Gas mileage during holidays 2021

Post by **FireFox31** » 24 Nov 2021, 11:13

What gas mileage are you getting while driving during the holidays of 2021? What conditions are you driving in (mountains, snow, desert)? What have you done to improve your mileage? Report mileage from the dashboard computer or by calculating miles driven / gallons added (after driving those miles).

I'm in a 2000 V70 NA FWD automatic. On a recent 14.5 hour drive, my dash computer reported 26 mpg highway (26.8 mpg in the hills of NH to PA, 25.1 mpg in the mountains of VA to NC). Around town, my dash computer reports around 23.5 mpg city. These are from Oct and Nov 2021, presumably on winter gas. To improve mpg, I fixed dragging parking brakes and did stage 0 work of changing pads, rotors, plugs, oil, coolant, timing belt, and fuel filter. I'm using Goodyear Assurance tires because they claim slightly low rolling resistance for better mileage. Still, I often have a 80-300 lbs of weight in the trunk.

I hope it's possible to get better than 24 mpg city and 27 mpg highway, so I'd love to see your input.

Post by **volvolugnut** » 24 Nov 2021, 12:11

Additional important information would be your typical speed. You could read this from your dash computer as the average speed.
Your mileage may vary.

volvolugnut

Post by **abscate** » 24 Nov 2021, 13:23

Not sure if we will take the P2 or the Bavarian money waster to NYC this holiday. I’ll drive right by My favourite Queens Volvo guy though !!

befarrer · Post by **befarrer** » 24 Nov 2021, 16:10

I filled up the other week, I calculated it at 12.9l/100KM, majority of it is city, and ambient temps below freezing. Just did 380km of highway driving but have not filled up yet.

Post by **BlackBart** » 25 Nov 2021, 11:55

I did a rare calc filling up at Costco a couple of days ago. 14mpg, ugh. That's all in-city, short trips, traffic, however.

yanga001 · Post by **yanga001** » 25 Nov 2021, 12:40

On a flat trip, 9 hours in the summer i did 850-870km on a tank. There were some hills and a point where spirited driving was done to catch a pie place before it closed.

Recently loosened out my parking brakes as they were catching and plan to replace them in the near future.

26 sounds about right for mainly highway driving, its a little high if its flatter but in line for the mountains. The biggest thing that kills me in the city is idling at lights. I did a test where i turned the car off at every light and found much better mileage. Hope it helps!

Post by **scot850** » 25 Nov 2021, 13:41

We should also add that we are using US gallons (3.8l = 1 gallon and not UK 4.5l = 1 gallon).

While the 'R" will be put away shortly (although a late November weather reprieve my delay this another week). It typically runs around 20mpg where again it is mostly shorter runs around the city with lots of traffic lights!

Neil.

befarrer · Post by **befarrer** » 25 Nov 2021, 16:07

Turbos vary alot for mileage, if you can keep it out of boost, mileage will be much improved, but hills, acceleration, etc... all cause boost to climb, and fuel to increase. My lpt has a huge difference between city and highway. I pulled a trailer with a snowmobile on it last year all highway, and my mileage tanked, probably because I was in boost alot of time due to the extra drag.

Post by **FireFox31** » 18 Jan 2022, 17:36

Do you experience significantly worse gas mileage when the temperature is below freezing?

When the temperature was 15 degrees, my dash computer reported an instantaneous mpg below 10 when gently accelerating from 0 to 40 mph. This happened both with a cold engine and a warm engine. I do have probably 400 lbs of tools and parts in my trunk, but I have gotten better mileage in warmer temps with around this much weight in the back.

yanga001 · Post by **yanga001** » 19 Jan 2022, 08:11

instantaneous measurements are averaged over the last 2-10 seconds i believe. The name of the game is coasting or maintaining a speed. Ive noticed under gentle acceleration ill read 10-15 L/100km at times however this averages out to a lot less then one should worry about over a highway drive. The cold can affect it though and we have winter gas up here which has more ethanol i believe so its worse mpg.