Tweet
SO. Friday i decided to take a trip to LA (the california one not the state), about a 180 mile round trip, to go see my gf and take her shopping. I started out wanting to see what kinda mileage i could get on the freeway. The trip there i was driving really conservative by staying slow and drafting as much as i could. It included 30 min of straight and flat road to start out at, with a 70 MPH speed limit. Then goes through what is known as the grapevine. It's an almost straight-up climb for about 30 min with high speed turns and a 65 MPH speed limit. Then you head downhill for about 10 min to almost the same elevation as when u started. This is not a very easy drive to do with a low power car that has to much weight in it (to much stereo stuff and to fat of a person driving haha) and still get good gas mileage. So i tried to keep it between 60-65 the whole drive not taking it over 2 1/2 rpm, but still sometimes having to downshift on the steep hills and getting down to 50-55. So i got there, spent the day shopping with my gf, and was gonna take her out later that night. She decided she wanted to get ready first, which included doing her nails, all of them, and dying her hair. She informed me it should only take about 3 hrs... yeah i know thats what i said too. So me, being in a new area i dont know that well, and having still nearly a full tank of gas decided to go exploring. I found a best buy and thought "oh i could kill 3 hrs in best buy". I was wrong. About all i could kill was an hr and i was sick of that store. So back into the festy i go driving back towards my gf's house when i notice a a small sign that says "canyon rd 10 miles" so i make a quick right and decided to go check it out. At this point in still trying to drive economically, so im keeping it in 5th a lot and trying not to rev to high. At first the road seems pretty tame with lots of houses around. I figure "Ahh this is a pretty boring road..." but i keep on it. Then i start noticing mile by mile it starts getting a little more curvy and a little more curvy and the houses start disappearing and the canyon is getting narrower. Now, still trying to keep economy in mind i still keep it in 5th, but i am going way to fast for this road, so i have to downshift into forth, but when i did there was a very sharp turn coming up so i had to downshift into third, then second. I was starting to get into it a little, so i gunned it out of the turn, and it was all down hill from there. Bye bye fuel economy, let the good times roll!! I was a little intimidated at first by all the tire squeak, but once i learned that even when i think the car is at its limit, it can still take much more (found that out when i was going far to fast for a turn and had to cut it much harder and actually slide a little around the turn, never do that again) I really started cutting around those corners. It went for about 20 miles and then evened back out to just a straight road. I was having such a good time i turned around and went back through it again the opposite way only this time i was sandwiched between a sports bike in front of me and a scion xb behind me who were there for the same obvious reason. We all stayed together through the high speed turns, but ones the road started getting really aggressive the driver in the xb couldn't keep up, and me and the bike took off. I stayed RIGHT behind him the whole time, in-fact there were a few points where i actually had to let off a little cause he was going to slow for me. Im guessing he was inexperienced with the road, or just not that experienced of a rider. We finally got to the end and i pulled up next to him at a stop light and he gave me a thumbs up. I smiled and reved my engine a little, he laughed and when the light turned green he got on it and was gone in a heart beat, his bike probably had more hp then my car haha. I pulled back into my gf's house and picked her up. I was still on a high from the exhilarating drive that i just had that i was driving like a bat out of hell the whole rest of the night including the trip back home 90 miles where i averaged between 75-90ish?(its hard to tell when the speedo only goes to 85 lol) I figured i had ruined my fuel economy, and expected to average maybe 30 for the whole trip if i was lucky. I went 285 miles 90 of which where driven really conservative and the rest driven like a satan had light a firecracker under my butt . When i had left town that mourning i filled my tank to the top, and as soon as i got back to the same gas station by my house i filled up again. My car literally would not take any more then 7.5 gallons!! Thats an average of 38mpg. I am really amazed at what these cars can do and am really excited about wanting to fix it up now. I think i want to leave the engine alone except for maybe exhaust, cam, and clutch, so i can still drive it economically around town, but i really want to upgrade the brakes, suspension, and wheels and tires. I think i will pull out the HUGE box i have for my subs in the back that easily weights more then 100 lbs and call it good. What you think?
So that was friday and today, sunday, i did the same exact trip except this time i didn't try to save gas at all and was going 75-85 the whole time. I even did the country road again, but this time i took my gf with me. She loved it and said she loved going on twisty roads fast, so i guess i can keep her haha. I haven't filled up yet, but the gas station is less then i mile from my house so i doubt it will make THAT much of a difference, i will update tomorrow when i do fill it up and tell u my MPG.
***UPDATE***
ok i went 252 miles and when filled up it took exactly 8 gallons, thats an average of 31.5. Not to bad if u ask me for basically having it floored the whole time
So that was friday and today, sunday, i did the same exact trip except this time i didn't try to save gas at all and was going 75-85 the whole time. I even did the country road again, but this time i took my gf with me. She loved it and said she loved going on twisty roads fast, so i guess i can keep her haha. I haven't filled up yet, but the gas station is less then i mile from my house so i doubt it will make THAT much of a difference, i will update tomorrow when i do fill it up and tell u my MPG.
***UPDATE***
ok i went 252 miles and when filled up it took exactly 8 gallons, thats an average of 31.5. Not to bad if u ask me for basically having it floored the whole time
Comment