Hi from the MD/DC burbs
 

I have one not so eco-friendly car for highway driving (2005 Mustang GT stick) and one more eco-friendly car for my stop-and-go city driving (2003 Saturn ION-3 auto)

With gas prices so high, and a V8 that chugs gas, I hope I can learn some non turing off the car tips to add to what I'm doing.

There are gains to be had just from the way you drive. Engine on Coasting into stops keeps you off the gas pedal and can help you keep your car moving while a light is getting ready to turn green.

Slowing down on the freeway will net you a gain in mileage as well.

Inflating your tires to the max sidewall pressure or over inflating them will reduce friction with the road surface.

Grill blocks or partial grill blocks improve the aerodynamics of the front of the car as well.

There's a whole list of things you can do at the top of the page: 65+Efficiency Mods and 100+ Hypermiling tips. They range from small and easy to very extreme. Going through the list and seeing what strikes a cord with you would be a good idea.

You should see some pretty good gains from your Saturn just by driving more efficiently. Upwards of 20 percent, I would guess.

Welcome ciderbarrel, I have an unmodified Honda S2000 that I have gotten over 36.5mpg with. Just using the driving techniques found on this site. The easiest way to saving gas is to modify your driving style.

I already do that. I got 50% improvement on my Mustang doing just that, neutral coasting to light, stop signs. The fuel cutoff doesn't really help me in my automatic Saturn

I only do city, stop and go driving with my Saturn.

That is something I'm seriously looking into. I replaced my stock tires with new stock tires and they're set at 30 PSI as per the label in the glove box. I'm thinking of going 15% over, which would be about 35PSI. Is that too aggressive for city driving, or should I go higher as there isn't much of a danger of them heating too much?

My car has such a small grill. Like so small I didn't even notice it the first few years I had the car. It's like only 2-3 inches tall.

Yikes, that's not that much more. 4 more MPG would put me 1 MPG over my combined MPG est of 24, lol

Since I'm doing all city driving (45 MPH or lower with most of the roads around here with 35 MPH speed limits) and no highway driving, I'm getting the EPA est 21 MPG city rating.

Oh, and before I forget, I can't do engine OFF coasting is that my car can't be flat towed. The front tires have to be off the ground, so I don't want to screw up my transmission and trying to save a few bucks here and there and be forced get a $4000 replacement tranny later.

Which the Mustang or the Saturn?

The max air pressure is on the side wall of the tire, most are 36 or 44. The pressure given by the auto manufacturer is for ride comfort. Some cars have cheap suspensions and use soft tires to cover that up.

The Saturn. It specifically states it must be towed with the front wheels off the ground. I do put her in neutral, engine on, at red lights though. I hope I can break 30 MPG with her once.

I'll have to look at what it says on the sidewall. I did request to replace the tires with stock just to keep things, well, stock. So what ever it says on the stock if I can google it will work. Tomorrow I was already planning to head to the local gas station and waste a buck on the air machine and raise the PSI.

My Mustang is a manual, so he would be able to go EOC. That is something I would need to practice. I've read about it and how to work the clutch but I do 80%-90% highway driving, so I'm not too pressed to go that route with him. I mean, I bought a V8 not for the MPG but for power. I will be doing some Autocross racing with it when I'm not "Sunday driving" with him. For those times when I'm on the local roads getting on/off the highways, I do use some techniques to keep the MPG up as much as I can.

Coasting in neutral to red lights, stop signs. Rolling stops at right turns/stop signs when there is 0% chance of a cop around. They will stop you in my neck of the woods. Driving slower in stop and go so I'm at a constant speed (or I can P&G) so I'm not constantly stopping/starting. Stuff like that.

Having an auto for the Saturn will limit me on what I can do, and aero mods are out of the question since money is way tight right now, but every little bit will count in the long run. Whenever I do get the funds, I would love to trade her in for a hybrid (the Honda CRZ really caught my eye).

Duh, sorry I must have been tired, I know the 5th gen Mustangs aren't that different from mine.

There is a someone near me getting 37 in a 4th gen, 5 speed Mustang by using EOC and getting a 1/2 gallon of gas a day.

I hurt my gas mileage by being the only one in my area that stops at stop signs or yellow/red lights. No one else does here, even school buses use rolling stops, but with my luck the first time I did I would lose my clean license.

Paul

OH wow. I really need to learn how to play with the clutch to get EOC working. There are a fair amount of hills here that I can coast for half to 3/4ths a mile...

I forgot to mention the 37MPG is a 6 cylinder and the 4th Generation is a lot slippery than yours. I doubt you could get that high but who knows. I wouldn't even think about getting a 5th Gen, until I saw the 2011 fixes a lot of the aero problems. So In just 6 years I can get one:D