General pre delivery mpg question

[UFI]

the fuel tank will take 42 litres from empty.....

Keep in mind AU filler necks are different I've only managed 38l from empty, but without waiting for all the airspace to fill with petrol or shaking the car side to side.

Brimming tanks is not always a good idea in our climate. It's not uncommon to have tanks over flow from expansion just using the auto cut off.

Only car I brim is the Jeep with it's tiny 75l tank if I'm going..well pretty much anywhere.

 

[UFI]

Soooo, fuel milage checkers, how do you fill up then,
1 click of the nozzle,
1 click, then another click
1 click plus 2 clicks,
or fill it up ''top top'

I know that whatever you do, it will never be the same twice, BUT it will all even out in the end.

BTW approaching 300 miles now and still on 55mpg, did drop down to 54.3 but managed to get it back up....whew!, and no I'm not a snail.

AU pumps are a lot narrower to prevent misfueling, so they're notorious for premature auto cut off. Sometimes it's so bad that I've just filled a splash and left it at that because I can't be bothered filling it to 100 clicks. The Jeep and Prius are terrible, the Fiat and Renault fairly good.

Two clicks is good, the difference between one and two clicks should be less than 500ml, so on a 500 mile tank it's only a 1ml/mile discrepancy. Hardly worth a worry. Same goes for using a different pump.

It's good to see someone in the UK getting good MPG from the TA as my numbers are always met with excuses (you know less gravity when you drive upside down and the like).

 

[Mick F]

I can understand some folk getting high mileage, and I can understand why we don't.

Long-term average (over the last 12 months) of our 500TA is 44.29mpg.

We have a 1.6 16v Renault Clio that returns about 38mpg over a long drive, but Mrs Mick F is driving it locally these days and we have HILLS. Clio is getting very low on fuel and we need a trip out to get some. I'll do it later today. We don't all live near a service station, some of us need a separate trip to get it.

As we're low on fuel, I checked on the range available and the MPG since last fill-up using the car's dashboard computer. We have 62miles left and have done .........................

Wait for this .......................

19.5mpg.

Just because you have hills to go up, you don't get a free ride down the other side. Maybe you do on a decent highway, but on Real Roads with traffic and corners, you don't.

Regards,
Mick.

 

[yostumpy]

did the downhill coast on that previously mentioned long hill again last night. Crested at an easy 60mph, off with eco, floor it for a few seconds, up to 75-80, then out of gear,eco on, and ............not only did I coast past my usual point, up the slip road, and up to the roundabout, But I had to brake, as I was a tad too fast, dammed annoying, so next time slightly less" welly" when cresting the hill. The little thing is so much fun, and just keeps rolling. Shame they don't do one as a little van.

 

[UFI]

Shame they don't do one as a little van.

One of my fantasies is grafting the back of a 90's Opel Combo onto a 500

 

[yostumpy]

just a bit of time wasting and hypothesizing , but Cinnaminta has 311 on the odo. ( 320 in total), and a readout of 54.8 now. Assuming its a 35 ltr tank, less say 5 ltrs for the reserve, one can work on 30 ltrs as a figure.
Therefore 30 ltrs @ say 54mpg =356 miles. Well I don't know the fuel gauge well enough yet, but, there are 4 large segments, each divided into 2, giving 8 smaller segments, and at present there are 3 of the smaller segments left. so only 44 miles to go, before the 54mpg is reached, theoretically, and 3 bars remaining. ( but I do realise that the stealers, who kindly gave us a full tank, MIGHT have filled it up 'top top', to the neck, but I some how doubt it, anyway there is still time for it all to go horribly wrong)

Oh BTW please forgive my constant ramblings about mpg, but hypermiling has become a sort of hobby. This, aided by the fact that the TA was stated as being the most .....something or other in terms of economy and pollution, yet it has had a fair old slating in the press, and elsewhere re mpg, so I'm just ANTI PRESS!

Now the first section is divided into 3 (disregarded for the above). How does this work in the real world. Is the last small one the reserve?, or is reserve left when all 3 have gone. When does it start to flash, and what IS the reserve.

 

[306maxi]

My head hurts...... How many miles have you done? What is the car stating as the range? What mpg is it saying you're doing?

These are the ways to answer your questions.

 

[yostumpy]

Ah! this is where it gets confusing. 311 miles on odo, 3 bars remainin, BUT as discussed earlier, it doesn't register under 2l/100 km, ie coasting, so range would be wrong?

 

[306maxi]

No no no! Go through the trip computer and look at the range. Don't talk about bars or anything. Range.... Talk to me about it.

 

[UFI]

Once the last bar goes out you have around 17km left at hypermiling consumption. One time I ran out after only traveling 8km, I was having fun up until the last bar disappeared, then hypermiled towards the nearest fuel. So it's possible to out run the gauge :bang:

I now read the fuel level off the ECU, but haven't experimented too much with what zero really means.

 

[UFI]

BUT as discussed earlier, it doesn't register under 2l/100 km, ie coasting, so range would be wrong?

Since I believe range is calculated by fuel remaining / current mpg (using the MFD MPG number) this is true. However, imagine you've got 1 litre left and the range recalculates itself, the MPG discrepancy doesn't affect range as much as if the tank is full.

Just going from memory, UFI shows 688km range on a full tank but I can go 770km on that.

In my experience, 55mpg on the MFD should mean 60mpg real life.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

One suspects it may be more to do with people not spilling fuel than some damage to the car.

Of course if the manual says not to and you do it and your car breaks then it's not my fault

Agreed, never had an issue with any of my cars in briming the tanks.

 

[Mick F]

In the old days before anti-syphon stuff, you could look into a tank and actually SEE the petrol. That way, you could "brim" it right up to the actual brim.

Mick.

 

[306maxi]

You still can.....

 

[AGH1965]

I always follow the procedure that was described in the older FIAT 500 owner handbooks:

REFUELLING CAPACITY
To fill the tank completely, top-up twice after the
first click of the fuel delivery gun. Further top-ups
could cause faults in the fuel feeding system.

For some reason this procedure disappeared from the owner handbook around 2013.

 

[UFI]

Agreed, never had an issue with any of my cars in briming the tanks.

If you have a Gen 1 or 2 Prius, it can cause the tank bladder to rupture so it's not universally safe.

 

[UFI]

The little thing is so much fun, and just keeps rolling. Shame they don't do one as a little van.

A thought occurs, the Vintage 57 has what look like the heaviest wheels ever fitted to such a small car, and they're also aerodynamically smooth, so they'll be helping coast distances over any of the other 16" wheels. UFI still coasts better on 14's than on Sport 16's (but the plastic wheel covers are fairly aerodynamic and the tyres are LRR's).

Also on the van thing, how about a small vintage themed teardrop trailer? I'd possibly do that myself, but the tax law here makes it nonviable (using a passenger vehicle for commercial use) - so I'm stuck with vans or trucks.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

If you have a Gen 1 or 2 Prius, it can cause the tank bladder to rupture so it's not universally safe.

No apparent issue with my GEN 3.

 

[yostumpy]

ok update time. First fill up to 3 clicks. I'm not sure how much was in the tank when we bought it, but the display said full, as they gave us a full tank. readout says 53.4mpg, fuelly says 52.1mpg. (364 miles, 2 little segments left, 31.75 ltrs)
I know this isn't really accurate, but the next fill up to 3 clicks should be. I am surprised its lower tho' as I have done a LOT of coasting. still 52mpg on a brand new engine is not bad in my book.

 

[306maxi]

To those who think you can't get more than 35 litres into a 500. Had about 45 miles range left. Filled up a 10 and a 5 litre tank as well. So 38.67 litres of fuel in the car and 45 miles range plus a litre on top of that as you get 10 miles after you'd have run out according to the trip computer. Do the maths