Howdy Y'all

[SaerinRhoe]

Howdy folks,

I've been lurking around the edges for a bit but I decided to go ahead and settle into the groove of being more active.

My name is Jeff and I'm in Dallas, Tx. I drive an '09 Toyota Yaris 5-spd 3dr hatchback that currently has about 17K on the odo. I'm a member of www.YarisWorld.com under the name Saerin Rhoe and www.EcoModder.com under the name 97Cavalier.

I've seen a couple of other Yaris owners in other forums with mpg signatures from here and I'm hoping to get to talk to them about how they're getting such high mpg numbers so I can learn from them.

Thanks and have a good evening,

S.R.

[FrugalFloyd]

Hi Jeff,

You've got a great platform for tweaking 50 mpg tanks. I don't have a Yaris, but have the same 1NZ-FE engine and transmission in my Scion xB. I rented an automatic tranny Yaris in New England this Spring and averaged 41 mpg for three tanks with it.

What kind of mileage are you getting with your Yaris, how much do you want to get, and what sacrifices are you willing to make to get there?

[GasSavers_BEEF]

don't know if you are still doing anything with your cav but there are a few of them on here as well (including me).

good choice on the yaris. I am actually thinking of one myself unless something better comes along.

[SaerinRhoe]

Howdy again and thank you for the responses.

First off let me say that the abrupt death of my Cavalier due to being hit in the side by a Crown Victoria led to the purchase of my Yaris. My Cav had 207,000+ miles on it and was a good car but it was totaled in the wreck and I was able to use a state voucher to get $3,000 for it plus the $1,500 from Toyota to get my Yaris. I really liked the Cav and, sometimes, wish I still had it.

As for my Yaris, I track my MPG and FE on the EcoModder.com website and I'm working on getting my signature graphic installed here so that it's accessible. Right now, my FE stats are:
* Lifetime Fuel Economy: 40.71
* 90-day Fuel Economy: 40.59
* 3-tank Fuel Economy: 44.2
* EPA Rating (% over): 32 (26.8438%)
* Total fills: 44
* Average cost per gallon: $2.25
* Average cost per fill: $21.41
* Average cost per mile: $0.06
* Total gallons used: 418.71
* Total miles traveled: 17045
* Total cost: $942.09
* Total saved: 113.95 gallons
* Total saved: $256.39
* Average tank distance: 387.39

So far I feel pretty good about the numbers but I would definitely like to do better. I would like to see a close average of 50mpg per tank but that's going to be a bit of a stretch for me. There's plenty of times that I forget that I can't spin the front tires, squeal around corners and haul down the highway at 90mph+ and still get 50mpg.

My commute to work is ≈22.8 miles of urban driving at ≈40-45mpg and several school zones. I've tried different routes but the most effective ones (ie: routes that aren't residential with stop signs every 2 blocks or routes that aren't highway) all have at least 2 school zones that I have to go through. I try to be a responsible driver and stay close to the speed limit, I don't creep away from a stop sign or traffic light because it affects traffic around me and I don't want to be a hazard.

For instrumentation, I use a ScanGuageII and dead reckoning. I use the fill-up and reset the ScanGuageII with each tank so that it's as close to accurate as I can get. My fill-up percentage (or offset or whatever it's called) is ≈9.5% but I think that's mostly because my gas tank is 11.5 gallons and I can only select 10 or 11 gallons on the SGII.

Currently I run an average tire pressure of 44psi on the factory Bridgestone Potenza P185/60/R15 84T rubber. In the summer I drop the tires to 40psi to account for +105 degree days and lots of driving.

Also, I have only used 87 Octane gas from QuikTrip and Chevron Tetco stations here and have seen the best mpg when I alternate between them but I favor QuikTrip because it's ≈$.10 cheaper than any Chevron I can find. There's been a couple of times on road trips that I've filled up at a Mobile or Loves but it's always 87 octane. Recently, at 15K miles, I ran 1 tank of AMSoil PI fuel additive but that's the only additive that I've added to any tank on the Yaris.

One thing that I did change from the factory is the oil. At the 5K mark I drained the factory 5w-30 and switched to AMSoil 0w-20 oil and the AMSoil filter specific to my car. Since then, I have changed the oil filter (not the oil) every 5K since the oil is rated to 15K or 1 year of driving. When I reach 20K then I'll change the oil again and I plan on staying with the AMSoil 0w-20 oil.

What's in store for the future? Well, my desire for the car is to be a fuel efficient daily driver that's still fun to drive with an occasional auto-x thrown in to spice up my weekends.

I would like to remove the rear seat, spare tire, jack and all assorted pieces of hardware for this. Rumor has it that this will remove ≈100lbs of weight from the car and I rarely use the rear seat anyway.

I do not plan on any mods to the bodywork such as wheel skirts or grill blocks but I do have plans for replacing the factory front/rear bumpers with aftermarket kits as well as adding side skirts along the lower edge of the body.

So that's all I can think of right now. I'm sure I've forgotten something but this is a good start I think.

Take care and thanks again,

S.R.

[theholycow]

Good work on the results you're getting so far!

Originally Posted by SaerinRhoe

There's plenty of times that I forget that I can't {...} squeal around corners {...} and still get 50mpg.

Well, actually...as long as you're coasting, it's more efficient to keep whatever inertia you can than it is to brake before the corner. You'll just need to re-accelerate after the corner anyway.

I've tried different routes but the most effective ones (ie: routes that aren't residential with stop signs every 2 blocks or routes that aren't highway) all have at least 2 school zones that I have to go through.

Have you done the calculations to decide whether it saves fuel to go a shorter route at less MPG vs. a longer route with better MPG?

Currently I run an average tire pressure of 44psi on the factory Bridgestone Potenza P185/60/R15 84T rubber. In the summer I drop the tires to 40psi to account for +105 degree days and lots of driving.

If you're concerned about safety, you should inflate to higher pressure when you expect more heat. Lower pressure generates more heat in the tires. I suspect that even 40psi is well beyond your car's recommended pressure so there's no issue of overheated tires either way.

I would like to remove the rear seat, spare tire, jack and all assorted pieces of hardware for this. Rumor has it that this will remove ≈100lbs of weight from the car and I rarely use the rear seat anyway.

That could possibly help with your auto-X weekends, but I doubt you'll ever get a measurable fuel economy advantage from a mere 100 pound weight loss. Very few cars get a fuel economy difference until you're talking about over 10% weight change.