14.7 MPG Highway - 17.7 MPG City....How??

Is your average mileage really so bad that 16-16.5 would be WAY better?

 

The winter gas thing is a myth. Winter gas has 1.7% less energy not 15%. While it is technically giving you less mpg, it is not accounting for 2-3 full mpg.

 

I've been getting 19.5 driving the highway. I'd check it again on another trip. Something is wonky.

 

It’s driving habit and the area your in. Joe Schmoe our there can get 20mpg on flat highways and the other guy in the next state has hilly highways.

I have no idea where the OP lives or his conditions or driving habits. I’m just making the assumption they his truck is modded so RIP MPG.

 

Using facts and science on TW isn’t allowed. We have to perpetuate the myth that winter gas is the devil and steals your mpgs right out from under you.

 

Ok numbers cruncher, in the wintertime my mpgs are 18 -19mpgs even though my driving style and routes are the same. I dont run the truck longer to warm up and the roads are clear. Wind may be more prevalent at times but it's not always a contributing factor. Why is it always lower from Dec to April?

This is my 3rd winter with the truck and my tire psi is checked and maintained as temps fluctuate. I even run with the windows down in the summer.

 

Lots of reasons. Engine efficiency is lower in the cold, colder/denser air requires more fuel to maintain the same fuel mixture ratio, colder/denser air increases aerodynamic drag on the vehicle, colder batteries put more load on the alternator to charge, colder and fluctuating temperatures cause tire pressure to change more often than most people check which increases rolling resistance.

 

But I live in a temperate zone, it was 72 degrees here yesterday.

 

You know better. Same frigging mpg at highway speeds if vehicle is same weight. That engine is no more efficient. That shape is no more aerodynamic. There is no magic. You will have the ability to get more power and use more fuel though.

 

Not a myth. Around 5% loss. Longer warm up times is the culprit in addition to energy.

 

Sure it's allowed, as long as you post fact. He didn't account for the longer warm up times. That is a big hit.

 

You want better mpg on a modded truck. Easy......

Stay in the right lane and don’t pass anyone, and go 55-60mph. Should yield 16ish mpg if your lucky. And that’s calculated mpg not what your dash says.

 

Weight does not matter on highway. All about aero. In the city, different story.

 

What.....go carry 1000 lbs and tell me your self. Or better yet tow.

 

He accounted for strictly the effect of the winter blend fuels. Warm up times are another factor but the fuel itself doesn’t cause the major losses.

 

I don’t know why you anecdotally get 3 mpg lower. I just know what the facts say, which is winter gas does not have 85% the energy of summer gas. My MPG is flat through the year. Do with that what you may.

 

You and I live in Virginia. That's hardly "temperate". It was 63 yesterday. Three weeks ago, we had 10 inches of snow. Last winter, we had one of the longest sub teen streaks of temperatures on record.

 

No snow in my part, it was mid 50s and rainy three weeks ago.

 

I’m not sure how much the temperature needs to change to start showing an effect on fuel economy. Regardless of how cold it gets a reduction in temperature will still cause a reduction in fuel economy, just maybe not as extreme from 100° to 72° as from 90° to 0°.

 

5% is still not 15%. Also he said he lives in a temperate zone and is sticking to his story... so what warm up time?