Tested: speed vs. MPG, 2008 Corvette Z06 (505 hp)

[micondie]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

And if you think high 20s is good mileage, you're living in a different world :-) On an open highway with nothing much in the way of mountains to climb (say Hwy 50 from Carson City to the Toiyabes), I'll do 80+ mpg round trips - and that's including maybe 20-30 miles of dirt to get to the trailhead.

I haven't driven the Trans Am enough lately to get an accurate mpg when driving for mpg. The high 20's were several years ago on the hilly New England interstates going 75-80MPH before I cared about mileage. What are you driving?

[MetroMPG]

I suppose "very good highway mileage" is a relative thing, eh?

Depends where you're coming from.

[micondie]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

"Very good highway mileage" is a relative thing as well, eh?

Depends where you're coming from.

You are so right. I used to think my 66 vette got excellent mileage with the Rochester FI I put on it back in the 60"s, and it was lucky to get into the 20's. Of course back then gas was in the 20's too.

[aerohead]

Cool! Looking forward to it.Thanks!

[ALS]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

And if you think high 20s is good mileage, you're living in a different world :-)

High twenties was great in the mid to the late eighties.
I just got rid of my 87 Volvo 740 Turbo wagon .40 Cd. On a good day with no AC 26.5-27.0 mpg at 65 mph. You drove it at 70 mph with the AC on 23-24 mpg was normal.

After lowering, removing the roof rack, swapping out the automatic for a manual transmission and bumping up the rear gears to 3.31 for better gas mileage I could pull 29 mpg at 65 mph. I could pull 30-31 mpg at 55 mph.

It was Clunkered on Aug 3rd for a 2010 Prius. I'm sorry 40 mpg city today is the 30 mpg highway of 15 years ago.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by ALS

High twenties was great in the mid to the late eighties.

Humm... 1985 CRX, roughly 45 mpg?

[MetroMPG]

Heading out now to get the data...

[ALS]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Humm... 1985 CRX, roughly 45 mpg?

exception to the rule. What did a four cylinder Regal, Celebrity, Taurus, K-Car or even a Plymouth Horizon get?

[MetroMPG]

Nothing super surprising to report. I'll post the full details & chart later, but here are the highlights:

• Man, that was fun!

• Best fuel economy is pretty much where we would expect to find it: at the lowest speed you can drive in top gear (contrary to some comments I've seen from high-performance vehicle owners who insist the MPG "peak" is found at higher speeds)

• Best was 36.5 mpg (US) at 60 km/h (37 mph) - or 44 mpg (Imp.) / 6.4 L/100 km

• Worst was 25.8 mpg (US) at 120 km/h (75 mph) - or 31 mpg (Imp.) / 9.1 L/100 km

More to come...

[ALS]

I've heard at 55 mph some owners (no AC) are getting in the low thirties.
Which just shows what really can be accomplished when the car companies are really trying. Imagine telling a Corvette engineer in 1970 that a 2009 Corvette would pull high twenties low thirties in fuel mileage, 0 to 60 mph in only 3.6 seconds, hit 100 in 7.9 seconds, and 150 in 17.5 seconds and still be able to hit 200 mph.