Eco-Unfriendly

[Enki]

Hello all,

Many of you will scoff at my presence, as my goals concerning my vehicle are not to obtain the best mileage (or I'd have bought a Hybrid or diesel), but rather to get the most top speed and acceleration from my vehicle; a 2009 Mazdaspeed 3. It is my hope that one day I will be able to break the 200 MPH barrier with my daily driver.

As such, I already plan on performing several modifications (with planning already underway) to shave everything possible from the outside (door handles, antenna, mirrors) as well as lowering the car and potentially reworking the front fascia and fabricating a completely flat undercarriage cover.

A hastily-constructed GIMP image of said potential monstrosity is attached for your viewing (dis)pleasure.

I'd like to note that as I continue to improve the performance on my vehicle by adding various bolt-on parts like the intake and exhaust, I do note a mileage increase; at 55 MPH in 5th gear, I regularly see in excess of 40 MPG current read from my scan tool. It is highly likely that this will improve quite a bit when my full exhaust is complete.

I have pretty thick skin, so feel free to be honest if you care to comment.

[Kodak]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I have no negative feelings towards your personal goal. Can't say I can identify with racing at all, but it's your own decision and hobby. Keep us posted on the mods; hope they go well for you.

Do you have a fuel log? Even if it's a secondary goal, I'd be curious to see how certain mods initially intended for performance have effects on efficiency too.

[Enki]

I don't normally keep a fuel log, as doing so would probably yield data that would make most of you cringe; my right foot tends to be a bit on the heavy side. Even so, I'm probably getting mid to high 20s for MPG currently; boost certainly doesn't help though.

I'd be more than happy to log my mileage on a couple trips if there's any interest in it.

[cleanspeed1]

Nothing to be negative about. There are more than a few hot rodders here.

[JasonG]

Racing and Eco are both about using fuel in the most efficient way to move mass.
Improved combustion and better aero benefit both.
You can have both if you can keep your foot out of it (verrry hard with all them horsies begging to run )

[bhazard]

200? I think you will be limited by gearing.

[cleanspeed1]

There are plenty of calculators on the site, and no doubt if you can get power and aero sorted you can get that 200 mph.

[cleanspeed1]

Originally Posted by bhazard

200? I think you will be limited by gearing.

Unless he can get 9-10k rpm plus some hefty boost.

There should be some final drive sets from another transaxle that can get the big mph out there somewhere. May have get something made, who knows.

[euromodder]

If you want speed there's 2 ways :
1) more power
2) better aero
3) do both.
4) Buy a light airplane

Improve the aerodynamics, Bonneville style : belly pan with rear diffusor ; plain wheel covers; nose job; agressive airdam; you'd probably be better off replacing the rear spoiler with the stock version on the Mazda 3 and then extend that aft and down.

Increase end gearing or at least top gearing so it can actually do 200+ mph in top gear without hitting the rev-limiter.
It's possibly electronically limited in top speed as well ?

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by cleanspeed1

Nothing to be negative about. There are more than a few hot rodders here.

And among them a few have converted to eco...
We'll have you on our side of the Force, sooner or later...