Gas Miles per Gallon tracking

[smartie1]

My smartie is fully broken in. My gas mileage has been going down, down, down. I believe it is caused by the ethanol blended gasolines. Most of the pumps in the area now say contains 10% ethanol or may contain up to 10% ethanol. Is there a what to find out what fuels are non-ethanol or lower ethanol blended. My mileage has gone from 38-41mpg to 30-33 with no differences in driving styles or A/C usages. Any suggestions or ideas will be appreciated!

[NY Smartie]

Originally Posted by smartie1

My smartie is fully broken in. My gas mileage has been going down, down, down. I believe it is caused by the ethanol blended gasolines. Most of the pumps in the area now say contains 10% ethanol or may contain up to 10% ethanol. Is there a what to find out what fuels are non-ethanol or lower ethanol blended. My mileage has gone from 38-41mpg to 30-33 with no differences in driving styles or A/C usages. Any suggestions or ideas will be appreciated!

check your tire pressure. get a nice digital gauge. good investment.

[wlmory]

Have a little over 1,700 miles on a Passion which I picked up Sunday June 15th in Boston and drove to Chicago Monday nite - Tuesday. 19.5 hours w/ a couple of power naps and I avg almost 41 MPG. One tank was over 44, but drove w/ a/c on and at 65MPH most of the way. Accelerated to 85 to see what it felt like and that's about as fast as I care to go in this. Drive an A-6 2.7T when I want to fly low. I drive almost exclsuive w/ shifter, the "auto" is a bit sluggish for me, but it's nice to know you can just put it in gear and go, I just like the better responsiveness shifting myself. Good mileage was only one of the reasons for buying...it's GREEN, from the beginning w/ more recycled and recyclable parts, I don't want to think what's going to happen to those hybrid batteries???? and it's a LOT safer ;)....oh, and it's so damn cute too.

Here's the summary:
Smart - Passion Mileage gal Cost $/gal miles MPG
6/15/2008 12
6/16/2008 268.0 7.439 $31.98 $4.299 256.0 34.41 W. MA/NYs
6/16/2008 569.0 7.239 $31.41 $4.339 301.0 41.58 highway
6/17/2008 901.0 7.516 $33.06 $4.399 332.0 44.17 highway
6/17/2008 1,045.0 3.924 $17.03 $4.339 144.0 36.70 a/c stop & go
6/26/2008 1,268.4 6.639 $29.87 $4.499 223.4 33.65 many different test driver
7/1/2008 1,561.0 6.994 $31.47 $4.449 292.6 41.84 resume normal driving

[Karl Roth]

Originally Posted by biselc

I have been dissapointed with my mileage thus far. Mostly city driving, very little freeways and I have gotten 27 mpg, 27 mpg (on extremely light foot), 28 mpg (with heavy foot), and lastly 25 mpg. This is using Chevron or Shell premium gas. I am contemplating taking in to dealer as I was hoping to get 33-37 in town. Any one else with similar issues? I see all of these posts where people are getting 38-50 in town and it is disconcerting. Thanks!

are you shifting manually?
karl

[biselc]

Originally Posted by Karl Roth

are you shifting manually?
karl

I have tried it every way. Ran 1 tank just using paddle shifters and light foot(27 mpg), one with heavy foot and paddles (27 mpg), light foot in auto (26 mpg), back to heavy foot so not to get run over on the rest( 25-27 mpg). Just got gas last night and got 26 mpg. All @ 90% city driving and 10% highway. I don't know what else to try except consult with dealer. I am going to wait until I get around 1000 miles first I think.

[Karl Roth]

Originally Posted by biselc

I have tried it every way. Ran 1 tank just using paddle shifters and light foot(27 mpg), one with heavy foot and paddles (27 mpg), light foot in auto (26 mpg), back to heavy foot so not to get run over on the rest( 25-27 mpg). Just got gas last night and got 26 mpg. All @ 90% city driving and 10% highway. I don't know what else to try except consult with dealer. I am going to wait until I get around 1000 miles first I think.

how are you measuring? I find the most consistant to still use the recipts for fuel purchacase and the trip odometer. Tools like a scanguage can be a good thing but can give you bad numbers if you don't have it set up right. Got my worst tankful ever on a highway trip second worst also a highway trip.
I get my best #s on two lanes without stops at moderate speeds, most of my commute. I do check at every tankful and from new now the average is 38, down from 39. I can get #s in the twenties on the scanguage by putting my foot to the floor in lower gears. idle at a stop nets 0 mpg keeping up with traffic in stop and go is killer on milage. What kind of milage did you get with the same type of driving you are doing with the smart with your last rig.
karl

[ms bea]

Originally Posted by biselc

I have tried it every way. Ran 1 tank just using paddle shifters and light foot(27 mpg), one with heavy foot and paddles (27 mpg), light foot in auto (26 mpg), back to heavy foot so not to get run over on the rest( 25-27 mpg). Just got gas last night and got 26 mpg. All @ 90% city driving and 10% highway. I don't know what else to try except consult with dealer. I am going to wait until I get around 1000 miles first I think.

I've posted before with my low mileage in the city 25-28, over 2K miles so far,but it is in San FRancisco. Anyway the dealer wanted the car for 3 days to test it themselves, so I took it in Monday morning (started the engine and the low tire pressure guage came on...turned out there was a nail in the rear tire, which they fixed for me - great timing!!!). anyway they drove it for 103 miles 70% freeway and got 38.1 mpg which they say is ok!! So did nothing...will continue to monitor.

[Karl Roth]

Originally Posted by ms bea

I've posted before with my low mileage in the city 25-28, over 2K miles so far,but it is in San FRancisco. Anyway the dealer wanted the car for 3 days to test it themselves, so I took it in Monday morning (started the engine and the low tire pressure guage came on...turned out there was a nail in the rear tire, which they fixed for me - great timing!!!). anyway they drove it for 103 miles 70% freeway and got 38.1 mpg which they say is ok!! So did nothing...will continue to monitor.

Parking it in the shop is doing nothing they did an extensive test drive and found nothing wrong. Huge difference in my book.
karl

[biselc]

Originally Posted by Karl Roth

how are you measuring? I find the most consistant to still use the recipts for fuel purchacase and the trip odometer. Tools like a scanguage can be a good thing but can give you bad numbers if you don't have it set up right. Got my worst tankful ever on a highway trip second worst also a highway trip.
I get my best #s on two lanes without stops at moderate speeds, most of my commute. I do check at every tankful and from new now the average is 38, down from 39. I can get #s in the twenties on the scanguage by putting my foot to the floor in lower gears. idle at a stop nets 0 mpg keeping up with traffic in stop and go is killer on milage. What kind of milage did you get with the same type of driving you are doing with the smart with your last rig.
karl

I use good old fashioned math. No machinery needed to figure out mileage. My S55 gets 11 in town. You cannot compare the two cars. COMPLETELY different animal. I was really hoping that the Smart would get in the mid 30's in town. I see all of these other posts with the great mileage and it makes me think that there may be something wrong with my car. The first question out of anyone's mouth is "What mileage do you get?" and when I tell them 26-27 mpg in town, no one is impressed. Neither am I for that matter.

[Karl Roth]

Originally Posted by biselc

I use good old fashioned math. No machinery needed to figure out mileage. My S55 gets 11 in town. You cannot compare the two cars. COMPLETELY different animal. I was really hoping that the Smart would get in the mid 30's in town. I see all of these other posts with the great mileage and it makes me think that there may be something wrong with my car. The first question out of anyone's mouth is "What mileage do you get?" and when I tell them 26-27 mpg in town, no one is impressed. Neither am I for that matter.

Think I would be as well, Based on your other car you probobly have some habits that you need to get rid of and that that the way you are driving is probobly 99% of the problem. karl