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May 8th 2008 was when I hit 37.1mpg After that I've never had another 37+mpg tank, infact I've never even had a tank at 36mpg. I did have 3 tanks at 35mpg though, with the last one being on October 3rd 2008.

I've got a few reasons I know of for why my tanks since January have been lower, but I did just have the first 30+mpg tank as well as the highest one of the year. May 25th 2009 I got 33.7mpg.

Reason 1)
I moved here to San Antonio in January. Now I live a lot closer to things than I did in Austin. So most of my trips are less than 5 miles. The car really never warms up completely until I get where I'm going, but at least on the return trip it's nearly warm.

2)
Since I've been driving in new areas, it makes it a little hard to know what to expect with traffic. I'm slowly learning which lights are long ones to turn off the car at and which ones I should keep it running. I'm also learning where the lights are that you always get stuck at. And I'm learning where there's traffic bottlenecks.

3)
No standard commute. I've been riding the bus to school, so I've got no standard driving commute to become familiar with. Also because of this it makes it hard to learn all the things I mentioned in reason 2.

4)
Car is kept outdoors now. In Austin my car was in a garage, so when it was cold out it still didn't take my car too long to warm up. Here being outdoors in the summer doesn't seem to make my car warm up quicker than being garage kept, but being outdoors during the winter made it take forever. Luckily the winter here isn't like winter in places like Minnesota.

5)
Around May 12th 2008 was when I picked up my old part time job delivering pizza. So driving around neighborhoods and such makes it hard to get 37mpg, but also having that pizza light ontop of the car made my glides noticeably shorter.

6)
Sometime around September or October 2008 I noticed one of my tires was leaking some air. Now I'm lazy, and I hate going places and talking to people, so basically I didn't really worry about it and just aired up once every 2 weeks. Every 2 weeks I was losing about 10-15psi out of that tire, so it wasn't that big of a deal to me. Plus I was planning on getting new tires sometime in January so I didn't want to spend $10 getting it fixed. Anyways by January I was airing it up on a weekly basis and losing 20psi per week.

So there you have it, 6 reasons I can't beat my old record. The only chances I have to really beat it now are when I take trips to Austin to visit my parents, but round trip that's 210 miles. That's only half a tank! I've gotten 36.5mpg one time on the way there, but the way back there was a slight headwind and I got 34.5mpg. It seems like all the other times I've gone there's been a rather strong headwind, something like 10 to 15mph. Those times it was a struggle to get 33.5mpg.

42.7 mpg from Sacramento to SD. Last was last week.

September 5, 2008, 38.8 mpg in the Subaru GT wagon. Cross-state trip (325 mi), plenty of extra time to get there, nearly empty alternate route, VERY favorable tailwind. And I don't do any FAS, EOC, or level P&G (its a lousy glider). But lots of playing with 'hang time' and trying to refine IGN=45 mode.

Excluding a runt tank (refilling after a very short distance, which magnifies any refill inconsistency) of 46 mpg (downhill), I've had three other tanks above 36.

2)
Since I've been driving in new areas, it makes it a little hard to know what to expect with traffic. I'm slowly learning which lights are long ones to turn off the car at and which ones I should keep it running. I'm also learning where the lights are that you always get stuck at. And I'm learning where there's traffic bottlenecks.

My tanks are all over the place, mainly for your reason #2. Since wife and I travel all the time, I am in widly varying environments and never really have a chance to learn how to optimize trip FE. This, in addition to having to share car with wife, means I'm never going to make it very far up the mileage logs. The plus side is that I travel all the time, go where I please when I please, and no longer have to work for a living. Tough trade-off:D

May 8, 2009, 53.65 mpg for a 322.9 mile tank.

I'll be smashing that in the next few weeks, hopefully anyway!

April 10, 2009 IIRC, 41.35mpg as in my sig.

Insight: 11/13/2008 -- 1567.4mi @ 115.607mpg (179% EPA)

Elantra: 10/13/2008 -- 1111.9mi @ 65.218mpg (225% EPA)

I won't be exceeding that Insight tank anytime soon -- the weather and traffic have not been cooperating. I'm just now getting decent temperatures to work with, too.

The Elantra doesn't go through tanks very quickly anymore and the current one is considerably lower because I loaned the vehicle to my folks when they were up here for my daughter's Baptism. 120+mi @ ~33mpg! :eek: I'm not pulling it up very fast with all these 3.6mi trips to the doctor, either. :o

You made me look, but it's only been 11 days.

And to think I used to fill up every week!

332.7 miles, 8.595 gallons, 38.709 mpg

Hmm... looking at my logs my best tanks are short (always the same station, always the same pump, always to the second click). Hmm... Maybe I should keep it above half a tank?

May 18th, 2009 I managed 533.76 miles using 9.699 gallons for 55.033MPG.

I've managed a new technique where I put off all my small chores as long as possible and group them together in such an extreme manner that I am often able to put off most of my city driving for an entire tank. I may have to do some city driving this tank, otherwise I'm feeling another record coming up!

Mine was September 6th 2008 at 101.1 mpg at 867.4 miles which was 219.8% over EPA.

66.7 on august 29, 2007.

that led into winter, and then in the spring, i moved to a shorter commute. when i did that one i was driving about 45 miles one way on back roads with plenty of places to coast and drive slower. when i went to my 15 mile drive, it was hard since the only way out of the area i lived in was uphill, and with a cold engine in the morning, it was a tough start.

About a hour. ;)

The previous tank was also a record.

Before that, it was a year, and I wasn't getting even close to matching the record most of that time.

Nice Andrew. My last record was just a few days ago on my last fill. It was 41.4 MPG.

Last tank, 49.0 mpg in my LX Civic. I want 50!!!

2 hours ago when i just filled up, 6.086799928 L/100km,
38.64338992 MPG (straight from my excel spreadsheet). I have always improved after each tank, mainly cause im constantly learning how to improve it, so im aiming for a <6L/100km for the next tank, hopefully ^_^

You guys make me sick! Almost makes me wish I was again commuting and working for a living, so that I had a standard route - nah!

I do pretty well with the new Insight 1. I can get 80-90 MPG most of the time, but when I hand it over to the wife she only gets 50MPG on her short, congested, mostly suburban trips. She doesn't fas and that hurts a lot. Last tank was only 58MPG, not quite up to the EPA number :-( But, that was a heck of a lot better than the Echo, so I'm ready for the next cycle of expensive gasoline!

That's the right attitude, Jim. When I got my Insight I carted the wife around to her hockey games (yes, the bag fits in the back and the stick fits alongside the passenger seat. ;)) even though it hurt the numbers. It was by far the most efficient way to get her there and back.

I can't do that anymore since we now have the bouncing bundle joy seen in my signature!

24.1 mpg a couple days ago.
I credit warming weather and learning to coast in neutral over the winter.

Nice work in that truck!

I got my best two or three tanks ago now. Whoa! Just looked and it was 5 tanks ago!

I've been within 5% of that value for each of my four more recent tanks. And that's in spite of a few mechanical issues and some very "off" days driving... The warmer weather is helping, and I think my "new" tires are finally wearing in enough to provide the lower rolling resistance they're supposed to have. And I think I'm getting better about not speeding up...

-soD

June 6th 2009: 48.816mpg with 10.265 gallons in a 10 gallon tank for a total of 501.1 miles

The previous tank was 50.18mpg with 9.169 gallons for a total of 460.1 miles, I didn't know I had gas left. :woot: I had never gotten over 435 miles on a tank before.

I don't count the refills of partial tanks as that exceeds the real capacity, but I can stuff 10.265 gallons from empty.

I think my new average will be consistently 47-48mpg and this will bump up my running average by 0.2mpg per tank, Won't be long before I have a 48mpg average in my sig below (about 30.5 more tanks, 313.08 gallons, 15027 miles to go!, about 5 months from now.) :D - Dale

Yesterday I had my best tank ever in the Yaris, 55.9 mpg. The previous tank on May 29th was 54.7 mpg. I know I can do better in 2009. No highway driving.

Nice Andrew. My last record was just a few days ago on my last fill. It was 41.4 MPG.

I just realized I haven't entered that tank yet. Now I just have to find where I wrote it down.:rolleyes::o

Hmm... looking at my logs my best tanks are short (always the same station, always the same pump, always to the second click). Hmm... Maybe I should keep it above half a tank?

My new tank didn't match or beat that record. I think there might be something to this half tank thing for my truck.

My new tank didn't match or beat that record. I think there might be something to this half tank thing for my truck.

Vapors? Weight? Interesting. Sounds like you have some experimenting to conduct. :D - Dale

Vapors? Weight? Interesting. Sounds like you have some experimenting to conduct. :D - Dale

It can't be weight. I get worse as it goes. Could be something in the tank that starts getting sucked up near the bottom.

I think I will fill at 1/4 tank for a couple of tanks, then 1/2 for the next couple. We'll see what happens after that.

btw: I always fill at the same pump, same station, parked the same, and almost always at the same time (on the way to work).

Sep 18, 2008: 43.724 mpg. I have been in the 43s again twice this spring, but haven't eclipsed it yet. :o

Every time I have a good tank going, I end up needing to drive out of town to a soccer tournament and those highway miles are killer for me. Luckily soccer is over, so I'll hopefully move on to 44+ on the next tank!

It can't be weight. I get worse as it goes. Could be something in the tank that starts getting sucked up near the bottom.

I think I will fill at 1/4 tank for a couple of tanks, then 1/2 for the next couple. We'll see what happens after that.

btw: I always fill at the same pump, same station, parked the same, and almost always at the same time (on the way to work).

Fuel filter? :D - Dale

Fuel filter? :D - Dale

Recently replaced. :D

I have been keeping up on the maintenance religiously (and keeping all receipts of it). Over 90K miles of receipts.

Mine was about 2 years ago. not quite sure if was realy a 41.2 mpg tank though. previous tank took 9.68 galon of gas and the the next only took 7.7 will change hopefully at next refill but probly will be same situation. filled at diff pumps. <sigh>

5/16. Hoping to break that next week.

70? :D You can do it, I know you can!

Recently replaced. :D

I have been keeping up on the maintenance religiously (and keeping all receipts of it). Over 90K miles of receipts.

I'm getting a visual of an extremely long line of receipts....90k miles long!:eek:

I usually quit after about 4 feet. :D - Dale

Yesterday I had my best tank ever in the Yaris, 55.9 mpg. The previous tank on May 29th was 54.7 mpg. I know I can do better in 2009. No highway driving.

Amazing result.:woot: Even more amazing see it's all city driving. Makes me jealous of your MT and straight gas.

Why do you fill up so often? One of the benefits of getting great mileage is wasting less time and gas going to the gas station. You're barely getting past half a tank before filling. Running the tank till empty will also make your FE per tank more accurate.

Best-ever tank on my bike was a nearly 58mpg effort on May 20 from Meridian, MS to Tuscaloosa, AL on the superslap. Temps were around 85* and speed was over 70mph.

Best-ever tank in my Mustang was on April 3, going from Texarkana, TX to Arkadelphia, AR on I-30, at 60mph and with the temp at 70*. I got 18,15mpg.

Really though, I hit a personal best in my Mustang on my commute, at 15,48mpg just last week.