After 5k My Top Three Are

Hello,

So after 5k I thought I'd share my experience with the car and fuel economy.

I'll begin with my top three tank fulls. I use trip A to keep track of the distance between fuel ups. I only use the current trip to keep track of the current trip distance so my top three there are all 99 from switching parking spaces and the like.



My best tank full so far got me 524 miles on 9.184 gallons. My actual mpg comes out to 57.06 mpg. My trip computer is off by 1 mpg it seems. The other 2 trips I didn't take the car as far into the blinking last fuel light. This last time I went about 60 miles with the light blinking. I was surprised to see that I still had a bit left in the tank.

I have learned to drive the car a bit better and hope to creep closer to a full tank average of 60 one day.

On the trip in the next pic I drove about 80% freeway. I was so close to a 60 mpg average. I must have messed it up when I sneezed and tapped the gas haha.





I drive the car slow. I try not to accelerate too slowly nor too quickly. Fast enough not to anger other drivers but still without getting into power range. On the freeway I stick to 55. I'm never really in a hurry anyway. I just leave 10 minutes earlier than what the gps says it'll take me to get where I'm going.

I keep the tire pressures at the recommended pressures. I might try increasing it a few but staying 2 or 3 under the max sidewall rating of 40psi. Not sure how much this could help.

I drive mostly with the ac ON when it is hot. If it's hot the ac will be on. I try not to sacrifice that. Pretty much anything 80 and up.

The rear window wiper is pretty much useless. At the angle I'm sitting (6'2") the top of the roadway is barely visible and the wiper is sort of centered to the left of the car while looking at it through the mirror. Not useful to me in that way. I generally just hand wipe the back when it gets filthy.

I opted to get the larger 16" wheels. I believe this to have been a bad decision. I didn't realize the turning radius was as bad as it was. I have found myself to back up couple times to straighten myself when getting into some parking spaces where I can't make a wide turn. Gets really annoying. I hope I don't have to make a U-turn or I might not make it.

I'm due for a tire rotation. I checked the oil from the dip stick and it still has color so a 10k change seems reasonable. I wonder how the car might do after that service.

O one extra thing. THE NAVIGATION SUCKS. I wish I never got it. The garmin my wife has is sooooooo much better to navigate. The map screen is not touch and move like the garmin. If I touch the screen, cross hairs show up and ask if its my new destination. The map window is static and doesnt auto zoom out with increased speed nor zoom in when I slow down. It's all manual with a plus and minus on the screen. Entering in addresses is a pain. I hate how the implemented the auto complete feature for the streets and zipcodes and everything. It is slow and most times cant even find the right address. When I try speaking to it, it has to think an awfully long time. Just a waste of money.

Just my views on my car.

 

haha so true. I assumed the year was right but never noticed it. thanks for the heads up.

Unfortunately the 16" wheels do affect the turning radius. This is from toyota's website:



The wheels add an extra 6 feet.