Fuel Efficiency and the Yaris

[Kormorant]

Hello all, this is my first post. I'm about to but a 1.3 hatch t-spirit. I have experience of the Yaris. I like them a lot but I like all Japanese machines. Having just glimpsed through this thread, I'd thought I'd tell you of an experience I has with a former car, a Ford Mondeo 1.8 diesel (manual transmission). This is a euro car, not the one sold in the USA with the same name.

When I bought it, it became apparent that the dual-mass flywheel was giving up the ghost (with a mere 50,000 - not impressed). The reason why seemed clear - the 1.8 litre engine was a gutless POS and needed a big boot to get anywhere, and the drag starts had killed the flywheel. So did I change the car? No, I changed the flywheel. Obviously.

I drove the car within its limits for another 300,000 miles - painful, boring miles - but my sedate careful pace returned easily 60mpg on the motorway and easily 50mpg around town.

The car eventually expired at 350,000 miles when something called a 'wet belt' snapped (similar to a cam belt but since it ran in an oil bath Ford decided it didn't need maintenance and thus didn't mention it in the service list - curse them). The clutch and flywheel were still good.

I checked tyre pressured when I thought of it. I kept the boot (trunk) mostly clear of junk. I made nice smooth gear changes and didn't rev the tits off it - no point, it had nothing to give - and tried to anticipate braking. I drove everywhere and in all conditions.

Conclusion - your right foot is the biggest factor in achieving high fuel economy. For some this is a an unacceptable truth. Even 30 mph is a lot faster than walking, folks. Also, auto transmissions suck up power and use more fuel than their manual shift equivalent and are used chiefly by lazy witless idiots who can't drive properly.

[tjlnjtl]

Originally Posted by Kormorant

...
Conclusion - your right foot is the biggest factor in achieving high fuel economy. For some this is a an unacceptable truth...

With the Yaris I've found the biggest factor is where you drive.

Doing 70 instead of 80 on the highway gets me 37 instead of 36 mpg.

In the almost 10 years I've driven the car 75 miles each way on mostly highway to go to work, I've gotten 34-36 mpg (34 in the winter when driving on studs).

The first few years I had the car when I lived in NY I routinely got under 20 mpg. If I didn't do any highway speed (vs. going 10-15 mph on the highway) driving I would get about 15 mpg.