Ride: 06 Auto GT, CAI, Tune (currently running 91 octane), about 120 lbs of stuff in the car (subs and other knick-knack), and me 260lb fat ass.

Accomplishment 32.3 avg mpg

Recently I was able to muster 32.3 mpg out of my Stang (take that environmentalists that hate V-8s) and thought I’d share some fuel saving tips.

First off: How I got the 32.3. Nothing special here. I have a 32 highway mile commute to work. There is a 4 lane interstate and an old 2 lane highway I can use. The 2 lane is flat and straight while the interstate has a few small hills. I took the 2 lane after refueling and set the cruise on 55 mph and reset my fuel computer. That’s it. When I got home I was averaging 32.3 mpg.

I used to average between 23 and 24 mpg. I’ve adjusted my driving habits and now average between 25 and 26 mpg. I normally drive the interstate at 70 mph. Speed limit is 65. I have been able to get 27.5 mpg at 70 mph on the interstate. Below is how I do it

1. Cruise, Cruise, Cruise. I cannot stress enough how important this feature is. Use it whenever possible.

2. Slow down. Staying at the posted limit or slightly above it will help. Plus the cops do no seem to frown on 5mph over. Anything over 5 mph is a ticket waiting in my area.

3. Coast to stops. You know your regular commute. Anticipate your stops and kill the cruise well in advance so that you do not have to slam on the breaks at the last minute (wish my wife understood this) It will help you save gas by the engine not having to run as hard to last minute and it saves maintenance in brake repairs. Saves passengers from whiplash. (Once again I wish my wife understood this). Manual guys have the advantage here being able to clutch and save the engine even more rpms

4. Accelerate slowly. This is probably the hardest thing to do. If you need to feel your pony’s power, try accelerating fast to only 35-40 mph. Then use the resume feature on the cruise. This saves me a ton of fuel. I used to watch the fuel meter count down when I would accelerate under foot. Using the resume cruise keeps the meter steady. I even tried babying it up to speed but the resume would still net me better fuel gains.

5. Hills: If you know you need to slow down or stop over a small hill Tap the breaks before you even start up the hill and coast over it. Nothing seems to eat more fuel then the engine accelerating to go up a hill and then you have to brake at the peak or just over the hill.

6. Curves. Ok this one is fun. Keep Cruise on if at all possible and grip the steering wheel as hard as you can as you blast through the 40 mph curves at 70 mph. I’m surprised at how fast you can actually take the twisty’s, even if it feels like the car is going to keep going straight. What I’ve noticed is the Stang feels hairy when you first start a curve but once you’re in it, it feels like it belongs there. Suspension gurus probably have a fix for this.

7. Illegal but will probably help. Roll through stops if you can. Saves by not having to accelerate from a dead stop. Be very careful if you try this technique. I don’t do it nor recommend it.

8. Stay in one lane on highways. Constantly going from lane to lane on the highway can start wasting fuel. It takes more driving time and energy to go the same distance then if you were just driving straight.

9. Get up early for work. It’s cooler in the morning so try to do your driving then. You will have more power so it takes less fuel to maintain your speed while driving.

10. Get a CAI and tune. It can cost you more fuel if you drive it hard, but I think it will save you fuel because less engine RPM is needed to make the power to cruise at whatever speed you are driving at. I don’t know if this is true or not but get a CAI and tune anyways.

Reflection.
Fuel prices suck, and it sucks that some of us have to alter our driving to deal with them. It takes an enormous amount of self control to practice some of these techniques. I cannot tell you how many times I’m cussing the fuel prices when I let a Chrysler anything, or any car go around me because I have the cruise set. You know the ones. They think they are cool because they just passed a Mustang GT. Funny though, because you’ll never see them at the track. Of course I cannot talk. I haven’t been there lately either.

The satisfaction I have is that there are not many V8 cars that do break 25 mpg, but it is possible in ours. I don’t think anyone would dispute that they would rather be driving their Stang at $4.00 a gallon gas while achieving 25+mpg vs. an economy car the may get 30 mpg.

If anyone is interested in the thread, let’s hear your feedback. What are you doing to save fuel? Do you even have to worry about it (if you don’t I can send you my bill too)? How do you deal with A-holes that pass you? How totally wrong am I with some of my driving techniques (I know speeding and rolling through stop signs is wrong). Basically above is what I’m doing to deal with the fuel prices and still enjoy my car.

Great advice..well written...Having the control to do is another matter..

How do you deal with A-holes that pass you? This doesn't happen very often to me...
What are you doing to save fuel?Nothing
Do you even have toworry about it? Nope

I didn't buy this car for fuel economy, I piss away a ton of cash every month on all kinds off stuff so mounting gas prices aren't really noticed.

their is no way i could drive 55 on a highway...i average around 80 lol

ORIGINAL: yomofoitzjay

their is no way i could drive 55 on a highway...i average around 80 lol


!!

More suggestions, lose weight and drive a manual tranny...

Cold air does give you more power, but the extra drag due to higher density air is more of a detriment to your gas mileage, than the benefit the extra power provides. Below 55 mph aerodynamics aren't much of a factor, above 55 mph aerodynamics become a much larger factor.

Yes I'm a mechanical engineer, andyes I design vehicles for a living.

Most of the other stuff is good.

ORIGINAL: TheRebel

The satisfaction I have is that there are not many V8 cars that do break 25 mpg, but it is possible in ours. I don’t think anyone would dispute that they would rather be driving their Stang at $4.00 a gallon gas while achieving 25+mpg vs. an economy car the may get 30 mpg.



If you drove a Focus like you're driving your Mustang, then you'd probably get about 40 mpg! It just goes to show you that the tried and true tricks such as slowing down on the highway and driving smoothly can save a lot of gas.

[/quote]
If anyone is interested in the thread, let’s hear your feedback. What are you doing to save fuel?
[/quote]

I've been driving my C5 more, especially long trips. Combined gas mileage is a little better than the Mustang. Highway mileage might be as much as 15% higher than the Mustang. (Stock to stock it's probably closer to 10%, but my GT has gears, though, which means -2 mpg on the highway for the 'stang.)

[/quote]
How do you deal with A-holes that pass you?
[/quote]

If I feel like driving the speed limit, then I get in the right lane and let the faster traffic pass. It's no big deal. You just have to learn not to care.

[/quote]
How totally wrong am I with some of my driving techniques...
[/quote]

Not wrong at all. Most of it is tried and true. Reducing the amount of unnecessary cargo also works.

faboo.. i give you 1 point

on long trips i normally stick to the speed limit. ive been getting about 28 mpg, hand calculated not on the dash computer, the dash says im gettin 31. i just hit the cruise at 65. accel smoothly and dont floor it.

Flash, a guy at work has a previous gen Z06. He said he gets better milage than me to. I just wish the tree huggers would see that these cars are not as bad on fuel milage as they would like us to believe.

I have one question for the OP, was this done with the computer or by hand?

lol i avg 24.5 mpg and the only time i really gas it...is when i pass people....i don't get it :'(

Computer. I done it by hand when I first got the car and both figures matched. Haven't compared recently though.

ORIGINAL: sailing220

I have one question for the OP, was this done with the computer or by hand?

I don't trust the computer. Unless you get 32 mpg by hand I don't believe it.

ORIGINAL: sailing220

I don't trust the computer. Unless you get 32 mpg by hand I don't believe it.


+1 on that

ORIGINAL: TheRebel

Flash, a guy at work has a previous gen Z06. He said he gets better milage than me to. I just wish the tree huggers would see that these cars are not as bad on fuel milage as they would like us to believe.



Exactly, they confuse V8 cars with trucks and SUVs. I have a friend with an older V8 Lincoln and he gets mid-20's on the highway. He told me he can get as much as 27 mpg. I think it has 300 hp, too.

Not to say that all V8 cars get respectable gas mileage! I'm pretty sure the GT500 and new Challenger will probably use about 15% more gas than a Mustang GT.
[sm=gears.gif]

Great now I have to do math. :eek:

ORIGINAL: sailing220 I don't trust the computer. Unless you get 32 mpg by hand I don't believe it.

the 32.3mpg figure sounds way too optimistic for an auto V-8.
If you have a tune and mods then I doubt the car's computer mpg readout is accurate, especially if you have non OEM rims.
Plus all that extra weight... I'm doubtful.

Of course going only 55 on cruise control, with no stopping will probably get you the best MPG there is. How many rpms does the V-8 do at 55?

I am able to get mileage figures similar to what the original poster claims with no problems. I don't care about people passing me. Their problem. I've also compared the figures I get by hand with what the computer gets and they are virtually the same.

I have a tune but no CAI. I can usually get about 28 MPG on the way to work if I set the cruise control to about 75 and this is the computer reading. This is close to what I calcualte, miles driven/gal used. I now also don't care about people passing me;however, once in a while I will let loose for a few seconds.

I wish I was getting those MPG figures. I get 18-19 using the dash indications with an average speed of about 28 MPH. When I made a cross country trip earlier this year I got 24.6 on the computer with a 26.3 hand calculated average, this was with an average speed of ~70MPH.

I finally started going slow enough to try and get better gas mileage. Just driving slower and letting everyone pass me has made a huge difference. I used to average 12-14mpg city and some highway. I used to speed a lot and race all the time. Now I slowly take off from stop lights and don't go over 70 on the interstate. It really gets me to where I'm going no faster than when I speed. Since traffic always slows you down eventually. I'll have to start using the cruise control though and see if that helps..think my computer says I'm getting like 22 mpg now.

Dont forget your tires.

Properly inflated tires can add greatly to your fuel economy, not to mention it keeps the heat down and prevents premature failure.

Jeeze I gotta slow down a bit. I think the last timeI hand calulated mileage I got like 18-19 (Mix of nice driving and fun driving, basically all city). Of course, I can hardly say I get any highway mileage, because there are no properly driven highways here. The Deerfoot is the only one in Calgarywithout out traffic lights and it is basically rush hour all the time. It goes from 2 lanes to 5 lanes to 3 lanes, etcand nobody knows how to merge... [:@]

Anyhow nice right up. My goal is to get at least 21 witha decent mix of nice and/or fun driving.We'll see what happens.

MPG'S always seem to come up in this forum.....i have heard everything from 35 mpg to 21 mpg.......did anyone buy a gt for gas mileage? i must say that the mpg are good on the s197 gt....actually, i am pleased that mine gets around 20 on average...i don't go by what the computer says...i use the mathematical way.....you can coast down a colorado hill and the computer will say 40 mpg!!!!! point is, these crazy 30 mpg posts are false, unless they lost 4 cylinders or drove down a mountain in neutral.......if you bought american muscle, drive it and IMO don't share your gas mileage data...share your time slips:D

I love it!

ORIGINAL: 1morepart.......if you bought american muscle, drive it and IMO don't share your gas mileage data...share your time slips:D


Also I like your dog. I've got a black and white one. Coasting down a hill will not give you your average. From what I understand, you have to atleast have driven 5 miles after a reset to get a new average.

Lose weight is a good idea, but as to the manual tranny...... Here are my findings.

First, according to http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htmMustang mileage is
V8 Auto 15/22
V8 Manual 15/23

So as you can see you are talking about 1 mile per gallon different on highway, i would assume like me most people's driving is not all highway either.

DoI believe them, hell yes, I went from having a 2007 manual to a 2008 automatic and here are my findings, keep in mind my manual had 3:55 gears which probaly is why i got less highway miles. Both cars where done with 18 inch stock tires, andCAI.All these figures have been calculated with my normal driving habbits, city is mostly tooling around alexandria, VA/DC area with alot of traffic and stop and go lights.

Highway I calculated bygoing fromVA to East End of Long Island every three months, trip is 330 miles one way, driving mostly around 75 probaly 80% of the trip. Also note the highway miles I have listed below are not true highway, they were measured on the trip where probaly 90% of the trip is highway, 10% is going through toll boths or dealing with traffic at the beginning of DC when i leave and hitting NY and going on I278 which even at 2AM has some traffic but no stop and go.

2007manual 15 City 22 highway computer calculated. (well broken in, over 9000 miles on car)
2008 Auto 15 city 24 highway computer calculated. (did my first trip with 1300 miles on car)

With both cars, just my normal dailydriving locally of a mix of mostly city with about 10% highway I am averaging 17 and sometimes 18 MPG.

One other thing I have noticed about stick drivers, they usually get worse gas mileage for two reasons, one stick is more fun to drive, you are more tempted to race through the gears. Also I know alot of people that can drive stick, just not as efficient as they should be so in the long run they get worse gas mileage then an automatic.

ORIGINAL: Whistle

More suggestions, lose weight and drive a manual tranny...

Cold air does give you more power, but the extra drag due to higher density air is more of a detriment to your gas mileage, than the benefit the extra power provides. Below 55 mph aerodynamics aren't much of a factor, above 55 mph aerodynamics become a much larger factor.

Yes I'm a mechanical engineer, andyes I design vehicles for a living.

Most of the other stuff is good.

This whole thread assumes any of us actually have self control in our cars.










BLAH! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MORE THROTTLE!!! :-)

I bought a GT/CS in October of last year. I have only added a Granatelli CAI and use Mobil 1 oil. I didn't add the CAI until about a month after owning it and didn't start using Mobil 1 until I hit 6000 miles. I have been driving it a lot because I have been fixing up my home to sell and that is 125 miles from where I'm at now. The first 2 months I got around 25 mpg but I didn't pay much attention on how I was driving.

It seems to have slowly gotten better gas mileage over time. Partly to me driving around 60 mph on the interstate on that 125 mile trip each time I go. I get right around 30 mpg at that speed with maybe 5% of that trip being city driving. When I go 70-75 mph the gas mileage cuts back to about 25 mpg. I honestly think it would be lower if I didn't have the CAI and Mobil 1 oil. But the main thing is how I drive. The main point is, yes, I do get 30 mpg in my V8 Mustang on trips over 100 miles mostly on interstate.

When I do my 125 mile trip back to fix my home up to sell, I floor it to get off the ramp to the interstate just so I can blow it out and not have the engine running at the same rpms for so long. I must say, I do love how it feels and sounds when I floor it. And if I turn off traction control it gets a lot longer fishtail shifting from 1st to 2nd.

All I know is that I should be getting better gas mileage with the blower but now that I have it I get on it because seems like every a$$hole on the road in LA thinks they can take you. But I gladly spank them every time. Yesterdays kills: G35 coupe and Carrera S and Civic SI.
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/752/2stangpede006.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/752/2stangpede007.jpg

My cruise control won't activate below 30mph and in Dallas you can't go really fast (like 30 mph) on the freeways during rush hour (rush hour is from 5am-10am). My legs get a workout between the shifting and braking when driving on the highway.

I get 20 in the city and 26 to 27 on Highway. This is all hand calculated as my car does not have the computer.

My wife and I just took a weekend trip from near Philly to near Boston. 685 miles, about 15% of which was not highway miles. Car went from just under 1000 miles to not quite 1680. 28.2 gallons total, with the initial fill-up Friday afternoon and the last one this morning at the same pump at the same station. That's 24.2 or a little morempg, calculated, overall. The last 310 miles or so were nearer to 25 mpg (about 12 gallons used, but different stations/pumps and likely a different final fill level than the next-to-last one). I was making a little attempt at making good fuel mileage, as I wanted to make the whole 325 miles or so one way on one tank. But no special effort. My two somewhat lighter V6 cars of 2.5 and 3.0 liters have been barely 5 mpg better than that at the best of times.

My car has the FRPP cold air & tune, 3.55 gears, 235/50 tires and a manual tranny. Highway speeds mostly ranged from an indicated 60 to about 80 but mostly 68 - 72. I did get on it from time to time (from toll booths, on entrance ramps, as a demonstration for my Dad's benefit, and a few of other times). NO CRUISE CONTROL USAGE WHATSOEVER. All you really need is a steady foot and the ability to work with the traffic flow instead of fighting it all the time. Patience and looking further ahead than just over the hood line.

I'm not disagreeing with the idea that cruise control can improve fuel mileage. Just opening up the notion that it isn't a universal answer, nor should it be. It still requires driver situational awareness.

People who are "set-it-and-forget-it" drivers tend to run up on the rear bumpers ofvehicles in front of them. When the cruise goes into 'accelerate' mode and there is a large difference between the current speed and the set speed it won't be any better than a human driver (and may not be as good depending on how fast it is programmed to resume the speed). In some cars that I've driven, cruise tends to overshoot going over the crests of hills. The human is sometimes able to do a better job in these situations.

On curves, most cars are slightly more stable with a little "leading throttle", or just enough to be accelerating a tiny bit (traffic permitting). My lifetime experience with cars that are cornered hard as the opportunities present themselves, anyway.


Edit: I found that the "gallons used" dash display was within about 5% of what the first refill took, which is probably within the range of error in self-service refill level vs the station attendant's original fill (no self-service in NJ). 12.6 gallons per the computer vs 13.2 actual.


Norm

Coasting down a hill will not give you your average. From what I understand, you have to atleast have driven 5 miles after a reset to get a new average.



No, the car's computer readout shows a new average as soon as you hit RESET.
How else do you think I got this?

It's from going downhill for about 20 minutes, barely using the gas pedal. Of course once I was back on the flatlands it wasn't as much fun watching it drop! I've been able to keep it at 19.8 mpg with 70/30 highway/city driving but if I do just one trip about 7 miles of just city driving it will drop to 19.7.


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