"MPGiata" modding thread: aiming for 50 MPG with a 1990 Miata. Update: success, 55 MPG!

[MetroMPG]

I was not expecting this... partly because I drove the first half of the tank with the flaky, annoying MPGuino switched off.


But my right foot must have learned a thing or two about this car from all the previous feedback, because the latest fill came in at 52.9 MPG = 4.4 L / 100 km.





And by running the tank nearly dry, I also learned I can probably do a kilotank (1000 km) if I want... a project for next summer.


That might be the MPGiata's last fill of 2019. Summer activities are tapering off. There are still some pleasant & colourful fall trips ahead with the top down and the heater on, but I don't plan to drive the car into November this year.

[Daox]

Very respectable mileage out of a fun and sporty car!

[freebeard]

Someone gave me these. Will they help me save fuel?

Send them out for cyrogenic tempering. It won't improve fuel consumption but for double the cost you [might] get 4x the service life.

[MetroMPG]

But everything I own gets cryogenically tempered every January!

[freebeard]

-300° —>+300° —>room temperature?

[MeteorGray]

Metro, that's great mileage from the sporty Miata!

Congratulations!

[MetroMPG]

^ Thanks!

Unfortunately, my 50+ MPG summer is now officially over: I filled up yesterday and ended the year at 48.9 MPG.

I blame my brother! I loaned the car to him for about 50 km / 30 miles. He is not generally observant of speed limits, or of putting manual transmissions into top gear... even on country roads! I also blame the colder weather.



I knew I was in trouble going by my paper-based MPG gauge...




Anyway, it was a great year for the MPGiata, MPG-wise (and otherwise). The car goes away for the winter in a week or so.

[RoBoBob]

Wow. A few of the people in this thread can deal with the cold. The guy from Belgium (it says) or maybe ND goes topless in -8C (17.6F) and the Ontario guy +10C (50F). Is that a function of the 50mph top speeds there? I can ski 50mph, so ski gear would work at that speed for my Suzuki Volusia motorcycle. But since I live in Southeast Texas, where every driver on a highway thinks they're on the Autobahn, I wouldn't have a boat tail or any other sort of tail (including stock) if I kept to 50mph. Here 60mph limit means "drive 80", and it gets worse from there.

[Ecky]

I used to leave the top off through winter in my Del Sol. Admittedly it wasn't getting down below freezing where I lived at the time, but it was surprisingly comfortable behind the windshield with the heat blasting.

EDIT: I generally left the top off all the time, come to think of it. Rain or shine. Somehow all of the water always found its way out.

[RoBoBob]

Ecky- My previous topless car was a Civic Del Sol also. I Traded up 10 years to a NB Miata. Unfortunately it is the California model that has 2 catalytic converters and a cast iron exhaust manifold. Sort of like my Del Sol which was the slower 1.5L SOHC model and not the 1.6L DOHC VTEC. The rain wouldn't seal out of my Del Sol either. The window seals let it in and I was too cheap to replace them. Car covers cost less than the seals.