MPG does not suck

[pdbrains]

This week I used my 2005 5 speed GT Convertible to get to work. The distance ~125 miles both ways. For the week I traveled 594 miles and used 19.4 gallons of premium fuel. That works out to about 30.6 mpg. My trip is not all highway, only about 45 of those 125 miles are on a freeway. MY GPS calculated my avg speed to be only 45 mph with a peak speed of 72 mph for the week.

When I use the car for shorter trips I only get about 25 mpg. I wonder why some Pt's get such crappy gas mileage?

[Mean Green]

So you are saying 80 of those 125 miles were city driving and freeway was 45miles and you got 30.6 mpg? I don't know. I had a '03 GT 5 speed and if I totally stayed out of boost I got 30+ mpg with a little city driving and the rest was a combo of highway and freeway. I really babied it to do that. So I'm not sure I trust your math with so little freeway driving.

[cleverklutz]

That's nuts man. The best tank I've ever got was 33mpg going 55mph for the entire tank! I think you should double check just to make sure you were actually driving your PT, and didn't take the neighbors car to work or something. If it was your PT, I hate to tell you, but something is seriously wrong with your car! There is no way it shouldn't get that kind of fuel mileage. You should lower your air pressure, pull a spark plug wire off and leave it off, and fix a piece of plywood on the roof so that it is pure vertical. Then check your mileage. You probably wouldn't make the rest of us feel so bad if you "fix" it like that! I drive about 20 miles one way to work, 4 of which are gravel, and I do 55 on the gravel and 60 on the highway. There is no city driving. I average about 20-22mpg.

Ben

[pdbrains]

The MPG is what it is. The rest of the trip is not "city". 44 miles are on Rt206 in NJ, it is a 45-50mph road with about 5 lights. The rest miles are on Rt18/rt527 thru New Brunswick/Piscataway NJ, morning trip in is at 5 am, not much traffic but lots of lights. My trip home was also late so traffic was not that bad. MY GPS reports that my avg speed was 44 mph. That also what it is.

Up until this week I was not using the car to go to work and I was getting 25 mpg. I have a Carchip attached to my OBDII port. Later I will try to post a picture my "trip".

[Roadcuda]

I get the feeling that some people find it hard to beleive that some of these cars can get half way decent mileage. I do a combo of local and highway driving with my '03 5-speed. During the warmer months it's rare that I get less then 23 mpg. On a straight highway run I'll set the cruise at about 65 and get 30, or maybe a little better. It was better before they started to screw around the gas blends. Then it was closer to 34 or 35. But I try to drive with a light foot, short shifting, and getting into 5th as quick as possible.
While some of these cars may just not be able to get good mileage, I think alot of it does depend on your driving style. I'm not knocking anyone on how they drive, but it has been proven that the heavier the right foot is, the more gas you're going to use. I have talked to people that are not heavy footed and get less mileage then I do. Why, I don't know. It would seem that they should all be in the same range, and since they aren't, I agree that's a problem. With the price of gas what it is now, we have to chose how we will drive our cars. It may be a simplistic view, but if some of us can get good mileage, it would seem that more could if they tried driving a little different. I know that it may not work in all cases, but it's worth a try, isn't it?

[Mean Green]

Originally Posted by Roadcuda

I get the feeling that some people find it hard to beleive that some of these cars can get half way decent mileage. I do a combo of local and highway driving with my '03 5-speed. During the warmer months it's rare that I get less then 23 mpg. On a straight highway run I'll set the cruise at about 65 and get 30, or maybe a little better. It was better before they started to screw around the gas blends. Then it was closer to 34 or 35. But I try to drive with a light foot, short shifting, and getting into 5th as quick as possible.
While some of these cars may just not be able to get good mileage, I think alot of it does depend on your driving style. I'm not knocking anyone on how they drive, but it has been proven that the heavier the right foot is, the more gas you're going to use. I have talked to people that are not heavy footed and get less mileage then I do. Why, I don't know. It would seem that they should all be in the same range, and since they aren't, I agree that's a problem. With the price of gas what it is now, we have to chose how we will drive our cars. It may be a simplistic view, but if some of us can get good mileage, it would seem that more could if they tried driving a little different. I know that it may not work in all cases, but it's worth a try, isn't it?

Like I said in my 5 speed '03 GT I can get 30+ if I stay out of boost and drive like an old granny. The car was modified to 280 hp and over 300 tq. Don't let the high hp fool you. When staying out of boost you are not using it, but you are using the tq and tq is what gets you going and it takes even less gas to get you going with more tq. You couldn't drive my car any different and get any better mpg. Even punching it often and not going for mpg I would get 22-24 mpg. Go figure. You would expect my mpg to fall to the 16-17 mpg when I drove it fast, but that is not the case. I do all of my mpg figuring with at least 10 fill ups. Anything less than that is a joke and not accurate. Figuring it on one or two fill ups is not accurare. Figuring it on one long trip is not accurate, except for that trip unless you are constantly taking long trips. It's every day driving and over a period of time that produces accurate results. I also wonder if people are using the first half of their tank for calculating. The first half of the tank will give you 200-200+ miles while the second half will give slightly over a 100 miles. Gotta figure it with at least 3/4 to a full tank though I never let my gas get below 1/4 of a tank because I don't like frying the fuel pump.

[banlenterprises]

ok im gona chime in believe it or not i live 30 miles to my shop my house is the second highest point in rockingham county i have a 2002 5 speed non turbo car i did a lot of coasting down hills no down shifting,coasting to stop lights and if the pavement was flat i was in 4th gear by the time i hit 35 mph i checked the results several times cause i could not believe it got an aveage of 38 mpg keep in mind most of my trip is hyway and i never exceeded 60 mph the car now has a flowmaster exhaust on it i put a 3k resister on the air temp sensor and hogged out the air filter and haveing fukn with it still gets 28 mpg

[zombie]

I've checked the mileage on my 06 three times. I got 28.9 driving to work in hilly Vermont and 30.8 on a trip to Maine. I think half the battle is how you drive it. I'm usually a little over the speed limit but I take it easy starting and stopping.

[mjb457]

I would have to agree that the MPG on the PT is very eratic at best! Ive had my PT-'03 over 5years and 60K since new.Its an automnatic non-turbo well maintained with a K & N drop in. Ive ranged from 17.5 MPG to 27MPG... very eratic... I drive conservatively pulling out & stopping but move about 5-10MPh over speed on highway with cruise & AC..(you have to or your get run down! ) If it would stay at the 27 I wouldnt even mildly consider anything else! MY VW Jetta got the same 23TOWN,, 29Highway now matter how I drove.... I think we all are on the same page,,, How do we make it more consistant...?? Is there a magic chip on download? IS HONDA CIVIC THE ANSWER??

[ado63]

Originally Posted by banlenterprises

ok im gona chime in believe it or not i live 30 miles to my shop my house is the second highest point in rockingham county i have a 2002 5 speed non turbo car i did a lot of coasting down hills no down shifting,coasting to stop lights and if the pavement was flat i was in 4th gear by the time i hit 35 mph i checked the results several times cause i could not believe it got an aveage of 38 mpg keep in mind most of my trip is hyway and i never exceeded 60 mph the car now has a flowmaster exhaust on it i put a 3k resister on the air temp sensor and hogged out the air filter and haveing fukn with it still gets 28 mpg

I am very interested in trying the resistor trick on the air temp sensor. I know you can get them on ebay but Radio Shack probably has the same thing for about 59 cents. What do I need for a resistor and where exactly does it go? Just bought an 01 Limited and havent even run a full tank through it yet,but if I had to guess I am getting about 22-23 mpg. Will be doing the Crane wires and Champ Double platinums on thursday along with a K&N drop in. Love the car so far! And even 22-23 mpg beats the 16 I was getting with my Dakota!