Suprised by 28.6 mpg!

[ttreat]

I have a 2002 with 132,000 miles. I just took a trip from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. On the way there I had one tank at 27.8 mpg then one at 26.1 mpg with some local driving. One the way back I filled up in Rocky Mount, NC and got 28.6 mpg on that tank. My driving style was about 69 mph in 65 zones and 73 mph in 70 zones. This is much better than I ever got before. I have seen 26 on a trip but never 27 or 28 mpg. I did a transmission flush before I left and used Royal Purple Max ATF that is JWS 3309 compliant. I also got an alignment as I just changed the two front lower control arms. Have others seen similar mileage?

Note: mileage numbers were noted from car's computer but also verified through calculations to be accurate.

[BillAileo]

That's about what we get with our '03.

[billr99]

I've seen mileages in the high 27s (calculated to US gal.) a couple of times with my '02. But they have been on trips with the car well warmed up, air temps in the 70s, etc. In other words, ideal overall conditions. More typically though and as you have said, in the 26s.

Cheers,

Bill

[n00bkiller944]

Hate you guys... :( I must have a heavy foot lol

[billr99]

Hate you guys... :( I must have a heavy foot lol

I have one of those, too. My high numbers though have come with cruise on and a fairly flat road. Like I said, ideal conditions.

Cheers,

Bill

[cattlecar]

One of my friends has a 2001 XC70 with 160K. He gets those kind of MPG numbers too. I traded cars with him so I could do struts/bushings/links/spring seats and I used the car a couple of weeks and got 24.2 in mixed city with expressway commuting.
I thought he was babying it to get his highway numbers but I didn't baby it and got good numbers.

[howardc64]

On my 01 V70XC and 01 V70 T5, I've seen 30mpg driving 3 hours on highway between Seattle and Portland going between 60-70mph. This is before I changed to IPD's HD TCV. Have only seen about 27-28mpg after.

mpg does drop quick from here if you just drive around town a little.

Our roads have some hills so mpg probably can be better on perfectly flat roads.

[Seamus]

Whaaaat. I get 21.8 in my S60 with mostly in town driving. But I guess it's my foot as well. And the xc gets about 21 in city only driving

[Astro14]

Note: mileage numbers were noted from car's computer but also verified through calculations to be accurate.

Yeah...I have found that the trip computer can be fairly optimistic...but on a good long drive, level ground, cruise set and sticking somewhere close to the speed limit, I have seen 27....that's based, not on the trip computer, but on a "miles/gallons to fill up the tank" bit of arithmetic...

[Astro14]

I did a transmission flush before I left and used Royal Purple Max ATF that is JWS 3309 compliant. .

RP makes good oil...but I wouldn't say that it is JWS-3309 compliant. Here's what the RP site says about the Max ATF: "Max ATF is recommended for a wide variety of transmissions...." then later, "Max ATF is recommended in vehicles requiring any of these automatic transmission fluids:..." and then it lists JWS-3309 and T-IV. So, it's recommended by the Royal Purple folks for JWS-3309 transmissions, but that doesn't necessarily mean compliant, or they would have said so...

I am not saying RP is bad or won't work, I don't have the experience to know that...but I wouldn't exactly call it compliant either....

[budrichard]

Usually I'm going about the traffic norm on Illinois/Wisconsin Expressways and Tollways at 75 and get about 24mpg, but last Thursday I went to purchase a Lawn Tractor in Illinois and the pickup that I accompanied went about 65 unloaded and 60 loaded on the Tollways for about 140 miles total. The 2003 XC70 said 28.8 when we returned. Of course we were in the right lane all the time and even most of the big rigs were screaming by us. These XC70's are capable of some very impressive numbers if and this is the big IF, you can keep the speed in the 60's and steady.-Dick

[MacNoob]

I have found that the trip computer can be fairly optimistic.

Mine is pessimistic by about 1L/100km - if it shows 11L/100km I'm using about 10.

http://www.fuelly.com/sig-metric/59955.png (http://www.fuelly.com/driver/corvair/xc70)

[Q-ship]

I've gotten over 30 (6 month avg) when I used to have a backroad (no stops) commute of 20 mins, on 35-45mph roads. So I did anywhere from 40-50 mph. So you can get nice #'s if conditions are ideal.
Commute now is 7 minutes, so car never really warms up, and gets much worse mileage. 23-25 on highway is not really hard though.

[Au_xc70_03]

I got between 25-26 mpg on my last two long trips.

[AlanTbird]

My 1st trip in th XC was a long haul to Pagosa springs CO and I clocked it at 29 mpg and was VERY pleased as the XC replaced a very thirsty 97 grand cherokee that got 18 mpg on a good day!