gas mileage ponderings...

[beechfront]

lately i have been obsessed with fuel economy. i realize most of this is probalby common sense, but i'm bored so i thought i'd write about it anyway.

CARS:
my previous vehicle (97 olds cultlass supreme) it would not matter how fast i drove on highway, i would get around 22mpg. when i did a lot of city driving it would drop to under 20. basically it was consistently shi#ty all around.


when previous car crapped out i purchased a 2002 honda civic. with a mix of town/hwy driving i have been getting around 36 mpg. strictly town driving, it's been around 30. i really think a long trip i could hit 40 mpg.

between the time my cutlass crapped out and i got the new one, i drove my girlfriend's 97 jeep cherokee around while she was in ireland. it has the fancy readout that tells you your average gas mileage since trip-o-meter has been reset. she had been getting 17mpg in town. we had also taken a trip and gotten 17mpg on interstate at 75 mph. when i drove it, i took normal highway at 60 mph and got 22mpg. once i started doing some town driving, those numbers quickly plummeted.

i guess due to the mass of a car, it requires a lot of energy to get the car in motion and get it up to desired speed. which is why stop and go traffic is a gas mileage killer. if i know a light is going to change, or traffic is slowing up for whatever reason - i let up on the gas far ahead of time or put it into neutral and coast to avoid stopping the car. it does not take any more time and it really seems to help a lot.


MOTORCYCLES:

with my motorcycle, the biggest factors are how fast i ride and how fast i accelerate. anything above 65mph and fuel economy really begins to suffer. on highway, 80 mph = around 31 mpg, 60 mph = 40 mpg. under repeated heavy acceleration around town, i once burned a tank of gas getting only 18 mpg.



so i have come to the following conclusions to maximize fuel economy:


in a car, the less you use the brakes the better your gas mileage will be. don't be a hurry to get to a red light.


on a motorcycle, just take it easy on the throttle.


whatever you are riding/driving - there seems to be something magical about 70mph. based on my experience, keep it under that and you'll do much better.



thoughts?

[Pat Kelly]

As far as highway milage on my 78E:
Using a colortune I found the carb jets transition from the pilot jets to the main jets around 4,200 RPM. That's about 70 MPH on my E and 65 MPH on my LG.
I also think the fuel has a lot to do with it. When I fill-up at a station that carries the "E" fuel (AM-PM for example) my MPG is lower. Of course this fuel is usually the lowest price around.
When I was in Canada at Big Island Deuce I noticed my milage was substantially better (and we weren't riding economically all the time).

Easy on the throttle (keep your diaphrams low), ride slow (stay with the pilot jets), and buy good gas (not necessarily high-octane), and use the choke sparingly.
Always riding downhill with a tailwind helps too .

[chevy45412001]

tire air presure

Don't forget to check the air presure in tires either. You'd be surprised at the differance 2-3 pounds of air will make.

[webbcraft2150]

Mileage, or lack of it.

I agree. Trying to glean every mile out of a gallon is important. I try to take the rising cost of gas in stride since there are not to many options. My 75 Dodge 4x4 swills fuel at 8-10mpg so it stays parked alot. I got a wild hair one day and figured mileage on my boat, at 30mph it gets about 4, at full throttle it drops to a credit card crushing 2mpg. My daily driver is a 4 banger Cavalier that delivers 26-28 in town which is about the same as my 80g but not near as much fun. I dont complain about the crappy mileage on the truck or the boat since thats the price you pay to play. You can look at it another way, if you figure the $ difference between 2.30gal vs. 2.40gal, its not really a large amount as long as you fill the bike @5gals or a 13gal tank in a Cavalier. Now, at 45gals for the boat or 65gals in the truck, you do start looking for the cheapest station. I have found the easiest way to squeeze every mile is to simply drive the speed limit, its amazing what a 10mph drop will do for the wallet.

[xs650mike]

I just got my bike so I've been hot-dogging a bit while I get to know it, I'm getting 37 mpg in mixed highway and mountain riding. Of course my brakes drag a little. Just cleaned the spooge hole on the front mc and flushed. Now sometimes they drag and sometimes they don't. Guess I've got to clean the calipers. Rear drags ever so slightly too. Point is, this will really affect mileage and isn't a safe condition either. I tend to run my tires on the hard side since I value steering precision over absolute adhesion.

[DiverRay]

I've been riding my XSEleven since February. I have been getting just about 38mpg on my commute over hiway 17 from the coast to San Jose. That is a 1300+ foot climb in about 7 miles. I know if I slow down, I should be able to get about 42-45mpg.
The "beast", my '90 suburban gets about 15mpg around town, and close to 20mpg on the road. That is going close to the speed limit, on diesel. I still leave it parked most of the time, as the bike is more fun!
Ray

[Jerry]

Gas in my area is running about $2.58 for Unleaded Regular. Wife and I both commute about 60 miles a day. My '92 Saturn and '82 XJ gets around 32 mpg at freeway speeds, the wife's '01 Honda Accord is about the same. The average price of gas for ALL of 2003 was $1.65 per gallon. Figure 260 commuting days a year, and the increase for the family budget is over $900 annually. This at the same time oil companies are making record profits, and the new energy bill gives them even more tax breaks.

At that, we here in the US pay a LOT less for gas than our European friends.

My "toys" include a snowmobile and a 4x4, and I don't expect them to get much for gas mileage. In fact, 8 - 12 mpg is common for either. Its the 600 mile a week commuting for wife and me that is the real kicker. Anyone have a 550 they want to sell?

[xs650mike]

My Chrysler 318 5th Ave. gets 20 mpg, my XS650s get 50, my xs400 gets 65. Many on the 650 list report 55-57 mpg from their XS650s but they've geared them higher and cruise at 50-55 mph.

[Pain]

My H gets about 35mpg, the same as my 86 Audi on the highway. I have no idea what the car gets city-wise. They are both fun to drive.

The SG gets in the mid 40s, up to 50 if I drive it all nice. So normally I get about 38 or so

[Parr8hed]

Went to St Louis to buy the boat that I own now. Could not pull it in overdrive in the 5.4 liter expedition, had to pull in drive. Got 7.6 miles to the gallon from St Louis to Louisville. That was brutal. I have an expedition and a ranger that has a 4 liter and 4x4 so it is under 20mpg too. The xs is looking like it will be a year round vehicle now!!

Travis

[don07tncav]

I know what you mean Travis. When Diesel got to be $2.00 a gallon I parked my truck and rarely drive it. I haven't filled it in months. I trade off riding the bikes rain, shine, hot, or cold.

[Pat Kelly]

Isn't it amazing that diesel used to be so much less expensive than gas.... until diesels became popular?
Gas was relatively inexpensive.... until cars started getting better milage?
Just wait until the oil companies switch to inexpensive hydrogen along with the cars.

[xs650mike]

Yesterday rode the 220 miles (and back) from Lake County to Los Baños to meet LoHo, Uncle Spot and Diver Ray for lunch. Came back a different route, total mileage 450. Gas was over $3.00 a gallon in the SF Bay Area, I paid around $2.85 for 87 octane in rural areas where diesel was (I kid you not!) $3.05 or more! The truckers are gonna be screaming, I'm sure there'll be fuel surcharges added on freight rates. This will cause massive inflation as all goods will cost more. The oil companies are insisting that this is driven by the price of crude and it hurts them too but I was just watching the TV news and the oil companies are posting RECORD profits. We are being HAD...just like the energy companies raped California and Texas on electricity. On I -5 I saw all these fools in Suburbans and Yukons driving 80-90 mph, they can't be getting more than 6-7 mpg at those speeds, what a bunch of morons. No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people!

My XS11SF ran flawlessly, haven't yet figured the mileage but I'll post a ride report soon.

[Pat Kelly]

Again I'll do the math showing my Suburban getting better gas milage than my XS :

XS1100 = 32mpg with one rider = 32mpg per person
XS1100 riding 2-up = 32mpg per person or 64mpg for the vehicle

84 Suburban = 16mpg. Driver only = 16 mpg per person
add one passenger = 16mpg per person or 32 for the vehicle (same as the XS)
I have 4 kids so that is 16mpg x 6 of us = 96 mpg for the vehicle.
Fill all 9 seats and we're looking at 144 mpg.

Save the earth and pick-up hitch-hikers .

[Parr8hed]

Gee I like my expedition much better now. Thanks for the math lesson!