Do you really get 25 MPGs on the highway??? I don't. I get about 21.

[mapper]

This is really killing me. I've now put about 12k on the car, mostly trips. and I think my best tank of gas was 24mpg. My car has good tires inflated to 42psi cold, new air filter, fuel filter and plugs. I run 91 octane fuel, which is premium here. It runs perfectly, cruises smooth and has no codes. I just got an alignment after replacing a bad control arm and hoped the bad arm was causing a problem but my last 1500 mile trip was exactly the same 20.7 average. When I accelerate my RPMs rarely go over 2500 and NEVER go over 3k. My cruising RPMs are about 2800

I drive my car easy and usually beat what most people get in a particular model. That said, on my normal highway trip from Salt Lake to Bend, OR (done 3 times now in the XC) I get barely 21. I live in the West where speed limits are 75 so my standard highway cruising speed is about 80. I have read a bunch on here about folks getting mid, even upper, 20s for highway gas mileage. I was expected MUCH better than I'm getting. I have to drive extra carefullly (egg under the accelerator careful) to break 20 in mixed driving

Is there something wrong with my car or are those people getting mid to high 20s driving 55?

[bbbuzzy]

I think many people overstate their mileage, either accidentally or by design. Using a the MPG readout on the dash computer isn't necessarily reality, but when that number is in-line with what people want to believe, then they might accept it. People claiming high 20's should do the actual calculation: fill up at a station they use often on level ground with the same pump inserted to the same level of the fill nozzle. Drive the car normally for a few hundred miles, note the exact mileage, and go back to fill the tank exactly as before. Now record the exact amount of fuel used for the mileage and divide the total miles by the number of gallons used to calculate true MPG. Repeat at least two more times and average the calculated value. My XC runs about 20 MPG in mixed driving and around 22-23MPG on long highway trips. These numbers are in-line with the more recently corrected EPA numbers, as well as the original numbers on the Monroney label of the car.

[acools]

While I didn't apply the same level of effort, I think my last 4 years of driving has also been 20.x or low 21.x MPG.

Andres

[ericjp]

If I drive easy I get 26 on the highway. Mostly flat where I am at, and driving about 70. If you are driving 80, you are using gas a lot faster. Change the read out on your dash to show instantaneous mpg and watch how it changes going from 70 to 80.

[Leto Atreides II]

Are you using the computer's reported MPG or calculating yourself? I usually find the computer reports the MPG lower than what it actually is by about 2 MPG.

[sjonnie]

I live in the West where speed limits are 75 so my standard highway cruising speed is about 80.

I did a trip from Lincoln to Santa Fe, about 80mph all the way. Car got around 24mpg.

If you suspect something's not quite right you should get the engine hooked up to an OBDII reader and check your fuel trim.

[SLVRMDL]

I agree with bbuzzy about the MPG in the message center not being accurate. I've been keeping track of my MPG via an app on my iphone and the average is 22.5. My driving consists of city and highway (if you call bumper to bumper traffic highway traffic). I only use premium and the best I've gotten in the past 6 months in 25.3 and that was 80% highway driving between Detroit and Lansing.

[Astro14]

Concur with other posters: calculate manually before drawing a conclusion.

I find that anything on the roof kills my MPG. E.G: The T5 gets 26-28 on the highway in 70-80 MPH driving. Put the Yakima skybox on it, and I get 21, tops, at 70 MPH despite aerodynamic shape of the skybox.

[mapper]

I use the on board computer and the pen and paper method. Sometimes there is a discrepancy but 9 out of 10 times the computer is accurate when I reset it. Last time I filled up (100% Interstate tank, aside from a bathroom break and 5 miles to house/gas station) the readout said 20.7 and the mileage over gallons method came to 20.71xxxxx

My first few trips had a roof box (Thule), which I thought was affecting mileage (though it doesn't change more the 1-2 mpgs on my other cars). More recently my trips have been with a naked roof...no significant difference.

I don't suspect anything is wrong with my car, based on anything other than my mileage being below anecdotal postings. Which is why I'm asking around.

[JRL]

LEVEL ground, using cruise control, easy
...and 42 lbs or air pressure is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much