Hi,

Since I have this car, I noticed that when driving in city for short drives (10 minutes driving most of the week,) - it can be of course more than one drive, but most of them are short, we're getting 22-24 MPG. When driving Hwy/long drives (more than 20-25 min.) we're getting 30-33.

Can it be that something's wrong with that? it's been like that since the begining...

Thanks!

 

How many miles are on it? I noticed a few months ago that my mileage dropped to around 30 mpg, and I checked the air filter. Dirty, and once I replaced it, went back up to 34 in town.

 

It's the drive.

Your short drives probably involve a lot of stops which kill the MPG. With fast acceleration and heavy braking being the major culprits. And your highway drive is probably going 75+ MPH. If you drop your highway speeds a little to 70 or even 65 and use cruise on flat terrain, you should see the MPG go up.

I do deliveries... From home to work is 4.3 miles (2.7 of it being highway), in 11 minutes or so. Then I drive some 50 miles on average doing the deliveries that average under 3 miles round trip per. And they all have plenty of stops. Finally, that 4 miles to go back home (unless I'm heading somewhere to get food).

I am, even with that driving, currently at a lifetime average of 31.1 MPG (and rising). My recent tanks have been 35 and 34 MPG.

I accelerate quickly to speed (not full throttle, just quick), and that speed is 5 MPH above the current speed limit. When the speed limit changes, I don't rush. I try to predict lights and pull out of gear to coast as much as I can when I know I'm going to stop and keep my braking to a minimum. No slamming the brakes. And when the stretches are long enough, I use cruise.

I avoid staying near other people as much as possible. I find that people in front of me force me to brake unnecessarily. And by keeping my sides and back as clear as possible, I can lane change or make other adjustments without affecting my speed too much (lane changing too fast will get cops' attention for "weaving").

 

I have 11600 miles on the car right now.

I don't think that I break a lot, other than lights (city after all). It is usually on 24Mpg in the city...car is being checked regulary by the dealership for each service I had till now...

What else can it be?

 

Um, that would be plenty of braking already.

Try to set yourself up so that when you are braking, you're not pressing the brakes as hard, but still coming to a stop when needed.