Real World Mileage Thread

[lirandy]

Finally finished up my first tank of gas last weekend and pumped some gas.  It ran around 285 miles with 9.38 gal of gas - came up with a 30.3mpg on my first tank of gas.  Pretty impressive number since I did A LOT of short distance commutes, stop-n-go traffics, and city driving.  

[Fiat500USA]

The stop and go really kill the mileage! I'm at 40mpg on my commute, but as soon as I visit a city, it plummets!  I'd love to see what's the most I can get... I guess I'll have to wait for my vacation.

[jvsgabriel]

Well had about a month's worth of driving done, and about 3 gas tanks full as well.  I am getting about 35-6 mpg.  I use the Ipod app called Road Trip, and also using the car's computer as well, to get the mileage average.  But as an aside, still haven't found the secret to getting the Eco-drive to work on the car.  I would love to see how I drive.  As my commute is a bit on the short side, with about equal freeway and city driving.  My commute is about 9 miles, with about 5 miles of freeway and the rest of course as city driving.  

Joel

[prima 109]

Check the Fiat website, it's been updated as of last week and Ecodrive's logo is on the site when you select the "cars" tab.  I uninstalled ecodrive & reinstalled goiing throught the US site.  Just need to ddrive the car and collect some data.

[spindoc]

Last fill-up mileage was 35.0 on premium gas, in town (suburban) only.  

Previous fill-up I tried regular gas.  Mileage was the exact same, 35.0, but performance wasn't as good.  

[jvsgabriel]

     Ok just came back from a nice trip to Los Angeles, round trip on 1 tank of gas, averaged exactly 40 mpg (402 miles).  And this trip had everything, traffic, city driving, freeway driving (0-80mph, it is LA) and Ave speed was about 39mph.  Great little car, and I was complaining about the AC, but no more, it performed excellently.  Temps of about 80-90 degrees, and the AC did just fine, set it and forget it.  The car even took those darn LA expansion freeway joints with ease and civility.  Overall my wife and I are very happy with the car.  

    Can't wait till later this month, hopefully Madness 500 will have those blasted ClimAir deflectors through customs.  Then it is another drive up to LA.  Signal Hill here we come.

    And then yesterday, got my first sight of another 500 down here in San Diego.  It was a Bianco, and he did a little honk and a thumbs up as he passed me up on the freeway.  I was just getting to my exit.  Should we have an "official" hand sign, say thumbs up, or a hang loose or some salute as we honk at each other?  A La mini drivers?  I think that would be fun.  Well so happy for getting the car, and more and more people are coming up to me and asking questions about it.  

Joel, #366 "Ittius Bittius" Chuseppi

[jamesday24]

Mine gets better with each tank.  I'm over 1300 miles now.  My last tank was 36.0 mpg.  Halfway through my current tank and I'm showing 36.9 mpg.  This is all city driving.  

[Fiat500USA]

jvsgabriel wrote

Ok just came back from a nice trip to Los Angeles, round trip on 1 tank of gas, averaged exactly 40 mpg (402 miles).  And this trip had everything, traffic, city driving, freeway driving (0-80mph, it is LA) and Ave speed was about 39mph.  Great little car, and I was complaining about the AC, but no more, it performed excellently.  Temps of about 80-90 degrees, and the AC did just fine, set it and forget it.  The car even took those darn LA expansion freeway joints with ease and civility.  Overall my wife and I are very happy with the car.  

    Can't wait till later this month, hopefully Madness 500 will have those blasted ClimAir deflectors through customs.  Then it is another drive up to LA.  Signal Hill here we come.

    And then yesterday, got my first sight of another 500 down here in San Diego.  It was a Bianco, and he did a little honk and a thumbs up as he passed me up on the freeway.  I was just getting to my exit.  Should we have an "official" hand sign, say thumbs up, or a hang loose or some salute as we honk at each other?  A La mini drivers?  I think that would be fun.  Well so happy for getting the car, and more and more people are coming up to me and asking questions about it.  

Joel, #366 "Ittius Bittius" Chuseppi

In the "old days" we flashed the lights. I remember riding with my Dad and seeing other Fiats flash their lights at us to say hi. It made an impression on me, people just didn't do that sought of stuff in the '64 Plymouth we had before the Fiat.

[Rick]

Here is an aberration for this thread.  If I pound it around town with sport button on I get about 27.  If I drive like an old f**t I can get 32.  I left Monterey for a San Francisco meeting for the fabrication of carbon fiber bits for our Fiats and reset the mileage since this would be my first highway trip.  Up and back with 90% freeway and 10% city i got 31 MPG!!  NO, not a misprint.  I averaged around 80 mph with some 85.  One brief stint to 110 (NO FLOAT at all).  I guess if you do much over 65 mph that snub nose is pushing hard at that air.  My car now has 3000 miles on it.  Any one else have low mpg at higher speeds?
The more I drive it the more I like it.  I love buying regular gas for the first time in my life. With 1/4 bar left on the tank it only takes 9.5 gal of gas.  

[Fiat500USA]

Regrettably, I haven't been able to go on any steady state highway trips, so I don't know what my mileage would be. I'm dieing to find out. I'm sure you're correct about the shape taking its toll on the mileage at speed. Here are some general statistics on speed vs fuel economy:

       -3% less efficient at 60 mph
      - 8% less efficient at 65 mph
      - 17% less efficient at 70 mph
      - 23% less efficient at 75 mph
      - 28% less efficient at 80 mph



I love filling this car up, 9.5 gallons makes for a quick gas stop!

[Rick]

That splains the low mileage at speed.  Probably hit 5 mpg at the 110 mark.  I was pleasantly surprised
it hit 110.  Makes me wonder what top speed is.  Anyone know?

[Fiat500USA]

Rick wrote

That splains the low mileage at speed.  Probably hit 5 mpg at the 110 mark.  I was pleasantly surprised
it hit 110.  Makes me wonder what top speed is.  Anyone know?

Check this out!

[Rick]

So 120?  I figured it would be maybe mid teens or so.  (And prob is with speedo error)
I doubt that this guy was on a closed course.  I've never seen a 2 mile long straight closed course.
I should have thought to take a photo.  

[mtnroadbiker]

1st tank and 10 days owenership info display says 42.3 and I get 40.9 (miles/gal). First 300 miles I tried to keep it under 3k rpms and under 60mph. After that went over 3k and >70mph a couple of times, but nothing excessive yet. Probably 80% highway and other 20% stop/go type driving and I have not yet used 'sport' mode. My other primary car is a Prius (50.9mpg since last oil change), which probably best explains why I get good mileage in the Fiat. (#483).

[jamesday24]

My last two tanks were driven entirely in Sport mode around town and both averaged 36.0 mpg.  I'm trying to drive the current tankful without Sport mode and I'm already seeing an increase to over 40 mpg.  Driving isn't nearly as fun though.  

[Giallo Edizione]

4th tank 33.7 mpg. maybe 25% highway, using sport mode a little less than half the time.

[apex97]

I have 2450 miles on #205 now and have typically been getting about 33 mpg driving it VERY hard. We just took a trip from Atlanta to Orlando with two adults and two kids with a full truck and still got 36mpg going between 75-80mph most of the time.
The car seems to have more power and get better milege the more its driven.

[spider2081]

Just curious anyone is actually calculating their mileage or are you depending on the cars computed mileage. The reason I ask is ,  I was using my GPS for a 50 highway trip and the cars speedometer reads consistently 3 MPH faster than the GPS shows.  That is further off than my other cars. I'm not sure but is the car's computer sees the wrongs speed it might also see the wrong distance and calculate the the MPG a little high.
I know the error is small but I am still curious  how everyone is checking their mileage.

[sketch]

It's common for speedometers to read higher than your actual speed since federal law (and those of most countries) allows for speedometer error in only that direction, to prevent accidental speeding.

I use Fuelly to track my fuel economy.  It does the miles/gallons calculation for me, but I also record all the trip information (fuel economy, average speed, travel time).

For the eight tanks I've done so far, the display has read between 0.2 and 2.0 miles per gallon over the actual figure; it's typically around ~1mpg optimistic, but it varies.  This is pretty similar to the average MPG reading in my Prius.

[Giallo Edizione]

sketch wrote

It's common for speedometers to read higher than your actual speed since federal law (and those of most countries) allows for speedometer error in only that direction, to prevent accidental speeding.

Hmm. Is that the reason our clocks run slow?