Gas mileage: Must be my driving

[robgaloshes]

i just pulled my aem out for the winter -- it's time for long weekend drives up north for snowboarding. i recently went on a 400 mile (round) trip from RI to Killington, VT and only had 21 mpg on the way up and 23 on the way back (downhill). before i had my intake in, i would get 35+!

 

[PuertoRicanMP5]

I have an auto, with 12,000 miles on it and If taken a 4200 mile trip with a/c on, and two people with loaded trunk/ 29 mpg

 

[sonkinglo]

how did you guys get such good milage
i drive auto p5
i do city driving everyday
i get 300km (186m) for half tank
i never go until light on
usually i go to gas station around 1/4 left and already 400km(248m)
i guss for the full tank, i could run 372mile
and i don't boost the car...always drive under 3500 rpm

 

[Gyre]

i get 300km (186m) for half tank
i never go until light on

The 1/2 mark on the gauge is not really half a tank.

 

[bilihor]

My auto P5's average after 5500 miles is 25.5 mpg. Half interstate/city, mainly BJ's or Texaco 87.
Gas light goes on almost exactly @ 300 miles and I'm sure I can drive another 50 miles.

 

[Protege01MP3]

well i dont keep tabs on my gas mileage because im a 19 yr old male who hauls ass in his mp3 and doesn't worry about that.... but... now that I've been on my own for a while, and I have all kinds of bills to pay.. gas mileage is beginning to be a concern

oh yah... and the other day.. i put a 1/4 tank and got about 30 mi lol... i umm... uhh... well.. i forgot to put the gas cap back on and drove about 15 mi each way on the freeway... got home... looked in my mirror as i was backing into the driveway and saw that the gas cap was off... lol.. im a dumbass

 

[WaatDaHell]

I have a Sport Automatic with 7000 miles on it. I've never got more than 320 miles on one tank. My auto mechanic bro-in-law told me today to bring it into his shop to have it checked. He says it might be caused by some faulty emissions parts are something like that. He'd have to hook it up to the smog test machine for some tests. I guess I'll have to see then.

 

[Protege01MP3]

ok.. this may just be me and who I am... but... if you have a bro in law who is a mechanic and does smog... why do you even still have any of the emissions controlling parts on the car?? I woulda gotten rid of the cat a long time ago atleast... then throw on some headers.. remove the other cat, throw on test pipe in both locations along with a wider pipe all the way back... and then a performance muffler...

but thats just me...

 

[WaatDaHell]

But that's just not me with a $13k debt not including the car itself so that's out of the question. Just wait though.....He has just successfully installed a nitrous oxide system in a V-6 Mustang, boosting the hp to 300 hp. He has it programmed only enough to prevent engine damage. According to him, 200 hp on our P5 is no problem so we'll just have to wait and see. The best part is it's virtually unnoticed because the only thing you have to control is a switch, on or off. All under a grand sounds good to me, but just not yet...

 

[WaatDaHell]

I forgot to mention. All that turbo and exhaust systems stuff is a waste of money for what you get. According to him, just save my money until I have enough for him to hook up the nos system.

 

[Protege01MP3]

yah... i feel ya in the debt part of things... money is a b****... i hate and yet, envy all these kids whose parents bought their car and pay for their gas and ins... I've got $300 in rent due and $125 in ins. due on friday... i have $271 in the bank and i get a weak ass check for about 100 on fri (only worked like 1 1/2 days last week)... so i have about 370 to pay about 430 in bills and thats not including gifts (its that time of the year again) and gas, and food, and everything else...
so for the next two - three weeks I'm FUCT!! luckily i hvent really gotten myself into debt... YET..... and thats a big YET...

anyway.. as for NOS... yah.. sure.. its a quick HP boost.. and when you look at it like that.. yah.. you could say why waste your money on a turbo and exhaust and blah blah... but... well s***!! DAMN YOU!! now i forgot about what my argument against nitrous was...

i dont know.. I would rather have a well running/performing machine with parts that work well together than taking some additive and mixing it with my gas for more power

and i suppose since I am more into the whole performance/tuning thing WAAAAYYYY more than just going fast... thats why it would be my preference

dont get me wrong.. nos is a good way to add alot of power.. and i would probably like to squeeze some day (prolly not in the mp3 tho) but its just a quick little boost that needs to be refilled when your done...

 

[jrodhotrod]

For what it's worth, i have 5,500 miles on my 03 Sport Auto P5 now and my gaslight comes on between 300-320 in mixed/mostly highway driving. I think there might be something to the argument that the gas in California reduces gas mileage.

 

[fastdrvr23]

I forgot to mention. All that turbo and exhaust systems stuff is a waste of money for what you get. According to him, just save my money until I have enough for him to hook up the nos system.

It sounds like you have a similar idea to what I did three years ago when I started using N20. I started using a 75 dry shot and moved on to a 150 Wet kit for my truck... If you figure $2.25 X 10 pounds every week, I could have afforded a twin turbo system. It gets really expensive in the long run... Changing the spark plugs every month is a b**** too... lol.

I would definitely recommend looking into forged internals if you are going to go the N2O route. That way, once you get tired of filling the bottle all the time, you could go turbo without any concern on engine strength. Just a thought though...

(If I could find a transmission cheap enough that could handle the torque, I would have a couple of Turbonetics instead of the little blue bottle. )

 

[LA dreamer]

Poor CA gas mileage...me too!

I love my automatic P5, but am disappointed in the gas mileage I'm getting. It's "okay" (23-26) on the freeway most of the time, but it only gets "good" (29-32) the longer the drive is (like on a vacation trip) and the faster I go. The city gas mileage I'm getting is sometimes under 20 which I find to be absolutely horrible. I did not expect it to be that bad on this kind of car.

Fellow Californian's (and others who suffer from this mpg disorder)...I feel your pain!

 

[Protege01MP3]

jrod...
ya.. i think something bout the bad gas here does it.. maybe its the climate too... but gas mileage sucks out here.... and 100 octane is around (only at 1 station near me) but its about 4.50/gal.. thats fuct...

dreamer...

what part of LA you in??

 

[Tonpow]

I purposely drove like an old lady on a trip this week. I got 295 miles before the light came on. Sad.

The best I ever got was 350 on a tank. It was = to 27MPG. That was with higher than normal air pressure in my tires. 5 weight synthetic oil, glass smooth 2nd gear takeoffs, skip shifting (or whatever you want to call it), shutting it off early to coast into my parking spots at work and home, no warm-up and slowwwww takeoff in the morning. My car gets cruddy mileage with no good explanation.

My V6 5 speed jetta used to get 32MPG on long trips. Never got less than 25 in mixed driving. Even towing a trailer. My wife's stupid Pontiac 3.8 liter "old pushrod technology" Grand Prix gets 27-30+ on the highway. 25 on a bad day. That car breaks all the rules. Big cubes, its a heavy car, automatic. Yet it manages to get good highway mileage. Our cars have no excuse other than poor engine management and maybe short highway gearing.

Can you tell this subject aggravates me?

 

[Tonpow]

Anyone know what the old Probes and MX 6's with the 2.0 got for mileage?

 

[LA dreamer]

I live on the Westside, close to Marina Del Rey.

 

[Protege01MP3]

ohhh.. ok.. gotcha...

not too far from here.... you got any mods on the P5?? should organize a meet... there are a few ppl from so cal/LA area... we've kinda tried before.. but everyone is way too busy, including myself... it'd be fun though

 

[LA dreamer]

The only mod I've made so far is to tint the rear windows as dark as possible. Of course I'd like to increase the power, but not until after the warranty expires...and then only if I have the extra money.

As far as meets go, it's difficult in So. Cal. because like you said, everyone is so busy. I'm not available at all on weekends and that's when most of them usually happen.

Just filled up my tank and got 26 mpg with approximately 80% freeway, 20% city driving. Not great, but not terrible either.