Mpg

[Kingnod]

Im sure this has been covered before but this week was the first week i had the MR2 on the road. I filled up the tank when the tank hit E, approx 10.5 gallons... anyway ive driven 100 miles relatively tame and its at a half tank... this normal? Thanks.

93 N/A

[todd0305]

To me it is. Combine city and highway maybe 220 miles.

[Tercel GTS]

wow, I was expecting a little better than that from a 3SGTE

[JekylandHyde]

You can not get any significant information about mpg by watching the fuel gauge.

The only way to get a realistic idea is to completely fill up the tank.
Drive the car a good 200 mile or so.
Fill up the tank again (preferably at the same pump used above).
See how many gallons it takes and see what mileage you went and figure out your MILES per GALLON.

Even that is not 100% accurate, but it will give you a much better idea of what is going on with your car. Under normally driving conditions (boosting only occasionally) you should see about 24 mpg. I am getting well over 27mpg when cruising.

If your "cruise" mpg is less than 20, I would suggest checking your codes and/or doing some maintenance with the ignition (cap/rotor/wires/plugs) ... also check your tire inflation.

[Kingnod]

thats what i do normally... but at this rate its terrible. I know the gauge isnt accurate but it is fairly accurate and at this point id be lucky to get 200miles to the tank. Could there be someting wrong? I am driving relatively calm, I expected much better from a manual NA 4 cyl.

[JekylandHyde]

My NA would see nearly 300 miles if I got it down to E, but again the gauge is not accurate.

You said this is "the first week" you have had the car on the road.
Have you checked the tir pressure? It's been cold which means your set pressurse would have dropped and that will hurt mileage.

Why was the car off the road?

When was the last time you changed the air filter? cap/rotor/wires/plugs?

[Kingnod]

Originally Posted by JekylandHyde

My NA would see nearly 300 miles if I got it down to E, but again the gauge is not accurate.

You said this is "the first week" you have had the car on the road.
Have you checked the tir pressure? It's been cold which means your set pressurse would have dropped and that will hurt mileage.

Why was the car off the road?

When was the last time you changed the air filter? cap/rotor/wires/plugs?

Its the first week ive had the car on the road legally. I havent had insurance on it but i finally put it on. I only drive it on weekends cuz i go to school during the week in the crappiest city in america, so i wont know the mileage for a while. The tire pressure is fine.

The Plugs,cap and rotor were changed at 63k miles, 4 years ago. The car is now at 81k miles. The airfilter i will inspect on the weekend. other than that i know the plug wires are original... anything else it could be? I will wait to see next weekend how off the guage is, but im sure its not gonna be 100 miles off. BTW, premium is in the tank, that have anything to do with it? should i switch to regular?

Thanks JekylandHyde.

[MR2Jedi]

plugs,cap, rotor 4 yrs old? and 63k miles? I would say you were WAAAY past due for a tune up.if the air filter got the same attention, it probably needs change . 12 yr old plug wires should be changed too. i'd stay with recommended octane.

[JekylandHyde]

My recommendations:

1. But yourself brand new TOYOTA cap, rotor, wires and plugs. If they are original wires, I can almost gaurantee you your car is not performing at it's best.

2. Get yourself a new air filter OR "upgrade" to a cone-style filter ($25 for the APC type at Pep Boys).

3. Start using 87 octane. You will get the best performance from the lowest octane fuel you can use without experiencing detonation/knock. If the car runs fine and you do not hear pinging/knocking on 87, stick with it

4. You may also want to consider doing the fuel filter.