Big Jump in Gas Mileage at 6000 Miles

[randyzimmer]

Like it says, after six months of wishing the scangauge would at least flirt with a 40, I went on a four hour drive to Watertown, NY.
I got the usual results, somewhere in the 30's and 270 miles from the tank.
On the way home, I kept seeing 40's and and got close to 300 when I found a station I needed to visit. I never reset the odo so the next tank went to 630 miles!
That made an average of over 300 for two in a row after months of 250's!
I'm pretty excited with the change and have no other reason for the improvement than just breaking in. No tire pressures, no toe settings.
Tonight I topped up with a computed 43.9 and the scangauge agreed.
I'm totally amazed with the difference.
I was disappointed at 1000 miles when everyone else said something would change (and it didn't).
Anyone else have this type of experience?

[babybenz]

Originally Posted by randyzimmer

Like it says, after six months of wishing the scangauge would at least flirt with a 40, I went on a four hour drive to Watertown, NY.
I got the usual results, somewhere in the 30's and 270 miles from the tank.
On the way home, I kept seeing 40's and and got close to 300 when I found a station I needed to visit. I never reset the odo so the next tank went to 630 miles!
That made an average of over 300 for two in a row after months of 250's!
I'm pretty excited with the change and have no other reason for the improvement than just breaking in. No tire pressures, no toe settings.
Tonight I topped up with a computed 43.9 and the scangauge agreed.
I'm totally amazed with the difference.
I was disappointed at 1000 miles when everyone else said something would change (and it didn't).
Anyone else have this type of experience?

I have 7000 miles on mine and today I hit half a tank at 187.5 miles best I have done pulled into the gas stationg to fill up and put in 4 gallons of gas. I guess that cool front we got really helped the car. Most i have got on a tank of gas was 360 and my gauge read 0.0

[wahi]

Randyzimmer, here was my post on the "jump"...

Horrible Gas Milage!

[Piccola]

Randyzimmer - hey! Thanks for the hope! I'm getting 34 around town (manual mode) and just hit 40 on the last freeway trip (manual mode also). 3200 miles. Thanks for looking to the future. And I was blaming it all on ethanol!! Whew!

[smartHHO]

Originally Posted by Piccola

Randyzimmer - hey! Thanks for the hope! I'm getting 34 around town (manual mode) and just hit 40 on the last freeway trip (manual mode also). 3200 miles. Thanks for looking to the future. And I was blaming it all on ethanol!! Whew!

I have posted several times about breakin periods. Maybe with Smarts, the milage varies big time. Have heard 3k, now 6k. Begin to wonder on these little guys.

[natrgatr]

My first two tanks were mid 30's. Now I'm getting 40-44mpg every time. I've got just over 1000 miles on it. Much happier now!

[Smart Enuf]

It's weird, but I think you're on to something, Randy. I have 5700 miles on my cabrio, and for the last two tanks I noticed my mileage has gone up significantly. Before then, I was averaging no more than 280 per tank, and for these last 2 tankfuls I got 310-320 mpg. And that's about 80% city/20% highway. I've been filling up at the same station, at medium nozzle setting, and even at the same pump (95% of the time). I installed the 451 cruise control about a month ago, but I haven't driven any more highway miles than I did before then, although it does keep my overall speed much more constant than non-CC driving.

It's as if the car hit a second break-in period at 5000. Or maybe it's just coincidence. Either way, I'm not complaining.

[jwight]

Randy, you must have switched to one of those Top Tier gasolines.

[MCMarathoner]

I've noticed that all of my vehicles get better mileage when the stations change over to their winter blend in October/November. Maybe less ethanol?

Just another perspective...
26.2

[SylenThunder]

What is "winter blend"? Where I get gas there is no Ethanol in the mix, thank (name your being of worship).