Reasonable MPG or not?

[Idahotom]

My last tank, using air much of the time and on my usual combo of rural and secondary roads along with a little 60 mph freeway driving came in a bit lower then normal. Only 41.86 MPG instead of mid 40's.... Trying to account for this I remembered several times while running around in town doing errands, and of course with the dog riding along, I had left it idling and with the air on! Yeah, terrible for a hyper miler, but even with the tinted windows and the Polar White, and the windows down, no way was I leaving him in the heat. Plus it was a good excuse (responsible pet owner) to keep my own sorry ass cooled down!

60K+ miles, 44 lbs air pressure in the tires, Scan Gauge, no spare/rear seat/hub caps/jack/any extra junk carried, and careful driving, and never over 65 mph! Usually barely 60 and mostly 50+ on the secondary roads.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Idahotom

My last tank, using air much of the time and on my usual combo of rural and secondary roads along with a little 60 mph freeway driving came in a bit lower then normal. Only 41.86 MPG instead of mid 40's.... Trying to account for this I remembered several times while running around in town doing errands, and of course with the dog riding along, I had left it idling and with the air on! Yeah, terrible for a hyper miler, but even with the tinted windows and the Polar White, and the windows down, no way was I leaving him in the heat. Plus it was a good excuse (responsible pet owner) to keep my own sorry ass cooled down!

60K+ miles, 44 lbs air pressure in the tires, Scan Gauge, no spare/rear seat/hub caps/jack/any extra junk carried, and careful driving, and never over 65 mph! Usually barely 60 and mostly 50+ on the secondary roads.

Mee too re idling with air this summer (just more situations (than last summer) when it has been necessary). Just before summer started I was averaging almost 42 combined and now I've dropped to just barely over 40 combined. I keep track in my mind the miles on tank at each bar drop and I can tell the MPG drop is largely due to idling with the A/C on. In this climate during the summer, especially when the sun is up, it is hard to make any other choice.

I'm in lockstep with you on the MPH and careful driving (doing both), but I'm not willing to go without hubcaps. After reading CTScott's reply to another poster that a stock wheel and tire will fit (albeit with a bump), I'm thinking of partially going your route and eliminating spare/jack/and extra junk and then getting a stock steelie with stock tire mounted on it only to put in the car on long trips (adding a jack as well). I've tried increasing PSI for each tire in the past, and when I go over 40 (especially 44 or higher) it feels as though I'm driving on bricks and I don't like how the ride at that PSI level makes my body feel, so just not willing to do it. I keep my PSI pretty much at 38, sometimes 39. Re your dog, I agree. As much I try to squeeze out every bit of extra MPG that is comfortable to do, keeping a beloved dog comfortable is MUCH more important than extracting better MPG.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

I've recently been driving with the A/C on since it's gotten pretty hot here, on fan speed of 2 and on recirculating. On the past three tanks with A/C usage, I've averaged no less than 40 mpg. With 40 mpg being 50/50 city/highway driving.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

I've recently been driving with the A/C on since it's gotten pretty hot here, on fan speed of 2 and on recirculating. On the past three tanks with A/C usage, I've averaged no less than 40 mpg. With 40 mpg being 50/50 city/highway driving.

Where on the dial do you have the temp when you are using fan speed of 2 and recirculating? Have you tried other combinations of fan speed, recirculating vs vent, and temp setting?

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by nookandcrannycar

Where on the dial do you have the temp when you are using fan speed of 2 and recirculating? Have you tried other combinations of fan speed, recirculating vs vent, and temp setting?

Temp is at second to last click for the coldest temp. Fan speed starts off at 4 and with fresh air coming in until the air actually get cold. I'll switch it to recirculating and drop the fan speed down to 3 until it gets colder. Once that happens, fan speed drops to 1 or 2 depending on how hot it is that day. Air is in the middle of the face mode and the face/feet mode. I should also note that I insulated my AC line (was it the low pressure line, I forget, the DIY is somewhere here on YW), which I found to help a lot. I should also mention that before, I used to have a 10 mpg hit the second I turn on my AC (according to my SGII), but have recently gotten better mpg's than if I were to drive with my windows down and no fan (like I used to). Not sure what happened.

I never tried any other combination as that usually gets the temperature where I want it to be. Back when I got the car, I left the air mode at the face/feet mode, but switched it to the middle of that and full face since I noticed it cooled the car quicker.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

Temp is at second to last click for the coldest temp. Fan speed starts off at 4 and with fresh air coming in until the air actually get cold. I'll switch it to recirculating and drop the fan speed down to 3 until it gets colder. Once that happens, fan speed drops to 1 or 2 depending on how hot it is that day. Air is in the middle of the face mode and the face/feet mode. I should also note that I insulated my AC line (was it the low pressure line, I forget, the DIY is somewhere here on YW), which I found to help a lot. I should also mention that before, I used to have a 10 mpg hit the second I turn on my AC (according to my SGII), but have recently gotten better mpg's than if I were to drive with my windows down and no fan (like I used to). Not sure what happened.

I never tried any other combination as that usually gets the temperature where I want it to be. Back when I got the car, I left the air mode at the face/feet mode, but switched it to the middle of that and full face since I noticed it cooled the car quicker.

Wow. You're getting great results. I almost always baby my A/C more than you describe and we're getting the same Summer MPG. If I've had to leave the car in the blazing sun for any length of time and neglected to leave the window cranked open a bit, then I'll start the A/C at the coldest setting on vent and the fan on 2 until the heat dissipates. The rest of the time I keep the fan on 1 about 98 percent of the time and the temp at 10 o'clock about 90-95 percent of the time. I find that the fan on 2 vs 1 has a slight effect re gas consumption, but turning the temperature below 9 o'clock has a significant and fairly rapidly accelerating negative effect on gas consumption the closer I set the dial toward 6 o'clock. I only shut the vents (put on recirculating) when I start to smell a skunk or see a dead squirrel/possum/skunk/dog/cat/doe/raccoon in the road ahead of me (a much more common sight than when I lived in California....I'm not complaining though, I just adjust accordingly). I usually keep the behind the cup holders vents closed and just use the center ones.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by nookandcrannycar

Wow. You're getting great results. I almost always baby my A/C more than you describe and we're getting the same Summer MPG. If I've had to leave the car in the blazing sun for any length of time and neglected to leave the window cranked open a bit, then I'll start the A/C at the coldest setting on vent and the fan on 2 until the heat dissipates. The rest of the time I keep the fan on 1 about 98 percent of the time and the temp at 10 o'clock about 90-95 percent of the time. I find that the fan on 2 vs 1 has a slight effect re gas consumption, but turning the temperature below 9 o'clock has a significant and fairly rapidly accelerating negative effect on gas consumption the closer I set the dial toward 6 o'clock. I only shut the vents (put on recirculating) when I start to smell a skunk or see a dead squirrel/possum/skunk/dog/cat/doe/raccoon in the road ahead of me (a much more common sight than when I lived in California....I'm not complaining though, I just adjust accordingly). I usually keep the behind the cup holders vents closed and just use the center ones.

I used to drive with just the center vents, but I decided one day to pop my (driverside) cup holder vent open, and I find that it cools me better so that I can use fan speed 1 more often. I've never played with the temp tho, like I said, I play with fan speed more to get it cooler or "warmer".


Have you insulated that one AC line yet?

[TLyttle]

Just completed a holiday trip: MPG was 54 Imp, mostly mountain and city driving. I am NOT complaining!

White is the most logical colour without a/c, airlines found that out decades ago...

[Kaotic Lazagna]

In case not, I followed the DIY here and did another DIY with pics on every step when I did mine. Here's my photobucket link to the album of the DIY

http://s208.photobucket.com/albums/b...%20Insulation/

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

In case not, I followed the DIY here and did another DIY with pics on every step when I did mine. Here's my photobucket link to the album of the DIY

http://s208.photobucket.com/albums/b...%20Insulation/

Thanks!

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by nookandcrannycar

Thanks!

No problem. Hopefully those who haven't yet done the insulation and does it picks up some mpg's.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

And I never park under trees (so no shade) because I don't want pollen/sap/animal feces falling onto my paint.

[brg88tx]

i've noticed a big hit on mpg if the ac is on speed #3 or 4. i try to keep in on level 1 or 2 if it's very hot.

[Yury]

I am doing short trips and typically get 28 mpg during summer with a lot of ac and during winter on winter gas. Never seen more than 34 even with highway. And I am not a lead foot at all, so yeah, driving conditions can make a huge difference.