My MPG on my first trip out of town.

[jcramin]

I have a EX with NAV and 6-speed.

I live in Memphis Tennessee and we went to St Louis Missouri for the weekend. Right at 300 miles each way.

Fist let me say my daily driving is all around town and I get 31 MPG.

On the way to STL I had the cruise set for 72 MPH the whole way except for about 15 minutes when I did 60 MPH as a test, and on the way back I did between 75 - 78 MPH the whole way.

My average MPG was 31 MPG to STL and BACK except for the 60 MPH test. I got 41 MPG when I did 60 MPH but I could not handle going that slow for more than 15 minutes.

Most of the driving was done in normal mode. Going that fast with rolling hills in Econ mode caused the car drain the batter quick.

So with my driving habits I am getting 31 city and 31 highway, but considering i'm coming from a vehicle that got 10 city and 14 highway, I am VERY HAPPY.

[CaRZmic hippo]

31 mpg @ 74mph average ...??? Good grief! My full-sized '04 Accord EXL (4-banger/stick) got 32mpg @ 73mph (cruisecontrol: set and forget) regularly ... DEPENDABLY! Granted, I-55 from Memphis to STL is somewhat more hilly than the 600-mile section of I-35 I frequent, but still I find that number VERY dissapointing.

I'm beginning to smell some dealbreakers I think. Dang!

[wicked1]

Yeah, I get about the same, sadly.
I'm about to take a trip from STL to miami and was thinking about driving my cr-z. I've been doing some MPG testing between it and my girlfriends acura tsx.
Looks like the tsx is getting better MPG at normal (75ish mph) highway speeds, so that's what I'll end up driving.
Like you've observed, if I drop down to 60 the cr-z is great.... again, sadly.

[bkwitche]

I keep it around 65 on the highway and I get 37.5 mpg. That is my average including city driving, and it's in a 6MT base model.

Around town at 35 in 6th gear, about 1500 RPM's I can hold the instantaneous around 50 mpg's. Accelerating from stop lights etc lowers that, but 37.5 seems to be where I will tend to stay.

[CR-Zombie]

Ive noticed it really does depend on terrain, its odd. On the way to work in the morn its mainly uphill, sos I avg about 34mpg but on the way back its a about 45-55. IMHO thats not that bad. But one of the downsides to lving in the heart of the texas hill country.


Oh what a dream to be living out the plains where everything is flat

[gomarlins3]

Getting 43.5 on this talkful. Unfortunately when we went on our onlt long trip and set the cruise at 75, we only got 31 on our way to Salt Lake City. On the way back, we still did 75 MPH, but got 36 MPG. Tail wind vs. head wind.

[wicked1]

Oy, all this talk is for some reason reminding me of an old friends 3 banger geo metro back in the mid 90's. That car was alright until you tired going over 60 w/ a passenger. Then you had to floor it and hope you were going downhill most of the time .
wow, just looked it up.. that car got 51mpg highway! (what happened in the mid 90's that stripped 30mpg off the average car? Just safety krud?)

Having said that, the cr-z isn't a geo metro! It may suffer MPG at high speeds, but at least it can get there!!

[sirjonsnow]

My last long trip at 72mph I got 34mpg into a strong headwind, then 42mpg on the way back (a week later) with pretty much dead air.

[Colin]

Originally Posted by wicked1

wow, just looked it up.. that car got 51mpg highway! (what happened in the mid 90's that stripped 30mpg off the average car? Just safety krud?)

Safety improvements are a large part of it, and also the higher level of equipment. But, IMO, the vital difference is that the EPA revised their testing methods to make them more accurate. You cannot compare numbers from the 'old days' to those post-2006ish.