What's your average mpg?

[Carl_NH]

2018 Tundra 5.7 19 highway 16 around town
2022 RX350 Lexus 26 highway, 22 around town

The tundra averages 3000 miles per year now, and wife's RX350 about 7000 miles a year, so not driving as much anymore so doesn't affect our pocket. When I had my company drove 40-50K year, had an e series Mercedes diesel, averaged 34 MPG - which does impact the bottom line.

 

[WinterDeere]

Wow... just noticed this ancient thread was resurrected.

Charger SRT 6.4L Hemi = 12-13 mpg
Ram 1500 5.7L Hemi 4x4 = 13-14 mpg
Durango R/T 5.7L Hemi = depends on who's driving

I long noticed that the size of the engine or claimed model mpg's don't mean much, unless you're doing a lot of constant-speed highway driving. Nearly all fuel consumption is dominated by accelleration, stop and go, and that's more dominated by the impatience of the person driving and the weight of the vehicle, than anything else.

Simple physics: It takes a certain amount of energy to accellerate a given mass to a given speed in a given time or distance. The claimed efficiency hardly has any bearing on this, it's entirely dominated by the driver and the mass of the vehicle.

My wife had a wonderful little Audi A3 with a manual transmission and 2.0T engine as her daily driver, before we had kids. My daily driver at the time was a pickup truck, so I'd hop into and drive that sporty little A3 every chance I got. It was pretty routine that the trip computer would be reading close to 30 mpg after she'd driven it all week, and that I'd have the thing down to 17 or 19 mpg after a few hours with me behind the wheel. I obviously drove the thing a little harder than her.

Same vehicle, and an almost 2:1 difference in mpg's, from two different drivers.

I also wear out tires faster than her.

 

[kenmbz]

My current SUV weighs about 5000 pounds and has a turbo V6 and a mild hybrid setup (for stop/go and AC).
I get 21-23 around town and 28 on long highway drives.
My sons Jeep GC which the 5.7 litre v8 gets 16/19 and weighs the same.
They have the same towing capacity rating.

That is with me driving both.

 

[paulsharvey]

Mine, 2019 Ram 5.7L, averages around 18.5-19 mpg
Wife's 2019 Charger RT 5.7L, averages between 22-24 mpg
Current work truck, 2022 F150, 3.3L NA, 21.3 mpg
Old work explorer, 2019? Explorer, got close to 26 mpg
Sons 1500HD, 6.0L, 11-13 mpg
Honda Pioneer 700 SxS, 0.7L, dont know but worse than you would expect; id bet its closer to 15 mpg than it is to 25 mpg
Kioti Ck2610, about 0.8 GPH

 

[deserteagle71]

Honda Pioneer 700 SxS, 0.7L, dont know but worse than you would expect; id bet its closer to 15 mpg than it is to 25 mpg

That's about what my Can-am Defender HD10 cab model averages on a trail ride in the mountains - right around 15 mpg. If there's a lot of high speed dirt road riding then it might get close to 20 mpg.

Funny thing is - I have a Yamaha Kodiak 450 ATV, so much smaller and lighter than the Can-am, with an engine half the size. It too averages around 15 mpg on a trail ride. Whereas my dirt bike, a Yamaha XT225, gets around 75 mpg!

 

[NoTrespassing]

Wind direction effects my MPG more than anything other than driving style. Winter blend drops mileage as does headlights both morning and evening.

If I have a headwind with lights on and winter blend in the Mazda3, I get less than 35 MPG.

If I have a tailwind, no lights, and summer blend, I can get 45 MPG or even better.

 

[WinterDeere]

My current SUV weighs about 5000 pounds and has a turbo V6 and a mild hybrid setup (for stop/go and AC).
I get 21-23 around town and 28 on long highway drives.
My sons Jeep GC which the 5.7 litre v8 gets 16/19 and weighs the same.
They have the same towing capacity rating.

That is with me driving both.

Do you think your driving style changes between the two?

My pickup is heavier than my sedan, and both are similar naturally-aspirated pushrod engines. Physics tells us the heavier vehicle should consume more fuel when driven similarly, yet I get better mileage in the heavier and less aerodynamic pickup truck!

Physics never lies, but the thing is, I don't drive them similarly.

 

[kenmbz]

Do you think your driving style changes between the two?
My pickup is heavier than my sedan, and both are similar naturally-aspirated pushrod engines. Physics tells us the heavier vehicle should consume more fuel when driven similarly, yet I get better mileage in the heavier and less aerodynamic pickup truck!

Physics never lies, but the thing is, I don't drive them similarly.

The SUV is an Audi q7 and designed for better gas mileage, and it's a lot faster than the Jeep.
The Jeep has more effortless torque.
I drive them about the same and get better gas mileage on both than my wife or son.
But if I peg the Audi the mileage goes down a small amount, I peg the Jeep and the gas gauge moves quite a bit.
That turbo makes a huge difference as does the extra gears.

 

[WinterDeere]

That turbo makes a huge difference as does the extra gears.

Ahh... I had missed that. Yeah, if one is turbo and the other is not, that probably does make a noticeable difference in net efficiency, esp. around town.

In my case, I'm comparing three naturally-aspirated engines, and so dispite differences in their displacements, the biggest factors in mileage become vehicle weight and accelleration.

 

[dodge man]

I’ve got a 2010 Challenger that I turned the MDS off. MDS is where it drops down to 4 cylinders. We took a longer trip recently and it confirmed my thoughts that it hurts mileage as much as 15%. We got about 22mpg when it used to do 25mpg or better.

 

[garry1p]

I had a Honda Pilot local 24.4 mpg, Interstate 75+ mph 28.8 mpg

Honda CR-V Hybrid local 40.1 mpg however, Interstate 75+ mph 36.8 mpg.

I'm disappointed in the Hybrid I expected local 44mpg.

For sure headwind and idling will kill your gas mileage.

 

[garry1p]

I have a clause in my will that no inheritance money is to be spent on lavish vacations, motor vehicles of any kind or boats. If one spend the money on such after inheritance a claw back provision is activate and the money they were supposed to receive divided amongst the other heirs.

Why don't you just take it with you?

 

[sd455dan]

The other day I noticed the display read 14.1 MPG on my 2019 F350, and that's not too bad. The missus gets 28 MPG out of her V6 Kia Sorento, and that drops to 23 when I drive it.

Very different vehicles.

I sometimes reset the trip meter when filling up the 2003 RAM diesel and then make the 10 mile trip home and turn it into a hypermile attempt.

There is a reason they called the early RAM displays lie-O -meters
It does break 20 MPG under 70 MPH unladen usually running through a full tank hand calculated.
Model Y was averaging 260 watt hours per mile at 60 MPH. Now that temps have dropped power use is up to around 290 watt hours per mile. The colder it gets the more power the EV uses

 

[tacticalturnip]

"Lie-O-Meter..."

They just want you to feel good, lol.

 

[sd455dan]

"Lie-O-Meter..."

They just want you to feel good, lol.

Yep, It is generally optimistic 3-4 MPG over hand calculations over a full to empty refill.

Still funny- this 1 ton 4x4 truck is still my second best "energy miser" If I don't count the motorcycle and by quite a bit.

The wife's one year newer Ram nearly identical except half the miles on it and being the standard non H.O. Cummins and automatic gets consistently about 4 MPG Less- even if I drive it.

 

[John0829]

I never trust the meter on ANY vehicle and always hand calculate mileage. On a few they have been close but none have been RIGHT.

 

[ArlyA]

Posted in my 22 Bronco review.
---------------------
Just drove this car home from the shop and noted its average fuel mileage was listed as 25... Seems kinda high for in town which is where it gets driven.

 

[Grumpycat]

There is a reason they called the early RAM displays lie-O -meter

Fool meters. They measure how much of a fool they can make of you if you believe them.

 

[Grumpycat]

I never trust the meter on ANY vehicle and always hand calculate mileage. On a few they have been close but none have been RIGHT.

2007 Prius was +-2 MPG in the 50-54 MPG range. Pretty good. I guessed most error was in filling exactly the same every time. 11 gallon tank, complicated with a bladder so as to eliminate the air space.

My F-150 can be calibrated by the user if one researches hidden menus.

 

[WinterDeere]

Fool meters. They measure how much of a fool they can make of you if you believe them.

I guess I don't care enough about what my actual mpg really is, but the once or twice I did roughly check mine over the course of a tank, they were always closer than the finance department required.