Recent content by Charles J P

Higher octane gas WILL yield higher fuel economy in many instances (not all) ESPECIALLY if its 94 regular vs. 89 ethanol. Ethanol is less efficient at creating power for some reason. My father in law is a mechanic and has explained it to me but I don't really understand it. I've gotten 29 on...

I'm continuously getting 26-28+ mpg. My lowest tank has been 24.x and my highest has been 29.7. If I run some errands in town during the week I'll be in the 26ish range if I just drive to work I'll be in the high 28s. This is over the course of 5200 miles, checking every tank.

Wasting money yes. You will not damage your engine running a higher grade unless you go to something silly like race grade fuel. The highest grade "pump grade" fuel will not damage an engine designed to run on a lower grade.

EPA numbers are always with uber conservative driving. If you drive aggressively, you're expectation should be lower.

I want to schedule an oil change at a local Tuffy (its a regional auto maintenance place with a good reputation for fair prices and good customer service) because the Mazda dealership is to hell and gone from my house. The manager told me they use Northland motor oil (I'm 90% sure that's...

I agree. The car is not fast but its fast enough. You can beat most people with 2x the horsepower off the line simply because in the average situation most people are going to accelerate from a stop at the same speed. If you want to go faster, you don't need more power than the guy next to...

Ha, I used the cruise and kept constant speed a lot during break in. Of course, I commute 100 miles a day so I was over 600 miles fairly quickly. I bought it about 4 weeks ago and have 1800 miles on it already.

I'm 27 with 2 year old and another kid on the way. I took a job that is 100 miles round trip from home so I traded my Dodge Ram 4x4 Hemi for the 5. Yeah it feels less powerful but its not horrible and yeah, its 1/4 mile and 0-60 times aren't great but I think for actual drivability it has it...

OK, here's my current log. 28.8 23.x (I think this was a fluke) 27.7 27.2 29.9

Wish we had a TD option here.

Yeah, that wasn't me then. Mines Carbon Gray or whatever its called and I work downtown and commute from Omaha so I'm never in the area you mentioned. I got it at woodhouse.

Filled up again, so now I have: 28.8 MPG 23.5 MPG - I think this one was a filling error as when I got out there was gas running down the side of the car so I'm considering this an anomaly at this point. 27.2 MPG

Where and what color. I work in Lincoln, I wonder if you saw me.

I parked next to a Scion xA the other day and the similarities are startling. The lines are VERY similar. The 5 is of course much bigger, I'd say at least 6" taller and a lot longer but man I was really taken by the similarities in shape.

Well, there was obviously an "amount of fuel in tank" error or something because my second tank was in the low 20s (with a dramatic drop in temp but no change in driving habits). Based on the difference, I'd say both measurements are invalid, or at least, they should be averaged which puts me...