I never get great fuel economy.

And its my fault. I want to hypermile but it is soooo much more fun to do a burnout. Or enjoy boost in a turbo car. Or get sideways in 3rd as the Vortech kicks in. And the joy of keeping someone from flying up the turn lane and cutting me off! Rolling into the throttle at corner exit in a perfect four wheel drift. Sublime. 61 on the interstate, not so much.

depends on what you consider great fuel economy. Just by driving normally, I can get a Land Rover up to 17mpg.. but I rarely jump on the freeway on my daily commute

I rarely break 40mpg in my CR-Z, even with road trips in econ with cruze enabled.

I think the low recommended tire pressure may be to blame. 28 psi seems low, anyway. I might also have the low voltage battery tested too - I hear that can cause poor mileage.

I think my average is something like 34mpg. There are folks on the CR-Z forums who talk about 50mpg like that's low.

I managed to get my Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 4.0 to pull 26mpg on the highway with a little effort, and I've gotten 52 miles out of a charge on my Volt, so I think I'm probably at least middle of the pack in being able to put up decent mileage when I try.

I just don't pay any attention to it. What I don't know I don't worry about. Thus driving is more fun.

I try to get good fuel economy in the truck and get 18, I dont care in the vette and get almost double on the hwy. Even with my normal short commute and driving the crap out of it all the time, I average over 20, but I dont care much in the vette, its good enough for me.

dean1484 wrote: I just don't pay any attention to it. What I don't know I don't worry about. Thus driving is more fun.

This. QFT etc.!

It's like aging: I don't pay attention (I've literally been corrected by my kids) to my age nor do I pay attention to mpg.

Daily driving a '95 F150 4x4 will do that to ya!

You can still achieve good mpg's and have fun. It doesn't have to involve heavy throttle inputs, just not slowing down for any turns. I'm still averaging 32 in my daily drive with the big block Kia. I just attack the onramps a little harder.

Mike wrote: I rarely break 40mpg in my CR-Z, even with road trips in econ with cruze enabled. I think the low recommended tire pressure may be to blame. 28 psi seems low, anyway. I might also have the low voltage battery tested too - I hear that can cause poor mileage. I think my average is something like 34mpg. There are folks on the CR-Z forums who talk about 50mpg like that's low.

I get just under 40 in my Civic Hybrid, and they're supposed to get the same 50ish. I do much better without the cruise control than using it. I get about 600 miles more on an oil change with it off, too, according to maintenance minder (I won't run it to 5000+rpm on every hill like cruise will) I use 45psi all around, and notice a 2-3 mpg difference vs 30.

I haven't checked what kind of mileage I have got since I was in college.

Good mileage is obtained by maintaining a steady speed. Acceleration is the killer.

I got 52 mpg once with my Fiesta

I never will again.

I think it also depends on what you drive. Two of my more recent DDs have been a Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius. Neither one of them are particularly interesting to drive, even when hooned...especially the Prius. Hypermilling becomes a game in itself. I'd try to drive the Leaf using nothing but the gas and regenerative braking and see how much battery life I could make it home with.

I track my mileage in my other cars too, but I don't try to hypermill as much as I did with those two cars.

Hello. My name is Eric. And I drive a Nissan Leaf. (Hi Eric)

I have no clue what the economy of it is anymore. When I got it at first I would pay attention to it and drive like I cared. I drove with "Eco" mode on all the time.

I've decided it's not worth it. Instant-on torque is too addictive, and who wants to live in the slow lane anyway?

Mike wrote: 've gotten 52 miles out of a charge on my Volt, so I think I'm probably at least middle of the pack in being able to put up decent mileage when I try.

That's impressive! I haven't gone that far on a single charge in my Volt.

bastomatic wrote: I have no clue what the economy of it is anymore. When I got it at first I would pay attention to it and drive like I cared. I drove with "Eco" mode on all the time. I've decided it's not worth it. Instant-on torque is too addictive, and who wants to live in the slow lane anyway?

This is how I drive my Volt. Buckets of torque, available instantly are way too tempting. Sport mode for life.

You fellas and your working odometers... long ago I realized gas is for burning and I burn it the best way that makes me happy. Miata gets 27 no matter how hard I drive and the turbo volvo makes good noises so I dont mind it chugging "the good stuff" 93

I want to race. Racing is really expensive. To afford it I save money every way I can. If that means discipline to hyper mile things I do.. My daily commute from my lake home to downtown in the girlfriends Honda CRV I get 4+ MPG over her mileage and even though I leave at the same time she did I take 7 to 10 minutes less.

That means intense focus on traffic patterns and timely lane changes.. In spite of rush hour conditions I almost never use the brakes. I call it highway chess. Like Chess you only win if you can see the whole "board" and think at least 5 or six moves ahead.. In reply to SPG123:

i paid attention in the wagon twice and averaged 22mpg with the longest stretch of highway being 7 miles. I prefer to measure my driving in miles per tire. My s10 averages 19 city, 28 is the best its ever done and that was 140 mile roundtrip of highway! its too slow to bother beating on.

In reply to SPG123: You likely need an economy car. You won't be able to do those things you listed, or not very well. Plus, they're engineered from the ground up to not use much fuel, which is more sensible than trying to get a gas guzzler to get better fuel economy, especially for basic transportation.

Getting great fuel economy from a truck is still average, maybe below average fuel economy for all vehicles driven.

People claim they get get 30mpg or so with a Mustang GT but around here with 75 mph highways it's impossible. Same on my Skyline, you are not getting good mpg highways at 4000 rpm.

On my Mustang I get like 19 mpg highway and that is if i'm driving as sedate as possible.

In reply to kanaric: How you drive often matters a lot more than how sedate you drive..

Do you look a long distance ahead and try to judge traffic? Feather off throttle as well as on? Treat your brakes like the thieves they are? Do you tuck behind a big truck/bus to help reduce the drag in a headwind? (only do that when you when you can see far enough ahead to judge road conditions are conducive) plus be respectful. That truck/bus driver will likely be upset if you are too close. An occasional slight drift to your left so he can see you in his mirrors is a considerate thing to do. There is still a benefit at 6 car lengths behind if the headwind is strong enough.

Where I drive there is literally nobody else on the road around me and it's for like 25 minutes to work.

My daily commute is north on 95 into the middle of the nevada desert. I just set cruise control and wait, occasionally i will be around other cars.

Sedate I guess is really just if i'm driving 80, normally what I do.

I usually get good gas mileage. I attribute this to my early driving experiences where I had drive the family 1970 VW camper van. The van had a "custom" interior put together by my dad. Custom in this context means it was home-made and vastly overbuilt. So I was driving a vehicle that was close to 4000 pounds fully loaded. With power of 50 horses pushing from the back and unassisted four wheel drums stopping it, conservation of momentum was key to getting anywhere. Like Frenchyd said, I learned to look way ahead, read traffic patterns, time stoplights and maintain as constant a speed as possible.

I do that all now automatically without thinking. I regularly get 40mpg from my Civic Si on my current 54 mile commute. I also average about 4mpg better than my wife when I drive her Prius.

More than getting good mileage, my commute it slightly less than 5 miles each way. So whether I'm guzzling petrol at 10-12 mpg in the suburban or miserly sipping it at 20-22 in the Miata. The end of the week fuel costs don't change much. Both of those vehicles would be capable of more economy if my drive was longer but since warm-up mileage is bad anyway I just accept it.

I had a rather long drive today, and a significant portion of the drive was at 45-55. I think I found where the gas mileage is hiding in the CR-Z. I probably broke 55mpg in that section. When I drive through it again tomorrow, I'll reset the trip odometer for that section to get a trip MPG. I almost never spend any meaningful time at that speed. My drives tend toward either 25 with a stop sign every two blocks or 70.

Interesting how throttle openings affect MPG. Recently , with my '13 Fiesta, on a leisurely drive in the country, never going over 55, I was astounded to get 47+ mpg.

Then again at a hill climb last fall, I recorded less than 9 mpg.

My daily commute is a in-town sales route that covers about 50 miles or so. When I had my Mustang I'd average around 17 mpg unless I really really tried and then I could get close to 19 maybe even 21-22. Unless it was winter, then subtract 2-3mpg from that. With the Mazda 6 I replaced it with the worst I've gotten is 26mpg and the best is over 30, same route. With the amount I drive unfortunately I really notice it at the end of every month when I have a lot more money left. I say unfortunately because I miss driving the Mustang...