35 psi front and 33 rear (there's more weight in the front of the Prius), and I have mine at 41 front and 39 rear. This is standard for many Prius drivers, and is not a personal experiment by any means. The max sidewall listed is 44 psi on this particular tire. It is important to never exceed this number (even though they are designed and produced to withstand it), since any gains beyond a slight extra inflation provide little boost to your mileage, and there is the extreme danger (not just inconvenience, mind you, but real danger) that could arise if your tire ever blew out.
Luckily, as gas prices increased 5% from one day to the next, you can decrease your gas consumption by a similar number without much work.
Your tires. They're filled with air, and they need to be. Underinflated tires give you worse handling, significantly more wear and tear on the tires causing early and pricey replacement, and of course steal easily obtainable mpgs from you. If you haven't checked them recently, you're likely below the recommended tire pressure since a. admit it, you may not have felt like checking ("I don't even know how!"), and b. it's winter, so your psi will naturally decrease with the colder temperatures.
To find the pressure in psi (pounds per square inch) to which your tires should be inflated, check the chart likely stuck on the inside of your driver's side door. If not there, check the owner's manual.
Rather than give a step by step, here's a convenient write up at eHow.com. If you don't have a tire gauge, you can buy one for $5 at your local hardware store (oh, go support the little guy!). Gas stations are starting to charge for air, so try to find one that doesn't.
Also, it is possible to inflate your tires slightly beyond the recommended pressure. Firstly, realize this is at your own risk. Secondly, the previous statement is largely because I imagine I have to say that. Thirdly, realize that is a safe practice that can improve handling and increase mpgs by a small but noteworthy percentage. You will feel an ever-so-slightly harsher ride, but I can assure you it's nothing anyone would even notice unless you pointed it out.
On my Prius, the factory recommendation is 35 psi front and 33 rear (there's more weight in the front of the Prius), and I have mine at 41 front and 39 rear. This is standard for many Prius drivers, and is not a personal experiment by any means. The max sidewall listed is 44 psi on this particular tire. It is important to never exceed this number (even though they are designed and produced to withstand it), since any gains beyond a slight extra inflation provide little boost to your mileage, and there is the extreme danger (not just inconvenience, mind you, but real danger) that could arise if your tire ever blew out.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
When it rains, it pou...no, it ices over
Yesterday saw a pretty nasty combination of precipitation, clearly designed by Mother Nature for no other reason than sticking it to low gas consumption.
There was snow in the morning, which I dutifully cleared out of the driveway and off my car. But by the time I had to actually drive anywhere in the afternoon, a couple hours of light rain and sleet had (in)conveniently and thickly layered a sheet of ice over everything in sight, poor Wentworth included.
Since I was on the road to a decent two week tank of potentially 60 mpg/3.92 L/100km, I wanted to keep the streak by scraping the ice manually without running the engine. No problem, I do it all the time...
Nope.
The first scrape lifted a fine spray of ice/snow/non-nomerable wintery substance off the window, but there was clearly a solid coat still below that. More scraping seemed equally futile. I eventually found a crack or two to work into, but even then it was the biggest sheet of ice I'd ever scraped on a car.
An hour and a couple cups of warm water to soften the ice later, I was off, wet, cold, and knowing full well that my Prius' ICE (internal combustion engine, not to be confused with the other stuff) does not turn off as often when there's moisture on the roads. Furthermore, the sleet kept freezing on the windshield, so any crazy defroster antics I might normally play to get the best mileage were out the window, and safety was the name of the game. So defroster and ICE running, I drove "like a normal person" through the 20 mph/32 km/h average speed limits and countless stoplights that get me to work.
I arrived with a mere 45 mpg/5.23 L/100km on the display.
This was actually not disappointing, but a couple things else:
There was snow in the morning, which I dutifully cleared out of the driveway and off my car. But by the time I had to actually drive anywhere in the afternoon, a couple hours of light rain and sleet had (in)conveniently and thickly layered a sheet of ice over everything in sight, poor Wentworth included.
Since I was on the road to a decent two week tank of potentially 60 mpg/3.92 L/100km, I wanted to keep the streak by scraping the ice manually without running the engine. No problem, I do it all the time...
Nope.
The first scrape lifted a fine spray of ice/snow/non-nomerable wintery substance off the window, but there was clearly a solid coat still below that. More scraping seemed equally futile. I eventually found a crack or two to work into, but even then it was the biggest sheet of ice I'd ever scraped on a car.
An hour and a couple cups of warm water to soften the ice later, I was off, wet, cold, and knowing full well that my Prius' ICE (internal combustion engine, not to be confused with the other stuff) does not turn off as often when there's moisture on the roads. Furthermore, the sleet kept freezing on the windshield, so any crazy defroster antics I might normally play to get the best mileage were out the window, and safety was the name of the game. So defroster and ICE running, I drove "like a normal person" through the 20 mph/32 km/h average speed limits and countless stoplights that get me to work.
I arrived with a mere 45 mpg/5.23 L/100km on the display.
This was actually not disappointing, but a couple things else:
1. Good! It's hard to remember when you can get in the 50 mpgs/4.7 L/100km without trying, and 60s/3.92 when you try, that 45/5.23 is excellent mileage for almost any other vehicle out there, especially in freezing temperatures.
2. Informative. The extent to which driving habits can affect your mileage (and thus your finances!) was not evident to me until a few months ago when I first tried the Prius. I've squeezed out 65 mpg/3.62 L/100km on this same route before, and getting 45 mpg/5.23 L/100km this time shows me how adjusting my habits, but getting there in the same amount of time yields a 44% improvement in mileage.
One other thing - on the way home, not wanting to spend an hour in the mist/rain/sleet/whatever again, I put on the defroster and started scraping. The car was on for maybe 10 minutes or so, and when I got back in the mileage for the 12 mile/19km trip was down to 36 mpg/6.52 L/100km (from 45/5.23 before)!
You can see, if the ice isn't terribly thick, and running your car in the morning before you actually drive just saves you a couple minutes in the name of convenience, or "warms it up", kick the habit. Modern cars really don't need that to save the engine, and you're getting precisely 0 miles per gallon that entire time (it sounds even worse by saying infinite L/100km!).
I also drove "normally" on the way home, since the roads were pure ice at 23°F/-5°C outside temp, save for a little gliding when I could, for a more respectable but still weather-reduced 55 mpg/5.14 L/100km.
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