Fuel Mileage for the weekend

[Darlo]

I would be concerned too Paul. The WORST I ever got was 41.8mpg with my studded winters and in freezng temps!

I can say that in my 2005 Toyota Echo that I had a while ago, I did a regression model that showed the actual decrease from A/C on the 1.5 liter engine was a mere .4-.5 mpg.

[Safety Guy]

Paul, is that "38 in town" fully loaded and with A/C on? Or nearly empty?

One other thing to consider is how much your rear end goes down with that full load. If the car's front to rear slant changes significantly, could it reduce your Cd with some change in airflow? Not just the air going over the roof and trying to stick to the back end, but also the underside of the rear end "catching" more underbody air.

Karl

[neanderpaul]

38 in town with most of that weight half the time. I forgot to add the weight of the ac that I just added. So the in town was without ac. And no the back wasnt sagging at all. Most of the weight came from the wife and I.

[Safety Guy]

So "in town" was without both the weight (not too significant) and belt drag (more significant!) of your A/C?

Adding the weight and especially, drag of the A/C kinda spoils the comparison without it!

I'd get a new "in town" mpg figure to use before I got worried about how horrible your highway mileage is.

Also, I'd drop the speed to under 75 mph from 80. That alone may "restore" one or two mpgs.

When doing "serious" mpg studies, we need to reduce human error as much as possible, which also includes being extremely persnickety with our comparison variables. Running "with most of that weight half the time" is not conducive to good science. Neither is taking the word of brothers who may be doing some inordinate bragging of their own when talking about their '06 Civics. Have you verified this number?

Dr. Karl has spoken. :p

Karl

[neanderpaul]

Yes Doc I've verified his numbers. I agree on the variables needing to be nailed down. Darlo's comments are interesting too though.

[Darlo]

Dr. Darlo........since we are adding prefixes, lol........

[crusher773]

So I looked at my Haynes manual last night and I didn't find anything about advancing or changing the timing. All it had was how to change the timing belt.

[htchbck]

htchbck, you need to go after your timing and fuel quality to get the most out of that ATX. my 90 auto can do 34-5 all day at 70 on 87oct. that was before i bumped the timing and jumped to 89oct.

Well, when this trans was in a '90 auto (EFI) I was putting down the same numbers as you. I attribute some of my loss to the carb, and the fact that its likely not tuned as well to the wider RPM range of the auto compared to a 5-speed. I'm nowhere near done playing with this thing yet, in fact it only had about 250 on the swap when we left for the 800 mile trip we got back from yesterday. The new O2 sensor seemed to help a little (thanks kartracer and bebandit for providing a couple tools that weren't in my arsenal at the meet) and I think its time for a dist cap as well (new plugs and wires were done before we left). This evening I will likely be cleaning the EGR, hoping that will help me as well.

[kumalaba]

i was suprised my b6 323 5 speed wagon got about 38 mpg @ 60-70mph man she runs good!

[getnpsi]

^^- Old mazda wagons are so hard to find. I think I would have been happier with one over this festiva I picked up.

[Safety Guy]

Kumalaba, I saw the meet pics and your wagon is so nice!

Karl

[kumalaba]

Kumalaba, I saw the meet pics and your wagon is so nice!

Karl

tks im really enjoying it!

[kumalaba]

^^- Old mazda wagons are so hard to find. I think I would have been happier with one over this festiva I picked up.

i love em both! the wagon is a smoother ride on the highways though.

[neanderpaul]

Kumalaba, I saw the meet pics and your wagon is so nice!

Karl

It's even more impressive in person. I want it!

[kumalaba]

It's even more impressive in person. I want it!

i think this ones a keeper like your creampuff, is this yours?