Congratulations on your purchase! My last tank was around 16 mpg (all time average 20 mpg).
We must be living in very different parts of Chicago with very different traffic patterns
That is really easy drive.
I daily drive from Streeterville to Old Town and back (twice, both times during rush hours) and from Streeterville to Roscoe Village and back after 6pm. That kind of driving gets me mid teens.
We are good examples how much traffic conditions can impact city fuel economy (even in the same city)
I live in Los Angeles and 80% of my normal driving is city/local with traffic about half the time.
This past weekend, I drove to Vegas with 3 friends in the car and over the course of 2 tanks of gas, I got 23.7mpg. Keep in mind, that was 90% highway. I was going fairly fast, 80+mph the whole way, but I was still hoping to get at least 25mpg.
That seems about right if you are driving over 80MPH, depending on how fast you are accelerating, etc.
I don't often cruise that fast. However, based on a few roads trips to areas with higher speed limits, I think I got a couple MPG more than you, but not much. When I cruise on the highways in the NW, I can get 30 MPG, but that is at 65MPH, or even 60 MPH. Somewhere around 60-65MPH seems to be the sweet spot for mileage for the XT. Above 70-75MPH and the mileage really drops off.
I have a 2008 NA. I just returned from a road trip to Seattle with 20 fill-ups of 200 to 250 miles each.
Going to Seattle, 6 of the fill-ups were over 30 mpg because of 65 mph driving, and the average was 29.3 mpg.
Returning from Seattle, the fill ups were in the 25-28 mph range because of 75-80 mph driving, and the average was 27 mpg.
Resistance increases with the square of speed (twice as much at 70 as at 50) and the power required to overcome that resistance increases the cube of speed:
Thus, if drag is proportional to the square of speed, then the power needed to overcome that drag is proportional to the cube of speed (P ∝ v3). You want to ride your bicycle twice as fast, you'll have to be eight times more powerful. http://physics.info/drag/
I have a '17 FXT too, and I average 20, sometimes less. I fully utilize the turbo constantly though. I filled up on Wednesday afternoon, and had to get gas Friday evening, only having driven like 200 miles. These babies can eat gas like crazy.
The common denominator I see among most of those complaining about gas mileage is their piss-poor driving habits. 30 mpg-plus is possible, even with the turbo, and you don't have to drive like a little old lady on her way to church on Sunday to achieve it.
IME, mileage improved after I had about 3K miles on the car. Keeping your foot out of the throttle - except when you need to stomp it - makes a big difference. So does driving the speed limit. Mode - I, S or S# - doesn't make much of a difference in mpg if you drive sensibly.
I'm about to do my 3rd fill up at about 750 miles on the ODO. My first tank I averaged 16.8 and the second I did 18.3 MPG. This is much lower than expected, but I'm attributing it to the fact that it's new and not broken in and that I've been a little heavy on the throttle since it's so much fun to drive. I've also noticed that in S# mode and SI mode the idle and overall timing is so much faster than in I mode that I'm sure I'm using a ton more gas. It's the opposite of my MINI Cooper S where I get better mileage in Sport mode.
I've got about 2000 miles on my 17 XT and am getting between 26 and 30mpg. Mostly rural 55mph and interstate.
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