|
In terms of mods, I'm probably going to stick with the paper filters for now, and go to LRR tires, most likely the Nokian WRG3 for our very changeable weather, to Mobil 1 0w30 synthetic to take the strain off the engine on winter starts, and to 93 octane gas which I can get cheaply at Costco. We'll see how that goes, and then I'll consider whether a tune makes sense or not. Also I'm adding a Bluetooth OBD transmitter that I can use with the Torque Pro app on my phone. Final consideration; I'm getting a hitch rack for the bikes instead of the roof rack that I had on my Prizm, which knocked a solid 5mpg off highway performance.
One other point about the North American Sonic -- the tires. The stock tires on everything except for the LTZ Dusk Edition, the Hankook Optimo H428, have incredibly high rolling resistance, and they still don't handle slick conditions well. They're quiet, and they're good dry weather tires, but that's about it. So I'm expecting a significant improvement on MPG there. I figure with the LRR tires, synthetic oil, 93 gas and driver-training instrumentation, I'll be good to go for about a 2-3mpg improvement from my current 40 hwy/27 city (3mpg over EPA for highway, par in the city). We'll see. I'd ultimately like to see if 50 is viable on non-Interstate highways.
|