mexglx's Forum Comments
Showing all comments by mexglx.
Not getting Estimated MPG
My '07 VW Passat 3.6 wagon pretty much nails the EPA combined. Actual is 21.6 mpg and EPA is 22 mpg. I always have a roof rack on (windresistance and we drive closer to 70% city/suburbs with 0 commute miles. I drive aggressively but my wife doesn't. I can't complain. Anytime we are on the highway on long trips we have a huge roof top carrier and we are LOADED with weight. I have tried real conservative driving styles and can get the trip mpg to get to the high 20's occasionally. The stop lights is what kills my mileage in the suburbs. Anyway, not great MPG but its right at the EPA estimates for me.
posted by mexglx March 15 at 11:14 AM
Emission regulations
Heavy duty diesel truck emissions for 2013 are .2 g/hphr NOx and .01 g/hphr particulate matter. Also OBD had to released for the first time on all diesel engines in a manufacturers line up and for 2014, MPG has to increase from a 2010 baseline about 2-3% (varies by application and dutycycle of truck). The CO2 numbers that matter in Europe are just now starting here becuase we cannot reduce NOx or particulate matter anymore. We are reducing CO2 by increasing MPG. In 2017 there will be another 2-3% increase required. The reason there are differenct exemptions and measures for trucks is they vary so much. Trucks on the highway all the time use aerodynamics as much as anything to improve MPG while garbage trucks never go fast enough to need aero aids. Garbage trucks rely on fuel efficient tires. Engine makers will continue to tweak engines as muchy as they can to eek out more MPG. In the USA, future emmissions laws will be about increasing MPG/lowering CO2 for the next 10 years.
posted by mexglx March 15 at 11:00 AM
2011 Jeep GC V8 with low MPG compared to others
Also make sure your tires are well inflated. Even a little higher than the door tags say is good for fuel economy. If the door says 32 psi put at least 5 psi over that to get better fuel economy. In winter you may lose 5 psi becuase of the low temps. Don't warm it more than a minute in winter. Drive away slow on cold mornings and drive live Ms. Daisy's in back for the first mile. Engine will warm up faster that way. Consider lighter weight oil in the winter if you are truly cold for long periods os time. The owners manual will give you the cold weather oil options.(Less friction). Also, if you have a manual shift mode, use it to upshift as soon as you hit 1,500 or 2,000 rpms every time. Getting to the highest gear keeps rpms down and MPG up. Good luck! Hopefully it will break -in too and increase becuase of that. Winter is always the low MPG season, more air resistance, low tires, snow, winter fuel blends, thicker oil....etc.
posted by mexglx March 15 at 10:41 AM
Customizable basic stats
I use my MS Money to compare my spending this year vs sametime last year. Is that a data feature you can add to compare yearly data with last years over the same time frame. Also yearly trending to see how seasonality affects mpg. Winter fuel blends, denser winter air and snow and slush etc.
Thanks for the site. After one tank already worked on a few things to improve mpg. Picked up 2 mpg just combining trips. Set GPS to fuel efficient routing as well even though we know where we are going in town and learned of newer, fuel efficient ways to get where we are going!
posted by mexglx July 1, 2010 at 2:28 PM
