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I'm waiting on warmer weather too to start conjuring higher mpgs out of my XA. I have a round trip drive to work of three miles, max mph 25, and am averaging 23.7 one way mpg. My XA stays in open loop 2/3 of the trip. Recently I took a trip of 90 miles round and averaged 42.5 mpg. This was on mildly hilly two lane country blacktop with about 3 miles of town driving. Not too shabby considering I was burning winter grade E10 and the outside temp was around freezing. I never exceeded 52mph and drove with load, coasting on the downgrades. I know it could have been better but I was plagued with tailgaters that messed with the neutral coasting on downgrades. I have a manual trans XA and find the mpg sweet spot at 52mph @ 2250 rpm, usually in the mid 50 mpg range.
So far, the XA is stock with the addition of an Ultragauge and 40 psi in the tires. Possible mods include aero improvements -smooth the nose, drill the rear bumper cover (pure parachute!), air dams, outside mirror delete; mechanical mods - tank heater, battery tender, fuel pump relay toggle switch, warm air / cold air intake, alternator cut out and whatever else looks promising.
I'm looking forward to see what kind of improvements this thread bears.
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