Who’s got this best mpg?

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2001LC

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Nov 4, 2007
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Who’s got the best mpg, share your tips on how you have accomplished this.

Rules: State your;

1) Annual average in mpg, State if City, HWY or Mixed driving.
2) Seasonal averages.
3) Share your tips and how you accomplish this.
4) What grade & type of fuel used and from where.
5) Year of TLC and stock tire size or not.
6) Altitude in feet above sea level.

7) All Filters, Fluids, Oils & Lubes or stock fluids and Filters used. added 3/26/2010
8)
Include millage on odometer. added 3/19/16

A drop in MPG can give early warning information on needed repairs such as; air filter, spark plugs, oils & lubes, O2 sensors, catalytic converts, PCV as well as many other mechanical issues that can arise. Are you getting your moneys worth when it comes to choice of fluids, such as the best fuel and lubricants to use and from which supplier.

The MPG contest will hopefully attract those series 100 owners that keep logs and can give accurate MPG. The method (or tricks) that they find to improve performance (gas mileage) that they share here can benefit all who wish to reduce gas consumption and improve performance

Added 3/29/10:
Results to date:
WE had many share of how they achieved their mpg high & low, i felt it worth mentioning post #14 from Jim_Chow with the best overall; city 15.5-16 and highway 18-19.

We seem to have three groups with the average City/Mixed running at;

1) 15.63 MPG
2) 14.25 MPG
3) 11.40 MPG

The low MPG is general do to a heavy foot on the throttle driving

A well maintained vehicle increase efficiency, the usefully life and saves a few hundred bucks a year.

Consider this:

A low MPG will use 6,000 gallons more fuel in the expected life of the series 100, (Thats about $20,000 in the expected life of 250,000 miles)
 
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I do around 14-15 mpg in mixed driving but what do you mean by "reduce dependence on foreign oil"? this is an international forum and we have members from oil-producing countries - seems like an ethnocentric rationale IMO. the upside of less fuel-consumption would be less waste of natural resources and air pollution, but then again, there are far effective means of accomplishing that than increasing your mpg on your TLC, both on an individual basis, for communities and for the entire world.

Check out what this TLC-owner is doing: http://www.cleanestline.com/2007/11/getting-there-a.html
 
99 LC 128K miles.
About 15-16mpg city, 16-17.5 highway.
Live at about 725 to 800 altitude but see little difference at sea level or in the 4-5k mountains of the Big Bend of west Texas.
Little change seasonally.
Completely stock with Michelin LTX/LS tires at 32-33 psi.
No synthetics in oil pan or gearboxes.
87 octane gas from either Walmart or HEB grocery store. Saw no improvement with premium in mileage and power boost wasn't enough to justify the expense. Besides, I don't tow anything and no one is going to outrun anyone in a Cruiser that they would bragg about.
I allow the car to start rolling on it's own before acclerating when possible.
I time red lights and cheat a little on stop signs.
Running the AC doesn't seem to affect mileage on the highway and I rarely use it in town.
I usually drive with cruise on the highway and set it about 65-70. Over 70 makes quite a difference.

I NEVER, NEVER use drive thru's at fast food, pharmacies, etc. They are my pet peeve and I feel they should be outlawed. Get off your lazy a...ses and go inside. (I won't buy any of the excuses...feel bad...have kids with me.. etc. We lived quite well without them for years.) On the same line...kill the engine at Sonic. You can live without the AC for a few minutes. Besides,your exhaust is choking the guy beside you and your DRL's are blinding the guy across from you.

I removed the 3rd row seat but am not sure it improved mileage appreciably. It did it mainly to increase storage space for my camping and camera gear.
I keep the car clean and waxed year-round.
That's about all I can think of now.
 
99 LC 128K miles.
About 15-16mpg city, 16-17.5 highway.
Live at about 725 to 800 altitude but see little difference at sea level or in the 4-5k mountains of the Big Bend of west Texas.
Little change seasonally.
Completely stock with Michelin LTX/LS tires at 32-33 psi.
No synthetics in oil pan or gearboxes.
87 octane gas from either Walmart or HEB grocery store. Saw no .

I call that a good mpg city not using synthetics and 87 octane, WOW. Good driving habits, good running engine and drive train. It will be interesting to see what others in your area and altitude get for mpg city.
 
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It took me a while to learn how to get the most out of the LC. My wife doesn't do so well. She get 14-15mpg in town. I rarely get in a hurry...nothing starts for me until I get there, anyway. I subscribe to the bumper sticker that says :I'm in no hurry...I'm on my way to work."
 
2001LC, didn't mean to rain on anyone's parade, your initiative is a valid one and it makes good ownership and environmental sense - I just suck at keeping logs! :-)

having said that, i justed checked my mpg meter on the dashboard while driving to the pharmacy just now - it was 11.8 since last refueling (which was quite recently)... and that was after i had 25K mi service done earlier this week (oil/filter change, tire rotation etc). needless to say, living in an urbran/suburban area is not good for gas consumption...
 
Mine said 10.5mpg after last refuel in the hilly san francisco.
 
is it bad that im getting 12mpg with an RX350 loaner that i have for the weekend? hah. I get 10-12 depending if i want to drive nicely or not. More highway these days back and forth to school. If im going on a long trip i usually pace myself to stretch out the tank but that never happens because someon always wants to go faster then me and i wont let that happen.
 
having said that, i justed checked my mpg meter on the dashboard while driving to the pharmacy just now - it was 11.8 since last refueling (which was quite recently)... and that was after i had 25K mi service done earlier this week (oil/filter change, tire rotation etc). needless to say, living in an urbran/suburban area is not good for gas consumption...

11.8 at sea level ouch
 
I get 10-12 depending if i want to drive nicely or not. More highway these days back and forth to school. If im going on a long trip i usually pace myself to stretch out the tank but that never happens because someon always wants to go faster then me and i wont let that happen.

10 to 12 at sea level, I realy was expecting much better.
 
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12-13 at sea level with 91 premium. Just changed the plugs. Perhaps magic will happen. ;)
 
-100% city: 15.5-16
-interstate hwy: 19+ (summer), ~18.5 otherwise except in So. CA (~18-18.5 on AZ gas, ~1.5mpg less on CA gas)
-tips: cruise set to 70mph on interstate, slow acceleration, coast into stop lights, roof rails pushed all the way back, M1 delvac 5w40 (engine), delvac 75w90 diffs/tcase, OEM air filter changed ~once a year, -20004 oil filter, OCI at 7.5K mi, no trips under 8 miles.
-gas: Chevron 91 only (shell if I can't get chevron), AZ gas (up to 10% ethanol)
-year: 2003 w/ 5 speed tranny, bridgestone OEM HT's w/ 18" wheels
-altitude: 2500-3000' usually, 3000-7000' interstate (mostly AZ & NM)
 
-100% city: 15.5-16
~1.5mpg less on CA gas)
Chevron 91 only (shell if I can't get chevron), AZ gas (up to 10% ethanol)

Nice Jim, Thats ~15.75mpg average city, do you ever get 100% gas and if so do you see any difference in MPG?

Is CA gas a blend?
 
We get 13-14 mpg in 50/50 city and highway driving and 15-16 all highway. It's a '99 with 58k miles on 35" BFG A/T with ARB front bumper.
 
Nice Jim, Thats ~15.75mpg average city, do you ever get 100% gas and if so do you see any difference in MPG?

Is CA gas a blend?


I don't know exactly how much gas is in our gas. I suspect > 90% although legally, they are only required to use 90%. I say this because in CA, the pumps also say 10% ethanol. In this case, I suspect you're getting 10% ethanol while in AZ, you might be getting closer to 0% ethanol. I'm pretty sure the "recipes" are different. I had similar results when we were using up to 10% MTBE for part of the year, so I'm pretty sure it's not a MTBE vs. ethanol energy content argument. I think there's just more gas in AZ gasoline. I didn't notice any difference between Tucson gas and NM or CO (Montrose) gas, either, just So. CA gas.

FWIW, Tucson gas comes via pipeline from El Paso while So. CA gas is all from the West Coast refineries (probably the ones in Wilmington/LA). Phoenix gets gas from both CA and TX (pipeline via Tucson).

I have to add that "city" driving has different meaning in AZ vs. CA. Here, traffic lights are typically 0.5 mi to 1 mi apart. In So. CA, there are so many cars that there seems to be a light every 200 ft. When I lived in LA, I had to drive through over 50 traffic lights in 11 miles to get to work. In the LX, I typically encounter 20 lights in the 15 mi grocery loop.
 
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My MPG just went up after recently replacing the PS upstream O2 sensor. Now I am thinking about replacing the DS upstream O2 sensor even though I don't have a code. I am getting, now, about 15mpg (14.5-15.5mpg...if I stayed at 60-63mph I can easily get 20% better efficiency) which, post O2 sensor install, is up from 13.5mpg even before the code was displayed... with my heavy pig of a rig on the highway (13.5-14.5 around town): 4,000' elevation and up; 70mph; 87 octane. I am pretty happy with that considering how my rig is set-up, overall weight, turning 35" MT/R rubber and the elevation factor.

Pulling the trailer however is an automatic 20% decrease in MPG :rolleyes:.
 

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