Octane and mpg

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Johnny O

Johnny O

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Pittsburgh, PA
Went to visit my kids this past weekend. In my not-quite-scientific experiment, I tanked up with 89 in Edinboro, PA and got to their town in NY with a bit under 1/4 tank. Calculate mpg at 20.6. Gas costs more where they live so I tanked up with 87. Roll into Edinboro on empty, fill up, and calculate 16.8 mpg. Mostly flat interstate all the way, cruise on at a steady 75 mph, no noticeable wind.

For what it's worth. :cool:
 
imho 2 octane would not have a dramatic differance. The link takes you to the Federal Trade Comission website, an interesting insite on octane.
 
I will note that my Trac, and the Ranger I had before with the same engine, run worse in the summer on the oxygenated fuel we get here. Noticeably smoother on 89. Just think, if I run Ape's 93 octane maybe I'd really hit that 200 mpg mark. :lol:
 
Just a hint......can't rely on fuel gage markings to estimate mpg. The Trac fuel gage is not linear. Also, different regions have different gasoline blend requirements per EPA rules. You will get better mpg if you use gas that does not contain any alcohol. 100% pure gasoline is usually available in the more rural areas and smaller cities. In the metro areas most gas has about 10% alcohol which tends to lower the mpg a bit. As JohnnyO stated, also depends on time of year. My Trac gets better mpg in the summer than in the winter. Don't know if it's the gas or just the longer warmup cycle.
 
My trac always gets much better MPG during the first half of the tank. ;) :lol:
 
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Hey Fred, so does mine. I get 250 miles with the first half but only 130 to 150 with the second half. Maybe if I always fill the tank when the gage reads 1/2, I'll get be getting 24 to 25 mpg.
 
Better yet, my gage doesn't move until I've driven from 80 to 90 miles. So, If I always keep it really full then it should hardly use any gas. Very high mpg indeed. In fact, if I just looked at the gage I migh conclude that I'm not even using any gas for the first 80 miles in which case I'd have 80 miles / 0 gallons = infinite mpg!!!!!!!! WOW.
 
Bill is correct you cannot use the fuel gauge to measure mileage. Also, different states, and even different cities in the same state can have different fuel blends.



Then there are all the other variables like variations in the different pumps, different traffic at different times of the day, the temperature and even a slight wind. And while you may not have been going up and down a lot of hills, the probably is a significant elevation difference from PA to NJ. My guess is that you were going up hill from NJ to PA, while it was down hill from PA to NJ.



...Rich
 
I'm thinking about inventing/selling a variable pitch turbnado type device. Any interest?
 
Living here in the Great Plains, I used to assume that driving in the Rocky mountains would drastically reduce fuel economy. Boy was I wrong. I've gotten some of the highest MPG readings while driving in the high plains west of Clayton,NM. The elevation goes from 5000 to almost 9000 feet by the time you get to Raton Pass on I-25.



I got 39mpg on that leg while driving a V-6 Chevy Corsica! 43mpg while driving that same leg in a Mazda Protege. Trust me, those cars never got even close to that MPG while driving around here.
 
NY gas SUCKS!!!.... My mileage is almost double from NY to any stat out of NY.....



Johnny, You came to NY and did not stop buy!!!!,,, Whats up with that????:wacko:

Todd Z
 
My MPG was fantastic during the fallout of Katrina.



My tank was almost empty, I didn't feel I had enough to idle in the 3 to 4 block fuel lines.



So, I didn't drive... :D



0 miles / 0 gal = worked for me.. :rolleyes:



I rode my bicycle around just to look at how crazy people were acting.. :unsure::(:angry::eek::huh:

I had food and water storage to last for a week. I also have camp stoves to cook with...



I did miss the AC though....:eek:



 
Like I said, it is pretty flat all the way both ways. I-79 to I-90 to I-81. I gassed up at the north end of I-79. I didn't use the gas gauge to calculate the mileage, that was just an observation. I figured the mileage by dividing the gallons it took to fill up into the miles driven since the last fill up.

I still think the RFG (oxygenated fuel) we get in the summer is crap, assuming NY gets the same stuff.
 

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