What kind of mileage are you getting? (Older cars)

Jim B.

I have been keeping track of mileage on my new car and I cannot see any measurable mileage increase in 50,000 miles of driving since I got it new. I can see variations of a few miles to a gallon due to traffic jams. I can see a few miles per gallon increase when I started driving

Jim B.

City: 10 litres/100 km. Highway: 5.8 litres/100 km.

I have no complaints.

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..." ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte

I tried running 20W-50 synthetic (before 5-40 was widely available) and it knocked down mileage 1-2 mpg compared with 5-30.

Mileage dropped to 26 mpg if I did interstate runs at typical "freeway flier" speeds. The motor is pulling 4,000 rpm at 80, and it only gets worse at higher speeds (is that really 5th gear?).

No experience with city or mixed city highway driving.

Runs up to the mountains (Tahoe from San Francisco) didn't incur any mpg penalty; still got 30 mpg.

I did change the air filter ever 10,000 miles, but I don't think that really made a difference. Just trying to eke out what little performance is available on the stock 2.0.

||That is something I would love to see proved with an accurate flow ||meter. I am such a doubting thomas. But I am not saying that you are ||wrong, just that I doubt but I am open to objective proof. There is a ||whole lot I don't know about aerodynamics and torque curves. There is ||some interesting reading at the Cummins website. They mention how new ||tires screw up the mileage a measurable amount due to tire sqirm and ||other interesting stuff.

I don't know how you'd go about proving it without a serous custom buildup. I do have a friend who had a 1997 (?) Dodge 1/2-ton pickup, standard base model with 6-cylinder and 5-speed. He towed a trailer with it occasonally and it really had to work at it. So he got the specs on the torque curve and found that the truck and the axle gears were not optimized. He calculated that a lower (higher numerically) axle gear would put the engine at peak torque at 65 mph, his preferred highway towing speed. Had it changed to that ratio. Thereafter the truck was much happier towing, and got significantly better highway fuel economy, loaded or not. I suspect the fuel mileage would plummet if he got much over that speed, as the aero negatives would really start stacking up. Single case history, hardly a scientific study. || snipped-for-privacy@REMOVEtxol.net (Rex B) wrote: || ||>On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 22:23:24 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@doesthisblockporkmindspring.com ||>wrote: ||>

||>||Physics state more fuel consumed at higher speed. I lose a few miles ||>||to a gallon driving 10 miles per hour faster at highway speeds. ||>

||>Depends on the car. A car with a good aero profile might get into the "sweet ||>spot" of the torque curve at a slightly higher RPM. ||>

||>||Maybe you pumped the tires up to 31 psi. ||>

||>I keep all mine at 35 psi or higher. ||>

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||>Texas Parts Guy || || ||Jim B.

Texas Parts Guy