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Old 12-10-2021, 05:31 PM   #9 (permalink)
Autobahnschleicher
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jazclrint View Post
Hello all. I have a 2012 Cadilac Escalade Hybrid. For its age and mileage, it's running pretty well and getting decent fuel mileage. But I'd like more, of course. I have aftermarket wheels, not by choice, but they are stronger as we tow with this truck. My wife's commute is 7 miles one way and the stupid road she drives is mostly 45mph with maybe a dozen stoplights from here to there. I can take the truck on a loop through town then onto the interstate and back through town and average 21-22mpg. She's getting about 17mpg on this commute. One GM SUV hybrid owner has suggested that if I put a K&N filter and an Aftermarket muffler on it I could get 2-3mpg better. My mechanic brother says no, you'd need a cold air intake kit and full exhaust.

What do you guys think?

Thank you for your time.
1. Any somewhat modern car (read less than ~20 years old) has a cold air intake from the factory
2. The stock airfilter in any somewhat reasonably designed car does not obstruct airflow in any meaningfull degree unless it's clogged
3. Even if the airfilter was restricting airflow, your fuel efficiency wouldn't suffer in a fuel injected gasoiline car

To elaborate on 3:
The only time your air filters restriction becaomes significant is at WOT.
At less than WOT, airflow is restricted massively by the throttle body
If your air filter is clogged up, that results in you effectively not beeing able to reach WOT, meaning you lose a little bit of power.
However your engine doesn't get any less efficient from that.

And a muffler certainly hasn't any effect on your fuel efficiency unless swapping it reduces your cars weight significantly.
(I doubt that's the case here)

What would help your wife to get a better fuel economy on that short trip in winter would be a block heater.
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Autobahnschleicher For This Useful Post:
Ecky (12-12-2021), jazclrint (12-20-2021), redpoint5 (12-10-2021)