FR-S Low MPG

[extrashaky]

The fuel economy of this car corresponds directly to the kind of driving you do. I've never had a car that had such a wide range of mileage variability, just based on how I drove the car. You use a lot less gas if you keep it under 4000 RPM and out of the direct injection.

To give some examples, most of my driving is on interstates at 75 mph with maybe 10% city driving mixed in. I normally get about 31-32 mpg.

However, I had a trip a while back where I was stuck on back roads going 60 mph almost the entire time. My average jumped up to 34 mpg. At one point I reset the computer for a 60 mile leg down a flat two-lane road with a 55 mph speed limit. The computer calculated 37 mpg on that leg.

In contrast, I had a couple of weeks stuck at home, driving around the city. My mileage dropped down into the 20s. If I hot rod around town up above 4000 RPM, it drops even more.

If you push the bottom display button on the dash, you can get an instantaneous readout of your gas mileage that tells you your mpg as of that moment. It's certainly not 100% accurate, but if you just leave it on that readout and glance at it occasionally as you're driving, it can give you a pretty good idea of what kind of driving is sucking your gas and what isn't.

[LucidMomentum]

I get around 25-26 MPG. Half city, half highway driving. Granted I drive in sport mode 90% of the time :p

[8R6]

ive been getting about 24-24.3mph consistently for the past several months. about 50/50 between city and highway driving.

[themajesticone]

There is an indicator light setting you can enable that will tell you the optimal moment to change gears - it is apparently supposed to maximize your MPG. Perhaps give it a shot? Not sure how helpful it actually is though, I never pay attention to my indicator light.

[dnieves]

Originally Posted by JROD9496

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the community. Quick question. My FR-S, completely stock has about 2,500 miles now and my average MPG is 21.7. I understand it's a new car but when will I start seeing the gas mileage it's suppose to get? Since I do mixed driving I would expect something around 29mpg.

Thanks,
Jared

Jared,


Keep in mind EPA MPG estimates are a best case scenario (unless it's a blatant lie like KIA did resulting a $360mil settlement in '04 or a semi lie like Ford did with the C-MAX). It doesn't take into consideration real world driving conditions or a driver's specific habits. If you want to get the manufacturer's mpg (or better) you have to avoid traffic, do not drive against the wind, use your brakes sparingly, no WOT or jack rabbit starts, lose weight, do not fill the tank all the way (1gallon=8lbs), no passengers, inflate tires to 35psi, granny shift, follow trucks' slipstream, coast as much as you can and try to go downhill as much as possible.

[strat61caster]

Depends entirely on your driving cycle.

I drove back up the freeway after a weekend outing rather conservatively in the low 70's mph, couple foot to the floor moments to zip through traffic and the computer told me I was averaging about 31 mpg.

A week later on the same tank the mpg has dropped below 25 and I fully expect that when I actually fill up it will be in the low 20's. This is because my commute is on city streets, several traffic lights and a lot of idling with little opportunity for maintaining constant speed. You can almost pinpoint the changes in my mpg with major life events as I've had two since buying this car.

http://www.fuelly.com/car/scion/fr-s...7974/fuelchart

Yup, my mileage sucked in the past three months, however I'm on track to fill up 2 times a month with the exception of trips, worthy trade imo from the average of 4 fillups/month when I was getting high 20's and low 30's mpg.

Another factor in my declining mileage is my willingness to put my foot to the floor for little reason in clear traffic. It's easy to forget that a 7,400 rpm redline is one of the best parts about this car.

/novel

Edit: With the exception of tracking or autocrossing I've never been worse than EPA estimates of 21 mpg city driving as evidenced in the fuelly linked above.

[Obja]

i got 21 mpg throughout 17k miles on fully bolted AT

[Monchiez]

don't forget about cold weather idle!

[WazzuGrad]

Worse i ever got was 26.5mpg on a tank that included alot of sprinted driving. Otherwise im consistently 29-30mpg, 75%hwy and 25%city. (lots of traffic though)

[Decay107]

Worst I ever got over 15 gallons was 8.2 (included a lot of spirited driving )

Worst with evidence (average over a tank)

[Dake]

That does seem on the low but still reasonable side depending upon your driving. I currently get a solid 30 mpg but it's almost all highway. Before in somewhat mixed driving I was getting around 27. If I'm on days off though and do nothing but knock around the neighborhood running errands I'll get to about 25 in my bone stock MT.

I feel like it's been consistent since new though (just had the two year anniversary in October at 18k miles).

[IDFWU 420]

I get about 22 mpg all city driving, still breaking in my engine.

[daiheadjai]

Keep in mind the car's MPG calculator seems to be optimistic.
Moreover, if you've changed your wheel/tire combo, that affects it as well.

I typically see 7.7L per 100km (works out to about 28mpg), while the trip computer may say 7.3-4

Driving in slippery conditions will lower your mileage as well.

[Tromatic]

Highest I've ever gotten was just a bit over 25, and that was during break-in. Now, I try to see how far under 20 I can get it on gas. 16mpg is easy on E85.