Hello all,
My background is process improvement through Lean and 6Sigma. My thing is plastic extrusion and web handling. I have been trying to squeeze every drop out of whatever car I have driven. Now I drive a beater 94 Geo Prizm with 190K miles and just found out that I might have a new job that is 100 miles away and no relocation. The car is the 1.6L with a 5-speed, A/C, and power steering. So far my mix driving of 75% highway/25% city has yielded an avg of 38mpg. My max has been 42mpg in a fully loaded car + luggage with 100% highway.
I hope to pull some knowledge from these pages to reduce the expense of the commute and then move to a real fuel saver like a VW TDI or a Geo Metro. Just failed inspection today and will be patching up a rust hole with a friend in the morning.
I think I will be adding hub caps, adding simple aero improvements, remove the power steering, switching to 175/70/14" tires, changing to LED lighting, and maybe go with lower springs (might not work with the slightly taller tires). Goal is 45mpg average and not get run over in Boston I-495 traffic.
Neal