In theory, the S2000 should achieve 330 miles on a tankful of gas when driven on the highway at optimal speed. Our lives and daily commutes are anything but constant and frequently require us to take the path less traveled. This is all the more true when your choice of vehicle is a roadster like the S2000 that constantly tempts you to aim for the twisties and let loose. What then becomes of the 330 mile theory? Is achieving 330 miles on a tankful a realistic target or a hypermiling myth? We have to admit that it is not feasible to drive until the fumes evaporate and the car stalls, so for the purpose of this article, let’s assume we fill up with one bar remaining. How many miles do you think the S2000 can do?
With gas prices edging upwards constantly, the thought of “how much further can I stretch this tankful?” must have surely played on our mind and we are pretty sure that some of us have tried to stretch it. Nothing wrong with trying that, after all our car contains a 4-cylinder engine and Hondas are known for their efficiency, so why not try and do our bit for Mother Earth, especially when commuting along a series of straight lines. Might as well save some money and stick it to the oil company man.
Upon attaining 300 miles on a tankful (with a bar remaining) our member psychoazn started a thread on S2000 Talk to see if others had a similar experience. In response, quite a few owners posted up saying they had achieved 300 miles to a tankful. What we also noticed was a number of owners reporting mileage figures lower than normal. There are also two other discussion threads in the very same forum, one dating nearly all the way back to the beginning of time (our clock starts from the year 1999), talking about that three letter acronym, MPG (Miles Per Gallon). Definitely appears to be a trend there, wouldn’t you say?
Of course there are several factors that tie in to how much one can achieve from a tankful of gas. Weather conditions, tire pressures, tire compound, traffic, suspension settings etc. all combine to influence that MPG figure. It also depends on the quality of fuel. With ethanol content constituting 10% of the volume of gas in most of North America, gas mileage has dropped marginally and perhaps the best that can be achieved is around 300 (give or take a few) miles with one bar remaining. The United States Department of Energy states that gasohol (gasoline containing 10% ethanol) is expected to lower gas mileage by 3-4% per gallon which works out to a reduction of about 0.8-1.0 miles per gallon.
Driving style too plays an important role in extending the interval between plastic swipes to refill dino juice. Feathering the gas pedal, anticipating traffic lights (when safe to do so), as well as keeping the engine in the lower rev range contribute towards a higher fuel economy. Proper car maintenance is also another aspect of attaining higher gas mileage.
Our guess is that anything goes as long as one does not disrupt the momentum of traffic or hog the passing lane. If you derive your smiles from the miles you achieve per gallon, then more power to you.
Do tell us though, what is your MPG experience? Have you taken measures to prolong that tankful of gas or do you place more importance in the pursuit of top-down fun? What is the best MPG figure you’ve achieved and how did you achieve it?
Image courtesy of psychoazn
Related Links:
The Mythical 300 Mile Tank – S2000 Talk
Miles Per Gallon (from 2001) – S2000 Talk
Miles Per Gallon (10 years later) – S2000 Talk
Sources:
S2000 Estimated Gas Mileage – American Honda
No related posts.
on May 18th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
I have gotten 331 miles…ONCE.
on May 18th, 2011 at 4:35 pm
341 is my best, in my old 01 back when I ran stock 16′s. I can hardly get 270 now.
on May 18th, 2011 at 4:35 pm
woohoo psychoazn!
on May 18th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Ever since I bought my S I’ve longed for that over 300 mark but closest I’ve gotten city driving is 287..granted my foot does accidentally get a bit heavy at times
……on interstate I’ve reached 326 on way back from Texas going 70 for a full tank. Next tank full I went 80 the whole way it dropped down to 27x using Shell premium. When city driving I only use Shell because I actually get on average 30 more miles from a tank than any other type. The closest I can get to what Shell gives me is Exxon and its still only 24x, compared to Shells 27x a tank. I DD my S and love every single second of it and don’t care how high gas gets…although I will say gas this morning was less that 4$……3.99 lol. Happy cruising
on May 18th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
I see TPMS light on, what year model havec TPMS? I own MY2006 and don’t have it…
on May 18th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Not sure about max miles per tank, but def over 300 occasionally. However, I have achieved exactly 40 MPG before though! Started with a full tank and drove 80 miles babying it on back roads cruising at 50-55 in top gear. Took exactly 2 gallons to fill. Cruising at low rpms in 6th gear the S gets great mileage…
on May 18th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
The most I went was 300 miles, I was averaging 70-75 mph the whole way – Perhaps I could’ve gone a little longer but the fuel line was blinking and I was panicking, hardcore!
vaya
on May 18th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
I own a 07/gpw. I commute all the time from san francisco to los altos hills. I run on the freeway 70 miles a day. A full tank of gas if we’re not “smashing” can easliy go up to 300+. My record was 320. That was very scary but it made it.
on May 18th, 2011 at 5:59 pm
I have gotten 350 miles in one full tank of gas. Driving from atlanta to panama city. I was running 75 – 80 the whole way! It was simply amazing.
on May 18th, 2011 at 6:17 pm
I just bought my ’04 AP2 and it came with a quarter tank of gas. Let me tell ya, I could see the fuel gauge needle literally moving toward E on the highway. JeezisChrast!!1
on May 18th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
Several people on a hypermiling site I belong to get 300+ miles per tank.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/emgarage.php?make=&model=s2000&year=
This one guy even gets 400+ per tank.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/emgarage.php?do=details&vehicleid=1397
http://ecomodder.com/forum/em-fuel-log.php?vehicleid=1397
I would never hypermile an S2000 but I am able to get 50+ mpg out of my ’08 Chevy Cobalt 2.2L during the summer so I tend to believe their claims.
on May 18th, 2011 at 8:13 pm
I got 335 to a full tank on fred meyer premium gas averaging 77 mph
on May 18th, 2011 at 8:14 pm
I DD my S, and usually get around 260-290 (with some short sprints). My record was actually all city driving, 306, keeping at 45-50 and shifting at 2.5k. I love my S, drive it like a eco car to get eco economy, or let her scream down the road, you get the best of both worlds!
on May 18th, 2011 at 8:16 pm
I feel like I get better gas mileage with this car if I go 75MPH. Maybe because I cover more ground? It doesn’t make sense but it’s true!
on May 18th, 2011 at 8:53 pm
I’ve hit 300 before the gas light comes on more than once.
on May 18th, 2011 at 10:06 pm
believe or not, I’ve done 397 b4. it was summer time in 2009.
on May 18th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
I averaged 25 miles per gallon. Mix street and highway driving and rarely hits VTEC. Hypermiling is a nice thought but I’ll never actually try it, too many risks involved just to save some fuel. However, I once read a true story about a hypermiler who achieved over 60 mpg on his Honda Accord! Strange but true. Oh, how I wish I can get that kind of mileage on my S2K.
on May 18th, 2011 at 10:37 pm
I’ve been able to achieve 302.8 miles on one tank. Generally, i’m averaging around 23.5 to 25 MPG. On the track, MPG is a whole different story…
on May 19th, 2011 at 2:00 am
530 kilometers, in miles that is? :p This is with lots of vtec, but also lots of highway.
on May 19th, 2011 at 4:34 am
I was talking to my coworker about this because we have low emissions parking and she asked why I didnt park my honda there. Since its a honda people automatically assume that it gets great gas mileage. When I told her that it was in the low 20′s she couldnt believe it. My reply was I dont care as much of the miles per gallon as I do the smiles per gallon.
on May 19th, 2011 at 5:08 am
Probably not the idea of this conversation but I somehow managed 20.1mpg including a days worth of track time at WGI (~187miles) plus the ~400mi travel to and from. I have to say I was pretty impressed with that, especially considering the use of the glorified horse piss they pass off as gasoline these days.
never got to drive the S on pure gasoline but I imagine we’d be even more impressed with its efficiency on real fuel. The Dept. of Energy is full of shit with that claim of only a 3-4% reduction on 10% ethanol. I used to average 210 miles before hitting reserve on my motorcycle, now I’m lucky to hit 180mi before she starts sputtering. I’m no mathematician but those numbers seem to indicate a difference of closer to 15% loss of range under the same circumstances. Also, if memory serves, my integra used to get about 38-ish and after the NYS ethanol mandate, it was in the area of 33-34 (~11%).
Another oddity I’ve noticed with the S’s fuel capacity is that the last time I sent it down to a solid zero bars w/fuel light on, it only took 11.7 gallons before the pump cut out… thought the AP1 capacity was something like 13.2 gallons…
on May 19th, 2011 at 6:38 am
My best was the week after a track day. I logged all my fill ups from 2/1/10 to 3/8/11, it’s pretty consistently around 24.3mpg.
Track day was 11mpg
next week was 39mpg
graph of the mpg looks like a hear beat monitor. Trip odometer was 359. I typically fill up around 250-300 depending on the bars.
on May 19th, 2011 at 6:47 am
I just did 300 miles this weekend to Pittsburgh (all highway). Since drag starts to take place around 60 mph, I probably lost a little efficiency… Pennsylvania Turnpike is 65 mph and I was doing around 70-75 mph. Doing 60 with Cruise Control on, I’m sure you could get 330 miles on a Tank easy but I wouldn’t want to push it much further than that for fear of running out of gas.
on May 19th, 2011 at 7:41 am
The best I’ve received on a full tank was 330 miles on a full tank- mind you 15% city and 85% highway. Could of easily gotten 340-345!! I love my S like I love bleep!
on May 19th, 2011 at 7:42 am
500km or 310 miles lots of highway
on May 19th, 2011 at 7:50 am
never really checked. who cares about gas mileage when you have the best sports car ever?
on May 19th, 2011 at 8:08 am
I’ve gotten 27.5 mpg in my ap1 with 325miles! I have pulstar iridium plug help it about 6.5mpg
on May 19th, 2011 at 8:36 am
I got 341.6 miles = 32.5 mpg on a highway drive in 2009. My S2000 had 89,000 miles at that time.
Has anyone tried drafting behind a tractor-trailer?
Years ago I knew someone who claimed that if he got a few inches behind a semi on his motorcycle, then he would not have to use the throttle at all. I was too cautious to try this myself.
on May 19th, 2011 at 8:50 am
Drafting behind a bigger vehicle, a tractor trailer no less is dangerous. Dont anyone do it. Not worth the damage to your car or life.
on May 19th, 2011 at 8:50 am
I’ve got an ’07 and most I’ve driven on a tank of gas was a little over 330 miles. I drive mainly highway, but also almost always in traffic so almost never driving 70mph. I average a little over 300 miles before filling up.
on May 19th, 2011 at 10:51 am
~350miles out of a tank motorway driving, being anything but a saint. Could likely squeeze more out with efficient loud pedal usage.
on May 19th, 2011 at 11:14 am
310 miles on 5/8/2005
I actually have every mile and every gas fill up recorded.
It’s maybe a little obsessive, but I probably have one of the most accurate charts of gas prices for the past 6 years or so
on May 19th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
523.3 km. 09-2010.
(must have been on winter tyres too)
The tank took 44,72 liters so in theory there was another 62 km left.
Btw.. it’s not that good for the fuel pump to run with low fuel level, especially in the summer.
The fuel is the coolant for the pump.
on May 19th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
My mpg is tragic. ~220 miles is what I usually get, I think. I think my fuel gauge is inaccurate, so maybe I’m filling up too early? Either that or she runs really rich.
Eased off VTEC this fill up and I’m on 2 or 3 bars with 190 miles on the trip meter…
I envy you guys.
on May 19th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
how do you guys get that much? i live in LA all city driving and ive been filling up just past 200 per tank in my 08 cr….basically empty, 1bar or so left
on May 19th, 2011 at 4:03 pm
Thanks Samir. Everyone else was making me feel bad too. I manage between 220 and 240 miles per tank but I really don’t care. I know I didn’t buy an econo-box. I bought a riotously fun sports car, and I enjoy every minute I’m driving it. Hey, it gets better mileage than my pickup truck does!
on May 20th, 2011 at 7:37 am
Best we saw was 317 in our 05 from So. Cal. to Morro Bay before filling up.
set cruise control at 68 for most of the drive up 101.
on May 20th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
I’ve gotten 394 miles out of one tank. I drove from Jekyll Island GA to Atlanta. I only stopped once to drop my girlfriend off. I was 5 miles from my house before the fill light came on. I immediately pulled over to fill up. I had to put 12.6 gallons of fuel in. That was definitely a close one.
on May 20th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Best I got was 315-320 with one bar left from Las Vegas to Chino Hills, CA
the weird thing was it only took half tank from Vegas to home, but then once I drove around the rest of my tank dropped like nothing. So basically, it was 250 miles half tank from Las Vegas to Chino Hills and then half tank only lasted 70 miles?
on May 20th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
I observed 32.5 mpg from Denver,Co to Salt Lake City, Utah on a road trip, August ’10. Farthest range on a tank I’ve achieved before filling was ~390 miles. 12.9 gallons is thus far my greatest fill.
on May 21st, 2011 at 10:19 am
Just one time nothing but freeway miles and being nice the whole time I got 367 on a full tank with a 4.77 gear mind you. My average is 250 to a tank, mostily city driving and beat runs so im happy with the 250.
on May 21st, 2011 at 10:20 am
and its always about 10 gallons when i fill up
on May 22nd, 2011 at 7:37 am
I just got 315.0 miles and filled up only 11 gallons so im pretty sure I could have reached the 340-350 area if I tried. and this is with me hitting the redline about 7 times…. MY04 btw
on May 22nd, 2011 at 8:47 am
i just want to say…. I HATE ALL OF YOU! i got a turbo built F20. the best I get to see is 190 miles on a tank… ONCE! i regularly get 150 miles out of a tank. oh well, i guess thats what i get for always wanting more……
on May 22nd, 2011 at 3:07 pm
I consistently get 264, give or take 1 mile, haha. This is with about 75% normal driving and 25% fun driving.
on May 22nd, 2011 at 11:50 pm
Consistently I used to get 240-280 depending on my driving and how much city I had to do. I was getting more 240 when she started to misfire before I sold her. I got 315 one time on a road trip to Austin.
on May 23rd, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Went driving this weekend and was not paying attention to the fuel level. When I happened to look down the low fuel lite was on I had no bars and the mileage was at 332. i made a quick U turn and went back a half mile to the gas station. Next town was 9 miles and I did not think I would make it. mpg for the tank was 32.
on May 24th, 2011 at 5:58 am
i got 363.2 once, but that was on stock wheels, and i had been driving on the highway all day the previous day. i had stopped, filled up to full, and got back on the highway(no vtec) and then cruised at 70mph with cruise control on the whole time(empty highways cutting through the badlands in south dakota) for the whole tank of gas without ever changing speed or using vtec. i usually average around 275ish now(17′s hardtop, intake, exhaust, and mostly city driving)
on May 24th, 2011 at 11:16 am
I have 255′s on the back, max performance summer, and am probably driving more aggressively than I ought to – but I never see more than about 260 on a tank
on May 25th, 2011 at 11:57 am
I GET 330-345 ON STRAIGHT GAS EVERY TANK. I AVERAGE 27.5 TO 30 MPG ALL THE TIME RUNNING COUNTRY BACK ROADS (NO TRAFFIC)
on May 27th, 2011 at 7:01 am
I just had my engine rebuilt, rings, valves, etc… added headers and a test pipe. Before the rebuild, my valve guides were ovaled, and the rings were above their allowable tollerances. I was down to about 250 miles on a tank, and performance was as well.
Since the rebuild, performance is back, and I am getting a solid 300-315 driving at above average speeds.
on May 31st, 2011 at 7:27 am
I consistantly get 27-29 mpg no matter how i drive. I have reached 320mi but usually fill up around 270-290 mi
on Jun 12th, 2011 at 4:39 am
1. Ran out of gas once; been driving on the expressway a whole tank, spiritedly at times from Marietta, OH to Indpls. last summer.
2. I’d done about 40 tankfuls, usually getting 25 mpg normally, and 29 on the expressway 3 times (only had the car since April 2010, and this happend on Jan.31st 2011).
3. Light come on between 260-280 miles depending on whether I’m getting 25 or 27 mpg.
4. The time I ran out, the light came on at 310 miles, and I ran out at 352 miles.
5. I put in 12.769 gallons when I filled up, which included the 2 gallons my son brought me, and I was only 3 miles from a station.
6. I got 28 miles to the gallon that tankful, not the usual 29 for expressway driving which includes some “sporting around,” which shows you that I was having a little fun (when noone was around in a straight line between trucks). The other day in going to St. Louis to pick up a matching hardtop, I got only 27 mpg on the expressway b/c I was trying to keep up with cars and SUVs that were challenging the gov’t.’s right to limit the speedlimit to 65 on expressways, ha! On the way back I got the usual 29 w/o their bad influence, and just having a very little fun between trucks b/c I was mad and pouting that I had gone 100 miles out of the way b/c of bad directions, ha!
on Jun 14th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
333 miles with 2008 CR, approximately 20,000 original miles. Mostly highway driving enroute to Phoenix from Rosamond, CA.