Improving gas mileage, mods/tips

pcb said:
I remember reading that the FS engine in our car is designed to operate at higher RPM's at that is where it's most efficient,... I dunno ???
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I haven't read this myself, but it would make sense. I always ask myself why Mazda would make a car cruise on the freeway at 3500 RPM. I would assume there is a reason for it, other than just cutting costs.

I should really take my roof rack cross bars off to save a bit more gas, but I think it really adds to the look of my car. Also, I would think making sure you have the under body plastics would make a difference.
 
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Luken10 said:
I haven't read this myself, but it would make sense. I always ask myself why Mazda would make a car cruise on the freeway at 3500 RPM. I would assume there is a reason for it, other than just cutting costs.
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I could be wrong, but I figure with any given engine design there is an efficiency sweet spot in the rpm range... if the gearing at cruising speed puts your rpms below this sweet spot, you may actually get better fuel economy driving slightly faster.
 
Just read the thread. Max torque (dynoed) on my '5 is 128+ at 3700, and that correlates fairly closely with 70 mph, the speed at which I pull 31-33 mpg. At 75 and over, mileage drops off. My car and my wife's former '03 ES (sold for a '14 iTouring) seemingly run to the rich side at lower speeds. However, I consistently pull 29-30 in town. Average per tank high 30-31.
 
Just picked up my second protege...a P5 instead of the old ES. I've noticed a mpg increase after NGK ZFR5F-11 plugs, purolator air filter and Goldstar's intake mods. Last average was over 30mpg 50/50 city and hwy driving. I'm also using the Torgue app and a Bluetooth OBD2 adapter to monitor current mpg. It doesn't take into effect idling so it claims I'm averaging 33mpg, which is probably correct without the idle times. Soon I'll add a front lip and underbody 1/8 HDPE panels and see where that gets me.
 
I have been averaging 26-28 since I bought the car. Mostly highway at 70-75 mph. Fuel efficiency drops off with speed significantly.

The highest I've ever gotten is 31, which resulted from a slower route for most of the tank (55-65 mph).
 
I used to get about 27-28mpg when I bought it new. Put a CAI on it and now I average about 24-25. So I know I'm getting about 15-20 miles less every fill up.
 
This is what i get on long highway runs. Around 45 mpg highway. Tested with the gas gallon / mileage method and using the torque app. This is cruising around 67 68 mph.

1.Ebay short air intake.(put on because stock one broke)
2.Header for a ford probe. So the egr tube didnt hook up so i just have a little air filter on the tube.
3. Since it was the header for a probe i can not plug in the 2nd O2 sensor.
4. Plain autolite copper plugs.

Thats it. And the car is almost to 300k miles.

I don't know how you guys get such low MPG

I always get around 440-480 miles before i fill up and it will be about 12-13 gallon fill up.
 
jonathan62019 said:
This is what i get on long highway runs. Around 45 mpg highway. Tested with the gas gallon / mileage method and using the torque app. This is cruising around 67 68 mph.

1.Ebay short air intake.(put on because stock one broke)
2.Header for a ford probe. So the egr tube didnt hook up so i just have a little air filter on the tube.
3. Since it was the header for a probe i can not plug in the 2nd O2 sensor.
4. Plain autolite copper plugs.

Thats it. And the car is almost to 300k miles.

I don't know how you guys get such low MPG

I always get around 440-480 miles before i fill up and it will be about 12-13 gallon fill up.
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I don't know how you get such high numbers. Stock tire size? Auto or manual?

I have all of those mods except the intake. My EGR is still functional though, along with the second 02.
 
Lol it is all there. Maybe its something to do with all that clean air going through the EGR mixed with the fact my 2nd O2sensor is unplugged. I do not know. Lol i BARELY have to touch the gas while around 3300 rpms. Torque app says im at 11% throttle with around 20% engine load while at the 3300 rpms. If that means anything.
 
Manual transmission. I think it is one size bigger on tire size. 205/55/16 i cant remember off the top of my head
 
jonathan62019 said:
Manual transmission. I think it is one size bigger on tire size. 205/55/16 i cant remember off the top of my head
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Hmm. That is strange.

Seems like the vast majority of use are knocking down ~30 mpg consistently and every once in a while someone will come around and claim 40+mpg. Is your speedometer and odometer accurate? With a 215/45-17 mine will read ~20 miles shy of actual distance traveled on a tank.
 
Yeah i use car dashboard app and shows im only off by like 1 mph when checked against the torque app and my speedo gauge
 
I have gotten as low as 26mpg and that was with more conservative city driving during colder nights (27-35 degrees outside). On the highway and mountain roads I average 28-30mpg consistently (last fill up was 30.3 -- $30 for 11.199 gal. of fuel). I've never gotten above 32mpg and that time I drove over 440 miles and had more than a gallon left in the tank. Vehicle is all stock -- I've done a ton of maintenance though (all new belts, fluids, spark plugs, wires, coils, new tires, rotors, brakes). I also replace my air filter every 15k. I notice that I get better mileage driving at higher speeds without cruise control on. I could push this vehicle to 460 miles on one tank of gas but I don't like driving around with the gas light on.

I highly doubt anyone could get 45mpg on the highway in this vehicle unless they were mostly pushing it themselves. Even if you were to take the average of 28mpg and 45mpg (36.5mpg) on a 14.5 gal tank it's unlikely someone is going to be able to drive 529.25 miles let alone 500 on one tank of gas. If this was a little 1.7L 4-cyl Honda Civic though, sure go ahead I've done nearly 600 miles on one tank in those.
 
Doubt all you want. I do understand. But thats what i get. Lol i get really bad MPG in the city though. If i only do city driving i bet i get 22mpg.
 
I think your math may be a bit off, but why not put it to the test? Get a small canister of fuel and run the tank down to nothing, see if you can get over 500 miles going the actual highway speed limit. If I hauled down to Texas on the I-35 to US-69 at 75mph I most certainly would not be getting 45mpg even if it's flatter than a pancake out there ... might help if I was towed part of the way.
 
nope math is correct. lol i mean even if i put it to the test and did the canister of fuel. that would only be proving that to me. you still wouldn't believe me unless you was sitting in the car with me hehe :p lol i guess i could make a really long video of me driving 500 miles lol would be a boring video to watch though.
 
I know what he's not sharing with us...he's extracting HHO from water and increasing his MPG by 50%. Either that or he's using the running on just gas fumes thing from youtube or the interwebs. JK. Jonathan62019...what brand tires are you running and what psi?
 
well i have been running some primewell ultra high performance cheapos from tiresplus. i guess they cant be too cheap they are rated at 180mph. But i got them brand new for $32 each. lol the max psi on the tires is 60.. i run 48 psi in them... but i just got some wheels with kumho optimos on them. A LOT smoother ride. but the PSI on these are at 32. pretty sure im getting worse MPG right now. the gauge is lower then usual at around 300 mils :(
 
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