Topic: Real-world fuel consumption

[Blueprint]

Compact cars these days are just plain amazing with fuel. It took me a few days of short trips to break above 6.0 with a Forte last week. The commute to drop the car, with a downtown Montreal stop, netted a 5.1.

[bridgecity]

595km round trip in the MDX yesterday, mostly highway cruising at 120, about 50km city driving.  Finished off at 8.9L/100km. 

[draghon]

I continue to be very impressed with the economy of your new Civic!

Same, and with fuel over $2/L I'm also a bit jealous!

[JohnnyMac]

I continue to be very impressed with the economy of your new Civic!

Same, and with fuel over $2/L I'm also a bit jealous!

Yeah I truly was not expecting this much better fuel economy.  Base on the ratings for the Si and my GLI I figured it would be about 1L/100kms better and it turns out to be closer to 2L/100kms better.  Both are very good in this area and not the reason I made the switch, but it has been working out very well so far.

[tortoise]

I just drove 400 km round trip (dropping the kids off at the grand parents for 4 days)

150 km was 125 km/hr, the rest 105-110 km/hr.

Several foot to the floor passes on the two lane section, a bunch of lights and some traffic on the way out.

5.3 L/100km in the TDI.   I'm happy with that, but it's impressive how much the gas cars have caught up. 

[rrocket]

I just drove 400 km round trip (dropping the kids off at the grand parents for 4 days)

150 km was 125 km/hr, the rest 105-110 km/hr.

Several foot to the floor passes on the two lane section, a bunch of lights and some traffic on the way out.

5.3 L/100km in the TDI.   I'm happy with that, but it's impressive how much the gas cars have caught up.

Nice!!

I'm going to be heading down the 401 tomorrow to London.  We'll see what my highway MPG is.

This tank of fuel is at about ~2800kms so far.

[BWII]

I just drove 400 km round trip (dropping the kids off at the grand parents for 4 days)

150 km was 125 km/hr, the rest 105-110 km/hr.

Several foot to the floor passes on the two lane section, a bunch of lights and some traffic on the way out.

5.3 L/100km in the TDI.   I'm happy with that, but it's impressive how much the gas cars have caught up.

Nice!!

I'm going to be heading down the 401 tomorrow to London.  We'll see what my highway MPG is.

This tank of fuel is at about ~2800kms so far.

 

The Sonic needs a 6th gear.  Trip to Wpg and another to Winkler 10-12 kmh over limit, so 110-120~ kmh...averaged out to 7.4l/100.  Not exactly great.  Doesn't help I had a head wind going in to the city, and a head wind on the way back. My FIL's Buick Encore does better.  Drove them home from the airport and was showing low 6's most of the way with a strong side wind.  Low 5's when the we turned in favour of the wind.

The Fusion right now is either awful or fantastic.  Hasn't gone anywhere in 9 months...then again I've used a good 1/4 tank just idling it every few weeks to keep things...fresh.  Awful "mileage" there.  Battery's deader'n a door nail...probably no warranty left at 7 yrs, and it's still sitting on its winter tires - no motivation to change them out.  Doesn't help the last 2 and a half years it's maybe seen 3000km.  So for that, it's fantastic on gas. 

[Great_Big_Abyss]

The Sonic needs a 6th gear.  Trip to Wpg and another to Winkler 10-12 kmh over limit, so 110-120~ kmh...averaged out to 7.4l/100.  Not exactly great.  Doesn't help I had a head wind going in to the city, and a head wind on the way back. My FIL's Buick Encore does better.  Drove them home from the airport and was showing low 6's most of the way with a strong side wind.  Low 5's when the we turned in favour of the wind.

My CX-5 isn't much worse than that, with 7.8L/100km highway mileage.  Your Sonic probably beats it by a decent margin in the city, though.

[Blueprint]

I just drove 400 km round trip (dropping the kids off at the grand parents for 4 days)

150 km was 125 km/hr, the rest 105-110 km/hr.

Several foot to the floor passes on the two lane section, a bunch of lights and some traffic on the way out.

5.3 L/100km in the TDI.   I'm happy with that, but it's impressive how much the gas cars have caught up.

My Mk VII Golf TDi was also in the 5's commuting, hence how impressed I was with the basic Forte5 EX (2.0 with an un-CVT feeling CVT) sticking between 5.1 and 6 for WFW. With the market correction on diesel prices, running a regular gas compact is now cheaper than running a TDI! The Golf did dip to 3.1 on the highway, but that was with the cheater software...

[JohnnyMac]

I just drove 400 km round trip (dropping the kids off at the grand parents for 4 days)

150 km was 125 km/hr, the rest 105-110 km/hr.

Several foot to the floor passes on the two lane section, a bunch of lights and some traffic on the way out.

5.3 L/100km in the TDI.   I'm happy with that, but it's impressive how much the gas cars have caught up.

My Mk VII Golf TDi was also in the 5's commuting, hence how impressed I was with the basic Forte5 EX (2.0 with an un-CVT feeling CVT) sticking between 5.1 and 6 for WFW. With the market correction on diesel prices, running a regular gas compact is now cheaper than running a TDI! The Golf did dip to 3.1 on the highway, but that was with the cheater software...

That is mighty impressive for the Forte5, especially considering your record for meeting or exceeding the posted fuel economy ratings (meaning you rarely seem to do with your pressers,  ).  I totally agree on the diesel side, it would be similar comparing that Forte with my Civic Si as it gets premium, so the Forte would be that much cheaper to run.  The TDI's were always best on the highway I found.  This Civic seems to be most efficient on secondary roads, just due to the gearing.  At highway speeds it's up around the 3K RPMs (120kph), so at 80 and 2K RPMs it's really efficient.  I think I saw something like high 4's in that setting before.

[tortoise]

My Mk VII Golf TDi was also in the 5's commuting, hence how impressed I was with the basic Forte5 EX (2.0 with an un-CVT feeling CVT) sticking between 5.1 and 6 for WFW. With the market correction on diesel prices, running a regular gas compact is now cheaper than running a TDI! The Golf did dip to 3.1 on the highway, but that was with the cheater software...

I'm not fully convinced of this, particlarly on the highway.  Diesel right now is 10% more than regular.  And I bet all things being equal the TDI would still beat the Forte by at least that amount. Without the stop and go, and the passing @140 it would have been in the 4's.

And the TDI would have more power, so there's that.

(At 120 km/hr the TDI is reving 2100 rpm or so)

[Blueprint]

My Mk VII Golf TDi was also in the 5's commuting, hence how impressed I was with the basic Forte5 EX (2.0 with an un-CVT feeling CVT) sticking between 5.1 and 6 for WFW. With the market correction on diesel prices, running a regular gas compact is now cheaper than running a TDI! The Golf did dip to 3.1 on the highway, but that was with the cheater software...

I'm not fully convinced of this, particlarly on the highway.  Diesel right now is 10% more than regular.  And I bet all things being equal the TDI would still beat the Forte by at least that amount. Without the stop and go, and the passing @140 it would have been in the 4's.

And the TDI would have more power, so there's that.

(At 120 km/hr the TDI is reving 2100 rpm or so)

Diesel is king on the highway, but for commuting an efficient gas car will be cheaper to run. In any case, diesel is not even an option anymore! My window guy yesterday arrived with a new RAM 1500 light diesel that he bought last year, complained that with today's diesel prices (more like +0.25$ in QC), the $5k extra for the engine and DEF refills - in the end his previous 5.7 litre RAM was cheaper to use!

[Arthur Dent]

Last tank and a half or so on MX-5 5.8/100kms with a fair bit of highway. On the flip side it revs at over 3k rpms the whole time. 

[JohnnyMac]

Last tank and a half or so on MX-5 5.8/100kms with a fair bit of highway. On the flip side it revs at over 3k rpms the whole time. 

Just imagine if it had one more gear to drop those revs down closer to 2k rpms, you'd likely see low 5's.

[Seafoam]

^^ Then it would be  a 7 speed manual.
Seriously though all Miata's in the North  American market have been geared this way from the start.
The fuel mileage has successively gotten better over the generations though.
I've often pondered getting an Aussi 3.63 for my MSM. This would actually make 6 th gear useful.

[rrocket]

Last tank and a half or so on MX-5 5.8/100kms with a fair bit of highway. On the flip side it revs at over 3k rpms the whole time. 

Same as my Boxster!

3k RPM at 115km/h

[JohnnyMac]

^^ Then it would be  a 7 speed manual.
Seriously though all Miata's in the North  American market have been geared this way from the start.
The fuel mileage has successively gotten better over the generations though.
I've often pondered getting an Aussi 3.63 for my MSM. This would actually make 6 th gear useful.

What's wrong with 7 speed?  Worked in the Vette, 911, and Bronco.

[Arthur Dent]

It is very strange. It can pull just fine from 60km/h in sixth - why do I need 6 city gears and no highway ones? My one flaw with the car. Not a deal breaker but odd.

[Seafoam]

^^ Then it would be  a 7 speed manual.
Seriously though all Miata's in the North  American market have been geared this way from the start.
The fuel mileage has successively gotten better over the generations though.
I've often pondered getting an Aussi 3.63 for my MSM. This would actually make 6 th gear useful.

What's wrong with 7 speed?  Worked in the Vette, 911, and Bronco.

 Not needed. Just change the ratio of 6th gear. I actually prefer the 5 speed in my previous miata's .

[BWII]

The Sonic needs a 6th gear.  Trip to Wpg and another to Winkler 10-12 kmh over limit, so 110-120~ kmh...averaged out to 7.4l/100.  Not exactly great.  Doesn't help I had a head wind going in to the city, and a head wind on the way back. My FIL's Buick Encore does better.  Drove them home from the airport and was showing low 6's most of the way with a strong side wind.  Low 5's when the we turned in favour of the wind.

My CX-5 isn't much worse than that, with 7.8L/100km highway mileage.  Your Sonic probably beats it by a decent margin in the city, though.

I would guess not...it's got a fun stick in it...
 
And if I'm alone...I'm all but guaranteed to be the first one across an intersection if I'm in front...it's the only time I get to have fun "rowing" something. Yeehaw!  Who knew 138 hp could be so fast!! 

If I would go speed limit or 10 under...I'd be solidly in the low 6's (at 10 under) high, maybe even mid, 5's.   But then some lady with cataracts who can't see can't pass that guy who's always going 90 in a 100...hey, wasn't me  That's annoying!