new guy with low milage '99 saturn
 

Hello - my name is Matt - the proud owner of a '99 saturn sl2 with approx 80 k miles on it.

so far i get anywhere from 30 to 36 miles per gallon with pretty concervative driving and changing my oil every 3000 miles. looking for some more ways i can get better gas milage

Those old Saturns were already good aerodynamically-wise. Is yours manual or automatic?

Use full synthetic oil. If a manual, do EoffC.

Welcome to the site.

If you don't already, its highly recommended to get some form of instrumentation to help you drive better. A scangauge, or OBDII dongle with bluetooth and torque app for your phone work well.

Welcome.

Saturn was a really interesting chapter in the history of GM. Too bad GM went back to their corporate ways and started importing Opels to be branded into Saturns. I think you have one of the ones that's from the independent-thinking era.

It's lightweight for its size and as somebody else already said, not bad aerodynamically for a sedan. I think there's a plenty of potential there.

manual

pardon me for asking a nube question but what is this?

i will have to look into this.

Engine
Off
Coasting

Read all of this:
100+ Hypermiling / ecodriving tips & tactics for better mpg - EcoModder.com

Engine-off coasting.

Not to worry about nube questions. We are all nubes in some areas.
A vacuum gauge is a good cheap way for you to see what your engine experiences every time you step on the gas pedal. It will help you develop a really light foot.

Thanks for the tips. Does anyone think that a warm air intake will be effective on a saturn?

Warm air intakes have been known to work well on Saturns.

From what I have read on this forum, your Saturn should respond very nicely to a WAI.

regards
mech

Update
 

So far I have changed oil and filter - using a 0w20 oil and wix oil filter. Also tires are at 40 psi - borderline top psi for tires on the car. Went on my first roadtrip to canyon ferry lake (about a 200 mile round trip) to visit family. Started out with a full tank and filled up once i got back into town. Using my fuellog app on my smartphone (i use it to track gas milage and oil changes...very useful. I have a andriod phone so it should also be out on apple as well) i got 47.76 mpg at 55 mph drive speed...to say im excited is a understatement...cant wait until i have time to add the warm air intake...:)

btw my prior fillup before that was at 34 mpg and it has been consistantly that for last couple of fillups until this one

Woohoo, congrats. Very nice.

Welcome to the forum. Congrats on the great tank.
IIRC, GM was having trouble trying to make Saturn profitable; The brand was spending crazy amounts of money. Frankly, I'm also not sure what the point of Saturn was. GM already had Geo as their "import fighter" brand.

Neat cars, but the brand doesn't make sense to me and I can't fault GM for killing it off.

Saturn did have a purpose when it started, since American domestic compact cars were under scrutiny due to their relatively high fuel consumption and therefore weren't deemed too competitive against the Jap penalty boxes, so GM could use the Saturn brand as a Guinea pig for fuel-efficient designs that would eventually make their way into the other brands of the group. It actually made more sense than the Geo brand. Problems arised when it started to overlap with both Pontiac and Buick.

I would watch the lightweight oil. What does your engine sound like warmed up with the light oil in it? If it you can hear it rattle, then I would be nervous.

I keep cars for a long time and want the engines to last way past 400,000 miles.

I just looked again at your post and saw that you are in Montana. That means salt on roads and cold temps, so forget what I just said, lol.