We have 4cyl manual's, so why is our gas mileage 27 mpg!? Milage suggestions/Mods

[drivethruecp]

I'm going to start by saying right off the bat how much I love my 2002 Protege ES of 3 years w/ 67k miles on it. But honestly, wtf is up with our gas mileage!? I do 25% City, 75% Highway and I'm getting 26mpg usually!? How is it that a 1.7 manual civic(which I can't stand) can get 36/44. We have 2.0 manuals and can't even break 30mpg. It baffels me how unefficiant our cars our; it breaks my heart. It is the sole and only reason I am considering selling it. Sure you can say, why are you complaining when compared to other vehicles, but as for toyotas, hondas, and other compact sedans, we're not making out too good at all. I have not done any mods which would compromise my milage except my thule roof rack with fairing, but would only loose a mpg or two I'd say at most. I have a SRI and a short shifter, nothing that would do any harm. But was getting only 28mpg at most prior to the rack, not too bad...but there must be something we can do?

Mods to improve gas mileage!? Please post! Gas is at $2.60 and rising, and you wouldn't catch me dead in a hybrid.

[TheMAN]

intake, exhaust, cams, VTCS removal, stock JDM spark plugs, synthetic motor & tranny oil, premium gas, and proper tire pressures

if I barely try, I can get 30mpg

[drivethruecp]

VTCS removal? What milage are you getting?

[Kansei]

I got 36mpg highway before turboing.. with lots of city/traffic driving, 27-28mpg. That was with VTCS removal, full exhaust, JDM intake cam, stock JDM spark plugs, synthetic fluids, decent gas, and proper air pressure.

[magnumP5]

Hell I'm turbo'd and as long as I drive like a sane person I can get roughly 25 mpg city, about 28 combined and about 32 highway.

[Kansei]

32 highway! good to hear :)

I got 18mpg on my last tank.. with some highway but not much, mostly short trips, and lots of boost. I need to try and be light on the boost for a tank and see what happens.

[magnumP5]

32 highway! good to hear :)

I got 18mpg on my last tank.. with some highway but not much, mostly short trips, and lots of boost. I need to try and be light on the boost for a tank and see what happens.
Yeah around town I really try to stay out of boost although I occasionally have to make a hard run for fun. If I drove normally I wouldn't be surprised to see 28-35 mpg on overage overall.

[TheMAN]

I got 36mpg highway before turboing.. with lots of city/traffic driving, 27-28mpg. That was with VTCS removal, full exhaust, JDM intake cam, stock JDM spark plugs, synthetic fluids, decent gas, and proper air pressure.

yeah, 36mpg highway is no problem for me... and that's driving at 80+

[njaremka]

your roof rack is killing your milage.

my wife's civic will get 33-35 mpg on a regular basis. as soon as we put the roof rack on, including the wind faring, it drops to 29-30 mpg.

my protege will get 30-31 mpg regually. but when i put the rack on her, it drops to 27-28 mpg. took a road trip to myrtle beach last year, and loaded the roof rack with gear, and my milage for that trip SUCKED!! i averaged 20-22 mpg.

my suggestion is to lose the rack when your not using it. especially if you are that concerned with milage.

[Kansei]

When I got 36.6 that was with my roof rack + bike rack + mountain bike on the roof, and the trunk loaded with crap (was going on vacation).

It's all about the intake/exhaust mods + mp3 ecu, jdm intake cam, and jdm plugs.. it's a trade off, the car is a lot louder and needs premium fuel but performs better and gets better mileage :)

[njaremka]

wow, amazing, but i find that hard to believe, unless you were REALLY light on the gas foot.

[Kansei]

69mph ftw :) so yes, quite light on the gas foot. cruise control on the whole time

that was true 100% highway mileage too.. i.e. got gas at rest stop just outside rochester, drove 200 miles straight, filled up at another rest stop just inside massachusetts.

[drivethruecp]

At what point on your gas guages are you clocking? When the light comes on, at the E mark, etc. And how many gallons at those marks are you dividing by?

[njaremka]

At what point on your gas guages are you clocking? When the light comes on, at the E mark, etc. And how many gallons at those marks are you dividing by?

the proper way to calculate milage is to fill your tank, reset the trip-meter, drive till near empty, re-fill the tank, then divide the miles traveled by the amount of gas required to fill.

do this for a couple of tanks, (or a month or so) and average it out to get your average milage.

[daonly1around]

yea, i used to get only 27-28 MPG on a GOOD day... but then i switched gas and started usiing chevron w/techron.... thats ALL i changed and i instantly got 33+ mpg and all i have is a AEM short ram intake.

[Kansei]

the proper way to calculate milage is to fill your tank, reset the trip-meter, drive till near empty, re-fill the tank, then divide the miles traveled by the amount of gas required to fill.

do this for a couple of tanks, (or a month or so) and average it out to get your average milage.

Exactly, that's how I do it. There's no way to use the gauge to really track gas mileage. You have to fill up every time and do the math.

[chuyler1]

Fuel cost for driving a car that gets 27mpg 15,000 miles @ $2.60/gallon: $1444.00
Fuel cost for driving a car that gets 40mpg 15,000 miles @ $2.60/gallon: $975.00

So you can save about $500/year with a car that gets better mileage, but if you have to pay more than say $1500-2000 for the car it really isn't worth it (unless you get personal satisfaction from saving the environment).

[bazooka joe]

Hell I'm turbo'd and as long as I drive like a sane person I can get roughly 25 mpg city, about 28 combined and about 32 highway.

same here...combined that is

[Tzar177]

adjust fuel pressure

[drivethruecp]

yea, i used to get only 27-28 MPG on a GOOD day... but then i switched gas and started usiing chevron w/techron.... thats ALL i changed and i instantly got 33+ mpg and all i have is a AEM short ram intake.

Which gas stations use/ carry Chevron w/ techron?

[bazooka joe]

just took the mileage....318 miles on 11.5 gallons = 27.7 mpg

[chuyler1]

I can make it 318 miles in my car too. :) But then she guzzles down 14.5 gallons of premium at the gas station :( 21.9 mpg. Oh well...at least its more fun to drive than that PT Cruiser rental I had which gets the same mileage!

[bazooka joe]

I can make it 318 miles in my car too. :) But then she guzzles down 14.5 gallons of premium at the gas station :( 21.9 mpg. Oh well...at least its more fun to drive than that PT Cruiser rental I had which gets the same mileage!

(thumb)

[Kansei]

I can make it 318 miles in my car too. :) But then she guzzles down 14.5 gallons of premium at the gas station :( 21.9 mpg. Oh well...at least its more fun to drive than that PT Cruiser rental I had which gets the same mileage!

car back??

[chuyler1]

No. Maybe tomorrow.

[jjac28]

I usually get 650km per 50 liter of gas, not sure how much it is in mpg. this is about 60% hwy, 40% city driving. I maintain my car pretty well with regular oil changes and correct tirepressure.

[drivethruecp]

Would you say it is 12.75 gallons to the e-mark, 13.75 would be below, no?

[magnumP5]

Would you say it is 12.75 gallons to the e-mark, 13.75 would be below, no?
I drive until the light comes on and I think I put a little more than 12 gallons in. 12.75 might be a little much for just to "E".

[CulRidr]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I just had to mention that I got 38 MPG on the highway the other day on a 400km trip going at 65MPH...I figure I could hit the 40MPG mark if I drove at 60MPH instead...
In case people were wondering, the only mods/maintenance I have done are:
CAI w/K&N filter
recently changed OEM plug wires
recently seafoamed engine

I'd be curious to see what would happen when I install my new header, put it in my deeper plugs (ZFR5F11 I think), install CC and run premium gas...I've got a couple of roadtrips coming up so that should be a good indicator...

Edit, I just realized I was getting 38 MPG in imperial units...in US units it's more like 32MPG...which is what everyone else is getting...that sucks!

[mhrebin]

same here ^. i got roughly 32-33. like 450 miles on a tank one of the past times ive filled up. it varies cuz of driving habits. but all of my tanks after putting a cat back exhaust, CAI w/ AEM dri flow filter on and switching to synthetic oil have been significantly greater than when i first got the car.
im happy.lol

[bucksatan]

On highway trips (when my car is generally somewhat loaded with stuff) I get around 7 l/100km, which works out to 33.6 mpg (us). In the city I get closer to 9.5 l/100km, which works out to 25mpg. I tend to do pretty fast starts in the city, well fast for a protege5, which I know kills the mileage. I have no engine mods, or roofracks or anything.

I will say that a roofrack will kill your mileage, my moms corolla gets great mileage most of the time, but you stick the cargo holder on the room and it drops about 15-20%. My old altima used to drop about 10% when I stuck my bike on the trunk rack.

[CaliAv8r]

I got 39 WITH the A/C on. Of course it was all down hill, but there was some stop and go.

I get about 29 stock hoping that will go up with new upgrades :)

does anyone know if and or where I could get a jdm intake cam for a 2000 1.8?

[bucksatan]

Ok, so I looked at my spreadsheet where I track my fuel economy (why yes, I am a giant nerd). My best so far is 6.33l/100km (37.16 mpg us, 44.63 mpg UK). My worst has been 9.19 l/100km (25.71 mpg us). The worst took place in the winter with snow tires on and in the city. Best was on a trip a couple of months ago from north bay to timmins.