Took out the Celebrity this morning, 34 mpg

[wagonman76]

Winter is starting to go away but cold temps and remaining snow still lingers. Last week I shoveled out from behind the Celeb and charged up the battery in hopes to drive it soon. I had it parked all winter. This morning was about 20F but clear, so I took it out. It started right up, had a bit of a miss for a minute but then cleared up.

Even after sitting with a dead battery for most of the winter and many -20F nights, the mpguino worked perfectly without a glitch, didn't have to reflash it or anything. I checked and all the settings were proper (I put my needed settings as default settings).

Starting out to work, I was getting similar mileage as I had been in the wagon. Then I got used to driving the Celeb again and I kept getting the mpg better and better. I ended up with 34.1 by the time I got to work. Best trips to work last year were 35 the last few days it was on the road.

Let's see what I can do with some warmer temps later on. This is going to be a good year.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

I think that honing one's ecodriving skills over the winter when it is really hard to -- we are now starting to see a big payoff. My previous tankful I almost beat my best from last summer (47.3 vs 47.5), and it is just March...

[SVOboy]

Pretty good numbers there.

[Daox]

I saw the same thing happen to me after my first winter too Neil. My numbers went up drastically with the warm weather and sharpened driving skills.

[bhazard]

That thing seriously has a 3100 in it?

[Unforgiven]

Those 3.1 L v-6 can be milked nicely, and the Celebrity is a lighter weight vehicle than my Impala with its 3.4L v-6. Dang I miss driving my car!!!!!!

[MetroMPG]

Glad to hear another vehicle coming out of hibernation.

I'm looking forward to getting the ForkenSwift back on the road too. Main difference: if I let my "battery" go dead over the winter, I'd be in trouble! So mean to your battery....

[wagonman76]

It is a 3.1 MPFI (not the 3100), same thing they used in the early 90s Celebrity/6000, Cavalier/Sunbird, Corsica/Beretta, and Grand Prix and its siblings. Great engine with necksnapping low end torque. In the Celeb, I can climb steep hills in OD. During normal driving the engine barely has to work. They also run forever. One of the best engines GM ever made IMO.

I know I shouldn't let the battery just go dead over the winter, but I end up doing it anyway. I think about keeping it on the charger, then I end up using the charger for my snowplow car. Still it works well every summer and I bought it in Spring 2004, so at least I have gotten my money's worth out of it.

On the way home it was about 30F and there was a pretty good headwind. I got 32.5 to Lowes (about halfway), then 36.5 home, so about 34.5 average. Got the kammback base installed, hopefully I will have the shell done in the near future. That should help too. This weekend I gotta go downstate, hopefully the weather holds and I can drive it, hopefully I can get 40+ for the trip like I have done a few other times last year.

[Ford Man]

Your V6 is getting better mileage than my wifes '87 with the 2.5L 4 cyl. You have one big advantage over her though. Your's has an OD and her's is just a 3 speed automatic.

[wagonman76]

The OD makes a lot of difference, as well as the torque of the 3.1. According to the guino I did get like 40.5 for my Friday trip there, and 39.7 home. After that, winter came back in full force and the Celeb was parked for the week.

Then the other day the van started running bad right as the wife was ready to go downstate for a week for spring break, so I stripped all the mods including the mpguino off the Celeb and let her take it. I would have liked to see if she could get better mileage with the mods, but I didn't like the thought of a flashy looking car parked in Grand Rapids for a week, it'd be a break-in target for sure. When she comes back I'll put the mods back on and get started on the kammback.