[koihoshi]

Well, it's been a long time since i've posted here. Long story short I've just not had the time. I saw a happy bday email, 2 years, very cool.

Some may or may not remember me.... I gave my ZX2 to my fiance, she drives it now. It's actually getting better mileage than ever. It's gone through a full tune up, new timing belt, redone many grounds, and essentially tried to put the car back into like new condition with it's aftermarket mods. The car is still maintaining it's wonderful mileage (which some may remember has gone anywhere from the high 20s in town, to the 30s, and even the 40s sometimes on the highway!).

The reason for her getting my previous car was an odd turn of events revolving around a car she bought when she moved from vegas. The car was problematic had many issues, we fixed them but didn't quite trust the car. I said "To hell with this, you can have my car on one condition...." now, for some that may remember me, I'm a total Porsche addict... I took the opportunity to buy a 944 for my daily... yeah... i know...

The car has been completely put back into "As intended condition" and entirely stock except some 911 wheels I put on it. Timing belts, clutch parts, hydraulics, etc....

The things I learned here were absolutely invaluable and helped my driving habits. One thing that totally grabbed me on my little 944 was the fact that FROM the factory it had an MPG calculation device in the gauges. It's quite accurate, actually, and have been able to utilize it for my own calculations. At which point as it stands right now I am getting in the 20s for in town based off my shifting habits and throttle habits, as well as in the 30s on the highway. Mind you only mid 30s, but better than EPA rating.

My largest findings were the following on the 944....

1. It's heavier than my Porsche 924. So it requires more to get going on effort. However, it has a shift light that actually calculates your hourly injector flow, mileage, mph and so forth, and then based off of your speed it will light up when to shift, just a small, tiny, orange up arrow on the gauge. This is great and all, but I found it a bit tediously of a nouisance, since a lot of the time my conditions around me vary and there's no sense in shifting all the time... Interestingly enough, the 924 gets about the same mileage as the 944. The difference is that the 924 has a very primitive injection system (not very efficient), the 944 has the lambda system from Porsche (far more efficient, but the car is heavier, so it ends up being about the same).

2. Ignore the shift light unless you know you'll be shifting. Getting used to the MPG meter is MORE handy than the light.

3. Found it interesting to watch the car accelerate while maintaining foot on the throttle at the same position at any given time and when increasing speed able to watch the mpg rise as speed in the given gear giving the same fuel lets you actually watch how it calculates, kinda nifty. This also resulted in me experimenting with different gears at different speeds. And due to the torque of the motor in this little 4 cylinder, i have better luck shifting a bit early and almost idling through a neighborhood in say 3rd or 4th gear, than I do staying in 2nd or 3rd gear, depending on speed.

4. I went through a very WEIRD time where I had some cooling issues on the 944. My 924 never has had a cooling issue, but the 944 was a bit of a headache. Now, mind you this revolved around doing a LOT of replacing parts. I actually got to experiment with several thermostat degrees due to this. Out of all the thermostats AND varying degree ratings of thermostats, the OEM 80C thermostat is absolutely the best choice, even in the winter, and, I got better mileage with the engine block heat at the given temps, than with a hotter stat that was a bit hotter.... (makes sense since heat is an enemy of power)

5. Using the gas much at all from a stop makes an enormous difference between a 10-15mpg start, and an indicated "HAH! NO-MPG" start from a stop. The gauge doesn't even bother with numbers at the far side of it since it's the low 2-5mpg range. lol... Watch your gas burn in REAL TIME!


With all these different things I've found a decent shifting pattern, habits of driving with it, and even traffic techniques of staying far behind the traffic to time lights and things like that differently, and actually, been far more successful than the EPA ratings.

That mixed with doing all the maintenance on the car myself has actually made this a very affordable car for a daily driver.

Not sure how much gas i've saved alone in driving habits. But I'm glad I came across here a while ago.