What's your summer vs winter MPG?

"Stupidru" (Schm1an)
01/27/2014 at 09:11 • Filed to: None

I keep a pretty detailed record of every fillup on our cars. Here we go

06 Legacy GT

-Summer Avg: 23

-Winter Avg: 20

-Total Avg: 21

03 Impreza Outback

-Summer Avg: 26.5

-Winter Avg: 23.5

-Total Avg: 24.5

09 Forester XT

-Summer Avg: 24

-Winter Avg: 19

-Total Avg: 23

DISCUSSION (65)

ncasolowork2 > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:12

My summer average in my Legacy (2012) was 28-29 my winter right now is hovering around 22.

Victorious Secret > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:13

Summer is 33, winter is 28

Stupidru > Victorious Secret
01/27/2014 at 09:15

What car?

CalzoneGolem > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:15

2007 Ford Taurus 3.0 V6

Summer ~26

Winter ~22

Stupidru > ncasolowork2
01/27/2014 at 09:15

NA I assume?

spanfucker retire bitch > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:16

My summer average (this is according to my car, so take it with a grain of salt) is about 33, and so far this winter (this is the first time in the winter with my car) I'm at about 30 or so for the last time I checked.

Goshen, formerly Darkcode > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:16

Kinja'd!!!

Here's a car Oppo should have a lot more consideration for. Mid-engined, convertible, affordable, great handling. Too bad you guys in the US never got it.

ncasolowork2 > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:16

Yeah. NA CVT boring plain but it is really nice that if I take a highway trip I can get 33-34mpg.

daender > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:16

I can't tell for sure but I think I'm getting better MPG during the winter than in the summer. 26-27 summer versus 29-32 winter. NB Miata zero performance or appearance mods.

Stupidru > spanfucker retire bitch
01/27/2014 at 09:16

What kind of car?

Stupidru > Goshen, formerly Darkcode
01/27/2014 at 09:17

I always loved racing with it in Gran Turismo though!

Stupidru > ncasolowork2
01/27/2014 at 09:17

I've been considering getting the new Forester XT with the CVT for my wife... how do you like the new transmission?

spanfucker retire bitch > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:18

Mazda3 Hatchback iTouring. It could actually be lower than 30 - I haven't checked in a couple weeks and it's been in the teens and single digits for that amount of time as well, but so far the drop hasn't been nearly as cliff-like as I had feared. So far.

duurtlang > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:18

My car has become (slightly) more economical this winter. The AC is switched off all the time and my winter tires are considerably more narrow than the summer tires (185 versus 205).

27 versus 29 mpg (US gallons) average. Peugeot 406 coupe.

Stupidru > daender
01/27/2014 at 09:18

You get better in winter than summer? Is that because you autocross or track it in summer?

Stupidru > duurtlang
01/27/2014 at 09:19

What kind of car?

In summer I ran 245s on my Impreza and in winter I have 205s, but my summer mpg still kicks ass over winter

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:21

How do you figure out the MPG for your vehicles accurately? I try to but it's mainly just guess work

Nibby > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:22

2011 Forester 2.5X (not XT)

Summer - 25

Winter - 22

timateo81 > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:22

I have the data, but I don't have time to break it down into seasonal averages. I will say this however:

Worst month (Jan '13) - 41.2 mpg

Best month (June '13) - 47.2 mpg

Lifetime - 46.1 mpg

2011 Toyota Prius liftback

___________

Worst month (June '13) - 28.8 mpg

Best month (Dec '13) - 35.4 mpg

Lifetime - 32.6 mpg

2000 Honda Civic

daender > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:22

I autocross'd about once a month during the summer but, to be honest, the car's been in the shop most of that time because of a shitty issue with the gas tank so that might have affected it's fuel economy. Also, I think my driving habits/abilities have changed so I'm able to get more miles per gallon out of it. I just refilled the 3/4-empty tank yesterday, about 7.716 gallons, and covered 249.4 miles which equals about 32 mpg.

Big Bubba Ray > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:26

I've got an 05 Outback. Summer mileage averages around 27-27 if I drive conservatively. Winter is 22-23. It's not a massive drop off, but my wallet is definitely feeling it.

Devlin Munion > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:26

I feel like this should be the opposite but in the summer in Florida I average about 20-22 but for the last few weeks I have been doing 24-25 in my 05 330i.

Trunk Impaired 318 > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:28

1986 MR2

Winter Avg: 20

Summer Avg: 35

I get killed in the winter because it takes a solid 15-20 min for the car to warm up and while its doing so it's idling at over 2k

Kinja'd!!!

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:31

I bought my 01 Civic in September, I do mostly in town driving there is 4 stop signs and one mile of 55 on my 5 mile drive to work, and the first two tanks I got 34 mpg.

summer 34

winter 3o

But 1 I do a lot more stupid driving in the winter, and 2 I like warming up my car a lot.

willkinton247 > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:32

2010 VW Jetta 2.5

Summer Avg: 26

Winter: 21

Total: 23.5

duurtlang > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
01/27/2014 at 09:36

Easy. Keep track of how much fuel you buy versus the distance you drive. Not much guesswork involved there, it's a simple calculation.

webmonkees > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:36

90 Jetta 35-38 Summer 24-30 Winter (with that crappy ethanol mix)

With a bit of hypermiling which we used to call coasting out of gear . Have a few mountain roads like that. Gives you a good lesson in understeer.

Stupidru > timateo81
01/27/2014 at 09:37

Using Excel and some Pivot Tables really helps break it down. Although I have probably gone a bit overboard with my gas mileage tracking... My nickname at my job is "spreadsheet"

Stupidru > Big Bubba Ray
01/27/2014 at 09:38

Sounds about the same as my Impreza. In summer it was excellent getting 27mpg and an extra 50 miles out of a tank. I'm downsizing my wheels from 17s to 16s and going from 245 rubber to some 205s, so hopefully my summer mileage will creep a little higher

timateo81 > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:38

Pivottables FTW. My data is in Fuelly, so I could get there, but I'm just to meh right now. Too busy with work pivottables.

Stupidru > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
01/27/2014 at 09:39

I use a spreadsheet of only the nerdiest variety. It took me a good 2 years of tinkering with to finally get it perfect

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > duurtlang
01/27/2014 at 09:39

Easy enough, but do you account for variables like having to burn off more fuel to get up to speed? Like for example I live in Northern Virginia, and a lot of times on the interstate I just have to gun it, do you have any way of adding that into it as well? I just try to keep track of the MPG of all of my vehicles so that when it drops I know something is going on

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:41

I love nerd variety, I'm an IT guy by day. What sort of tinkering did you do?

ThatWillBuffOut > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:41

2012 Versa (MT)

Summer- 35mpg

Winter- 32.9mpg

2003 Tracker(MT, 4WD)

Summer- 22mpg

Winter- 20mpg (Currently 11mpg because I'm driving less than a mile to work.)

Stupidru > timateo81
01/27/2014 at 09:43

I've thought about using Fuelly but my old Android never had an app for Fuelly so I just kept the info in a note and then input manually the next time I got to a computer. My data is kept on Google Drive so that no matter if I'm at home or work, or lose my backup USB key (did that once for a week and almost had a heart attack which prompted me to move to Drive) I can find my data

Stupidru > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
01/27/2014 at 09:46

Just little things like taking the difference in rolling diameter into account, average speed vs mpg, tires, wheels, oil, filter, getting fields to auto-populate depending on some data that was already input, seasonal breakdowns, and figuring out a rolling average for my estimated odometer reading when my wife's car is paid off (when I'll be able to get a new car). I'm an engineer so it's in my blood to be exact down to the decimal and find out all the different variables

timateo81 > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:46

there is no fuelly android app (that I know of - I too am on android) but you can just send an SMS with Miles|Price|Gallons (MPG) to the Fuelly phone lines. it's easier than an app.

i'll admit that the data isn't easily accessible in Fuelly, but you can always download it anytime you want in a db format. Also, Fuelly can give you some quick numbers at a glance, which is good enough for me.

Stupidru > timateo81
01/27/2014 at 09:48

I'm so far into this spreadsheet that it would take me so long to input all of my data only to get the same number. Thanks for the tip though!

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 09:54

Oh nice, I would love to be able to do it down to an exact measurement, but, I'm not so good with math, lets be friends!

Speaking of tires, how would you figure out the MPG loss for summer tires vs. winters? I have winters on both my vehicles right now, but I don't even know how to go about figuring out the loss of MPG

Nibbles > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 10:15

2007 Focus 2.0E automatic

-Summer Avg: 28.7

-Winter Avg: 21.6

-Total Avg: 26.3 (8 mos "summer", 4 mos "winter". This will be used for all calcs)

1996 Dakota 5.2 4x4 5MT

-Summer Avg: 18.7

-Winter Avg: 17.2

-Total Avg: 18.2

1987 Saab 900 SPG

-Summer Avg: 34.6

-Winter Avg: 32.7

-Total Avg: 33.97

davedave1111 > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 10:17

I'm an engineer so it's in my blood to be exact down to the decimal

Precision is not accuracy :)

davedave1111 > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
01/27/2014 at 10:21

Simple way is to note the odometer reading and/or reset the trip computer when you've just filled up*, then keep all your fuel receipts for a while and total the quantity of fuel and compare it to the miles driven (after another fill-up, don't accidentally include an extra tankful).

*You don't have to fill up, but for shorter-term measurements it's easier that way - brim it, then do some miles and brim it again to see how much was used. Longer term, if you know how much fuel you used and how many miles you drove in, say, a year, it'll be a better average.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > davedave1111
01/27/2014 at 10:31

Okay, so more of like a long term study to see what your vehicle is really getting over several months. Never thought about keeping the receipts.

davedave1111 > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
01/27/2014 at 10:44

I keep all the receipts for tax reasons anyway, but if I can ever be bothered I'll total them and find out what I've really been getting in terms of fuel economy.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > davedave1111
01/27/2014 at 10:53

I would probably shit bricks if I kept all my receipts and took a hard look at all the money I spend on them. I drive a older Honda Accord, but my wife drives a Chrysler 300, each fill up for the 300 costs about 55 bucks or so.

Newsboy > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
01/27/2014 at 10:59

I've got an easier way: Fuelly.

You can add fill-ups by text message. You'll get an instant reply text telling you the mpg for your last tank, and your overall average mpg. The website has in depth stats on monthly mpg, cost per mile, etc. ad nauseum, all with pretty charts and graphs.

http://www.fuelly.com/faq/22/fuelup-…

Kinja'd!!!

horspowr1001 > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 10:59

07 TL-S

Summer: 23mpg
Winter (with snow tires): 21mpg

davedave1111 > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
01/27/2014 at 11:01

Pfft, come live in England and then you'll have something to complain about. My E30 - 1.8 four-pot - costs me at least 50 cents per mile in fuel round town.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > Newsboy
01/27/2014 at 11:01

Yeah someone actually had posted that, I'm checking it out right now, seems to be the answer to all of my curiosity. Thanks though man

Newsboy > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 11:03

2011 Subaru Outback -

29/24/26 Summer/Winter/Avg

Kinja'd!!!

2013 Fiat 500 -

34.2/31.5/33.3

Kinja'd!!!

Newsboy > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 11:07

The CVT feels weird at first, but is actually faster than a conventional automatic since you're always in the optimal power band at WOT. When I get out of the Subaru and back into the Fiat with it's 1.4L and six-speed auto, I miss the CVT. Feels like it's shifting every few seconds by comparison.

Bonus: I've seen 31 mpg per tank in the Outback on highway trips.

Newsboy > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 11:10

Schm1an: your prayers have been answered.

http://www.fuelly.com/faq/10/Can-I-i…

I too used to have a massively pivotable sheet of awesome...then I switched to Fuelly. One button import, worked perfectly. Now I just text my fill-ups and it does all the complex maths for me. Genius.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > davedave1111
01/27/2014 at 11:11

Yeah I've heard in Europe gas is REALLY expensive. Do you guys just use public transit more? How do you get around efficiently without burning off a ton of money?

Stupidru > Newsboy
01/27/2014 at 11:23

That's excellent! I'll probably do both for a while and see which one I like more. Also, you said "maths"... that is awesome!

Newsboy > Stupidru
01/27/2014 at 11:28

Kinja'd!!!

Stupidru > Newsboy
01/27/2014 at 11:36

Hmmm not working :(

davedave1111 > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom
01/27/2014 at 11:38

Alternatives to driving are more realistic here, for a start. You wouldn't drive into central London unless you had to, regardless of fuel costs, because of traffic, parking, and so-on. Oh, and the Congestion Charge .

There are lots of buses, the Tube, and also bicycles and walking.

Where people do have to drive, they tend to drive much more fuel-efficient cars.

In general, though, people just pay through the nose for cars because they have to. Insurance also costs a fortune, and road tax isn't cheap.

I really only have a car as a luxury, and for a bit of convenience, so I don't do enough miles to worry about economy particularly - under 2k a year, or at least that's what I'm insured for. I've got very cheap classic car insurance, which makes up for a lot of the extra fuel, and also the figures are a lot better when I'm not crawling through urban traffic. Plus buses are expensive anyway, so on balance it's cheaper to take the car if I've a passenger and/or I'm not going far.

If I did have to drive a lot in London, it would be worth buying a small relatively modern diesel that would get three to five times the fuel economy. At 45mpg instead of 10-15mpg around town, the price of fuel is a lot less painful.