Hey gang,
I doubt anything too extreme will happen here, but I thought I'd keep people posted anyway. My story with the P5, in a nutshell, is that I inherited the car from a family member who passed away. It is in "fair" shape cosmetically, but seems pretty healthy mechanically. And since the engine in this car has NO balls what so ever, I've decided to make this the daily driver, so I can retire the Volvo to weekend/drag strip status as it runs on E85 (currently at about 390hp!).
In all-stock configuration, and split city/highway driving, I was seeing between 26 and 28 mpg per tank, average.
I then installed a cone filter, and my commute changed to favor mostly highway driving - after a couple tanks, I've reached
31.96 mpg (416.5 miles on ODO, with a fill up of 13.03 gals. on the last tank).
Not too shabby, considering the government/manufacturer claims of 22 city/28 highway/24 combined.
And the combined average of
26 mpg (compared to my 29.5) across the 106 Protege5's (2002 model year) tracked on Fuelly!
Today, I installed some plexi on the front end to smooth airflow and reduce the amount of air passing through the engine bay. I left the small upper grill open so the poor radiator can breathe a little, and propped the rear of the hood up (not in the pic), and removed the rear hood seal at the rain tray to allow hot air to escape more easily.
Some specs on the Mazda:
- About 2,750 lbs curb weight
- 2.0 PZEV
- 130hp, 135tq
- 5 speed manual
- 205/45/16
The car is full weight, with crossbars and the sunroof baffle still installed. I'll report back with the results of the next couple of tanks, and the plans for future mods. I hope to get 35mpg without having to re-gear 5th. The rack/crossbars are going to stay on a little while longer (they are a PITA to remove, and I'm not certain if I'm going to use them for my bike yet). Stay tuned, fellow penny pinchers!