Gas Mileage (again)

[TaylorMade]

20 is good

[comPuTer]

I have a 2001 Ltd, N/A (what does that stand for, anyway?).

My average week consists of a 50/50 mix of highway and stop-and-go. I get 23-25 mpg on a regular basis. I have had some pleasant surprises on some highway trips. Once on a non-stop drive from Winston-Salem, NC to Columbia, SC I got 34 mpg. About 4 weeks ago on a non-stop drive on I-40 to the Smokeys, I got 33 mpg -- and some of that was climbing mountains!!

[VellianPT]

N/A Stands for naturally Aspirated, means no turbo or supercharger.

i have also oticed a decline in low end aceleration with the intake but i'm not sure if its the cuase i'm swaping stock for the winter we'll see what happens, but yeah this gas milage is killing me i college. probably cuz i drive about 400 miles a weekend

[dicept1]

The way these things get mileage difference is beyond ridiculous. On the way to Myrtle Beach we got 22mpg. at 85mph. and on the way back on the 1st tank got 28 because we were going like avg. 70mph. I usually get 17 mixed back and forth on my weekly tank of gas. Now that it is cool here I turned the air off and got 22mpg. on my last tank. In my old car (98 corvette) I got a consistent 18mpg. on my weekly driving and consistent 28mpg on the highway at my favorite 85mph. That little 4 banger has to work too hard all the time. If I am caravaning with the club on the highway and always playing go slow and catch up you can see the guage going down.

[estottlemire]

quote:Originally posted by CREWZIN

Synthetic is supposed to be slipperier (is that a word?) than conventional oil and therefore produce less friction...less friction = less the engine has to work = better gas milage.

Hi I have a 04 PT with only 4,500 miles on it and the mileage sucks to high heaven.I am not heavy on the gas either wife drives it 95% of the time the dealer will not admit theirs a problem let me know what you came up with. Thanks ed stottlemire one unhappy owner

[Hooligan]

Ed, welcome to the forum. As far as your gas milage, it needs to break in for a while. If you look at the "Sticker" the milage was more that likely 19-24, thants about right until you car gets used to the way you drive. As has been said before "it's a barn door being pushed thru the air".

After I replaced the plugs & wires I not get about 20-22 cith and 28-31 highway.

[sawdust123]

I have put about 13,000 miles on my '03 GT in the last six months. I generally get between 18 and 21 mpg and I have gotten as high as 24+.

Part of the reason the PT gets such poor mileage is aerodynamics. Wind resistance is a function of shape and frontal area. The PT's shape isn't very streamlined and the frontal area is huge. Speed is a big killer too. Drag is a cubic function w.r.t. speed if I recall correctly. This means if you double your speed, the drag increases by a factor of eight. My best mileage was at cruise control at about 65-70mph. A similar trip with cruise set just below 80 resulted in significantly lower mileage. Other mileage factors include tire inflation, use of A/C, terrain and of course driving style.

I would like to chime in about Crazy Eddie's mileage calculation. I believe his approach is removing precision, not adding it. Using a similar pump for fill up is about the best you can do. I tend to fill till the second click because many pumps shut off prematurely. I fill at maximum flow rate till the first click and at minimum flow rate till the second click. The slower fill rate reduces the chance that agitation inside the filling tube caused the pump to shut off prematurely.

I believe my approach gets me to within 0.25 gallons of filling up to the same point each time. If I got 240 miles per tank and put in 12 gallons, that would be 20 mpg. If sometimes I put in 11.75 or 12.25 gallons, I would have calculated 20.4 or 19.6 miles per gallon respectively. That is an error of a whopping +/-2% (100*0.4/20). That is pretty darned accurate in my book.

If you want to get anal about this, there are devices that plug into the fuel line and measure actual fuel consumption. Several of my old cars had this.