23 mpg...really???

[zkay]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

The second I hit the AC button, I'm losing 10mpg. I can see this on my SGII.

Not to threadjack, but how can this be?

My wife and I recently took a trip to wisconsin from northeast iowa on I-80 and we had the A/C cranked the entire time (100% cool, set to recycle cabin air rather than cool outside air) and at "3" on the dial and we still got 46.5mpg. It was hot, humid, and there was some medium traffic at several points; never slowing down past 45mph.

I was doing 65-70mph all the way there and back besides the slow areas I mentioned, and not really trying to hypermile. We are also not small people, if there's any delicate way to put it.

I don't understand the huge variances seen here, if only because I generally have gotten a very reliable (and smallish) F/E range with my yaris.