impressed with myself

[d0sitmatr]

thanks Bill (?)
I love my truck, but with the few cars Ive purchased in the past couple yrs giving me nothing but headaches, and not being even close to as reliable as the ranger is, its ended up being my daily more likely than not.
my first 2nd vehicle was a 95 toyo 4runner w/ the 3.0l and it was a pretty serious gas hawg.
2nd was a 98 outback, which was great, except it got crap for mpg, and was without a doubt the most expensive car Ive ever owned to maintain (both in problems and cost to repair...)
after that I picked up a mazda millenia, which was a nice ride, but didnt really suit my needs, so I sold it and got a 95 talon, which did great for a while as both a family vehicle and as a gas miser, with hyprmiling could net me 35-37mpg hwy without any mods, but I got an offer on it I simply couldnt refuse (paid $900 for it and sold it for $2100 less than a year later !)
then came the accord... biggest PoS Ive ever owned. nothing but problem after problem. at the same time I picked up a 94 protege, but I cant seem to find replacement seatbelts for it and I wont drive without them.

[slowmover]

COngrats on the achievement.

I have found it frustrating to "start over" in driving, more than once. I believe this is due to our learning to drive at such an early age that the feelings associated with driving have not been consciously examined, and we are highly resistant to changing something that seems to have to do with identity. I know I would never hand the keys to a big truck to someone under 25 (it isn't a matter of skill).

I, literally, have gone to the Dept. of Public Safety (TX) and gotten the Driver's Handbook and re-learned and re-applied basics: Stopping before the imaginary perpendicular line extending from a stop sign . . . crossing an intersection and NOT cutting the corner, but entering the lane already "straight" or aligned . . . and so forth.

Of course, planning only means I'm adding a detail or three to what I'm already doing. I found comfort in closer adherence to the rules of the road, as some techniques we might employ in pursuit of higher mpg are questionable, at best. Thus, this planning means I have more set-points to work with.

This helped the frustration (of the nut behind the wheel). I've also stopped to ask LEO's about particular points of law.

All of this certainly keeps me from paying as much attention to being territorial.

If any of this is a help

Good luck with the next vehicle. (And, to tempt you, I'm currently just above 20 mpg, city, with a 7,400-lb 4-door longbed pickup truck . . . . )

[NHRABill]

Originally Posted by d0sitmatr

thanks Bill (?)
I love my truck, but with the few cars Ive purchased in the past couple yrs giving me nothing but headaches, and not being even close to as reliable as the ranger is, its ended up being my daily more likely than not.
my first 2nd vehicle was a 95 toyo 4runner w/ the 3.0l and it was a pretty serious gas hawg.
2nd was a 98 outback, which was great, except it got crap for mpg, and was without a doubt the most expensive car Ive ever owned to maintain (both in problems and cost to repair...)
after that I picked up a mazda millenia, which was a nice ride, but didnt really suit my needs, so I sold it and got a 95 talon, which did great for a while as both a family vehicle and as a gas miser, with hyprmiling could net me 35-37mpg hwy without any mods, but I got an offer on it I simply couldnt refuse (paid $900 for it and sold it for $2100 less than a year later !)
then came the accord... biggest PoS Ive ever owned. nothing but problem after problem. at the same time I picked up a 94 protege, but I cant seem to find replacement seatbelts for it and I wont drive without them.

Ouch sounds like you had your share of junk cars recently. I am looking from the other side of the fence and have always had American cars except when I was first married my wife had a mazda 626 she bought new and was a nightmare of a ride literally fell apart. Bought her a Olds Alero v6 in 2001 and still have it, not the greatest mileage mid 20's with a normal driver.

I hope your luck turns around for ya and you get a reliable safe car that gets the mileage you are hoping for.

[d0sitmatr]

yea, me too
had a few people interested but nothing solid as yet.

I did get contacted by someone who was looking to trade me his 2000 I4 camry w/70k on it, and I am giving it some thoughts, but its just not quite what I was hoping for.
anyone have any experience aeromodding a 3rd/4th/5th[?] generation camry ? (god what a boring looking car....)

[NHRABill]

I always thought A Pontiac Sunfire would be a cool car to aeromod not sure if someone in here has done it would be a great candidate nice shape smooth tapered back small engine and Cheap and you could get a 4dr. for the family

[d0sitmatr]

yea, Ive looked at a couple of those as well as their chevy counterparts the cavalier.
there was 1 person with an 05 Cobalt that I was really interested, but they are asking too much for it @ $6,000. I cant really afford (and really dont want) to put any money on top.

I spoke with the camry owner and we're going to meet this wknd to go over each others vehicles.

[d0sitmatr]

havent updated this since my last post, so thought I would
I ended up trading the ranger for a brick on wheels (01 Xterra)
value wise, I got a great deal as the tera is worth more on all fronts (according to KBB, edmunds and NADA) but in mpg... well, I am just going to have to do some aeromodding to it.
list of things I plan for the Xterra:
3" drop
remove all that crap from the roof
bellypan (although surprisingly its fairly smooth under there already, so not sure of my gains)
kambak
and am cooking up an idea for the frontal area.
going to look into lower gears in the rear, the RPM are not impressive, 3-400 higher at hwy spd (70mph) than the ranger

[d0sitmatr]

this is close to where Id like to take the truck initially, but this person has a 4" drop, Im not looking to go that low



there is a great thing about the Xterra, to lower the front, all I need to do is crank its T-bar, I can drop it more than 3" that way, and lowering blocks are only $56.0 a pair, so for about the cost of $100.0 (which includes an alignment) I can drop the X 3".
roof racks come off very easily and even can be broken down into single posts just by a single screw on each cross member.

[euromodder]

Cleaning up the underside would probably be more efficient.

[d0sitmatr]

Originally Posted by euromodder

Cleaning up the underside would probably be more efficient.

Im going to try both the drop and belly pan.
on the xterra forums Im on, a couple of guys on there have gotten 24mpg with no modding to their vehicles, just by driving fairly light footed.
I try to shift around or below 2k except in 1st which I take to 2500. and I coast to most of my stops (when I have to stop, been doing pretty good with timing lights, but those damn stop signs get me every time... )
the person whose tera I posted above said he saw about a 2-3% increase in FE from his drop (not documented though, so its only his word for it) I figure if I drop it, throw a frontal belly pan (to start) and a partial grill block, I should see a net gain of 5% FE. then I can work on other things, such a LRR tires, partial kamback and I was thinking of an idea to smooth out that transition on the roof area.