Anyone else? notice any kind of difference?

When i first got the car, i got around 40~ mpg in November 2 years ago.

I never payed attention to it really.. but during this summer and last winter I got really crappy mpg, like 32-35... 37 on all highway driving.

then this past weekend, i got 40 MPG again.. i haven't seen it since i first got the car 2 years ago.

Idk what i did different.. i keep the tires regularly inflated at 50 PSI and whats weird is that i made that 40 mpg during a 200 mile road trip with 4 people (including myself) and civic parts in the hatch... with me red lining a few times coming in and out of highway exits.


ehhh all in all i guess its not a big deal.. iam sure its just blind luck it turned out that way.. and it wasn't all highway either.. we were going in and out of cities.

 

yes absolutely.

the colder outside air does the same thing as the ricers want with a "cold air intake"

the colder the intake air, the more dense the air is, the more fuel your car burns.

 

my fit gets like 55mpg in the summer and barely 40 in the winter

 

50 PSI IN THE TIRES, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

That's gotta be not only a bumpy ride but also wears out the tires in the middle in a hurry, not to mention with it being inflated so high can't make the car handle all that great. I got 43 mpg in my Fit running wider tires/wheels and airing the tires up to about 37 psi. Now that was best mileage on the freeway but I'd get anywhere from 39-43 mpg going 70 mph.

As far as the mileage going down in the cold monthes, yeah its true because of the cold, dense air but also the winter blend of gasoline too. I've been running premium year round for almost a year now, thanks to Silver Bullet and I can tell you that before I did this I was getting 22-23 mpg in the Fit with mixed driving, but switching to the good stuff, netted me a 6-7 mpg increase, seriously. I also had a K&N typhoon intake too, so the cold air was full time, all the time.

 

I know that you guys up north get bad fuel mileage in the winter but everybody I have asked down here always say they get worse mileage during the summer... Colder denser air is not going to change the air/fuel ratio to be any more fuel that air except during warm up and all that is different when warm is that you don't need as much throttle to make the same amount of power... My guess is that there is more fuel being used to heat the catalytic converter which has to be glowing to properly work... Possibly wrapping it with header insulation tape will help bring your mileage figures up... My exhaust is smelling real bad lately now that I think about it... It would seem that more oxygen would be needed to make more heat but I read that it was fuel...

 

i don't have any long trips coming up =( i was hoping to do my next trip with all highway driving next time to see how much i can get it to go up.. my max has been 42 mpg, but that was a while ago.. and i also did it driving on the spare tire!!!

every since then I haven't been able to get 40 MPG with this new tire installed. untill last week i finally hit 40 again.

 

Dense air requires more fuel, seen that with the ultra gauge. In the summer my fuel trims was pulling fuel like 20 percent total. Right now they are only pulling 6 percent total. It takes about 10 minutes of driving for the engine temps to get to 180 degrees in this cooler air. There is more power with these cooler temps so some of the bad mpg is from enjoyment of the power.

The catalytic converter temps get hot well before the engine, mainly because not all the fuel burns due to not vaporizing completely. As the engine warms up more fuel vaporizes and less fuel is needed. Wrapping the exhaust is a good idea but usually for improving VE. It causes more exhaust to leave the chamber and allows more fresh gas needed and using a better fuel more fuel is burnt anyways so it just exits faster allowing for a better revving engine.

Tex, I would get a barrel of the 96 r/m spec. fuel. I believe its cheaper than racing fuel and easy to get down there. CAMS Racing Fuel Guide

 

Likely that you have experienced "winter gas" the formula for gasoline changes in the winter for easier startiing and lower emmissions due to the cold temperature. The additives that they add to gasoline that do this have a high octane rating, and less actual gas is in the gas formula at the pump.

 

yeah i got 23-25 mpg before like after my first month of owning it, i was putting the car to the test and red lining ALL the time

 

I think the thing that most of you guys may be forgetting about cold, dense air isn't the effect on the engine but the effect on your car. You have to push that much more air. A denser charge just means you need less of it - so less throttle. Although not that simple, the mileage drop ain't just gasoline formulations or intake air temps.

If you doubt this, you should see the effect air density has on aircraft takeoff / landing speeds / distances.

-Saro

 

Concorde and Vash, that's pretty low but your saying its 100% city? I used to get that mileage with mixed driving and then switched to BP Ultimate and my mileage within 2 tanks went to 28-29 mixed last winter and it was damn cold here last winter, let me tell you.

 

I wish I could get that! My best was 44.46 based on the app on my phone and my worst was in Jul at 31.98. I'm still very happy with what I get.

 

I have been averaging 38-39 mpg between April and late October. My last tank was 35 hand calculated miles. I noticed my winter mileage last year was poor also. It's the gas given I commute the exact same route five days with two shopping trips every week. I might switch to premium for the next couple of tanks to see if that makes a difference.

 

Depending on where you live gasoline has less energy in the winter by about 6 percent, then you add higher engine loads with the lights and heater, that can be up to 25 percent more fuel required.




My last tank the mpg dropped in the Civic to 33.4 but that is with more city driving. If I can figure out how to keep it around 35 I will be happy.

http://www.ethanolrfa.org/page/-/rfa...uelEconomy.pdf

 

Ah.....also, you tend to let you car warm up more in the winter, right? The extra idling time burns gas.....you may not be getting worse mileage per se, just burning through more while she sits and warms for a few minutes each day....

 

Warm ups do waste gas and I wish I had a garage to keep the snow and ice off the car. Wow I got 33 mpg last year. This year the last tank was 39.4 in the new car. I do expect it to fall but hope not that low.

 

nnnng old thread ..

winter gas mix.

 

plain and simple you will sit there longer warming up your car which also uses gas its the little thing that add up, and if you notice the cold air gusts will push or hold your little car more which also gives you a small disadvantage

 

I've definitely noticed my mileage since it't been getting colder here in Mi. I'm not talking a little change but about 32mpg -> 23mpg!! Now part of it I can say is the remote starter and the car warming up. The other part of it I'm not sure =/ . With the talk of the cold air intake I am thinking its time to shelf the DIY intake for the winter and go back to stock. Do any of you think that would help?

 

Winter blend fuel contains less BTUs (energy) per gallon. You should see a change after May 1st. The EPA dictates the blend (actually the RVP) from May 1 through Sept15 for the entire country. After that there is no country wide dictate so the oil companies add more butane which is cheap for them but also reduces the amount of energy per gallon.

Other things that effect your mileage is colder lubricatiing fluids and colder tires when you first start driving.