darksky

No offense to leedogg, but drafting larger vehicles is dangerous since you can't see beyond the trailer and your reaction time can't hit the brake fast enough given the speeds at which you're traveling. 60 MPH is nearly 90 feet per second. If you're riding 20 feet off the back of a big rig and are traveling at this speed, you don't have a prayer of stopping in time if he slams his brakes. Remember the old 2-second rule?

Beyond the safety issue, drafting will create paint chips on the front of your TL as well as the hood and roof and potentially introduce windshield chips/cracks as a result of thrown stones, rocks, and debris. Also, for the mileage increase to be noticeable, you'll need to ride under 10 ft off the trailer which is just plain retarded.

As to your original question:

+ for tire pressure
+ for clean filter
+ for slow accelerations
+ for using premium gas

- for keeping your speed below 80 mph. If you're really concerned about your mileage and you don't care about drive-times, set your cruise for 60 mph and you will get better mileage on highway trips. This is easier said than done, and you'll only increase your mileage 2 or 3 mpg traveling at this reduced speed.

Another item to add to your list would be avoiding traffic and avoiding areas containing stop signs and traffic lights. It's truly, the stop/starting that burns up the most gas on a given trip. This too is easier said than done, but you asked.

Do NOT trust the mpg measurement given by your TL's computer. Mine is rarely right when I compare it to what I calculate at the pump: Fill your tank until the gas pump stops. I can squeeze an additional 0.25 gal or so before it's full. Reset a trip odometer. Drive the car until your near empty, then refill to the approx. same level (i.e. until it stops, then add the same amount you did, 0.25 in my case). Now divide the miles as per the trip odometer by the gallons. Waiting until the fuel light comes gives you a larger data set which helps to minimize the errors in the calculation.

Here are some other factors that will affect your mileage, there are probably more:

Tires
-Errors due to incorrect tire size (i.e. now your odometer is counting too fast)
-Tire rolling resistance (performance tires are worse in general since they are made to be 'sticky' and provide you with traction. A/S tires can also hurt mileage, but hey, you bought them for their safety and grip didn't you?)
-Inflation (under inflated = worse)
Environmental
-Outside temp (colder being worse)
-Winter/summer gas formulations (winter being worse)
-Weather and precipitation on the road (rain, snow, etc.)
-Head/tail winds
-Traffic density (frequent slow down/acceleration)
-Number of traffic lights in your commute
Mechanical
-Errors in your gas pump's meter (different States have different laws governing the calibration period of gas pumps)
-Errors in your TL's distance gauges (your odometer for example might not be accurate which will introduce an error into your calculation)
Driving Style
-Cruising speed (you'll get better mileage at 65 than you will at 80)
-Aggressiveness (fast starts, high speeds, etc.)

avs007

Some states, like Oregon, don't even have any laws governing this (They had a news piece on this several years ago, saying not only does oregon not govern the pump calibration, they don't even have quality control inspections of the fuel itself) Hence, why I never buy gas in Oregon, and will run on fumes if necessary to get back home in Washington to buy gas, where we have mandatory periodic inspections by the state department of weights and measures to check both fuel quality and pump accuracy.

schill38

I live in UT and it has been really cold this winter, so naturally my tires had lost air pressure. 2 fill-ups ago I only averaged about 22.5 mpg and this is with 80% freeway travel at about 70. I checked my tires and the cold psi was down to 33 in the front, 31 in the rear! I filled the fronts to 37 and the rears to 34 and presto, back up to averaging about 26.5!

bdhill

Manual says tank holds 17.1 gallons? I fill up when near empty or light is on and I never put in more than 14 gallons...does this make sense to anyone else on here?
Thanks so much. I am averaging 22mpg with 23k on the car and tires inflated to 36 cold front and 35 cold rear. I have been disappointed with the mileage. I can get over 30 at a steady 65 and flat road. Real world highway is 26 with 4 people in car. I traded in a Lexus GS430 which got 24 at 80mph highway and 19 in town

tc_terencec

Time to break out my optimization mathematical skills. I'm going to crunch some numbers when I get the time... I'll let you guys know what I get IF i do it *puts on nerd hat*

ESHBG

Hondas/Acuras give you 3-4 gallons in reserve, so when the light comes on, you usually still have 3-4 gallons left in the tank. I've never been a fan of the light coming on so early BUT too much warning is better than not enough, so...

bdhill

That is what I thought, but why isn't that amount of gas reflected in the miles to go before empty section on the display...it shows maybe 35 miles to go when the light comes on...It would be nice to have a real world amount of miles when this happens...

TL|GTX

Using SS and shifting as soon as u can to the highest Gear, that not intended for the engine will get u worse mpg. Just leave the car in auto, and go below 45, and dont go start off fast at a red light. But sometimes i cant help it, and i get 14mpg haa. But when i actually am conservative, i get 17mpg city.

avs007

That's why I wish the TL had a "Gallons Consumed" readout in the display like my other cars. On those cars, I've accidentally ran out of gas, and noted what it displayed. When my wife decided to run out of gas, it was reading the exact same number. So now we use that to know how much gas we REALLY have left.

But anyways, another thing to note, is that the fuel pickup is not usually at the lowest point in the gas tank, so even if you "ran out of gas", you'll actually still have some in the tank.

csmeance

its never good to RUN out of fuel, the fuel pump uses the gasoline to dissipate it's heat, so without any fuel that thing is going to be HOT! it heating up will kill it. Also rest your trip Computer when you fill up so you know how many miles and hours you have driven with that gas of fuel.

I hate cars

Very true. I've killed a pump by running it out of fuel.

One thing I've done before is once it starts studdering from lack of fuel, you can shake the car side to side and sometimes make it an extra mile or so. Never tried it with the TL since it's not a toy like my other one.

tlsslt

28 is a lotttttt the most was like 23 and I've gotten 9 from tha city before you should be very happy already lol. u