Can't shake the low 20's

[popimp]

I try to walk to work since it's such a short distance.

[popimp]

I got these numbers off of the fueleconomy website.

Number of Vehicles: 4
Average User MPG: 20.7
Range: 19 - 22 MPG
Updated On: 12/18/2007



Hide Individual Estimates



Average MPG State Driving Conditions Estimate
Last Updated
Stop & Go Highway

1 22.0 NY 10% 90% 06/27/2006
2 20.7 PA 04/27/2006
3 21.3 MA 0% 100% 01/05/2007
4 19.1 MA 30% 70% 02/23/2007

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by popimp

You're being sarcastic about the killer commute thing right? The 20W oil is fine. The recommended oil is 5W-20 but I use 0W-20. MetroMPG please do the import from you know where.

Killer as in a bad way for FE but good as far as the environment and such. I guess I miss understood. I thought that you used the van to do shopping and thought that the distances traveled would be short, less than 5 miles. Which is a FE killer on a cold start. My apologies.

[popimp]

No need to apologize, I misunderstood. I live on base so everything is really close. I gave up on shifting from Drive to Neutral. Even though the RPM's go down according to the Scan Gauge 2, the load stays the same.

[popimp]

So any recommedations on wagons? It would need to fit 3 crying kids the wife and I and fit the strollers as well.

[SVOboy]

Subaru makes some good wagons. I wish they still made the accord wagon...a crossover suv might also work and get better mileage than the minivan...

[popimp]

Do you think it would make financial sense? I've had the van less than a year, it should be paid off in a little over a year. What are the Subarus costing? I wish I was still living in Japan so I could buy a cheap Civic.

[MetroMPG]

Here's what I'd do: wait until the van's paid off, and there are a few used Mazda 5's on the market. Why Mazda 5? Because you can get it in a 5-speed, and even though (like most other manuals) it's geared to low for good FE on the highway, if you're a serious hypermiler, you simply can't beat a manual transmission.

Of course, I'm assuming both you and your wife would drive stick.

The 5 is rated city 22, hwy 27, but with the stick, you could kick butt on those numbers.

[popimp]

I think the majority of the time people drive by themselves, I would probably be better off buying a used Civic or CRX and using that as my vehicle, and use the van when it's all of us. So you're saying pay it off then trade it for a Mazda 5 or pay it off, keep it and buy a 5?

[MetroMPG]

Well, before we go any further, what's your goal? Lowest overall fuel consumption, or to save $? The answer's going to be different depending on your goal.

If it's strictly a financial decision, you need to crunch the numbers. How much fuel would you have to save to pay for a second vehicle's insurance, repairs & depreciation, assuming you could double your fuel economy with an old Civic?

A buddy of mine keeps complaining about the cost of driving his (compact) pick-up. He wanted to buy my car. I told him if he did the math, he'd probably end up spending more money to buy mine than he'd save in fuel if he just keeps his truck.

Too bad we don't have a tool on the site that would help people make decisions like these. Right, Benjamin?