I feel like Mercedes cheated everyone who bought the new C Class as it gets Horrible mileage. I have seen in other threads people reporting low mileage and I know I am averaging 16-17 MPG at all times. This wouldn't be as big a problem if gas wasn't pushing $5 in SF Bay Area
Gas situation is ridiculous as we all know and I hope Barak Obama makes the Oil companies pay for ripping off every American and bombs all OPEC countries starting with Venezuela. JK about the bombing.
But seriously..
This thread is for Ranting and Raving and discussion of Fuel costs and any suggestions to get better mileage (Mods, AC conservation, driving style).
well, the best way to conserve gas mileage is to simply change some driving habits. don't slam the gas, accelerate gradually. if you have a stick, then you want to try and shift up to your highest possible gear as quickly as possible. make sure your tires are inflated properly. when coming to a stop, anticipate your stop a little ahead so that it can slow and gradual vs really sudden. i'm not sure if the last point really helps out.
you're right though. despite a driver's best efforts, as gas prices continue to rise, the buyer can do less and less to squeeze every dollar out of each drop. i really hope the world wakes up and realizes what they are doing. high gas prices are going to start causing global recessions, b/c our entire industries and transport systems depend on gasoline.
16-17 mpg isn't bad. why kind of c-class do you drive? you might wanna stay away from the aftermarket mods, they don't help as much as they claim, and they're more of a pain to install.
Vehicle: 2009 C300 Sport 4Matic (Prior car was 2001 E320 4Matic)
Location: Chevy Chase, MD
Posts: 107
I don't feel that MB cheated C class buyers but I am very disappointed that MB doesn't offer in the United States a nice fuel efficient option. Bluetec just doesn't cut it for me. The price of diesel is high and Bluetec mpg nothing to write home about. MB just isn't where I wish it was on fuel economy. I would love to see a C with a 4 cylinder engine or better yet a hybrid C.
I feel like Mercedes cheated everyone who bought the new C Class as it gets Horrible mileage.
But seriously..
This thread is for Ranting and Raving and discussion of Fuel costs and any suggestions to get better mileage (Mods, AC conservation, driving style).
if you want to drive a car , please dont rant about gas , because it's your choice to drive .
if you can afford a Mercedes and "mods" and cannot afford the gas , you should buy a hybrid
But seriously..
JTF is right , change you driving habits and 16mpg is not too bad
Hybrids aren't the answer because they cost more than non-hybrid models and it takes many years of high mileage driving to get your money out of them.
I know, I owned a Prius and even with the $3600 tax CREDIT it still wasn't a better purchase than buying a Toyota Corolla or similar small car with 30+ mpg that sells for < $20k
I do understand the desire to drive a car that looks great and spend as little money as you can get away with at the pump but your options are pretty much limited. I test drove an '08 E320 Bleutec which would've got close to 40mpg hwy with conservative driving but the car also cost > $50k and no matter what kind of mileage I got, even if it ran on AIR it's still more expensive than driving a sub $20k 30+mpg ride.
You could also go find a good USED car deal and then gas cost doesn't matter as much because in the end it's the total amount of money leaving your pocket that matters. And that total is the cost of your monthly loan payment, insurance and fuel. Before you purchase any vehicle you should have a good idea what this total will be and if you're okay with paying that EVERY month. Also if that total is within $5 of your budget then you should probably look at a less expensive car.
Now on to gas prices... and here's where the TITLE of this post comes from.
For situation A lets go back a few years to when gas was bout $1.75/gal
If you drive 25k miles/year and your car gets 15mpg then you'd buy 1667 gals for a total of $2,916/annually or $243/month
For situation B lets use present day and the same mileage and miles driven. Gas costs $4 where I live but I'll even use a number like $4.50 so people in california can understand. PS... there's still room in TEXAS if you guys wanna come live where it's cheaper and equally as fun.
25k miles/year at 15mpg is still 1667 gals for a total of $7500/annually or $625/mo
Now the difference out of your pocket is almost $400 a month which is pretty steep.
So there are 2 things you can do... $400/month translates to about $20k of CAR price on a 5 yr note so you could buy a car that costs $20k less with the same mileage and your out of pocket expense would now be the same as it was in Option A or you could drive a car that gets better gas mileage. Let's rerun this scenario and pretend you bought a cheap Toyota that gets 32 mpg
option A at 25k miles with 32mpg = 781 gal @ $1.75 = $1,367/annually or $114/month
Option B at 25k miles with 32mpg = 781 gal @ $4.50 = $3,514/annually or $292/month
for a difference of $178/month or about $6/day...
Its really not that much more expensive if you drive a car with good mileage and if you DONT then don't complain about it. It's called Supply and Demand for a reason. If you keep giving them DEMAND then the AMOUNT it costs to buy the SUPPLY you need is gonna go up!
don't buy hybrids... drive conservatively... read more about ways to save energy... plan and minimize travel number of trips needed... ignore most of what i've said... i'm really just killing time and this post on here amused me
On the hwy without HIGH winds I can get about 31mpg driving conservatively. That means my RPMs are between 1800 and 2000 and I don't let the cruise hold the speed up HILLS, I allow my speed to drop 5-10mph averaged out over the duration of the hill climb and i slowly accelerate back to speed on the downside of the hill. I also try to minimize my braking by anticipating situations and letting off throttle before i get in a situation that requires me to brake, switch lanes and accelerate.
If i drive on cruise at 70-80mph and let the cruise do the hill climbs and descents then I got closer to 26.5 mpg. I have 5800 miles on my car.
at 70mph my RPMs are just under 2000, at 75mph they are just over 2000 and at 80mph they are at 2300
Anyone know the maximum speed that can be set on the cruise? I set mine at 100mph 2 days ago, that was cool. Also, how cool is that round up to the nearest 5mph option by pushing the cruise stick further up or down??? I LOVE that!
Last edited by loganboyd : 06-07-2008 at 01:17 PM.
I tend to get the sticker on the car says it gets: about 18-21 in the city and betwen 21-27 highway.
With conservative driving I was able to average 28 mpg (rural highway).
The fuel monitors in the car are amazingly accurate (unlike other cars I have owned)
I think it also depends on the gas and not always the driving habits. I drive the same way anywhere I go. Some days I get 16-18 mpg in city driving and some days I get 22-23 mpg city driving. I can't explain it. Either the car is moody and wants to suck up gas on those days or the gas quality just isn't the same from station to station. Heck maybe some stations just put in lower octane in the premium tank and hope you don't notice the difference.
Anyways, MB is coming out w/ a lithium hybrid S and M next year. If it proves reliable, efficient, and practical (avging over 33-35 mpg), then I imagine they will trickle the technology into the C and I for one would be very willing to trade in for one.
Hybrids aren't the answer because they cost more than non-hybrid models and it takes many years of high mileage driving to get your money out of them.
I know, I owned a Prius and even with the $3600 tax CREDIT it still wasn't a better purchase than buying a Toyota Corolla or similar small car with 30+ mpg that sells for < $20k
I do understand the desire to drive a car that looks great and spend as little money as you can get away with at the pump but your options are pretty much limited. I test drove an '08 E320 Bleutec which would've got close to 40mpg hwy with conservative driving but the car also cost > $50k and no matter what kind of mileage I got, even if it ran on AIR it's still more expensive than driving a sub $20k 30+mpg ride.
You could also go find a good USED car deal and then gas cost doesn't matter as much because in the end it's the total amount of money leaving your pocket that matters. And that total is the cost of your monthly loan payment, insurance and fuel. Before you purchase any vehicle you should have a good idea what this total will be and if you're okay with paying that EVERY month. Also if that total is within $5 of your budget then you should probably look at a less expensive car.
Now on to gas prices... and here's where the TITLE of this post comes from.
For situation A lets go back a few years to when gas was bout $1.75/gal
If you drive 25k miles/year and your car gets 15mpg then you'd buy 1667 gals for a total of $2,916/annually or $243/month
For situation B lets use present day and the same mileage and miles driven. Gas costs $4 where I live but I'll even use a number like $4.50 so people in california can understand. PS... there's still room in TEXAS if you guys wanna come live where it's cheaper and equally as fun.
25k miles/year at 15mpg is still 1667 gals for a total of $7500/annually or $625/mo
Now the difference out of your pocket is almost $400 a month which is pretty steep.
So there are 2 things you can do... $400/month translates to about $20k of CAR price on a 5 yr note so you could buy a car that costs $20k less with the same mileage and your out of pocket expense would now be the same as it was in Option A or you could drive a car that gets better gas mileage. Let's rerun this scenario and pretend you bought a cheap Toyota that gets 32 mpg
option A at 25k miles with 32mpg = 781 gal @ $1.75 = $1,367/annually or $114/month
Option B at 25k miles with 32mpg = 781 gal @ $4.50 = $3,514/annually or $292/month
for a difference of $178/month or about $6/day...
Its really not that much more expensive if you drive a car with good mileage and if you DONT then don't complain about it. It's called Supply and Demand for a reason. If you keep giving them DEMAND then the AMOUNT it costs to buy the SUPPLY you need is gonna go up!
don't buy hybrids... drive conservatively... read more about ways to save energy... plan and minimize travel number of trips needed... ignore most of what i've said... i'm really just killing time and this post on here amused me
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