Hey all
I’ve been a bit of a lurker for a while now but I feel it’s time I broke cover
. Sorry if this ends up being a bit long winded; I tend to waffle a little but here is my story of getting into eco tuning.
My previous car was a Honda Del Sol DOHC which I had for a couple of years. It was a great car to own in most respects especially in summer and was very reliable but it demanded to be driven hard and drank premium fuel. With gas prices in England costing twice the price-per-litre as you guys in the US are paying; it was starting to make my eyes water with my weekly 350mile commute.
I found this site when looking for ways to save fuel and using your hyper-miling techniques I got my Sol up to 33mpg US [40 UK] before I realised driving it that way was a waste of a good sports car so decided to switch to something a bit more efficient.
I did my research. A fair few of you seem to favour the Geos and VX’s, badged Suzuki Swifts and Civic VEI’s over here but fancied something a little more modern and sturdy yet still be able to carry my Giant Stiletto Chopper about inside which ruled out the Smart Car option straight away.
What I needed was comfortable highway cruiser as I live close to it and spend 90% of my 50-mile-round commute on it. Last May ’11 I decided that despite the extra cost-per-litre compared to regular gas; diesel was my choice as it wouldn’t be seen as much of a step-up compared to previously running on 99-RON gas.
VW offer the TDi in smaller capacities in Europe and so decided on acquiring a Lupo 1.4 TDi with a 5-speed manual. It shares many common parts to the common 1.9 but has one-less cylinder and is therefore more forgiving on maintenance should things go wrong and need scrapyard replacements.
I would have loved a Lupo 3L but the downside of living in the UK is we are RHD which the 3L didn’t come in. The upside to my 1.4 variant is that it won’t require any of the potential expensive fixes the 3L can need and I much prefer the control of a true manual gearbox.
I found a 2001 Silver Lupo for a pretty good deal at 2700 US money. No major problems besides it coming with some scabby alloys and a grubby interior which steam cleaned up ok. It also came with a remap which claimed to have upped the power by 25% and improve economy slightly but it was meant for a 4-cylinder 1.9TDi so currently runs a bit rough at idle but this will be replaced soon with a custom re-map for the car tuned specifically for economy.
Since I bought it I’ve cleaned it out, replaced a couple of faulty interior switches, fitted & calibrated a Scangauge-E, removed the tiny back seats and replaced the wheels with some super-lightweight alloys from a base-spec BMW Mini One.
I'm currently averaging 56-64mpg US on my daily commute. My last tank fill-up averaged bang-on 60mpg US from my 35 litre tank. On a couple of 140mile trips I’ve managed to get that trip average up to 72 on my Scangauge. Considering that those are winter miles and that I currently have front winter tyres fitted and car-sharing to work with another person on-board, I’m pretty pleased with that though I’m only doing between 55-60mph but I’ve got the addiction now and want more!
Mods this year will include:
- removing and replacing to low-profile mirrors
- fitting LRR tyres
- low friction engine and transmission oil
- an ECO remap
- removing the roof aerial & relocating inside
- upper & lower grill blocks
- cable-tied pizza-tray wheel covers
- rear wheel skirts
- Some under-body aluminium panelling.
Any other recommendations?
I’ve noticed it takes quite a while before my temperature gauge even starts to move. It takes about 10-15 miles before it starts to heat up. I know the sub-zero temps and having the cabin heater on doesn’t help things. Would it be of big consequence to remove my intercooler?
I'll try and scatter some photos and edit this post tomorrow to try and remove the wall of text effect
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