Joho the Blog
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July 24, 2006
We've been through two tanks of gas with our new Toyota Yaris, and it's getting 24 mpg in the city instead of the rated 34. We haven't done enough highway driving to know if it's going to get near to the 40 mpg the sticker promised us. Do new cars still have break in periods, or is our disappointment likely to be perpetual? (FWIW, it's a manual shift.) [Tags: cars yaris] Later that day: I just did 120 miles on the highway on 3.1 gallons of gas, so highway efficiency is as rated. Posted
by D. Weinberger at July 24, 2006 09:34 AM
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Comments
YMMV
:)
Alternatively:
Two words - standardized testing.
Posted by: Mark Federman | July 24, 2006 01:56 PM
In general, yes, new cars still have a break-in period. As for the mileage, what's your driving style, and how much time do you spend stuck not moving in city traffic. Aggressive accelleration and breaking can burn a lot of fuel, and idling in near gridlock are both bad for mileage.
Also, In general, the EPA mileage guideline don't map directly to real-world mileage. They may be reasonable for comparing the relative fuel efficiency of new cars, but they aren't much good for comparing the fuel efficiency of a new car you are considering to the measured fuel efficiency of the car you are driving now.
Posted by: eas | July 24, 2006 01:59 PM
Did you try reading the manual?
Posted by: mark | July 24, 2006 07:06 PM
My new car (a month, I think) is an RX8. It's mileage is terrifying (and it wants premium) compared to what my Miata would get. I haven't calculated anything, but just noticed how much more often I'm at the pump. Yikes. It was my first new car ever and the only advice - for this car - in terms of breaking it in, was to drive at a variety of speeds, don't hold it steady, don't use the cruise control and don't rev it ridiculously high. I wouldn't do those things anyway!
Posted by: Steve Portigal | July 29, 2006 04:20 PM
In addition to your inefficent driving style, failure to RTFM, and incurable optimism, it turns out they really are out to get you:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2298467,00.html
Posted by: GBenett | August 4, 2006 03:40 PM