Gas Mileage

[Bubbabiker]

I don't dwell on the fuel economy at every fillup. Just to many variables. What I do monitor is the overall average. Currently I'm at 17.6mpg lifetime average for my 2.7L Supercrew FX4. This lifetime includes towing, around town, highway, 87, 89, 91, 93, E30 fuels. I record it in a Excel spread sheet so I can parse the data by the fuel octane, driving type, etc.

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[FX4Greg]

Picked my new FX4 SCrew this morning. Reset the trip and economy display before leaving the dealership. It averaged 25.8mpg on the 59 mile trip home. All but about 5 miles of that was 65-70 on the interstate. I'm sure the dealer filled it with 87 octane.

 

[Snorebaby]

I don't dwell on the fuel economy at every fillup. Just to many variables. What I do monitor is the overall average. Currently I'm at 17.6mpg lifetime average for my 2.7L Supercrew FX4. This lifetime includes towing, around town, highway, 87, 89, 91, 93, E30 fuels. I record it in a Excel spread sheet so I can parse the data by the fuel octane, driving type, etc.

Ahhhh... another spreadsheet guy!! I do this for all my bikes. I keep detailed records in a spreadsheet as it helps me to know if there is something going on with the bike. I actually get better gas mileage in the mountains with aggressive riding than I can running down the interstate with cruise control. At 75mph, 1 up, interstate riding I get about 42 mpg. Mountain riding (West Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, N Carolina, Arkansas, etc) aggressive (15+ mph over limit), 1 up, I get about 44 mpg. Around town, to and from work,1 up, 1/2 interstate, 1/2 surface street, I get around 35 mpg. Long distance traveling, 2 up, pulling a trailer, backroads only, max 65mph, I get about 35-37mpg (depending on the trailer, one is wider than the other).

I also keep track of all maintenance and accessories installed and have photocopies (and hard copy) of all maint and accessory receipts. I plan on doing this with my Ranger. I guess I am just a little too detailed, but my memory sux. It also helps with warranty issues.

I did a gas rating test on my 2015 Goldwing. Running 1000 miles for each rating (about 5 fill ups for each), I found the best gas mileage was with non-ethanol (of course) but the cost offset the mileage gained. I run 87 in her and the above mpg's is on that rating. The tank holds 6.6 gal. and I will at a max fill up with 5.8 gal. If my gas light comes on at 200 miles, I know I have about 35 mpg, and will have about 30 miles before I NEED to fill up.

All of this is done by hand. But for the bike I can fill it up to the same spot on each tank full as I can look inside the tank as I am filling, so I am confident that I am extremely accurate. I also calculate to the .001 gal. and don't round up. I don't use the tenths of a mile as 1 mile over the life of the tank is not enough of a variance to make a difference.

I will find the "sweetspot" with the Ranger fill ups (when I get it next week) and do my calculations that way.

 

[MrRisk]

17.3 mpg for me, it was around 26mpg before the 33” tires.

 

[Ric]

I am an MPG obsessed guy. I am going into the Ranger well aware I ain’t gonna pull the numbers I’ve been getting in my 4 banger Honda’s. But, with a 30 mile ,light traffic, highway, adaptive cruise control commute, I should score some pretty impressive numbers. Challenge accepted.

 

[RCMUSTANG]

Third tank computer was 22.9. Manual calculation was 21.3.

 

[Pinecrestjim]

I picked up my Ranger yesterday and took a round trip road trip today from Miami to Goodland with some stops in Everglades City. US41 limits ranged from 45 to 60 and I ran 65 where I could. Several passings of slower moving vehicles, and running with adaptive cruise control engaged. I haven't verified the numbers by manual calculation, but the gauge calculation is impressive!

 

[MT19RANGER]

I'll be looking more into the MPG after the break-in period.


Calculating Fuel Economy
Your vehicle calculates fuel economy figures through the trip computer average fuel function. See Information Displays (page 90).
The first 1,000 mi (1,500 km) of driving is the break-in period of the engine. A more accurate measurement is obtained after 2,000 mi (3,000 km).
1. Completely fill the fuel tank and record the initial odometer reading. See Refueling (page 143).
2. Each time you fill the fuel tank, record the amount of fuel added.
3. After at least three fill-ups, fill the fuel tank and record the current odometer reading.
4. Subtract your initial odometer reading from the current odometer reading.

To calculate L/100 km (liters per 100 kilometers) fuel consumption, multiply the liters used by 100, then divide by kilometers traveled. To calculate MPG (miles per gallon) fuel consumption, divide miles traveled by gallons used.
Keep a record for at least one month and record the type of driving, for example, city or highway. This provides an accurate estimate of your vehicle’s fuel economy under current driving conditions. Keeping records during summer and winter shows how temperature impacts fuel economy.

Conditions
• Heavily loading your vehicle reduces fuel economy.
• Carrying unnecessary weight in your vehicle may reduce fuel economy.
• Avoid adding accessories that increase aerodynamic drag to your vehicle such as bug deflectors, car top carriers and ski or bike racks.
• Using fuel blended with alcohol may lower fuel economy.
• Fuel economy may decrease with lower temperatures.
• Fuel economy may decrease when driving short distances.
• You will get better fuel economy when driving on flat terrain than when driving on hilly terrain.

 

[SRAces]

I had one day of around town driving before my trip to the Gulf and back on Saturday. Hard to complain about fuel economy. With the weather warming and more miles on the truck, it appears to be improving more. My Economy reading doesn't match the mpg of Trip 2 as the Economy was never reset by me when I picked up the truck. It was driven from the trading dealer to my local dealer.

I did see my mpg hit 26.9 on the trip, but did a little local driving after I got back.

 

[THLONE]

I'll be looking more into the MPG after the break-in period.


Calculating Fuel Economy
Your vehicle calculates fuel economy figures through the trip computer average fuel function. See Information Displays (page 90).
The first 1,000 mi (1,500 km) of driving is the break-in period of the engine. A more accurate measurement is obtained after 2,000 mi (3,000 km).
1. Completely fill the fuel tank and record the initial odometer reading. See Refueling (page 143).
2. Each time you fill the fuel tank, record the amount of fuel added.
3. After at least three fill-ups, fill the fuel tank and record the current odometer reading.
4. Subtract your initial odometer reading from the current odometer reading.

To calculate L/100 km (liters per 100 kilometers) fuel consumption, multiply the liters used by 100, then divide by kilometers traveled. To calculate MPG (miles per gallon) fuel consumption, divide miles traveled by gallons used.
Keep a record for at least one month and record the type of driving, for example, city or highway. This provides an accurate estimate of your vehicle’s fuel economy under current driving conditions. Keeping records during summer and winter shows how temperature impacts fuel economy.

Conditions
• Heavily loading your vehicle reduces fuel economy.
• Carrying unnecessary weight in your vehicle may reduce fuel economy.
• Avoid adding accessories that increase aerodynamic drag to your vehicle such as bug deflectors, car top carriers and ski or bike racks.
• Using fuel blended with alcohol may lower fuel economy.
• Fuel economy may decrease with lower temperatures.
• Fuel economy may decrease when driving short distances.
• You will get better fuel economy when driving on flat terrain than when driving on hilly terrain.

Actually the first step is to check your odometer with a gps. Different size tires will change not only the odometer but, also the final drive ratio.
Most people will not do the proper check but, will just look at the gauge on the dash which is just a WAG. Gas mileage is also effected by the driver.

 

[MT19RANGER]

Actually the first step is to check your odometer with a gps. Different size tires will change not only the odometer but, also the final drive ratio.
Most people will not do the proper check but, will just look at the gauge on the dash which is just a WAG. Gas mileage is also effected by the driver.

Problem w/ GPS miles and actual driven miles is that GPS calculates on a flat plane and driven miles are actual up and down the hills and true surface measurement being driven.

 

[technological_marvel]

It's not the math, it's the reproducibility of the auto shut off at the pump.

Back when I commuted a lot and tried to minimize gas stops I could shove as much as 2 gallons into the car after the first shutoff...so I'm not sure what the "right" amount to top off is. I will tell you that plus or minus 2 gallons is a hell of a margin of error when calculating mpg for a short trip.

The pump tells you how many gallons you filled up. Miles driven since last fill-up divided by gallons metered at the pump = miles per gallon. You don't even need to fill the tank the same amount consistently to use this method, as long as you track how much you put in at the pump every time.

 

[THLONE]

Problem w/ GPS miles and actual driven miles is that GPS calculates on a flat plane and driven miles are actual up and down the hills and true surface measurement being driven.

Well then check it on flat road. Or you could find a cop with radar and drive past him speeding then he will tell you how fast that you were going. Oh, when he stops you tell him you are checking your speedo. LOL

 

[MT19RANGER]

Well then check it on flat road. Or you could find a cop with radar and drive past him speeding then he will tell you how fast that you were going. Oh, when he stops you tell him you are checking your speedo. LOL

Or just drive on a road with mile markers and set the cruise at 60mph and time yourself and if it takes you 60 seconds to drive the mile then the speed is 60mph and if shorter than one minute you are going over 60mph and if longer than one minute you are going under 60mph.
Here's a great table:
Seconds : MPH
------------
36 100.0
37 97.3
38 94.7
39 92.3
40 90.0
41 87.8
42 85.7
43 83.7
44 81.8
45 80.0
46 78.3
47 76.6
48 75.0
49 73.5
50 72.0
51 70.6
52 69.2
53 67.9
54 66.7
55 65.5
56 64.3
57 63.2
58 62.1
59 61.0
60 60.0
61 59.0
62 58.1
63 57.1
64 56.3
65 55.4
66 54.5
67 53.7
68 52.9
69 52.2
70 51.4
71 50.7
72 50.0
73 49.3
74 48.6
75 48.0
76 47.4
77 46.8
78 46.2
79 45.6
80 45.0
81 44.4
82 43.9
83 43.4
84 42.9
85 42.4
86 41.9
87 41.4
88 40.9
89 40.4
90 40.0

 

[VAMike]

The pump tells you how many gallons you filled up. Miles driven since last fill-up divided by gallons metered at the pump = miles per gallon. You don't even need to fill the tank the same amount consistently to use this method, as long as you track how much you put in at the pump every time.

Um. Yes, you do need to fill the same amount each time in order to calculate the MPG for a specific fill. If you track over a long period of time it'll average out, but that's not the context of the post you replied to.

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