You know you're an ecomodder if/when...

[Mustang Dave]

The first time I drove my Mustang to California for a family reunion, one of my cousins was checking it out. He came up to me later, and said, "I didn't know you could get a V-6 Mustang with a manual transmission."
I said, "It IS standard, but they're not easy to find. I'm glad I found mine!"

[MetroMPG]

Yeah - the phrase "standard transmission" is losing its meaning in today's car market.

[MetroMPG]

... when you can't help but wonder if this coffee helps with fuel economy as much as the brand seems to promise ...

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Engine off coasting coffee. Drinking this coffee will help your car engine off coast further than ever before!

Works especially well brewed and used as a fuel additive.

[MetroMPG]

"When you're too tired to hypermile, drink EoC!"

[Mustang Dave]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Yeah - the phrase "standard transmission" is losing its meaning in today's car market.

My F-150 has a "standard transmission". It was the only transmission available.
6R80E electronic 6-speed automatic with locking torque converter. It impressed me the first time I drove down a grade with cruise control engaged. It downshifted and engaged dfco to control the speed.

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by Mustang Dave

My F-150 has a "standard transmission". It was the only transmission available.
6R80E electronic 6-speed automatic with locking torque converter. It impressed me the first time I drove down a grade with cruise control engaged. It downshifted and engaged dfco to control the speed.

That's a nice feature, but my first van (2002 Dodge) did this too. I was thoroughly impressed at the time, though that van was anything but fuel efficient. I used to think it was a really reliable van, ie. I ran it to 150k with no major problems, but from 145k-150k the heater core started leaking, the AC went out, and the quarter panels were basically gone, so we got a newer van at that point. Amazingly, the tranny on that 02 worked great despite the miles (rare for a Dodge van).

Unfortunately I had two other Chrysler vans after that one: an 07 that burned a quart of oil per 1k miles with only 70k on the clock, and a 2012 that was mostly ok when I bought it at 60k, but started to have electrical quirks around 85k and started throwing red flags of a transmission failure around 98k, and I offloaded it at just over 100k.

Now I have an 07 odyssey we bought as a cheap beater to avoid debt that has more miles than my worn out "reliable" 02 Dodge had when we retired it, and it works pretty much like brand new.

Back to the relevance of the thread: The Odyssey has cylinder deactivation and I can get about 32 mpg out of it when I drive, and the best one of our Dodges ever got was about 25.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

YKYAEM when your brakes have surface rust on them almost all the time because you rarely use them.

Whenever I brake more than 50% I can hear the brakes in the car. They don't squeal, but I can hear them lol. My rough guesstimate is that the brakes had about half life when I bought the car. Shouldn't need to change them for another 100K miles at this rate.

[MetroMPG]

^ chronic problem for me, too!


YKYAM when... you are reluctantly grateful to get caught by the occasional amber light so you can scrub some of the rust off the rotors with a hard stop!

[Formula413]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

YKYAEM when your brakes have surface rust on them almost all the time because you rarely use them.

Whenever I brake more than 50% I can hear the brakes in the car. They don't squeal, but I can hear them lol. My rough guesstimate is that the brakes had about half life when I bought the car. Shouldn't need to change them for another 100K miles at this rate.

My last car was an ‘03 Civic hybrid. I bought it with 68,000 miles, sold it with 247,000 miles, never had to change the brake pads/shoes. I changed the front rotors but only because they were warped.