Mileage ???

[pharmadude]

Bought '09 TCH in New Jersey ... was getting 33.8 mpg going up & down mountains and around town. Not much stop & go.

Moved to St Louis. Lots of stop and go. Mileage down to 29.1 mpg. Use battery in traffic and feather the accelerator. Car now has 1300 miles on it.

What's up with the 4-banger mileage in a "hybrid" ???

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Several things could be happening.

1) Cold weather will drop your mileage
2) Ethanol gas and a winter blend
3) The engine is not fully broken in (wait until 5,000 miles or so)
4) Short trips and not getting the engine up to temp.
5) Low tire pressure.
6) The wrong grade of oil (should be 0w-20 or 5w-20)
7) Wrong driving tactics for the situation.
8) Speed higher overall than your last town.
9) Changing factory LRR tires/wheels to performance oriented tires.

There are a LOT of things that will change your mileage. You could also visit the very active group of hypermilers at greenhybrid.com and cleanmpg.com who would be more than willing to help. One thing is certain; you are 6 to 7 mpg lower than our averages at greenhybrid.

Good luck.

[mspeasl]

Why number 2?..............

[cdn_tch]

Originally Posted by mspeasl

Why number 2?..............

1) because thats what most people think of it ...

2) both reduce the BTU of the fuel. You must burn more fuel to get the same energy out of your ICE.

[GeorgiaHybrid]

mspeasl,

Ethanol has fewer BTU's per gallon than gasoline and will cause a drop in mileage. You can get more power from an engine using alcohol but it takes more fuel to do so. This is due to alcohol's higher octane rating, which allows a higher engine compression to be run.

With my old alcohol drag car, the engine would put out around 850 HP on alcohol and 740 or so on straight gas. The problem was the engine used almost twice as much alcohol to get that horsepower but it ran MUCH cooler and cleaner.

You also have a "winter" blend of fuel that will allow the gasoline to vaporize at much lower temperatures with a better flame propagation than the summer blends. This allows cars to start and run easier in colder weather than using a "summer" blend. The drawback however is a lower energy content due to the increased volatility of the fuel.

[mspeasl]

GeorgiaHybrid,

I too have ran both Methanol and in pump Gas my 57 since we started dragging the car back in 1964. But there is a difference in Methanol (Drag fuel) and Ethanol besides one being corn and the other natural Gas based. You're correct about double the amount of fuel to get the same results. And yes we did get higher HP from the alcohol. But the down side was the amount of maintenance that had to be done when we ran alcohol. It got to the point that maintenance was much more than we sometimes had time for. If you ran Methanol you know what I mean. If you don't do maintenance you have major problems!! Having not ran Ethanol through the race car I don't know if the characteristics are the same. I do know that some of the "Top Alcohol" guys are running Ethanol. But what they have to do to get the same HP as Methanol, I don't know.

Anyway thanks for your input and info. You answered my question.

Mspeasl
'Growing old may be mandatory, but growing up is optional'
2009 Barcelona Red Toyota 'Hybrid' - Delivered 19 August 2008
2008 Radiant Red Toyota 'X-Runner' - Delivered 15 November 2007
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