Gas Mileage SoCal

SDXLT

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Is anyone active on the forum in San Diego? I have found my around town mileage is abysmal at between 14-15 mpg. I have added a new high flow air filter, checked my tire pressures (30) per the door sticker and have even tried 91 octane the last 3 fillups. Still, even with careful throttle and no WOT I am still seeing it pretty bad.
I am wondering if it’s just because of all the hills where I live in Del Mar? I mean I have to do steep grades for any neighborhood driving and can watch the mileage decrease as I increase elevation. Anyone in SD seeing the same or are you getting better?

I bought this baby used in December. It isn’t lifted and is running stock tires.
Trying to understand if I should look anywhere else to troubleshoot or if I should bring it in to be checked out.
Could the previous owner have had a tune that the dealer didn’t know about and that be impacting mileage?
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Sable

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Fellow San Diegian here...

I have 1300miles on a 2022 tremor no mods, general grabber tires (39lbs tire pressure) that came with the ranger. When Im only driving city (home to work roundtrip is around 11 miles)im getting around 16-17 mpg. The few times I've mostly done highway driving (on longer trips) I've seen up to 24mpg. This is what the dashboard mpg tells me. Haven't bothered yet with hand calculating. I feel its still to early to tell the real mpg on my ranger with such low milage. I have only used 91 octane gas from chevron. Hope this helps.
 

AzScorpion

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That's seems very low mpg. Brandon @dondonbabyraptor lives out that way and gets about the same. He'll see this and chime in but he also drives like a race car driver and is WOT every chance he gets. ?

Even if it were tunes it wouldn't get that bad of mileage driving it the way you are. I have a Livernois tune and get on mine often and I'm still averaging 22.5 mpg. It's a little lower at times (21.6 this morning) when I do a lot of city driving but never have I been below 20 mpg.
 
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SDXLT

SDXLT

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Thanks for the feedback. I also checked the calibration in case it was off. I think my actual mileage may be a bit worse than standard calibration based on manually calculating it but I don’t want to split hairs at this point.
My average overall since I reset after getting the truck is 17.5.
My wife’s car is a 2022 CX-9 with a 4 turbo. It’s rated 20 city and we get 18-19 when only city driving and the difference is likely attributed to all the hills and crazy stop n go with the neighborhood and surrounding stop lights. That number immediately climbs when doing more highway.
I am thinking I may need to take it into the dealer to have it checked out. Don’t want poor mileage to turn into something bigger mechanically though maybe I am too worried here.
 
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SDXLT

SDXLT

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Fellow San Diegian here...

I have 1300miles on a 2022 tremor no mods, general grabber tires (39lbs tire pressure) that came with the ranger. When Im only driving city (home to work roundtrip is around 11 miles)im getting around 16-17 mpg. The few times I've mostly done highway driving (on longer trips) I've seen up to 24mpg. This is what the dashboard mpg tells me. Haven't bothered yet with hand calculating. I feel its still to early to tell the real mpg on my ranger with such low milage. I have only used 91 octane gas from chevron. Hope this helps.
Fellow San Diegan and we are both Josh’s and we both have good lookin trucks! What are the odds!
 


RCMUSTANG

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Bump the pressure to at least 36 psi.
 

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Door sticker on my 2023 Ranger XL that just delivered is 35 psi and it was at 39 when I picked it up. I took it down to 37 psi... I got 25.3 mpg on my 1st 2/3 of a tank mostly freeway and driving like a grandma since i was checking mpg. If I remember correctly the ECU learns after a few tanks and your MPG improves.
 

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Also we do have some crappy gas in the west. Now with winter blend makes it worse. I only get 16-17 but it's only 4 miles to work and back. I did get 26.8 going to Seattle and back for work last year which was 400+ miles. I was on cruse control at 70 most the whole way there and back. I also got 18.5 towing my tent trailer for a 500 + mile trip. I thought that was pretty darn good.
 

dondonbabyraptor

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That's seems very low mpg. Brandon @dondonbabyraptor lives out that way and gets about the same. He'll see this and chime in but he also drives like a race car driver and is WOT every chance he gets. ?

Even if it were tunes it wouldn't get that bad of mileage driving it the way you are. I have a Livernois tune and get on mine often and I'm still averaging 22.5 mpg. It's a little lower at times (21.6 this morning) when I do a lot of city driving but never have I been below 20 mpg.
Yeah you really shouldn't be getting 13-15 mpg for regular driving. However, knowing your circumstances about where you live SDXLT... The 805 near your area is primarily hill highways, add that to your neighborhood driving with MORE hills and now you have a situation where you decrease your avg mpg all around by a lot. I had MPG on my tuner before it broke and every time a hill came around, it decreased from 15-20 mpg to 8-13 and ofc even less mpg if I am shoving up that hill. Hills are destroyers for MPG because now your engine has to work harder to chug up a 4,000 pound vehicle.

Hahaha Dave, you crack me up. To OP, Dave isn't kidding when I WOT whenever I can and I still get 13-15 mpg. However, I am up north in central san diego so its mostly flat throughout the 805 band in my normal daily drive.
 

dondonbabyraptor

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Fellow San Diegian here...

I have 1300miles on a 2022 tremor no mods, general grabber tires (39lbs tire pressure) that came with the ranger. When Im only driving city (home to work roundtrip is around 11 miles)im getting around 16-17 mpg. The few times I've mostly done highway driving (on longer trips) I've seen up to 24mpg. This is what the dashboard mpg tells me. Haven't bothered yet with hand calculating. I feel its still to early to tell the real mpg on my ranger with such low milage. I have only used 91 octane gas from chevron. Hope this helps.
This makes sense understanding that the Tremor tires are 1.5inch larger in diameter than the non-tremor models. Also due to that size difference, it is actually 7-9 pounds heavier on each tire(compared to duelers or hankook) for unsprung weight which makes a huge difference in power needed to rotate the tire. Hell, 24 mpg is great on those tires!
 

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The ranger likes to be in too high of a gear. Though it was likely designed as a way to increase mpg, I feel like it does the opposite because you are on the gas more (efficiency curve). I drive in sport most of the time, especially uphill and it has increased my mpg. For city driving, I use tow/haul. I only use D when I’m driving downhill. Try tow/haul and see if your mpg improves.
 

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I have 30k miles, from my experience, if your in town alot, it's a pig.
Your experience sounds about right & I live in flat lands.
I think mine is rated 24/22/20. The first yr we constantly got 18mpg.
Then my wife started driving less hard, slow of the stops &
CC asap. This summer we were constant 23mpg.
Stop & go, in town, up/down hills will be a killer.
25% in town, 75% cruise control.
 
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SDXLT

SDXLT

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Update: almost through a tank after increasing tire pressure to 36 cold. It wasn’t a full tank when I did that but it has stabilized mileage to 15.6 where it was under 15 before. So that helped but not much. I’m really pampering that throttle and not driving aggressive in any way. I still feel like I’m a few MPG below what I should be getting considering the 20-24 rating on the sticker. I show a quarter tank with only 45 miles left and should get 277 miles on the tank according to the stats. That’s not good.

My wife’s new CX-9 is rated 20-26 and around town I get 19.7 no problem and if I’m really driving spirited it’s never dropped below 18. It’s a 4cyl turbo rated for 170 hp and the curb weight is 4409lbs. While the curb weight for the pickup is 4441lbs. I know it isn’t an apples to apples comp because of aerodynamics and tires and all but it doesn’t seem logical to me that my mileage is so poor.

Anything I can inspect or have the dealer inspect tied to this?
 

OneMore

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Update: almost through a tank after increasing tire pressure to 36 cold. It wasn’t a full tank when I did that but it has stabilized mileage to 15.6 where it was under 15 before. So that helped but not much. I’m really pampering that throttle and not driving aggressive in any way. I still feel like I’m a few MPG below what I should be getting considering the 20-24 rating on the sticker. I show a quarter tank with only 45 miles left and should get 277 miles on the tank according to the stats. That’s not good.

My wife’s new CX-9 is rated 20-26 and around town I get 19.7 no problem and if I’m really driving spirited it’s never dropped below 18. It’s a 4cyl turbo rated for 170 hp and the curb weight is 4409lbs. While the curb weight for the pickup is 4441lbs. I know it isn’t an apples to apples comp because of aerodynamics and tires and all but it doesn’t seem logical to me that my mileage is so poor.

Anything I can inspect or have the dealer inspect tied to this?

Hi Josh,

I'm in NorCal Bay Area.
Most of my driving is local surface streets with 25-35 mph speeds limits. Flat level roads.
Driving to the gym, about 3 miles each way, I get about 14-15 mpg in my Tremor.
The engine only reaches operating temperature when I pull into the driveway at home.
Not what I would like but those driving conditions are terrible for decent fuel mileage.
This is using 91 octane fuel.
Give your engine some time and miles to break-in. That will help.
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