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Are You Tracking Your Mileage?

W. WIllie

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Last week, I traveled in a car caravan, (First 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 3, then 2 then 1 INSIGHTs) from Campo, CA. to Covina CA.,then Phoenix, AZ., then Albuquerque, NM, then to Denver, CO. as a final destination for a INSIGHT (G1) Gathering.
Coming back west, we went from Denver to Las Vegas, NV, then back to Campo, CA., dropping off INSIGHTERS along the way.

Total miles traveled was 2648 and the LRR consumed 40.5 gallons of gas. which equals 66.2 MPG.
Most of the cruising was at 70-75 mph., with the AC working full blast, except uphill..
Highest elevation was over 8000 ft. eastbound, and over 11000 ft. westbound.
Used Premium gas, because of the turbo mod, (Insurance) and mountain climbing and spent $128.73 for gas.

Next trip at the end of the month to Madison, WI for the annual INSIGHTFEST 2017.
Still waiting for the ELIO though.

Willie
 

Mel

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I've done this on a regular basis since about 1958. I don't track cost, just mileage.
Since most modern cars have "average mileage" readout, I no longer check it every time. I check about every 4th tank to compare the computer to real life. For example, my Infiniti readout consistently shows 26.5 mpg (reset @ fill-up) whereas actual numbers reflect closer to 27.8.
Update a year later. Infiniti is apparently broken-in now. Computer shows consistently 27.4, actual mileage runs 29.6-32.1
 

Coss

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Last week, I traveled in a car caravan, (First 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 3, then 2 then 1 INSIGHTs) from Campo, CA. to Covina CA.,then Phoenix, AZ., then Albuquerque, NM, then to Denver, CO. as a final destination for a INSIGHT (G1) Gathering.
Coming back west, we went from Denver to Las Vegas, NV, then back to Campo, CA., dropping off INSIGHTERS along the way.

Total miles traveled was 2648 and the LRR consumed 40.5 gallons of gas. which equals 66.2 MPG.
Most of the cruising was at 70-75 mph., with the AC working full blast, except uphill..
Highest elevation was over 8000 ft. eastbound, and over 11000 ft. westbound.
Used Premium gas, because of the turbo mod, (Insurance) and mountain climbing and spent $128.73 for gas.

Next trip at the end of the month to Madison, WI for the annual INSIGHTFEST 2017.
Still waiting for the ELIO though.

Willie
Highest elevation was over 8000 ft. eastbound, and over 11000 ft. westbound.

Did you go home a different way? (The 3,000' difference)
 

Ty

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Update a year later. Infiniti is apparently broken-in now. Computer shows consistently 27.4, actual mileage runs 29.6-32.1
I'm guessing here that you don't reset the overall mileage on your car when you refuel and that 27.4 is the running average. Once you get a good many miles on your car, it won't show any change as the change would just be infinitesimal compared to all the miles on the car. I reset my truck's every time I fuel up. I'm talking about the average MPG counter as well as the trip ODO. I also track it in the free FuelLog app. I also track other expenses - tires, oil changes, parts, etc. It then can give a great breakdown of actual cost of ownership by month, year, or mile. A little obsessive, I know. My truck always gets around 13 MPG so it won't take much from Elio to impress me.
 

MrWhsprs

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I've been using spreadsheets (one for each vehicle) to track vehicle info since the late 1990s. In addition to fill-up data I used to be super detailed with every maintenance and repair and modification item, dates, costs, etc. Life is too hectic now so I don't record as much data now. Still track fill-ups and basic repair/maintenance info.

I also started adding the basic fill up info to Fuelly; I like their graphs and such. Don't know if this will work but here's the Fuelly badge for our 2000 Saturn SL2, with which I commute:

 
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Coss

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I've been using spreadsheets (one for each vehicle) to track vehicle info since the late 1990s. In addition to fill-up data I used to be super detailed with every maintenance and repair and modification item, dates, costs, etc. Life is too hectic now so I don't record as much data now. Still track fill-ups and basic repair/maintenance info.

I also started adding the basic fill up info to Fuelly; I like their graphs and such. Don't know if this will work but here's the Fuelly badge for our 2000 Saturn SL2, with which I commute:
I have a question .....

Why do you do this?
 

jevans64

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I have a question .....

Why do you do this?

I keep a physical book ( columns drawn in a journal ) with every car I own. It is something my dad taught me to do and it helps when it is time to sell the car as the journal also contains information about routine maintenance and repairs. It shows a potential buyer that your car wasn't just transportation. When I sell the car the books go with them, but I also enter the data in an Excel spreadsheet. I've set mine up to track all sorts of stuff, like miles driven between fill-ups, price per gallon, miles per gallon, and days between fill-ups.

I've put 130,000 miles on my Pontiac Sunfire and averaged 28.54 miles per gallon. My biggest variance in miles per gallon was when I decided to go from Goodyear H-rated tires to Sumitomo tires. I lost two miles per gallon until I went back to Goodyear. I now get 30.63 MPG average over the last two years but that is also with a longer commute... going from 38 miles per day to 59 miles per day.

I bought a Honda Fit in November 2016 to give the old Pontiac a little rest and to spend more time doing major maintenance. I've driven it over 4000 miles so far and average 43.0 MPG using the car's tracking system. My journal is slightly lower at 40.45 MPG.
 

JEBar

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I keep a physical book ( columns drawn in a journal ) with every car I own. It is something my dad taught me to do and it helps when it is time to sell the car as the journal also contains information about routine maintenance and repairs. It shows a potential buyer that your car wasn't just transportation. When I sell the car the books go with them,

we do much the same .... we record every drop of fuel, every repair, every service, parts replaced, etc .... I started keeping these records back when the fuel tax we paid was deductible .... by the time that deduction went away, it had become a habit .... we find we use the records often to check things like how many miles our tires have on them, when the last services were performed, how well some things perform .... for example : the records over tens of thousands of miles make it clear that the higher bio content (pure #2 diesel, B5, B10, B15, B20) the less mileage we get from the fuel in our Sportchassis
 
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