[Gargravarr]

Hi guys,

I found the old 'How many miles do you get out of a tank of gas' thread but didn't want to post as it was last touched in 2008! So anyway, I'm just wondering, what kind of range is the MkII capable of? I'm actually finding it remarkably economical for being a massive car with a six-banger - it's getting not much worse gas mileage than my smaller four-pot Puma.

I got a good benchmark driving the car to Paris and back soon after I put it on the road - I went through an entire tank of gas (literally ran out of gas three miles from home and had to ditch the car!) plus another 10 litres, and covered 457 miles. Now this was with the thermostat not sealing (so the engine wasn't heating up fully) and with a leaking gas tank. Also, the trip there took half a tank, but going back we hit traffic in Paris and took an hour to get out of the city - probably burned a couple of gallons just trying to get through it all. So I'm pretty convinced, on a long motorway run, the MkII is capable of getting 500 miles from a full tank - anyone managed it or near it? I wasn't being conservative on the way there either, 80MPH on cruise control all the way, but 56MPH on the way back to save gas cos we were running out. I'm getting at the very least 30 miles per imperial gallon (4.5 litres), probably close to 35, which is damned decent, and it gets great economy on the motorways.

So, what's the average range you guys get out of your MkIIs, and the max? Also, those of you with engine swaps, I'm curious about the same for the 7M-GTE - how much does it cut off the range putting the turbo engine in? Also, I only use regular (95-octane) gas, does premium (98) make any difference?

I'm wondering if my MkII is unique in its long range cos I read a few posts where people were getting less than 300 miles on a tank (okay, city driving, fair enough). The question occurred to me after I drove to my friend's house this weekend. After I changed the fuel tank I put 40 litres of gas in and got nearly 300 miles out of it, but that was with a lot of short journeys before the motorway trek. Since my Puma gets about 290 miles from a 40-litre tank, you can see where I'm coming from.

I know it's a sports car, and yes I do have a bit of fun with it (with the exhaust it has, how could I not?!), but since it's also a great motorway cruiser I'm curious how far it can be pushed.

 

[4SFED]

massive car?!?

Edit: I just Googled Puma. I guess it's a matter of perspective. The Puma was like a little Euro Ford Fiesta? I guess the Supra would be massive in comparison. I drove Oldsmobiles until I discovered the little Supra in the '80s.

 

[Gargravarr]

massive car?!?

Gimme a break, I live in Europe

 

[4SFED]

Gimme a break, I live in Europe

Hence, my edit above...

 

[Gargravarr]

Hence, my edit above...

Matter of perspective, yes, but the Supra is still considered a big car in Europe - mostly cos of its huge bonnet! Anyway, what do you think about the range question?

 

[4SFED]

I'll have to look at what was already posted in the other threads like this one, and get back with you.

 

[Gargravarr]

I'll have to look at what was already posted in the other threads like this one, and get back with you.

Sorry, I did search (like I said, I found the old 'miles per tank' thread) but didn't find any other threads. Probably searching for the wrong things I guess.

 

[SilverMk2]

I'm surprised you got that far out of it. Going 500 miles on a 16 gal tank would take 31.25 mpg (us gals). I don't see how you could average that over such a long distance with these cars. With the current gas they have in CA I'm lucky to get 25mpg and usually much worse. Back in the day 28mpg was probably as good as it ever got.

 

[Gargravarr]

I'm surprised you got that far out of it. Going 500 miles on a 16 gal tank would take 31.25 mpg (us gals). I don't see how you could average that over such a long distance with these cars. With the current gas they have in CA I'm lucky to get 25mpg and usually much worse. Back in the day 28mpg was probably as good as it ever got.

I was expecting around the 25mpg-US mark, in fact I was told to expect around 25mpg-IMP, but it seems I'm getting better than that. I'm kind of tempted to tank it up and take it on a 500-mile motorway journey, see if it'll do it

 

[Austin E]

With my old 5mge, the best I ever got was 390 miles on a tank. My current 7mgte does not go nearly that far. I averaged around 24mpg with the 5m, I'm lucky to average 20 with the 7m, without ever hitting positive boost. Of course, the average speed on the freeway when I was driving my 5m was 60mph, while now that I've moved south, average freeway speed is about 80. I know that makes a difference, but I have always hoped I'd get better mileage out of my 7m.

 

[suprafastcelica]

500 km?? Not miles maybe??

 

['82supra]

^ what he said, normally I get ~500km to the tank (mixed city/hwy driving). I may be mistaken, but weren't European spec MkII's catless? That might reflect in higher gas mileage (and added HP) due to better exhaust flow. Premium E95 is similar to 91 octane (mid-grade) here, while E98 super grade is like high octane super premium in NA (94 octane sold in few stations). Most gasoline (petrol) in US has 10% ethanol content, while most of EU is only 5%, which might also explain the difference in higher mileage. On long highway trips, I like the 94 octane, it seems to burn cleaner and the car runs smoother, maybe even gets a 5-10% increase in actual mileage, but it won't make a difference around town. IIRC, I got around 30mpg (US) on the highway which would equate to even more in IMP gallons. When I lived in the EU, I would always go for the higher octane, but I wasn't driving my Supra. I don't think you will find much, if any advantage using super premium, except to reduce knock with the AFM mod + advanced timing. With the mod, I def found throttle response increase, but mileage decreased. With the high cost of premium IMO the benefit was negligible...but I digress :whatever:

 

[amir_zwara]

When I gauged it last month I was getting about 20 MPG.
That's in AZ in dead of summer with A/C almost always on, city streets, and my "spirited" driving.
I'm sure with better weather, milder driving, more highway mileage, and a tuneup/filter clean up it could be a little better.

 

[dshif]

That's what I get with my 5mge, about 25mpg. Here in Atl we go about 80mph too. I think if I could stick around the 60mph mark I would see closer to 27mpg. The best I have seen is about 300 miles on a tank before the light comes on.

I was questioning my MPG the other day. The speedometer at the higher speeds tends to be reading me going about 10 mph faster than my actual speed. I know this has been talked about in the past but would this directly affect the odometer? Meaning, are we reading more miles on our cars the faster we go than we have actually driven them and as a result also showing slightly higher mpg when running the numbers to check our MPG? I know in my 80 Celica when the speddometer cable broke my odometer stoped working too...

 

[CarlH]

MPGs

Hi my 1985 automatic gets 24 MPGs in the city with lots of short trips and a 30 mile country road trip every so often, and will pull 30 MPgs on the highway, I only did one long trip with it when I brought the car from New Jersey to my home in Massachusetts . I will I had more time for long highway trips, But I was happy with the MPGs especially in the city with all the short errands I do.

You must remember you will only get the tank down so far and there is approx 1-2 gallons left in the tank when you "run out" Carl H

 

[Gargravarr]

^ what he said, normally I get ~500km to the tank (mixed city/hwy driving). I may be mistaken, but weren't European spec MkII's catless? That might reflect in higher gas mileage (and added HP) due to better exhaust flow. Premium E95 is similar to 91 octane (mid-grade) here, while E98 super grade is like high octane super premium in NA (94 octane sold in few stations). Most gasoline (petrol) in US has 10% ethanol content, while most of EU is only 5%, which might also explain the difference in higher mileage. On long highway trips, I like the 94 octane, it seems to burn cleaner and the car runs smoother, maybe even gets a 5-10% increase in actual mileage, but it won't make a difference around town. IIRC, I got around 30mpg (US) on the highway which would equate to even more in IMP gallons. When I lived in the EU, I would always go for the higher octane, but I wasn't driving my Supra. I don't think you will find much, if any advantage using super premium, except to reduce knock with the AFM mod + advanced timing. With the mod, I def found throttle response increase, but mileage decreased. With the high cost of premium IMO the benefit was negligible...but I digress :whatever:

I'm not sure EU models came cat-less as standard, but mine has had a cat-less exhaust fitted, which as you say gives a power boost and would decrease fuel consumption. I don't know about the ethanol content - I've only ever seen it added in France, at 10%, which does slightly increase consumption (don't get as much energy out of ethanol as gasoline but emissions are much lower). And I definitely managed more than 400 miles on a tank, which was very surprising considering I was cruising at 80! The sweet spot seems to be 56MPH. I do mixed driving as well, although I try to stick ot longer journeys in the car which is probably helping my economy. It might also be helping that the 5M-GE in mine is very strong and has lost little power from the factory despite its 100,000 miles (the exhaust and air filter seem to have compensated almost perfectly for the lost power).

...I was questioning my MPG the other day. The speedometer at the higher speeds tends to be reading me going about 10 mph faster than my actual speed. I know this has been talked about in the past but would this directly affect the odometer? Meaning, are we reading more miles on our cars the faster we go than we have actually driven them and as a result also showing slightly higher mpg when running the numbers to check our MPG? I know in my 80 Celica when the speddometer cable broke my odometer stoped working too...

You make a very interesting point here. Both the speedo and the odometer are driven by the same source in almost every car - according to the TSRM, the gearbox output shaft generates one pulse every quarter-turn which the dash cluster then reads and interprets, which I'd think would be pretty accurate. But as you say, the speedo is optimistic - the digital in mine reads about 4-5MPH faster than my GPS at 56MPH, up to 6-7MPH at 70MPH. As they're driven off the same source, it's pretty likely that the odometer is actually being incremented up to 10% faster than it should be. Over the life of the car... wow, that actually starts being pretty big. Means mine has only potentially covered 90,000 road miles in 27 years But also means those of us with limited-mileage policies end up covering 10% less than we should be! :runaway:

 

['82supra]

It would also depend on differential gear ratio, esp long distance @ constant speed.

I was expecting around the 25mpg-US mark, in fact I was told to expect around 25mpg-IMP, but it seems I'm getting better than that. I'm kind of tempted to tank it up and take it on a 500-mile motorway journey, see if it'll do it

That would be a fun theme for a trip...Toulouse or to lose, lol. Do up a thread if you do :thumbsup:

 

[Road Ripper]

That's what I get with my 5mge, about 25mpg. Here in Atl we go about 80mph too. I think if I could stick around the 60mph mark I would see closer to 27mpg. The best I have seen is about 300 miles on a tank before the light comes on.

I was questioning my MPG the other day. The speedometer at the higher speeds tends to be reading me going about 10 mph faster than my actual speed. I know this has been talked about in the past but would this directly affect the odometer? Meaning, are we reading more miles on our cars the faster we go than we have actually driven them and as a result also showing slightly higher mpg when running the numbers to check our MPG? I know in my 80 Celica when the speddometer cable broke my odometer stoped working too...

That's about the best that I've ever gotten, too.

The speedometer and odometer are separate, although driven from the same source. The speedometer needle spring gets fatigued over the miles of high speed driving, letting the needle swing farther than it should. The speed reads higher, but the odometer is still driven at the correct speed because it is driven BEFORE the speedo needle.

The odometer can be off if the correct tire size isn't used, tires are worn a lot (smaller diameter=reads faster) or if part of the drivetrain has been replaced at some point. Never know what parts someone may have put into it.

 

[Snafu_Bohica]

1982 5mge, Stock intake, removed muffler = 20 city, 25 highway

 

[doug82supra]

Imperial gallon is 1.2 to 1 us gallon. 30/1.2= 25 mpg.

I suppose the inaccuracies in the speedo / diff, octane, or even steady-footed driving can account for the variations in range. In short, no cold fusion going on here, if you are old enough to get the reference. However, the petrol prices there merit the number crunching. 8 USD a gallon maybe?

I imagine the sight of a mk II on the motorways there is a rare one. Cruise on! There were no
Japanese cars there at all when I lived in Germany in the 60's and 70's.