[OITW]

I know y'all have been breathlessly waiting.

I should add that the PT Cruiser I have is a limited, and is more like a Mercedes than the sporty rentals I had that convinced me to buy one. It turns like a brick, is heavier, and generally less fun.

When I started measuring my mileage I was getting 18.5, making a point never to accelerate over 2000 rpm, trying to keep speed low. Since February, I've been averaging over 21.5 using a lot of coast, keeping my speed in that sweet spot of low rpm/highest gear at 45 mph, tires inflated, lot of coasting (but this is Florida, flat), and ridiculously overpriced ethanol-free gasoline.

First of July I took a long road trip from Florida to Maine. I devised a radiator block and taped over the air inlets in the grill, and in the air panel below the bumper that cools the intercooler. I had the radiator flushed and refilled with HOAT a few days before leaving. My previous highway jaunt had netted me 26 mpg without these mods, so I was optimistic.

I averaged around 24, but this was driving at the speed limit. In the mountains I did a lot of engine off coasting, and my best mileage was 27-28 mpg in eastern Pennsylvania. I had to give up regular ethanol-free gas, but it was in most regular stations outside of New England and Florida, at the same price as regular gas (here it's nearly a dollar more per gallon, don't know who's jacking up the price).

Now for the negative. I didn't even get out of town before the engine overheated. At the side of the highway I ripped out the radiator block and pulled the tape off the grill (but I left the panel under the bumper taped over), and from there to Maine, zero problems. However, starting back towards the end of July, the radiator began overheating regularly. I could drive for hours on the highway, but slow down for construction or to get gas, and I had to roll down the windows and crank the heat on full blast to control it. Because it worked fine previously, I doubt it has anything to do with the tape over the lower grill, and is either a blockage in the radiator stirred up by the flushing, or a newly failed thermostat.

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to update that your recommended changes to driving habits and the grill have generated significant improvement, roughly a 33% improvement over previous mileage for this hog.