Pie4Foo

Like a good (read: ****) S4 owner, I carefully took notes on my fuel economy during my trip back to the parents place in fabulous Little Rock this Thanksgiving. I've taken this trip about 5 times since I bought the S4, and my highway mileage is consistently in the +350 range.

--Mileage per trip: 550 miles (1.5 tanks, I only bothered with full tank measurements), mostly flat stuff
--1/3 is two-lane backroads, speed limit 55 mph
--2/3 is (congested and heavily patrolled) freeway, speed limit 70 mph
--Gas was always 93, Shell and BP
--Mobil 1 0W-40 changed just prior to trip
--Stock '01.5, Black on black
--Tires @ 33 to 35 psi, 225/45R17 Dunlops
--I'm ignoring the car's reported fuel economy, but it was consistently reading higher (27.6 at the end of round 1)
--In normal, city driving during the week, I see 250 miles to the tank.

Round 1 (Wednesday the 24th): Filled up and proceeded to drive 375 miles nonstop. Averaged 66 mph. The car said I was down to "0 miles" left when I finally stopped. Put in exactly 15 gallons to fill it up (I guess I had a bit more left than I thought).

<b>Average observed fuel economy, Round 1 = 25.0 mpg</b>

Round 2 (Monday the 29th): Filled up and proceeded to drive 310 miles. A lack of gas stations and an angry bladder forced me to stop at the "25 miles left" mark. Averaged 75 mph. Put in ~ 13.6 gallons to fill it back up.

<b>Average observed fuel economy, Round 2 = 22.7 mpg</b>

I compared all of this to <a href="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/mileage/mileages4.html" target="_blank">Mr. Mark P's copious notes</a>, and I noticed he got his best gas mileage (one instance of +24 mpg) in the upper 50s. Also, his car is Imola.

STFAing, the infamous 2K2S4/mpwolf <a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/778761.phtml" target="_blank">claimed</a> 27 mpg. His car was black.

In another search, a gentleman by the name of BlackTXS4 <a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/1089552.phtml" target="_blank">is claiming</a> + 400 miles per tank. His car is black.

<b>Conclusions: 1) the S4 is capable of bladder-busting mileage, and 2) black is the sleekiest and most fuel efficient color and therefore has the lowest drag coefficient of all colors.</b>

GrandPaJohn

If I averaged 65mph I could easily get 26mpg. Guess what color car.

lemieux@curbside

speed wise - over 70-75mph

GrandPaJohn

My average speed is usually higher ;-)

Pie4Foo

My postulate is now a hypothesis! :-p

gk1

Average is about 19 with much city type stop-go driving.

sj6sp

I averaged 29-30 mpg, all interstate driving 70-75mph. 600 mi roundtrip