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EricF · 02-05-2012, 12:06 AM

I am thinking about buying a 2007 Mustang V6 Manual and I wanted to get an idea of what to expect. So I rented a 2012 V6 Mustang Automatic from Hertz today and went on a road trip to get an idea what kind of mileage I could achieve.

I drove 300 miles. The first 60 miles was all highway traffic. I simply sent the cruise control at 65 mph. At the end of that 60 miles my Ultra-Gauge reported 38 mpg.

The next 30 miles was on State Highways with a 50 mph speed limit. I again set the cruise at 55 mph. MPG was about 36-37.

The next 80 miles was on 2 lane windy roads (Hwy 101 on the Olympic Peninsula). I drove all of this section in 3rd gear instead of drive to get an idea of more spirited driving. I kept it within 10 mph over the speed limit, and never accelerated at full throttle. Spirited, but still smooth throttle. I had 26 mpg for that segment.

The next 100 or so miles was again on State Highways. Traffic was quite a bit heavier, so most of the time I was varying speed between 45 and 55. I think I had 31 or so mpg for that segment.

The final 30 or so miles was in the city of Seattle and it's suburbs. I think I got 27 mpg for that segment.

At the end of the 300 mile trip, the mpg gauge in the Mustang reported 29 mpg overall average. My Ultra-Gauge reported 32 mpg and doing the math after filling the tank back up also came out to 32 mpg (309 miles and 9.6 gallons to fill the tank).

I did not do any hypermiling driving techniques, other than not being very heavy on the throttle and keeping the speed near the speed limit.

I really want to get the 2007 Mustang V6 I've got my eye on, but I don't think I can expect to get as good of mpg as I got with the 2012 Hertz rental. I know it had the newer V6 with dual instead of single exhaust. I think to get the higher EPA rating the new Mustang uses a different rear axle ratio than previous years. I wonder if it's possible to swap that into older models.

Overall, I was quite surprised how easy it was to achieve over 30 mpg. Even when I spent an hour and a half or so driving in a lower gear I was still getting pretty close to 30 mpg. I was really shocked when I got 38 mpg for the first hour of all freeway driving. Makes me wish I'd done that at 60 mph instead of 65 mph. I might have hit 40 mpg.

If I could afford it, I would be buying a 2011-2012 V6 Mustang today. But that's out of my price range so that's why I'm considering a 2007.

02-05-2012, 12:06 AM	#21 (permalink)
EricF EcoModding Lurker Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Seattle Posts: 5 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I am thinking about buying a 2007 Mustang V6 Manual and I wanted to get an idea of what to expect. So I rented a 2012 V6 Mustang Automatic from Hertz today and went on a road trip to get an idea what kind of mileage I could achieve. I drove 300 miles. The first 60 miles was all highway traffic. I simply sent the cruise control at 65 mph. At the end of that 60 miles my Ultra-Gauge reported 38 mpg. The next 30 miles was on State Highways with a 50 mph speed limit. I again set the cruise at 55 mph. MPG was about 36-37. The next 80 miles was on 2 lane windy roads (Hwy 101 on the Olympic Peninsula). I drove all of this section in 3rd gear instead of drive to get an idea of more spirited driving. I kept it within 10 mph over the speed limit, and never accelerated at full throttle. Spirited, but still smooth throttle. I had 26 mpg for that segment. The next 100 or so miles was again on State Highways. Traffic was quite a bit heavier, so most of the time I was varying speed between 45 and 55. I think I had 31 or so mpg for that segment. The final 30 or so miles was in the city of Seattle and it's suburbs. I think I got 27 mpg for that segment. At the end of the 300 mile trip, the mpg gauge in the Mustang reported 29 mpg overall average. My Ultra-Gauge reported 32 mpg and doing the math after filling the tank back up also came out to 32 mpg (309 miles and 9.6 gallons to fill the tank). I did not do any hypermiling driving techniques, other than not being very heavy on the throttle and keeping the speed near the speed limit. I really want to get the 2007 Mustang V6 I've got my eye on, but I don't think I can expect to get as good of mpg as I got with the 2012 Hertz rental. I know it had the newer V6 with dual instead of single exhaust. I think to get the higher EPA rating the new Mustang uses a different rear axle ratio than previous years. I wonder if it's possible to swap that into older models. Overall, I was quite surprised how easy it was to achieve over 30 mpg. Even when I spent an hour and a half or so driving in a lower gear I was still getting pretty close to 30 mpg. I was really shocked when I got 38 mpg for the first hour of all freeway driving. Makes me wish I'd done that at 60 mph instead of 65 mph. I might have hit 40 mpg. If I could afford it, I would be buying a 2011-2012 V6 Mustang today. But that's out of my price range so that's why I'm considering a 2007.