How much fuel left when you get the "gas low" light?

OP mentioned about 75% is city driving - that will mess up your mpg big time. I use an ultragauge so I can track real-time mpg. In the 3 miles from my house to the interstate I get 12 - 13 mpg because of red lights and stop signs. Then in 15 miles on the highway I get 20 mpg most of the time, which is acceptable, but because of a few accelerations on the highway to overtake and then the 3 miles city driving, my average is always at 16 mpg.
Long road trips at 75 mph I get consistent 20 mpg, because it is just highway.

 

Very true. I do a fair amount of driving for work, in a Ford Explorer, 4.0 V6. I have done some comparrison testing on long highway trips (same route, different days)
55 mph = 29 mpg±
65 mph = 25 mpg±
70 mph = 20 mpg±
75 mph = 16 mpg±
80 mph = 13 mpg±

(Doing 55 mph on an interstate sucks - the average speed of the majority of traffic around here is 75 to 80)

 

I use the Ultragauge as well and have it calibrated to within about 1-2% of what I get when I fill the tank and do the math.

I have a V6 5-speed 4x4 with 31x10.5's at 35 PSI and consistently get 21 MPG going to work which is about 4 miles of city driving and 12 miles of highway driving. However, I drive 65 MPH on the freeway.

I estimate that my 'highway only' mileage is about 22-23 MPG at 65 MPH. I bet I could squeeze 24 out at 55 or 60 MPH.

I experimented with faster and slower highway speeds and the difference was amazing (I don't have that data in front of me right now but I think it was a 10% difference). What does not seem to make a significant difference is using the a/c or overinflating tires. I went from 35 to 45 PSI in the front tires and noticed less than a 1% difference in MPG.

I also tried a tank of premium fuel and it made zero difference in my MPG. I just had to try that because my boss swears that premium fuel increases your MPG 10%.

When my commute to work was exclusively city driving (5 miles) I got 14.5 MPG consistently.

EDIT: Just found my data...60 MPH bumps me up to 23.8 MPG and 80 MPH dropped me to 18.0 on my work commute.

 

I had my truck since new and it has NEVER came on. I filled up 14 gallons and still no light. i guess the 95 to 97 wasnt done? Tho it has the wiring for it and in the cluster it has a lamp and lamp is good. Im guessing toyota didnt put s signal forward on low on my year or i have a bad sensor from the factory and never knew it.

 

Slow down and use cruise control as much as possible

 

1) Not possible, I drive like I'm racing in the "Watermelon 500"

2) Not possible, my truck does not have it!

 

I think the Mythbusters tested this and found that keeping a/c on or off didn't make a bit of difference.

 

I'm in a hurry (laughes). Really Cossing half my state in each trip takes forever at 65 and people are zipping by at 85 and 90. Put it this way, sometimes I just top it out and back off a bit. Like a boat.

 

Before I bought my Tacoma I was using my RAV4 and a Honda Fit. Those little cars are so maneuverable and peppy I got into a lot of bad habits. Today I was out in the truck and started slooooooowing down and not trying to beat everyone to the next light.

I'll see if that makes a difference the next time I measure the mileage.

 

I think they did a/c versus windows down, but I'm not sure.

Maybe I'll debunk the tailgate myth next...

 

Yeah, it was that...http://youtu.be/ZRt20C6NL-c

 

Using the Ultragauge I've found that the biggest MPG killer is using the brakes. Think about it...each time you use the brakes you convert your kinetic energy into heat, which is wasted. When you drive in a way that minimizes brake usage you save a lot of gas. I do that a lot but try to balance that with not pissing off the driver behind me.

Also, coasting in neutral or with the clutch in going downhill saves a lot over staying in gear. You may have to use the brakes to avoid going too fast, but I still think you come out ahead with the money you save on gas versus premature brake wear (I'm still on my first set of rear brake pads with almost 100K miles on them).

Another myth is that your best mileage is in your top gear. That is true at certain speeds, but I can get in the high 20's in 3rd or 4th gear in the 30 MPH range. So, driving in slow traffic may actually boost your mileage if you're not constantly hitting the brakes. Speed truly does kill.

Another thing I'm testing now is the effect of hard acceleration on gas mileage. So far, it doesn't seem to make a differrence. The days that I floor it from 0-65 MPH when I get on the freeway (we have meters out here that stop you before you get on) versus the days where I accelerate gradually give me the same MPG.

Another myth I debunked (at least for me and my truck) is that cruise control increases MPG. It didn't for me. Now, if you find your self going 10 MPH over the speed limit and then completely coming off the gas to where you're slightly engine braking and you do this a lot, I can see how it would help. But if you stay within +/- 3 MPH of your target and don't make radical adjustments to the throttle it doesn't seem to matter.

My Ultragauge has probably paid for itself two or three times already because of how much it has changed my driving habits. It's a great little device.

As with everything else, YMMV!!!

 

LOL

 

I agree with much of this, with a couple of notable exceptions:
- Hard acceleration kills my mileage
- Cruise control definitely improves it, though not dramatically

 

I don't have an ultragauge or the likes but my Subaru had a built in "real time MPG" sensor, and every time I engine braked it would go up to 99.9 mpg. But if I got on the brakes it would only rise moderately (to like 40-45 mpg)

As for cruise control, I've been tracking my fuel economy on Fuelly for over a year now (almost 14,000 miles) and noticed a 2-3 mpg increase when I committed to using it as much as possible. Winter gas withstanding of course.

 

Sweet deals my man! I just signed up I think I'm getting bad mpg's

 

My hard acceleration experiment is probably not a good one since I do it once on a 16 mile-trip. It's quite possible that it gets averaged out over the trip and becomes statistically insignificant.

 

BTW cruise control will definitely increase your MPG if it helps you maintain your target speed and without it you tend to 'go over' a lot. Again, speed kills.

I think it doesn't help me because I hold 65 MPH so tightly that the cruise control can't do it much better than I do.

 

Anyone compare with ECT on and with ECT off?

 

I have an '01 preruuner, 2.7l, 4.56 gears which is rare. I think the '01 2.7 is the only prerunner that has 4.56 gears. I'm wondering if the '01 has a smaller gas tank. I've read our tanks have 18 gallons but recently I filled up when the gas light came on once or twice. I filled up with 13.34 gallons. I'm wondering if my tank is 15 gallons.