Harder to increase MPG than decrease

hindsight · 04-25-2011, 08:14 PM

In the beginning when I got my car, I noticed it was real easy to increase my MPG by driving carefully, leaving Eco Assist on, and keeping the speedometer at green. My MPG eventually peaked at 48, but since then it's gone down because sometimes I've been in a hurry driving around, etc. Now, with 5k miles on it, and with the MPG in the low 45s, I'm finding it's much easier for the car to decrease its MPG when I'm not driving carefully, than it is for it to increase when I'm doing everything correct. Is this a true statement, based on your experience & knowledge?

freddy the mug · 04-25-2011, 09:31 PM

I bought my LX in October with 7k miles on it and never did better than 44mpg. Now end of April I hit 13k miles and am getting over 50mpg. I think it's the quicker warm up time and no slush to drive through. I really take a mileage hit during the warm up. I never used the heater much. For next winter I will install the block heater to see if it helps with mileage. This for a 38 mile round trip commute. I found it gives me better mileage with the econ off. As far as the quicker decrease and slow increase yes that's how mine works. I've also noticed the first gallon or three after a fill up are very important to maintaining a better mpg.

**Jayemtee** · 04-25-2011, 09:34 PM

Of course it's true. When you first got the car, you were constantly trying to improve. The better your skill level gets, there is less room for improvement and more room for failure.

Are you maxxed out on the leaf game? If so, you might want to reset it in order to increase your awareness.

hindsight · 04-25-2011, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jayemtee

The better your skill level gets, there is less room for improvement and more room for failure.

Well, there's definitely plenty of "room for improvement" since it's at 45.3 and I've gotten it up to 48 with the same driving style/commute.

I'm currently at the second stage of the leaf thingy (the one that doesn't have the flower at the top). This stage is almost done (I'd say at 80%). During my last 2 trips that together totaled more than 100 miles, I've kept the leaf thingies almost full, and yet it's only increased 0.2mpg during that range. Sorry if my nomenclature is wrong, I haven't researched the ECO Guide that much.

hindsight · 04-26-2011, 03:21 PM

This is why it pays to RTFM (read the ____ manual): I just realized what all those different things on the MPG screen on the dashboard mean: the top one is your OVERALL MPG for the life of the car (unless there's an A or B somewhere in the screen). The bar in the lower half is your CURRENT MPG as you're driving. You can also calculate the mileage of two trips: A and B, and there is a setting you can change so that every time you put gas, it resets the mileage of Trip A.

I'm probably not getting stale MPG at all, though this still doesn't explain why it's so easy to decrease the MPG so much during even just one trip.

Cobb · 04-27-2011, 12:11 AM

It can be fustrating. There are a lot of factors you can not control. Some gas stations cut their gas with ethanol more than others. Then you got other addatives that are used. You got wind resistance, water resistance, extra power consumed by use of ac vs windows and vent vs heat.

I find the best is to coast as much as possible riding the brakes, accelerate using only 2 notches of assist and cruse control with econ in D.

**Moviemike** · 04-29-2011, 07:18 PM

Yup "..coast as much as possible riding the brakes, accelerate using only 2 notches of assist..." or not less than 45 mpg on the instant mpg slider have worked very well, for me, as well.
I also check cold-tire pressures monthly. Yesterday they were down 1 -1.5 lbs. With the extra air my coasting was a bit further today....and that'll help the total mpg by the time the gas tank is near empty.