synthetic

Well,

As I promised a long time ago, I've done the deed. I got 500 miles out of one tank extracting a whopping 35mpg in mixed city/highway driving.

My longest trip was 60KM (36 miles) and I only did about 60% highway driving.

Average speed was 60KM/hr














Range immediately after full fill-up (56 Litres = 14.79 US gallons)





Average Consumption and Range after 11KM of driving right after fill-up









In the days of $1.30/litre (here in Canada) or $4.00/gal (in US) it's nice to be able to drive a 3300lbs car with 200+HP with such effeciency.


Note: I swear I did not manage to piss off a single driver. In fact, I didn't drive slow, I only drove with effeciency in mind. My top speed was 140KM/hr = 84 mph

jlukja

You need to add your name to the 500 Mile Club List.

wackura

I'm not sure what I'm looking at here. None of the readouts say average mile per gallon or kilometers per liter or whatever, I don't know, help me out.

synthetic

The readout you want to look at is the big 6.6 in the middle of the MID. That's an average of 6.6 litres per 100KM which translates to 35mpg.

wackura

I tried doing that math with the conversion measures at the bottom of this page http://encarta.msn.com/media_7015006...n_factors.html but couldn't get the result you're describing. I'm still too confused about the math to make a statement of fact.

Arcanum777

To make it a bit clearer, the manual rates the fuel economy as 9.8 litres per 100km. So 6.6 is roughly 50% more gas mileage than advertised.

I do mostly satart and stop driving short distances and I get about 12 litres per 100 km or about 400-450km per tank. 6.6 is insane.

synthetic

wackura,

6.6 litres/100KM is equal to 0.066 litres per kilometer.

using that link you provided, I found this formula:

liters per kilometer to gallons per mile (U.S.) 0.4251

so:

0.066 x 0.4251 = 0.0280566 gallons per mile (U.S)

1/0.0280566 = 35.64 miles per gallon (my originally claimed 35mpg)




hope that clears it up.

dom

How is that possible in mixed driving? I tried the efficiency thing for 2 weeks, always shifting at 2.5-3K, not going above 4K RPM and only managed 26.5.

wackura

I realize that the EPA highway mileage can be bested because they try to base it on reality and not best case scenario but something seems fishy that you'd fly past highway mileage in mixed driving. If you stuck to highway driving only would you get 40mpg? Did you try this experiment while coming down the side of a mountain by any chance?

synthetic

Highway driving only does not neccessarily provide the best effeciency. EPA numbers are very much flawed and give the consumer the false idea that driving at highway speeds(100-120KM/hour or 55-65mph) provides the best mileage.

In reality, the best mileage is achieved at city speed limits like (57 - 65KM/hour or 35-40mph) while in 6th gear. I found this to be the case not just with the TSX but pretty much every car that I have owned. The sweet spot varies among cars slightly.

The sweet spot for a TSX is at 57KM/hr or 34mph in 6th gear on a flat road where the engine is reving at 1500RPM. In this case, the gas mileage is an astonishing 4.5 litre/100KM which translates to 53mpg (Yes 53 MPG)

As you can see in my last two pictures, driving the car at 55-60KM/hour on city streets provides far better effeciency than taking the highway route. Of course, red-lights, stop-signs, rail-crossings and turns will destroy the mileage achieved, hence the general assumption that city driving is ineffecient. Choosing a direct city-route at a time when there's less traffic can save you a lot of fuel.


As for your question regarding these numbers being achieved while coming down a mountain, I can assure you that here in Toronto, there's not a single mountain within a big radius, so NO, this experiment was done on mostly flat roads with slight slopes here and there.

rb1

I've actually seen 40 mpg (MID indicated) in some situations over some 10 mile stretches. There are many factors -- air temperature, wind, grades, and the TSX seems finicky about gas (can easily make a 10% difference in highway mileage)

In straight highway driving with a good tank of gas and no headwind, I can consistently get 35 mpg.

swirlie

Throughout the year, I take quite a few trips up and down the island, with loaded trunk and passenger. The trips are about 150km each way, with a small mountain near home and mostly flat for the rest of it. Depending on weather conditions, I usually get between 6.1 - 7.3L/100km. Going over the mountain only with a fresh tank, I've gotten down to about 5.1L/100km over about 40km.

DixonTSX

Haha, I guess these 500mi/840km club can ONLY belong to 6MTs, but for a 5AT like me, the best I've gotten is 625km, but that's not even using it to the bottom, because when I filled up that time, I only put in 57 L of gas. I'd say my driving is about 80% city / 20% highway.

muncher

i thought the 5th gear in the 5ATS were actually more efficient than the 6th gear in 6MTS

DixonTSX

I think that's only true when going at freeway speeds, but as synthetic said earlier, he found that the most fuel efficient speed / gear was 34 mph in 6th gear.

Correct me if I'm wrong though

wackura

The 5at has more mechanical advantage in overdrive than the 6mt in sixth but with a manual you can keep the RPMs realy low at slower speeds whereas the automatic won't allow it so the 6mt can get better mileage at lower speeds. Since most city driving is short stretches road with a 45mph or so speed limit you can coast around in sixth or neutral and get better mileage with a 6mt.

JB08

6TH @1500 rpm, does that not put some stress on the engine? Also, considering most city streets in Toronto are 50 and 40 Km I think it must be difficult to maintain a 60Km average... your achievement is all the more impressive.