City Mileage 10 MPG worse than Higheway Mileage

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(karat @ Oct 2 2006, 04:21 PM) [snapback]327087[/snapback]</div>

Unless you are averaging aroun 24 miles per hour during your city driving, with a couple of miles between stops, then you aren't doing "City Driving" as it has been defined by the EPA. If your city driving is more like accelerating from 0 to 40 only to then put on the brakes and stop for the next traffic light, then you will indeed get crappy milage.

Constant speed is the key to high gas milage. 0 to 40 MPH and back to 0 every quarter of a mile will result in crappy gas milage.

If this is indeed the type of driving you find yourself in, then one way to get some improvement is to not accelerate all the way to the point where you need to start braking. Making a mad dash to the next light and waiting at it for 30 seconds doesn't get you where you're going any faster than taking an extra 15 seconds to get the next light and waiting there 15 seconds. Yet such calmer driving will result in a significant change in your milage. It won't get you to 50, but should at least get you into the 40's

 

I was gonna add "check your tire pressures", but if the battery is losing 3 or 4 bars overnight then there is a serious problem. Get thee to a dealer.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(karat @ Oct 2 2006, 05:16 PM) [snapback]327132[/snapback]</div>

"City Driving" is subjective. Everyone's definition is different. Most people would probably describe my commute as "City Driving". I never get anywhere near a highway, and I travel most of the way at around 45 MPH. There's even about 8 traffic lights thrown in.

Contrast that with driving in the outskrits of a major city where you are driving from traffic light to traffic light and most of the time you are either accelerating or braking.

There's a very big difference between these two types of driving in regards to your gas milage.

My commute is actually much closer to the EPA's definition of "Highway Driving". The EPA's highway tests average only 48 MPH with few stops. I get anywhere from 48 to 52 MPG in the summer and closer to 40 in the dead of winter. However, if I drive into Philadelphia, going from traffic light to traffic light and up and down hills, my gas milage drops way off.

Now, if I get stuck in heavy traffic on the highway that slows things down to 25 MPH or so, I get phenomenal gas milage.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ Oct 3 2006, 03:16 PM) [snapback]327441[/snapback]</div>

I live just outside DC and have often tried this policy, as I totally agree with it -- the red light is traffic's great equalizer, and all you do when you rush ahead is wait longer at the next light.

Unfortunately, we are not alone on the road. Drivers in the rear view mirror (particularly those in SUVs) become aggressively annoyed with my steady-speed coasting from one red light to the next, and often feel an overpowering need to demonstrate how annoyed they are by my "slow" driving, either tailgating with unmistakeable menace, or else crossing the yellow lines to pass me (on two lane roads) and then cutting back in with squealing tires.

In sum, I feel that insisting on coasting in a densely populated high-traffic area, one where the majority of drivers are bent (however mistakenly) on cutting their driving time rather than their mileage, is a recipe for disaster.

So my city mileage, even with the AC off, never inches above 45 mpg (we also have a bunch of hills around here).

To get better mileage, I'd have to move to a less densely populated and flatter part of the country.

 

I have 3300 miles on PRIA now. High 40's in the city and low 50's on the highway. Tire pressure was about 35psi, now it is 40psi. I have a lifetime (city+highway) of about 48-49mpg. Since it is getting colder, mpg will probably go down

 

I wonder how ol' karat is making out with the dying battery?