Me it all started on my trips to Florida and fuel stops. The old Volvo turbo wagon would only see about 24 miles per gallon on the highway at 65 mpg so that meant three stops each way. I wanted to cut out one of the stops so at first I looked at a bigger fuel tank. Since I had a wagon instead of the sedan swapping out the sixty liter for an eighty liter wouldn't work. The only other option was to make the wagon more fuel efficient.
Looked at the car and said what to do, what to do.
Pulled the automatic transmission with the non locking torque converter and the rear end. Replaced it with a four speed with an electric overdrive and went from the original 4.11 gear ratio to a 3.31 gear ratio. Due to the factory Cd of .39, I lowered it with an after market kit and removed the roof rack for better aero numbers. Then I swapped out the original 15 inch wheels for 16 inch wheels. Looked at the numbers and saw less rotations per mile with the 205/55/16 over the OEM 195/60/15's.
Due to the performance mods on the car which included a SAAB (APC) boost control system I installed a what I would call an Eco rocker switch to limit the boost. Off, she made 160 HP with waste gate limited 7.5 psi of boost. Flip the switch on she would make around 200 hp with 12.5 psi of boost.
Running to Florida I increased the fuel mileage to between thirty to thirty one miles per gallon at 65 mph after the mods, which meant two stops instead of three for gas.
When it was time for a new car, the old Volvo had 370K miles, and I was sick and tired of paying taxes to the idiots in Pennsylvania and Washington. Especially when all they do is fund a lot of non highway projects through the highway fund and then cry that we don't have enough money to fix the roads and bridges.
I made the decision that what ever I bought had to get at least twice what the Volvo did in fuel mileage and so that is how I ended up with my Prius. If you had told me I'd be owning a Hybrid in 2007 I would have laughed in your face. After reading a lot of forums and seeing what people were getting in fuel mileage and the great reliability owners of these cars were seeing it was a no brainer.
I now use 40% of the gas that the Volvo did, so it has been a big win in saving averaging around 25 gallons a month. Which means keeping about $200 in annual fuel taxes in my wallet and out of the Governments greedy mitts.
