Gas Mileage??
 

Recently bought my 05 LGT 5 speed manual. I am wondering what the average mpg you guys are getting. Average miles per tank? My avg. mpg gauge that the car has is reading 16.3 right now and its about 20°F here so i let her warm up for about 10 mins before driving daily. Seems like im getting horrible mpg's, this is all city by the way.

If its all city, sounds probably right ... I avg right around 21 mixed city/highway.

I average 23/24mpg mixed city highway driving, but I can get it to around 26mpg mixed if I baby it.

Usually see about 21-22mpg city and 27mpg highway. I've gotten 28.5mpg on a long highway trip with cruise at 70mph once (calculated at the pump)

Also don't trust the computer average, you're most likely doing worse. Check your mileage between fill ups and compare a trip odometer for each tank with the amount of gallons shown on your receipt. Then some simple math will give you real numbers. Recently my 2.5i's computer showed 29.4mpg average in my last tank but I did out the calculations and I actually had 28.1mpg! That may seem good to you, but the way I was trying to baby to car to see how high I could get it, I'm very disappointed (its supposed to be EPA 27 highway, which was most of my commutes).

Don't idle that long. 30sec - 1 min tops!!! Idling not only wastes fuel but is also hard on engine. You get HEAPS of fuel dumped into crankcase, which dilutes the oil, lowers flashpoint and causes oil to burn easier.

Again, DO NOT idle the car, just drive gently until both coolant and oil temperature reach operating levels. Oil templ. gauge is very useful for it.

You will also improve your gas mileage.

Really? even with the turbo motor? I've never heard of this before... Anyone else follow these rules. Thanks for the headsup.

Nothing to do with turbo. Most people put unnecessary strain on the engines and waste fuel by excessive and unnecessary idling. Including people on this forum.

Note, "drive gently" means staying out of boost and within low rpms (< 2.5-3k is my limit for cold engine).

Btw, also people who warm engine by idling and then stomp on it forget that transmission oil and particularly rear diff oil do not get to operating temperature when sitting idle.

Absolutely!

After years of logging it is crystal clear that just because you have heat coming out of the vents and the Temp Gauge reads warm.... don't believe your car is ready to romp. You have to have some road time, some miles at speed. The transmission must be warmed up, your differentials, and don't forget the CV joints in your axels.

The car heats up unevenly in other words. From variations inside the engine itself to the driveline there are not only the lubricants to consider but the metals as well.

It works the other way somewhat, too. Once you have pounded on the car and have it heatsoaked you have gone the other direction. Brake systems are another temperature consideration.

Another negative related to excessive idling, it has a tendency to skew your fuel trims. Idle too long and it can affect your full throttle operation. If you're going to sit for a while, turn it off.

I think BMW has this in their M5s where when you start up the car the tach is digital and will show the driver the maximum revs they can safely use until the engine is ready for full power. Maybe this will trickle down to lower models and other makes eventually?

Ok now that i know i can actually apply this to my driving. Thanks guy.

My dads cts-v doesn't display anything on the tach, but it does limit torque based on temps.

ha...my trip computer shows 18mpg and thats w/ an easy foot

Thats what i was getting babying it and not warming it up because it was ~50° out.

I'm still averaging about 20 mixed driving with -10 to 0* and I let mine warm up sometimes sorry don't believe letting the car idle is bad on it although I don't push hard it for a few miles.

Believe? This is not a matter of faith, these are facts. Do you have to offer any to the contrary, i.e. "idle is not bad"?