I was searching around and there have been several threads on this, most recently early this year...

I thought I'd bring it up again because I've been getting 13.7 mpg in mixed use driving and 9-11 mpg in regular local street driving... and I am NOT flooring it and driving crazy.... On the streets I generally shift at ~4,000 RPMs...

If I drive on the freeway at 65 mph in 6th gear, I can get 23mpg, but other than that, the mileage drops dramatically...

Is something wrong? At first I thought my gas gauge was malfunctioning but then realized the fuel level really was dropping that fast. It's not that I'm overly concerned, but I was reading other threads and it seems that most people are getting much better gas mileage than I am...

 

You are right on the mark.
These 300 +++ horsepower flat sixes are thirsty in town.

 

sounds like manual? and your shifting a little higher than needed.

my manual 911 i would get 11-12=agressive, 14-16 city, 25-28 highway (was a cab too so higher COF)

my PDK i get 12-14 agressive, 15-18 city, 28-32 highway.

just shift earlier and down downshift on decel... this should keep you lower... also i would say get to 6th faster .. not saying lug it around but when ur cruising 6th is fine... and then downshift to accel when needed.

 

Why is a Porsche owner concerned with gas mileage? Just saying...

 

no concern... just wanted to make sure nothin was wrong with the car... i think it's just my heavy foot and my ears (love to hear the PSE!!!)

 

Your gas mileage is inversely proportional to the amount of fun you are having!

 

yes we could say this given we drive sportscars but i feel we should all be somewhat responsible with our gas usage... i actually really like the fact our carrera's get decent mileage versus say lamborghini's that have a tank 10gal's more than ours but cant even travel the same distance..

when i drove to ohio and back, 1000 miles each way.. was very nice to fill up and see the "miles left" over 400!

 

This is from May 16th

 

+1

 

I do not waste gas. But if high mileage is a priority, a sports car is the wrong car. If one drives a 911 to extend mileage well... what do you have the car for? If I need to go from A-to-B and sport driving is not the priority, or even possible, I drive a car that gives me, consistently, high 30s MPG, and I do not have to castrate the throttle. Horses for courses.

 

Taking my daughter to school and back (hardly out of 2nd gear) and running errands I get about 13.5 to 14.0 mpg. At the track a few weeks ago I got 10.2 mpg. Seems these cars are made to run - hard. You can baby them but tjhat doesn't do much to help the mpg.

 

I think you're framing the issue incorrectly. There's nothing wrong with good mileage being a priority....for a sporstcar. Obviously if one wants maximum gas mileage, a Porsche is the wrong choice. But within the context of performance cars, there is an advantage to having one that is reasonably efficient, as rijowysock points out with his example of the Lambo. You seem to be making the point that if one is going to drive a performance car, and make use of that performance, there is no reason to be concerned about efficiency; IOW once you've opted for speed, economy is irrelevant. I disagree. I like the fact that I can enjoy my Porsche's performance, while using relatively less fuel doing it. Having my cake and eating it too.

 

Couple of things. If you're relying upon on-board computer for gas mileage double check it against the odometer and how much gas you add when you fill up. (I've checked my car's on-board computer and it is pretty darn accurate.) If you're using just the odometer and how much gas you add when you fill up it is easy to differ in the amount of fuel and this can really affect "mileage".

For fuel consumption numbers, car mag testers simply top up the car's gas tank until the fuel is right at the top of the filller neck but this is not recommended for you and I cause this will eventually damage the vapor recovery system.

Be sure tire pressures are right. I see many cars with obviously under inflated tires.

Be sure all junk removed from car. Many cars collect junk and this can add weight and weight impacts gas mileage.

Run premium gas and fill up at a busy station to get fresh gasoline.

Shifting at 4K is gonna burn gasoline. My 996 Turbo delivers in the high teens in town driving but I shift at 3K or less. And I drive with fuel economy in mind in town and on the highway. Sure, why buy a Turbo and worry about fuel consumption? Well I like the challenge of getting good gas mileage and on a long trip -- I'm leaving on a 4 to 5K mile one shortly -- a few mpg difference means I fill up the gas tank less. The diff. between 25mpg and 22.5mph over 5K miles is 22 gallons which is a tank and a 3rd. Sure not the end of the world but it is $77 at $3.50/gallon.

And there are times when I drive the car when fuel consumption is not my primary consideration...

On the freeway on a long trip with very little "town" driving I can get the fuel average up to 25 to 26mpg but even a bit of idling before I take off from the gas station (while I'm checking my route on a map) will hurt fuel economy that takes some driving to improve.

For example: Today I left the house with the mpg reading around 18.6mph (it dropped nearly 1mpg while I let the engine idle and warm up a few minutes) and it took nearly 30 miles of highway driving at 65mph and judicious use of the pedal to get the mpg up to nearly 22mpg. Just a mile or so on surface streets had the mpg reading down in the 20mpg range.

I don't think you're really doing anything horribly wrong but shifting at 4K is probably the biggest factor in the car's rather poor fuel consumption numbers.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

That goes without saying... we all know that at 65MPH, steady on flat land, these cars are capable of 27MPG. Just drive it very steadily and do not downshift much or pass with gusto.

 

Nah, I like "passing with gusto". But I feel good getting that 27mpg when I'm not.