50 Mpg - - - I Did It!!

[bull8042]

Originally Posted by Bum-bling-B

Wow! You live in the same town sixcrows lives in? I thought you were in minnesota and sixcrows is in NY though? Are you familiar with the type of material his road is made of? What his driving route is? What his definition of "normal driving" is? Is the wind always at his back? Their are so many variables that make 51mpg a real world figure that someone can get, it is not at all impossible.

Now if he would of said I put some hair gel mixed in with my gas and now I'm getting 200mpg for the last two tanks THEN I would being saying IMPOSSIBLE!!

51mpg is a very realistic number in certain parts of the country that have all the right conditions. Not for where I live though.

I have to echo the sentiments presented here. In other words, "Whut he sed"!
I can get 52 MPG out of mine, I just can't average it over the duration of the tank because of hills and stoplights. If the terrain was a little more forgiving, then it is surely possible.

[SmartPotato]

We got 47 on our third tank of gas (speeds 40-60) and quite a few hills.

I would bet if someone were willing to burn a tank of gas on a smooth, back country road at 40 mph, 10 hours later they would average 50+mpg. The air hitting the car is key. Even though our Smarts are small, they are tall and not the most aero cars out there.

A couple years ago we took our 99 Beetle through rural eastern Oregon and averaged 50mph and 36mpg. On a normal 65mph road trip 31-33 is tops (Old EPA is 31).

[MinnySmart]

I get 41 very reliably here in the rolling prairie of Mpls, but when we were in Denver for a couple days, driving up and down the hills in Littleton, CO... we were averaging 48. Coasting down hills really does make a difference. 51 isn't out of the question over a 1/2 tank...