I appreciate your taking the time to post back. I wasn't expecting anything solid on this, just was curious if there was any kind of trend. From the conditions you describe, I'm not surprised at the mileage difference. Unfortunately, you really need to do this for multiple tanks to get any kind of reasonable "average."

I'm going to try the "fill it till it clicks" routine. It'll be hard, it's a lifetime habit for me!

Will see how it works out!

Drive Safe,
Steve R.

 

Sounds like a plan--I'm already looking at trying another couple of runs like this to see if there's some kind of a trend and to even out the environment and conditions over multiple trials.

So far this week it's been 100 F or higher everyday, so the AC has been on pretty consistently.

One note: got the best mileage ever out of my Ford Explorer last weekend. 400.5 miles, 18. 3 gallons of gas, 65 mph on the cruise control, windows up, AC on but turned down a couple of notches.

21.88 MPG! Hooray.

I did hall about 600 lbs of stuff in the back for 200 of those miles, though.

 

i got an 88 hatch. 4sp, no ac, 9 gallon tank, between 345, to 370 miles per tank. thats about 40 mpg. mostly freeway.

 

We did a day trip into New England, rural two lane highway, 40 to rarely over 60 mph (except for passes, power once you stomp on it and the computer says go!). 229 mis round trip, topped off the tank, 5.8 gal-39.4mpg. Pretty good with the E.P.A. rating at 40. Was looking at Yahoo reviews, and am wondering if people are complaining when they have the AC cranking. No, the AC is not great when you are sitting in traffic, but it is a small motor, designed to be quiet and efficient when not at cruising speed. A hybrid would certainly be better. But with the kind of driving I do, I couldn't be happier.

Oh, by the way, '06 LX 4-door automatic "Stella". Pics soon.

 

Should've added, filled the tank stopping at the first click, same time of day, same station.

 

Excellent to hear this--there's another poster who picks up an LX next week, and they wondered what they could expect in exactly this kind of driving.

 

**Encouraging** HOOKED ON PHONICS lol

 

I never claimed that spelling was one of my long suits. I suppose you've never misspelled a word before? If you type with proper hand position and fingering, you'll know that the "i" and the "e" are typed with the same finger only on opposite hands. It's a very common mistake.

 

More data vis-a-vis AC/windows closed vs no AC/windows open:

308 miles, 7.1 gallons, 43.4 MPG

90 percent highway driving, 65-70 mph, medium to no traffic, NO AC, windows open.

I accelerate at near full throttle but upshift at about 3K rpm at the most when entering the highway.

So far, this seems to but the lie to the idea that aerodynamic drag with windows open is less efficient than AC on with windows closed. of course, this is only for the Civic--for more aerodynamic cars with larger engines this may not hold true.

 

My mom has been driving my car this week and i just calculated the gas milleage. With AC full blast in my 98 dx hatch going about 70 on the highway it is getting a whopping..... 28 mpg. This is the first time ive calculated mpg before. Is the AC really killing mpg that much? How much more mpg can i expect without AC full blast.