Lots of slow driving at 25, mostly at 30 and 40 mph helped get this 815 mile tank. Yes, I flash any approaching vehicles behind me for safety. The 57.1 mpg did not match my 2nd tank which was 58.0. This is my 3rd tank and should be my last attempt till mid September or early October when the weather cools off.

With 2 gallons to Empty the miles read 815.6 with 57.1 mpg average for the tank. "your mileage may vary"

The fuel gauge needle was sitting over the Empty mark so evidently the 2 gallons is for reserve. For comparison the scan gauge calculated 1.5 gallons left.

The scan gauge picture shows 15.6 gallons used. Subtract that from 17.1 and leaves you with 1.5 gallons left to drive on. Filling the tank to 17.1 gallons is guesswork, I rather trust the Cruising Range miles left readout.

I didn't do the calculated because I only added half of the 15.6 gallons indicated on the scan gauge. That rounded off to 8 gallons which put the fuel gauge one mark above half tank. I should have allowed for the SC's showing 1.5 gallons left.
I'm doing this to save 50 pounds of gas which may help the mpg a little.

No more slow driving, I will now drive similar to the other hybrid drivers. I'm hoping for about 50 mpg with the AC on when needed. I may limit my highway speed to 50 to still get some EV support. I noticed driving back home at 50 mph (highway) the instant mpg was reading around 53 mpg and the AC was on.

Someone is sure to ask.. The car is a new XLE Camry hybrid, running michelin mxv4 primacy tires at 40 psi. I use phillips 66, 86 octane gas which is on the top tier list, Chevron would be my second choice. I used no additives, just gas and the slow driving. This is only my 3rd tank and the odometer miles read 1920 when I refilled the tank.

I live near white sands memorial park, el paso highway, alamogordo, nm area. The highways here are wide divided 4-lane and are very flat. The elevation here is 4400 feet which thins the air some and may help with less wind resistance. The elevation and very dry weather also helps the mpg due to the low humidity around 2% to 5% during the summer.

Now i'm looking forward to seeing what the car will do in the fall with the engine being more broke in.

001MILETANKAAMS.jpg

005MILETANKAAMS.jpg

 

whitesands, is that you?

 

You Rang!! LOL

 

that was easy to spot. You live next to White Sands. Now I know where name came from. And you like Richard Burton.

 

White Sands Memorial Park is about 15 miles west of here. It's a well known location due to the White Sands Missile Range. It was most popular in the 50's when they were testing the V2 rockets out here trying to go into space. So I though it might make a cool nick due to the popular location. The Burt part of my nick came from my Dad's name.

 

you should have gone for vbrown then. V for V rockets and for Vernor Von Brown.

 

I was talking to a fellow that owned a small general store out here in the country. He told me in the early 50's they shot off a V2 rocket from white sands. Back then they used a preset mechanical guidance system. He said the rocket got out of control and angled to the south, then ended up in a women's front yard in Juarez, Mexico just across from El Paso. The engine shut-off timer didn't work.

 

Did I mention I got 37 mpg while hurrying at 60 mph driving 16 miles to the theater to see The Amazing Spiderman movie. (it's a good one) This included some heavy acceleration from a few red lights. It was late at night due to some one store shopping after the movie for the drive back home. The traffic was very light so I drove 40 mph all the way home except the 25 mph on the 2 mile country road to the house. I looked and the mid ECO drive level which showed 90.6 mpg. That helped make up for the speedy trip to the movies. I checked the tank average and went from 50 to 54 mpg. I still like over 1/4 tank till I refill. I think I will stick to this half tank theory to save extra weight. We had lots of recent rains here due to July being our monsoon month. With the high humidity I doubt I can even reach 50 mph on this tank.

 

I know you tried to drive slowly and on a flat surface too. Unfortunately, that is unrealistic in other parts of the world and not the real way we drive day to day. I live in Southern California where people normally drive 75-80mph in the freeways and have some ground differences. At best I have gotten at one point was 38mpg in one tank full! Now there are some driving sessions wherein I have gotten about 60mpg but that is far and few and in short jaunts to the store or something driving on inner streets and not highways or freeways as we call it here in Cali.

Realistic driving for me per tankful has been about 35-36MPG only on combined freeway and inner street driving. And that is mostly driving without any heavy load and driving about 60% just by myself. The rest of the percentage is with my kids and with my wifey. So the EPA ratings on the invoice for this car seems to be "in a perfect condition" similar to yours.

 

Toyota must have rated their gas mileage on a average of all cities driving. Lots of small towns where the mpg will excel. I used to live in Dallas and drove to work daily in heavy freeway traffic. We moved to new mexico in 1999 and it was like going way back in time here in this then 30,000 population town. Few red lights and only a few cars on the main drag at 8 at night.

Traffic here has picked up the last 5 years due to the growth of the Holloman AFB located only 10 miles SW from town. If I drove my new Camry hybrid back in Dallas today, I doubt if I could even hit the 40 mpg mark.