Any ideas why my MPG is so low?

[MaxMp]

Haven't try over filling mine to see any significant results but maybe next spring I'll have to verify that for myself. From what I can understand is that whether you overfilled your tires or not there's a certain sweet spot that works best for both applications, grip/handling and savings in fuel economy. A little too much of one thing can have an negative impact on others.

[wizkid057]

Yeah. I'm about to hit 15k miles and I've noticed significant improvements on how much easier it is to get higher MPG.

I just took a 1200 mile trip the other day, averaged 41.5 MPG... and that was with cruise set at 78 MPH the majority of the way (was about a 530 mile trip each way, plus some driving in the area I was visiting).

My tire pressures are even at stock pressures now, too, and I'm still using the trick from this thread I made to get well over 50 mpg on my commute when possible.

Driving around town like an idiot in sport mode has never yielded less than 30MPG since after I got in the 5-digit odometer club.

I drive ~30k miles per year, had the CR-Z since May.

[Widget]

Hi CR-Rx,

Here are a few tips from a previous thread I created, that I learned while carefully driving on long trips. Typically I only have 28-29mpg, due to my driving habits and the nature of the roads around where I live, but great mileage is pretty easy to achieve once you know the right things to do.

Drive in bursts of speed....

It's all about foot placement - check it out:

So here's a few tips in a understandable manner (also, get ready to have some leg pains with this):

• There is a "sweet spot," as I read somewhere else (thanks to whoever you are, if you read this!) where you can literally hold the MPG gauge at 50mpg and sustain a constant speed. However, this isn't very realistic, because the road pretty much has to be absolutely flat (or downhill) to accomplish this. It still works like a charm though. You have to concentrate really hard and lightly push that gas pedal so the MPG meter is on the "dot" right on the 50mpg mark.

• Secondly - use the electric motor appropriately... Now that your knee is sore from holding this 50mpg spot, you're going to make it even more sore by, again, concentrating really hard to push the pedal down so the gas motor kicks in slightly. Be careful! Watch the electric motor gauge and allow it to bring it about 5-6 bars then STOP. If you concentrate hard, you will actually hear the gas motor kick in - but the car will pick up speed a lot faster than expected with 5-6 bars on the electric motor. This allows you to keep the MPGs at around 30 until you hit the crest of the hill you're getting over.

• Third tip (and last really) - DO NOT REMOVE YOUR FOOT FROM THE GAS PEDAL. I'm assuming this is because of the IMA attempting to charge the battery with an engine break-type mechanism, but you will lose precious MPHs by taking your foot off of the gas pedal, which will force you to use more MPGs to speed back up on the road and not drive like a granny.

Also: don't expect to go over 65-70 MPH while attempting to drive green. Not going to work very well.