At the moment i'm driving a 1995 Saab 900S auto convertible. It's bone stock, non-turbo 2.3L.
My car is under the wrench and my truck decided it didn't like a wheel bearing, so i had to resort to an extra car we've had in the family forever. I hate the Saab, i think the chassis is terrible, brakes suck and it's underpowered, but it was a last resort.
I decided to challenge myself to see what i could do for MPG, because that's about the only thing i can do for amusement in this car. First i verified that the odometer was accurate by comparing it to GPS, then filed the tank, reset the on-board MPG computer and the odometer, and gave it a shot. I do not use any techniques like pulse and glide, shutting the engine off at traffic lights, or drafting. All i did was keep the highway speeds lower (average 55ish) accelerate gently, avoid braking where i could, coax the auto trans to shift a bit sooner, etc.
My daily commute has lots of elevation changes, some stoplights etc. The car is rated at 20/28 under the old rating system, 18/26 under the current EPA rating.
Because of the conditions i drive in, the goal i set for myself was 26mpg. After 383.6 miles, the computer was reading 27.3MPG, but i assumed it was a bit optimistic.
I filled up, did the math, and realized the car was actually getting 28.4mpg
I'm thrilled with that result. That's a 49% savings compared to my daily driven pickup. It's time for the pickup to go (for other reasons) and i no longer need the truck bed, so my next grocery getter is probably going to be a Fiesta. I'm a racer, and i find this addicting to do with the grocery getter
I have a fuel log on this site but can't link it because this is my first post.