75 mpg Geo Metro

[freebeard]

I'm wondering how to update the listing under my Avatar.

Petition the mods, there's a link at he bottom of the page.

What page number in Rolling Homes?

[Bicycle Bob]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Petition the mods, there's a link at he bottom of the page.

What page number in Rolling Homes?

Pages 70 -73. And thanks - I'll get some mileage figures and bug 'em.

[freebeard]

Now I need to find my copy.

To compare with the single-occupant camper [currently] in my Superbeetle.

[Bicycle Bob]

Do you have camper details on-line? I wound up in the book because I'm friends with the two guys with bicycles in the back, and Lloyd noticed Paul's website. Now that the camper is in its permanent home, it may get finished with insulation, a freezer compartment, convenient drapes, and an opening sunroof.
If I stored and used all the engine heat for overnight, I could drive 500 miles a day on my February carbon footprint for the house.

[freebeard]

I don't even have a working camera. Rear and shotgun seats are replaced with carpeted plywood for an L-shaped deck, there's a Koolatron mini fridge under the back window, 12V outlet in the rear. Welding rod curtain rods but no [permanent] curtains. I have an AC inverter but can't decide were to mount it.

[aerohead]

I have the original coast-to-coast Metro road tests at home. I'll look for them for Monday.
When this car hit the market, the USA was still under the 55-MPH National Speed limit, and the car was engineered for this 'condition.'
The EPA HWY rating, on the dynamometer, was achieved at no greater than 60-mph, momentarily, with an 'average' speed of only 49.6-mph for the cycle, and includes full stops.
( the 1992 GM ULTRALITE achieved its 100-mpg @ 50-mph )

[Bicycle Bob]

I got the 90 km/h (56 MPH) habit from a Toyota whose carburetor really preferred it, and generally only go faster to help a commercial driver stay on schedule where they can't pass. The day the Gulf war began, I switched from sporty driving to super-economy driving, which can provide just as much entertainment.

[aerohead]

I dug out what I had on the Metro.
The ' 75 mpg Geo Metro' was based upon the Metro XFi, rated at EPA 53/58/55.
Popular Science Magazine achieved 59.9 mpg for the XFi on their economy loop.
Based on the OEM specifications and the late Douglas M. Heffron modifications, SAE metrics of the day, and allow Pop Sci's 59.9 mpg as the OEM benchmark for the XFi, then the ITworks supercomputing center at The University of Hard Knox estimates a potential 79.29 mpg for Mr. Heffron's car.
Had Suzuki been able to provide an exact 'gear-match' to ensure maintenance of the OEM BSFC, Mr. Heffron might have experienced the 79.29 mpg.
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CAR and DRIVER reported 84.1 mpg for the XFi, in 3rd-gear, @ 20 mph.
116.6 mpg, with pulse-and-glide, between 20-mph and 8-mph. At the Transportation Research Center, University of California at Davis, California.
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40 students, from 20-universities participated in the Geo Metro EconoRun in 1993. The Howard University came in at 1st-place, with an average 56.68-mpg, between San Francisco, California, and Manhattan, New York, along Interstate Highway-80.
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For cars of Cd 0.19, the 75 mpg Metro doesn't represent the most efficient shape, as compared to Boxfish, Impact, Ultralite, or M-B IAA, however the atmosphere is agnostic as far as CdA is concerned.

[Bicycle Bob]

As far as I can tell, since the Metro, cars have only gotten heavier and harder to fix. Ironically, I only started buying cars to carry pedal kayaks for my business, but, having found my current abode in a car instead of on a bicycle, I'm hooked now, at about 3,000 miles a year. My lifetime expenses for car depreciation and parts is now under $150 pa.

[freebeard]

My Geo Metro weighs ~1800lb, same as a 36HP Beetle. But I have no ides how to fix anything, from a tuneup to the push button that keeps falling off the windshield wiper switch.

Twice the gas mileage though.