6th gear and Scangauge

I posted on another board, no response... I'm sure someone has one, mind posting the mpg difference between cruising at 55, 60, 65, or 70mph?

 

Not to hijack the thread but anyone know this info for the 5 speed auto too? Thanks in advance

 

I'd be happy to grab my scangauge and go for a ride sometime with anyone in the RI area that wants to gather this information.

 

I've noticed that going around 55 i get the best mileage on my scangauge. About 28mpg on a smooth flat road. Driving around 70 I get about 24mpg. I have a PreRunner I4 SR5

 

In a perfect world where all the roads are flat and smooth I get the best mileage at or around 2000 rpm. Now, if you hit a hill it's a different story.

 

YOu can figure all that out without a scangauge....

I'm currently 'testing' this myself....on this tank.

My driving habits inclued half city/highway. I drive to work on a 7-mile straight shot on the highway one way. I normally go 65-75mph+. This tank, I've set my cruise control to 60mph for the highway runs. When I fill up again, I'll figure out what my mpg was for the tank. Not sure it'll make much difference - but...I was curious to know if it'll save me some cash.

I have an Auto.

 

Interested in this as well...

I cruise at 65mph now on the freeway, even when the limit is 75mph... I'd guess that 6th gear and above 2.5K and you'll start noticing a decrease.

 

I posted this info back in March in a different thread. Mind you, mine is an I4 4WD and has a 5 speed manual. On a flat, level, stretch of road, no wind, truck fully warmed up, I got the following readings:

75mph............20mpg
70mph............23mpg
65mph............26mpg
60mph............28mpg
55mph............31mpg

My Taco was real new at the time, probably didn't have 300 miles on it yet. I suspect that the mileage will improve at these speeds modestly as it breaks in. I also imagine that mileages with the V6 will be a little bit lower. But it sure does highlight how huge a difference one's speed makes. Causes part of me to pine for the days of the "double-nickel".

 

Got the results and I thought they'd be better than they were...but...I can't complain. With my mixed driving city/highway - just dropping my speed down to 60mph on the highway (instead of 65-70mph), I gained about 1mpg. Not much.....
At $3.65 a gallon with 17.5mpg - that's 20.85 cents per mile.
At $3.65 a gallon with 18.5mpg - that's 19.73 cents per mile.

Damn, it's costing me one full gallon of gas to get to work & back home everyday. $3.65 a day.

 

^Interesting, not a big diff with your auto, 6spd bet its a 2 or more mpg diff between 60 and 70.

I have general idea after all these years. But there are always temp, fuel blend, load and other variables when u measure tank to tank. Still would like to see the numbers breakdown from someone's 6spd & scangauge like Hardcase presented for his 4cyl.

 

Man, if time wasn't an issue and if I wouldn't piss everyone off including 90yr old blind grandmothers on the interstate, I would so drive 55mph everywhere.

 

Those of you who are old enough to remember will recall that it was the "law of the land" for almost 20 years.

 

Sounds about right. I commute 70 miles round trip daily and I monitor MPG all the time. I also use a GPS for fun as well (since I know where I'm going). Average MPH for the one way 35miles in the morning is about 50mph and is a mix of stop and go traffic with max speeds about 60-65. I get 21-24mpg each way (more downhill on the way home). When I cruise the same route at 70+ (overall average about 68) I lose a good 3-4mpg althogh I haven't dropped below 20mpg since adding my exhaust. Came close though doing 80 once.. dropped to 18mpg then back up after I got off of it for a while. Use the CURRENT TRIP MPG vs the real time one and you'll get better results on the Scangauge. CURRENT TRIP MPG resets after 3 minutes of the power being removed from the device.

Oh .. I have the 5 speed auto

 

I generally use the Today MPG and compare it to the Previous Day's MPG. It gives me a better idea if i'm improving or not my driving style.

 

Try to keep in mind that it's the aerodynamic drag that kills mileage and not so much rpm of the motor. This is why you all see big mpg changes by changing driving speed as opposed to the minimal rpm difference on the tach.

For example, you guys all have seen those "Storer" tour type busses cruising down the freeway @ 75 mph, right? Try tucking in about 25-30 feet behind one @ the same 75 mph speed. When I do, my mpg on the I4 2.7 in 5th gear nets 40-44 mpg @ 75 mph....especially if I'm on cruise control. Driving @ 75 mph in "clean" air only gets me about 22-23 mpg. Astounding!

 

+1

Drag force increases by a factor of velocity squared

 

How exactly do you want people to measure mpg readings using the Scangauge?

Instant MPG while in 6th gear at 60mph for ......how long??

I was measuring the entire tank & miles simply by using gallons filled in the tank (tank measurement) and the miles on the tank (Trip A).

 

Right, miles/ by gallons is how I've done it from day one. I don't have a Scangauge, but as seen in TSUNAMI*22's example, he can see the numbers rise/fall just drafting.

Simply would like to see cruising on flat highway, the Scangauge's mpg reading at 55, 60, 65, 70 in 6th gear.

 

If you REALLY want to know you could buy a scangauge. If you get it directly from scangauge.com there's an unconditional 30 money back guarantee so you can return it if you decide you can give it up after playing with it for a while.

 

I do it a couple of ways:

For AVERAGE TANK mpg, I divide miles driven / gallons used (only works if you visually top the tank off between fill-ups) My Scangauge percentage of error likes 10.5% btw.

For AVERAGE HIGHWAY mpg, I set the cruise at a specific speed and got to the TRIP setting, then choose CURRENT mpg -or- TODAY mpg, and hit reset.......then note the mpg and record what it says at the end of my trip.

For AVERAGE TOWN mpg, I do the same as above.

NOTE: It is extremely important that you've properly calibrated your Scangauge by doing a couple of "fill-up" percentage checks. Basically, you know you've hit the mark on calibration when your "gas used" closely matches the "amount filled" on the pump display. If you don't do this calibration, your indicated current, today, real-time....etc., mpg won't be reliable information to you !!!

Only then, will the mileage values be accurate or nearly accurate. My 2.7 liter likes a 10.5% error adjustment. It seems like a lot, but when I fill the tank the numbers used on the SG matches the amount needed to top it off. It's within a .1 gallon accuracy.

I just kept changing the error value by .1% until I found that 10.5% was the nearest value. Follow the directions in the manual to the "T".

At first, when it was set to 0% I would show 29 mpg @ 70 mph. But then I'd fill-up and show more gallons used than that. Now, it shows something like 24 mpg @ 70 mph.....which with the 10.5% setting sinc's everything up well.