What MPG are you getting??

[az3579]

Another thing, I noticed I don't automatically up shift when coasting down a hill. This creates unnecessary engine braking, which does not help my MPG. Has anyone else noticed this, and if so, have you addressed it in any way?

Actually, when it's engine braking, it's using zero fuel. That means it's greatly helping your mpg.
When there is zero throttle applied, it uses zero fuel. Coast as much as you can (while in gear) to reap this benefit.

You have a couple of things working against you:
1) Automatic - the autos of this generation sucked on gas mileage compared to the manuals
2) Hills - these kill mpg like it's their job

Tips:

1) Build up speed slowly but surely before you go up a hill. Make sure you build up enough speed where you don't have to give it a whole lot more gas to go up the hill but instead try maintaining the throttle position if you can. If you do it just right, you can make it to the top of the hill without losing too much speed, or being too much below the speed limit. Use the length of the hill as the deciding factor for how much extra speed to build up before the hill and how long to hold it. Start letting off the throttle as you approach the crest of the hill still slightly go up. This allows you to get off the throttle earlier, but not lose too much speed before starting your downward descent, while builds the speed back up.

2) Use the extra speed gained from going downhill to maintain momentum on the next stretch of road. Keep the mpg needle on the left side of the gauge to reap this benefit.

3) Be extremely light on the throttle. A lot of people don't realize just how heavy their feet are. Your acceleration should be smooth enough where you should be able to put a partially filled glass of water on your dash and not have any spill out.

4) This may sound crazy, but drive the speed limit. If you do this, and accelerate very lightly, the car learns this behavior and makes the throttle a lot more receptive to keeping the mpg needle on the left side of the gauge. I learned over the past week's experiment that driving the speed limit for a few days actually allows my mpg needle to hover over the 6L / 100km marking on my mpg gauge (about 40 mpg on a US gauge) a lot more easily on the highway than if I was driving normally all week and suddenly tried to hypermile. It takes time for the car to learn your habits, but it will adjust eventually, making it easier to get better mileage.

5) Driving like this will create lots of impatient people behind you. This is a mental block you have to get through and deal with. It takes a lot of patience - trust me, it's hard! Always use the right-most lane on the highway and try not to pass people if possible. This will ensure the best mpg you can get on the highway.

In all honesty, 18+ mpg sounds exactly right for being mostly city driving with hills and an automatic of that generation. Driving exclusively in the city, it's quite hard to reach the EPA claim of 20mpg with the manual, depending on just how many stop lights and stop signs you have to deal with. Places that have these items make it very hard to achieve good results.







I may try to make a video ... at some point... on how to get good MPG out of our cars, since enough people seem to ask about it.

[danewilson77]

Ahhhh.... Hypermilling ftw.

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[Rovert]

I hypermill my car too. To the point it annoys my friends who can’t touch my mileage. I find it oddly satisfying for kicks since testing the police isn’t fun! Now I can do something that is still a challenge at speed limit. LOL

[papa_g]

I get 21-22mpg with 70% city/30% highway...

238K miles. 21.1 mpg.... Mostly city.

You see... i know that 18 is low even if i have the automatic. Do you guys know what could possibly be pulling my MPG down like this??

[danewilson77]

You see... i know that 18 is low even if i have the automatic. Do you guys know what could possibly be pulling my MPG down like this??

Seems a tad low. What is your style of driving? What gas do you use?

Also, be advised that we're still on winter mix. Location?

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[papa_g]

Actually, when it's engine braking, it's using zero fuel. That means it's greatly helping your mpg.
When there is zero throttle applied, it uses zero fuel. Coast as much as you can (while in gear) to reap this benefit.

You have a couple of things working against you:
1) Automatic - the autos of this generation sucked on gas mileage compared to the manuals
2) Hills - these kill mpg like it's their job

Tips:

1) Build up speed slowly but surely before you go up a hill. Make sure you build up enough speed where you don't have to give it a whole lot more gas to go up the hill but instead try maintaining the throttle position if you can. If you do it just right, you can make it to the top of the hill without losing too much speed, or being too much below the speed limit. Use the length of the hill as the deciding factor for how much extra speed to build up before the hill and how long to hold it. Start letting off the throttle as you approach the crest of the hill still slightly go up. This allows you to get off the throttle earlier, but not lose too much speed before starting your downward descent, while builds the speed back up.

2) Use the extra speed gained from going downhill to maintain momentum on the next stretch of road. Keep the mpg needle on the left side of the gauge to reap this benefit.

3) Be extremely light on the throttle. A lot of people don't realize just how heavy their feet are. Your acceleration should be smooth enough where you should be able to put a partially filled glass of water on your dash and not have any spill out.

4) This may sound crazy, but drive the speed limit. If you do this, and accelerate very lightly, the car learns this behavior and makes the throttle a lot more receptive to keeping the mpg needle on the left side of the gauge. I learned over the past week's experiment that driving the speed limit for a few days actually allows my mpg needle to hover over the 6L / 100km marking on my mpg gauge (about 40 mpg on a US gauge) a lot more easily on the highway than if I was driving normally all week and suddenly tried to hypermile. It takes time for the car to learn your habits, but it will adjust eventually, making it easier to get better mileage.

5) Driving like this will create lots of impatient people behind you. This is a mental block you have to get through and deal with. It takes a lot of patience - trust me, it's hard! Always use the right-most lane on the highway and try not to pass people if possible. This will ensure the best mpg you can get on the highway.

In all honesty, 18+ mpg sounds exactly right for being mostly city driving with hills and an automatic of that generation. Driving exclusively in the city, it's quite hard to reach the EPA claim of 20mpg with the manual, depending on just how many stop lights and stop signs you have to deal with. Places that have these items make it very hard to achieve good results.







I may try to make a video ... at some point... on how to get good MPG out of our cars, since enough people seem to ask about it.

That's some very good advice, I will have to try it out. Sorry, but when I said it isn't helping my MPG, I mean that since it is adding unnecessary braking, I am not going down the hill as fast as I should be (my other cars coast down hills much faster). If I were to automatically upshift, my RPMs would go down, and I would be going faster without using fuel, isn't that better?
I am pretty familiar with accelerating and decelerating at opportune moments to keep MPGs up, but I am still getting used to the throttle on this thing. Maybe my foot is heavier than I thought. A video would be awesome. I will take your advice and let you know if anything has changed.

[az3579]

You see... i know that 18 is low even if i have the automatic. Do you guys know what could possibly be pulling my MPG down like this??

But it really isn't. EPA estimates are usually very hard to achieve, so being only 2 mpg below really isn't unreasonable.

Dane's 21 "mostly city" is influenced by that "mostly" part. Highway driving brings it up quite a bit.

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[papa_g]

Seems a tad low. What is your style of driving? What gas do you use?

Also, be advised that we're still on winter mix. Location?

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My style of driving is pretty casual and considerate. I accelerate very steadily and make sure to brake well in advance, so I can increase my odds of not having to come to a complete stop at the stop light.
I always use Chevron 92 octane. I have never seen 93 octane here in WA.

[danewilson77]

My style of driving is pretty casual and considerate. I accelerate very steadily and make sure to brake well in advance, so I can increase my odds of not having to come to a complete stop at the stop light.
I always use Chevron 92 octane. I have never seen 93 octane here in WA.

Everything checks out there. I assume your mpg will go up to 19 after winter. Would this be normal for you?

You seem to be attentive to your maintenance so I assume plugs, oil, fuel filter, intake filter, etc... Are new.

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[papa_g]

Everything checks out there. I assume your mpg will go up to 19 after winter. Would this be normal for you?

You seem to be attentive to your maintenance so I assume plugs, oil, fuel filter, intake filter, etc... Are new.

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Yup, all new or recent. Let me ask you this though:
The plugs are about 25k miles old. I felt it would be overkill to replace them so early on, so I just cleaned up with a wire brush and burned off the extra carbon build up with a propane torch (I had a VCG leak, so they had a bit of oil on them.) I have a set of brand new plugs ready to go, and am thinking to put them in and see if anything is improved. What are your thoughts on this?

I normally get over 20MPG on my automatic 6-speed 2013 VW tiguan with equally mixed driving (mostly city). But that one is a 4 cylinder with a turbo.