New here, hello everyone
 

Hi,

I currently have 2 GTOs and an Impala. My GTOs are horrible at fuel efficiency in the city and I'm usually in single digits. Does anyone here have a fast car (less than 12.0 sec 1/4 miles) that also gets respectable gas mileage by your standards?

Cheers,
Gary

This looks an awful lot like a troll, but against my better judgment, I'll bite:

Power doesn't have to mean lousy fuel economy all the time.

I don't mean to offend, but getting single digit MPG points to driving technique more than equipment.

Even a 505 hp Corvette Z06 is capable of returning decent fuel economy (for a 505 hp vehicle... it's all relative of course) ...if the driver actually wants to get it.

See these two threads:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...05-a-9841.html

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...thon-5508.html

Not trolling. I think you are right though about driving habits. I am currently driving a Hyundai Santa Fe AWD rental car and I'm getting mid teens for mileage because I drive it like a go kart. The thing is so slow you can go wide open throttle for 10-15 seconds before breaking the speed limit. Do that from every red light and stop sign and it adds up quick haha.

I don't really know why I'm here, just stumbled upon this site and thought I'd see what you guys are up to. Mileage is cool but for what reason? Do you do it to save money or to conserve the environment?

purepremiumpulp -

Sometimes for one, sometimes for both. There are some people that have weekend racers + a DD that they optimise for MPG. Others have a commute from hell and want to maximise their MPG to save on ga$. The ScanGauge is sometimes called a "gamegauge", where the goal is to beat your highest (MPG) score. It's allllllll over the place when it comes to reasons.

This thread has lots of answers too :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...der-11013.html

CarloSW2

Cool. I mainly try and drive my Impala because it is much more practical. I actually have one of the GTOs for sale. (They are in different cities anyways so it isn't total overkill)

I also have a motorized bicycle with a 66cc engine that gets 120ish MPG. Forgot to mention that one.

Speed is cool, but for what reason? :)

Some people are into mileage mostly for sport - for the technical & driving challenge. There are multiple possible motivations (Carlos' link has some other good ones).

Another thread on this topic: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...omy-11012.html

Come to think of it, I don't know why I do it. :confused:

I really should make an effort to assimilate with society and a good start would be to mortgage my entire existence to build a new McMansion 100 miles from my job, get an Expedition (Oh- I must remember to stop by the muffler shop on the way home from the dealer to put some open duals on there), a wife (short term, long term, who cares, they'll make more), and start filling the whole works up with kids (we're gonna NEED all the deductions!!! :eek: ). Actually she can have the Expedition; I'll get me a Hummer with rubber testicles for those inclement weather days and an open-pipe Hardley Ableson for the rest and go WOT at every opportunity. We'll both warm our engines up for at least 1/2 hour before use; hers via auto-start and mine by sitting there in the driveway blipping the throttle. (WHOA. Inspiration!!! :eek: My next million dollar invention!!! Autostarts for bikes AND trucks that blip the throttle for you while you wait!!! :eek: :thumbup: ) I'll instruct wife to treat the gas pedal as an on/off switch; she better be either flooring the gas or flooring the brakes, none of this in-between nonsense (she already knows this but as the Man of the House I want to make sure she is aware of my superior Guy Knowledge About Mechanical Things). We will both be using cell phones for the duration of any trips; if I can't think of any real business to tend to- that would be most of the time- I will call her up and discuss what's for dinner and who will walk our barking dog to where, and when. When the kids get big enough (6 months on up) I will start 'em on go-karts and dirt bikes, all with straight pipes, until they are big enough to handle ricermobiles.

:thumbup:

Yep it runs faster then 12.0 sec 1/4 miles 11.8@130mph on street tires this next year with slicks around 10.5@140mph and it gets 70+mpg. I Love racing Z06 Corvetts and GTO's at the track its great fun to beat them.:thumbup:

You ask why we go for economy. My reason is that in the near future fuel will be over $4.00/gal. again and it won't stop there. I see fuel around $6.00/gal. within the next 5 years. The cost of gasoline is going to change the way Americans do things big time. All of us here are just trying to get ahead of the game.

Impressive. I enjoy the speed as a hobby, but I can't stand the inefficiency of it sometimes.

I'd fit into the category of guys with play cars and efficient daily drivers. Why do i care about economy? Our dependency on foreign oil is scary, and it saves me a ton of money, money that can be spent on better things like taking my girlfriend out to a nice dinner. Also, wrenching for better fuel economy is just as satisfying for me as wrenching for faster trap speeds or a better 60'.... it still involves tinkering.

I have a 1984 Buick Regal T-type thats pretty well modified. Its a turbocharged 3.8L V6. Its street legal but is mainly a track car. I have a FAST B2B computer in the car so i can tune it for economy when cruising. For a car that does 10 second passes with a street tune, it gets a respectable 18mpg city and around 23 highway if i use hypermiling techniques. It has a 200r4 4-spd trans with a non-lockup 3400stall converter. I'm currently redoing the motor with forged steel internals, girdle, and roller cam, and bought a new larger ball bearing turbo. It should be running in the 9's when i'm finished with it. Then i'll probably sell it, because I'm having more fun wrenching for better fuel economy every day and barely drive the buick. Plus, its pretty expensive for a tank of 94-octane pump gas plus a full 2 gallon tank of methanol for the alcohol injection setup i have.

http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/p...yan/Buick2.jpg

My reason for getting into fuel economy: I'd like to buy a decent house with some land... driving a 5000+lb truck 40 minutes to work every day wasn't getting me there, especially when gas went to $4.20/gal here. I never got why people drove "rice burners" and subcompacts til i did the math and a Civic saves me over $12,000 over the next 5 years at today's gas prices, $18,000 if gas goes back to $4/gal. Thats my house down payment. Not to mention the truck would have been worn out by the time the loan was paid off. Tires for it are 2/3 the cost of the whole Civic too.
Never woulda guessed driving for max mpg could make a "game" out of a commute

I think i've seen a lot of people with that dream.

I do it because I abhor waste. I love V-8s for the power and awesome sound, but cannot justify it for a daily driver. In my thirty years driving on the street 4 cylinders has done everything I needed with only a few exceptions. Track days and autocross with great handling 4 cylinder cars are a real hoot that just happen to use very little $ and resources.

Somewhere along the way I realized that our gas guzzling waste:
1) pollutes our declining air quality
2) negatively affects the environment
3) supports nations and ideologies that HATE Americans
4) puts our nation at greater financial risk to petroleum cost fluctuations
5) causes decision makers to send our sons and daughters to war

Honestly I can't think of anything good about wasting fuel, except for my selfish desire to be rippin' through the gears. I'm just kind of over doing that thing on a daily basis.

I too enjoy a rip through the gears on occasion. That is why I have a fast bike. Why drag an extra ton of dead weight along when you're trying to haul the mail? And no matter how bad you abuse a bike, it'll likely return more than 30 mpg.

Thats not to mention that you feel like you are going waaaay faster on a bike. If you want the feel of it all, the bike really is the way to go. Not only do they make you feel like you're going faster, but they also actually ARE faster, and they teach you defensive driving too!

why do we do it? good question.

speed n power = vanity n ego
.VS.
chasing higher mpg = practical,saves money(RECESSION)

i always wondered why tuners modded there civics for speed, only to attract negative attention from police and accumulating tickets(DEBT). for what? but i have to thank them though because without them there may not be a giant aftermarket(especially for civics). much of which can contribute to better mpg; carbon fiber parts, better flowing exhausts, lowering springs.

I work at a major US Army Medical Center. Many times a day I see kids that are seriously physically and/or emotionally damaged. American families are paying a huge price in the wars we are now waging. We are also accumulating a huge overhead in taking care of these folks for the rest of thier lives.

I can't help but know that the root of our interests in these wars is the quest for price stability of oil.

It's a shame. A damn shame!