No more cheap gas, did you buy your fuel-sipper?

dculberson wrote:

Bobzilla wrote: In reply to 81cpcamaro: The wife used to have that 2 mile commute. She got 12mpg out of the old Suzuki GrandVitara because it never warmed up enough to get out of closed loop. We could take it on a weekend drive and get 24.

I had a short commute from my old house and my Accord wagon would get about 15 mpg. On long trips it cleared over 30 mpg. The warmup cycle is murder on fuel economy!

Similar story here with my 5 mile commute, mostly in winter. I'm trying to clear a spot in the garage so I don't have to scrape and defrost every morning. An EV would be great for the commute but we live in a small town about 50 miles in any direction from a real city. Plug-in hybrid would be ideal for me.

Meet the CRX of Doom:

I bought it for $900 from a coworker. It gets 36mpg. I've been driving it so consistantly that the 17mpg Wrangler hasn't left the garage in 6 weeks and the battery is dead.

It has General Altimax Arctic snow tires on steelies and will become my winter driver.

Its a little beast:

I don't really care too much about fuel economy, mainly because I really enjoy my car and don't mind paying more and filling up more often. Sure, it can get a bit taxing on a student budget, but I'm more than happy to sacrifice fast food for gas money.

Local convenience store was having a sale, spend $3 in the store, get 10 cents off a gallon. That meant the second candy bar was FREE! Whoo Hooo!

I've been averaging around 33 mpg per tank with my OBS so I'm good until it rusts in half.

My friends girlfriend averages 19mpg in his 2016 Honda Fit when she takes it out.

I had my Saturn SC2 throughout the $3-$4 gallon years, would have sold it sooner but 32mpg city 40hwy was too good too let go at the time. Prices here have gone from $1.95 to $2.25 in the past few days . I can withstand these prices ( I drive about 20k a year) for now. The Firebird is good on fuel considering what it is. 23 city/31 hwy. (3.8 - 5 speed) If prices go back to $3+ and stay there I'll have to get something else. Whatever the car sells for would be the budget for the replacement so I'm not really 'spending' at that point.

Anything more than $1 a gallon for 87octane to much.

I've only owned fuel sippers.

I swapped the lean burn 8 valve low load/> 3200 rpm Vatckk Yo d16y8 'HX' puter, manifold, engine harness, EGR system, gas tank, fill neck- all the OEM lean burn stuff onto the block and otherwise into a 96 civic hatch 6-7 years ago. Youngsters give HX stuff away because it 'sucks' when in fact the roller rocker assembly alone is a thing of beauty and it makes more power than the Y7 and is pretty close to the vaattk Y8. Plus a partial grill block, coroplast belly pan, and closing off the parachute rear bumper and wheel wells Mileage went from 28-30 to 38-40 with no quarter given to hypermiling.

And I would not count on cheap oil going away just yet. These are interesting times.

stanger_missle wrote: Meet the CRX of Doom: I bought it for $900 from a coworker. It gets 36mpg. I've been driving it so consistantly that the 17mpg Wrangler hasn't left the garage in 6 weeks and the battery is dead. It has General Altimax Arctic snow tires on steelies and will become my winter driver. Its a little beast:

The HF version of my Si just showed up on CL near here. It's in really nice shape, actually. Same color and everything. So if I felt that I needed a 33% power drop along with an extra 10 mpg, I have the option.

I learned friday that stoplight start redline through 2 gears nets me 9.1mpg average from the gas station. I've gotten that bac kup to 30.2

The0retical wrote: If I get anywhere around 30mpg (and the MS3 will) I could literally care less. Especially if I paid a song for the vehicle.

As usual, I'm late to the party, but this is a great chart that perfectly illustrates the diminishing returns on improving MPG of internal combustion engines.

The real solution is electrification.

Rockin my Highlander Hybrid. 200hp V6 and two electric motors for 268hp combined and lovely torque. Avg MPG is 27 on 89 octane commuting through Boston.

I am a %100 fan of electrification and greatly enjoyed my torquey quiet drive in a Volt and think Teslas are really cool (the vid or the Tesla SUV pulling a Lotus on a trailer beating a Lotus in the 1/4 mile was epic entertainment!). That said, one of my favorite things about driving and much of the motivation behind my efforts at getting better mileage in my civic is range. I love driving 400+ miles at 70-80 per without stopping. Its not anything I can explain or my bladder enjoys.

Sky_Render wrote:

The0retical wrote: If I get anywhere around 30mpg (and the MS3 will) I could literally care less. Especially if I paid a song for the vehicle.

As usual, I'm late to the party, but this is a great chart that perfectly illustrates the diminishing returns on improving MPG of internal combustion engines. The real solution is electrification.

FWIW, I don't know what MPG my car gets. Because in the 2 months that I've owned it, I've filled it up once.

Guess I don't drive much anymore.

I'm acutely aware of my average fuel economy because the trip button that cycles through all the functions has died, stuck on avg fuel economy.

As long as I can keep putting Premium in my boost buggy 135i for under $3/gallon, we good.

If things get really bad, I'll dust off the diesel rabbit truck.

stanger_missle wrote: Meet the CRX of Doom: I bought it for $900 from a coworker. It gets 36mpg. I've been driving it so consistantly that the 17mpg Wrangler hasn't left the garage in 6 weeks and the battery is dead. It has General Altimax Arctic snow tires on steelies and will become my winter driver. Its a little beast:

Is that car as rust free as it looks? If so that was a steal even with those miles on it. I love these cars. Growing up in Europe they came with the 125hp as the only engine from the start as opposed to being neutered as they were here. I'd love a stock-ish one with 130-150 as a fun car. They look so cool. I would be terrified to DD one though.

Never paid much attention to what kind of fuel mileage my vehicles get. Just put more gas in when the gauge gets low. Even when I bought something that was supposed to get good mileage, I promptly modified it in some way that killed the good gas mileage.

I’ve been driving my Wife’s old 2003 Explorer (V6, Auto, 2WD) for the last year and I’m very satisfied with the mileage it gets. I’m averaging 20.3 mpg (90% Freeway, hypermiling with pizza cutter tires and no unnecessary weight). My RX-8 averaged 21.4 but the cost difference between 87 octane and 91 octane means I’ve actually been spending measurably less on fuel since I switched cars.

Additionally, there’s a power psychological effect…4,305 Lbs. Vs 3,050 Lbs…400 mile range Vs 300 mile range…gas needle stays pinned on full for ~30 miles VS falling off of full before the gas station has disappeared in my rearview mirror.

20.3 on 87 while being able to tackle significant jobs and provide totally adequate acceleration…I’m not complaining.