My Mileage Experiment

Normally, I'm a very conservative driver, except for speed - I'll accellerate slowly up to about 65 or so on the highways (speed limit may or may not be 65) and I rarely use cruise control because it doesn't keep a steady throttle position ...

The Car:
2001 Ford Taurus
3.0l OHV Vulcan V6
3.73 gearing

Some Quirks:
Front end horribly out of alignment (think I81 in PA)
Right front caliper hangs and drags (salty winters)
Bad wheel bearing (car sat alot when it was new)

Tank #1 - Bad Mileage Tank.
1. Deflate tires to 32psi.
2. Start car up and let idle for 30 seconds
3. When driving in traffic, keep up with traffic, this includes accellerating hard, leaving less than 3 seconds inbetween the car ahead of me and not timing lights so I can coast through a green light.
4. Stop for Stop signs completely
5. Keep up with traffic on highway and change lanes to pass (can get up to 65/70)
6. On highway, set cruise to highway speed and don't turn it off going up minor hills/inclines
7. Accellerate hard on on ramps ... 50% throttle
8. Delayed braking - not quite so much as everyone else, but more delayed than I do.
9. Going up and down a big hill (there's a hill on 28 that's about 3.5 miles long - goes up sharp then levels out then back up sort of steep). I kept up 45mph going up the hill and left it in 3 going up and down.
10. Turn car off when I run in convienience stores, or when I'm out of the car for short periods of time.

My result for this tank was 22mpg


Tank #2 - Good Mileage Tank.
1. Inflate tires to max on sidewall 44psi.
2. Start car up and let idle for 3 minutes
3. When driving in traffic and areas with alot of stoplights, go atleast 5 below the speed limit and time stoplights so I can coast through at 15mph (it won't shift out of 3rd gear at 15)
4. "Roll" through stopsigns if no other cars or police were present.
5. Do not exceed 55mph on the highway and stay in granny lane.5
6. No cruise control, instead set throttle to maintain 55mph and do not increase or decrease going up or down hills/inclines. This meant going up sometimes at 45-50 and down at 60-65 and when road leveled out, keep throttle position steady.
7. Time steady, but light accelleration so I was up to speed by merge area, if I couldn't make it, I would slow down or speed up (very light increase in throttle) to find a brake.
8. Early braking - I would start by letting off throttle very soon and lightly applying the brakes. Also, on long exit ramps, if there was no one behind me, I would start slowing down on the highway and coast to about 5mph and the apply the brakes.
9. Going up and down the same hill, I would use 2nd gear for the steepest parts and then keep 3rd gear until I hit level ground ... I also kep a steady throttle position. Going down, I kept my speed above 35mph and left it in OD so the torque converter would disengage and the engine would be running at idle speed (I need new brakes as it is)
10. Leave car on when I run in convienience stores, post office, ext.

I have an 18 gallon tank and if the 1/2 on the gauge (4 gallon reserve?) is 7, so at 3/4 tank I have only used 3.5 gallons of gas and went 111 miles ... comes out to about 31mpg, I'm going to round down 3 since the gauge might not be completely accuragte, so 28mpg. I won't have an official measurement until I gas up.

Not surprised. I can avg 36mpg in my Civic where as a coworker with a 98 EX Coupe (mine's a 97), driving roughly the same roads, gets 31mpg. I've seen her drive.

-hard accelerations
-no coasting, just hard and last minute braking (you should see the brake dusts on her front rims)
-slows down going up hills and speeds up going down them
-highway speeds will vary between 55 & 75mph (this is because she'll come up to a car going slower than her, break at the last moment, a few seconds later decides to pass and accelerates)

My driving habbits...I get on 38+ on cross country trips
-coast whenever possible ie if traffic is slowing down I let off the gas even if it means the guy behind me will tailgate
-if I know my interstate exist is about 1mile ahead or closer, I'll slow down from cruising 82/83 and shift to the right hand lane even if it means doing under 60mph for about 1/4mile before my exit (also gives my body time to adjust to slower speeds)
-never accelerate up a hill! Instead, at the trough, give it gas to maintain intertia going up a hill
*benefit of maintain intertia vs momentum...intertia is the amount of energy excerted in a direction by an object at a given speed. By giving increasing the throttle just BEFORE you start to climb the hill, you slightly increase that energy level and use a less net amount of fuel to climb the hill. More energy is in use at the beginning of the hill therefore, less energy (gas) needed to climb it. If you wait until you are ALREADY climbing the hill, you've lost energy even though you may have the same amount of momentum (speed). It will cause you to decelerate and require more gas to climb the hill at the same rate of speed.
-release while reaching the top (apexing) the hill and continue to let off of the throttle as you start down the other side. The amount of fuel saved would be greater than the amount needed to climb the hill.
*doing these two things together has been proven over decades as a far greater gas saver than slowing down up a hill and using the back side to accelerate. Also, your average rate of speed will be higher using the approach outlined above which means less road time!
-if you see a red light, get completely off the gas and coast as much as possible
-if you know your comming up on a car that's driving slower, change lane then and stay at the same speed. Don't wait until you are so close that you have to break and the accelerate again. It is also FAR, FAR safer!!! You rate of speed is higher and you get where you are going quicker.
-Maintain proper tire pressure
-Let your engine warm up before driving it whenever possible
-Keep a clean airfilter
-keep a proper tune up
-keep your car washed (the weight and drag on dirt typically cost more in gas mileage vs a car wash when the paint starts changing colors)
-just because gas is less expensive doesn't mean it costs you less in the long run, running crappy, dirty and less clean gas will decrease your gas mileage, running cleaner brands (BP, Exxon, Texaco) at a few cents more/gallon WILL save you more in increased fuel mileage than the money you "saved" buying it. Also, stick with the same brand if possible, each company has different compounds and mixing some could decrease the quality of gas in your tank.

Last, if you drive a high compression larger v6 or a v8, don't complain about gas...no one likes hyporcrites.



Millermagic, let us know what your final mileage wound up actually being!

28mpg. Probably would have got 30 for my figures but I put an extra gallon in after it clicked a few times.

385mpgs great in that car! I had a '05 Taurus as a rental. Drove it the same way I do my Civic and got 21mpg hwy. My mom had a 97 Taurus and I could squeeze 27mpg out of it and it didn't have major body roll like the '05 did nor beat you up over bumps. My back hurt after riding in that car. OK...I'll quite trolling against the new Taurusses.:naughty:

The 2000+ have softer springs so more body roll.

the trick to good gas mow you milage is in how you drive. i have an 01 mustang gt not great on gas. but if i take it easy shift early, accelerate slowly i can get about 22mpg around town and while on a long trip i was taking it easy drafting when i can and got 27mpg out of a v8.

The vacuum gauge is a good indication of how much I'm in the throttle.

The vacuum gauge is a good indication of how much I'm in the throttle.


i know in my grand prix GTP when im on the country roads my MPG gauge just keeps going up. i got it up to 33.9 the other day

i recently did a tune up i was only gettin 19mpg on the highway and close to 14 in the city. yes this is the same car thats not getting 33 haha. so i spent 70 bucks on a tune up and in a matter of 4 gas tanks it will have paid for itself.

I had a 1994 civic DX 1.5L, the best MPG I ever got on it was 52.4mpg on a highway trip. I usually averaged about 47

On my 1998 Oldsmobile Cutlass 3.1L my best ever was 32.8mpg, usually averaging about 25mpg though.

If everyone drove like you we could collectively justify a reduction in fuel price.. very cool experiment.. now i know Im not the only car freak

I just did the mpg on my Silverado 5.3L I got 17.5mpg. I'd say that was about 70% highway driving.

Normally, I'm a very conservative driver, except for speed - I'll accellerate slowly up to about 65 or so on the highways (speed limit may or may not be 65) and I rarely use cruise control because it doesn't keep a steady throttle position ...

The Car:
2001 Ford Taurus
3.0l OHV Vulcan V6
3.73 gearing

Some Quirks:
Front end horribly out of alignment (think I81 in PA)
Right front caliper hangs and drags (salty winters)
Bad wheel bearing (car sat alot when it was new)

Tank #1 - Bad Mileage Tank.
1. Deflate tires to 32psi.
2. Start car up and let idle for 30 seconds
3. When driving in traffic, keep up with traffic, this includes accellerating hard, leaving less than 3 seconds inbetween the car ahead of me and not timing lights so I can coast through a green light.
4. Stop for Stop signs completely
5. Keep up with traffic on highway and change lanes to pass (can get up to 65/70)
6. On highway, set cruise to highway speed and don't turn it off going up minor hills/inclines
7. Accellerate hard on on ramps ... 50% throttle
8. Delayed braking - not quite so much as everyone else, but more delayed than I do.
9. Going up and down a big hill (there's a hill on 28 that's about 3.5 miles long - goes up sharp then levels out then back up sort of steep). I kept up 45mph going up the hill and left it in 3 going up and down.
10. Turn car off when I run in convienience stores, or when I'm out of the car for short periods of time.

My result for this tank was 22mpg


Tank #2 - Good Mileage Tank.
1. Inflate tires to max on sidewall 44psi.
2. Start car up and let idle for 3 minutes
3. When driving in traffic and areas with alot of stoplights, go atleast 5 below the speed limit and time stoplights so I can coast through at 15mph (it won't shift out of 3rd gear at 15)
4. "Roll" through stopsigns if no other cars or police were present.
5. Do not exceed 55mph on the highway and stay in granny lane.5
6. No cruise control, instead set throttle to maintain 55mph and do not increase or decrease going up or down hills/inclines. This meant going up sometimes at 45-50 and down at 60-65 and when road leveled out, keep throttle position steady.
7. Time steady, but light accelleration so I was up to speed by merge area, if I couldn't make it, I would slow down or speed up (very light increase in throttle) to find a brake.
8. Early braking - I would start by letting off throttle very soon and lightly applying the brakes. Also, on long exit ramps, if there was no one behind me, I would start slowing down on the highway and coast to about 5mph and the apply the brakes.
9. Going up and down the same hill, I would use 2nd gear for the steepest parts and then keep 3rd gear until I hit level ground ... I also kep a steady throttle position. Going down, I kept my speed above 35mph and left it in OD so the torque converter would disengage and the engine would be running at idle speed (I need new brakes as it is)
10. Leave car on when I run in convienience stores, post office, ext.

I have an 18 gallon tank and if the 1/2 on the gauge (4 gallon reserve?) is 7, so at 3/4 tank I have only used 3.5 gallons of gas and went 111 miles ... comes out to about 31mpg, I'm going to round down 3 since the gauge might not be completely accuragte, so 28mpg. I won't have an official measurement until I gas up.

Some of your propostions for the "bad mileage" are better than the "good mileage" and some of the "good mileage" ideas are just bad.

Switch places with 2, 6, 7 and 10.

For 2 add: Using electric engine heater before starting.
For 10 add: Shut off engine when waiting for a green light or similar.
For 6 remove: "set cruise" and add keep speed manually

Replace 8 and 9 with:
8: Never brake or brake as little as possible. Try to use only the engine as a brake as it doesn't consume fuel then.

9: Always use the highest gear possible, both uphill and downhill. Keep a constant speed if possible. Never brake with anything else than the engine.

For 3 replace "it won't shift out of 3rd gear at 15" with "use highest gear possible".

If you do this you will improve your mileage further. You can also try different speeds 55 mph at the highway may not be optimum. It might be higher but it might also be lower.

- I wish I could have a block heater
- Turning off the engine at every stoplight isn't good for the engine or trans
- Cruise control I will use on a flat road
- Higher gears up hill is more work on the trans

The best mileage I got out of the car was 34.x at a constant 70. But that was for like 2 hours straight at 70.