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[emily_in_nc]

IFJane - How do you get 28-30 on your Element???

Mine has *never* seen more than 21. I still love it (and the ability to fit the bikes in is great... but the gas mileage sucks! Mine's a 2005 5 speed.

CA

CA -- I noticed we got MUCH better gas mileage in my Element down in Florida (vacationing), because it's flat. I couldn't believe it. Instead of ~300 miles on a tank of gas, we were getting like 350 to 375. So terrain can make a difference. I have the '04 automatic.

I think even here in NC I get more like 23-25 mph, tho, so I am surprised you get even lower in a manual. Most of my driving is on the highway to and from work, tho, so that helps. Not much stop-start driving. Do you have a roof rack? That will hurt you. We have one, but only install it when we need to haul kayaks. Most of the time, greenie's sleek on top.

Emily

[Blueberry]

CA -- I noticed we got MUCH better gas mileage in my Element down in Florida (vacationing), because it's flat. I couldn't believe it. Instead of ~300 miles on a tank of gas, we were getting like 350 to 375. So terrain can make a difference. I have the '04 automatic.

I think even here in NC I get more like 23-25 mph, tho, so I am surprised you get even lower in a manual. Most of my driving is on the highway to and from work, tho, so that helps. Not much stop-start driving. Do you have a roof rack? That will hurt you. We have one, but only install it when we need to haul kayaks. Most of the time, greenie's sleek on top.

Emily

We have the cross bars (factory), but I don't recall that the mileage was any better before we had them installed. We don't leave the kayak holders on unless we have kayaks on top (and then we get about 14-15 mpg). We still got 21 on our trip to DC last winter (that's not as flat as Florida, but it's not a hilly drive either). Very strange. We're averaging 260 to a tank, which gets *really* annoying.