MPG, then verses now.

I found a website that has all the makes of cars, and their advertised mpg, and their tested mpg. Me and the wife were checking out all the cars to see who has the best, and we decided to see some older model cars, to compare. We looked at the 1985 models, and found that every car made got better mpg, than any car made after 2000! Even cars like the cutlass was getting better than 20mpg back then, i would think with our modern technology, we should be at least 25% better now!! Check it out www.feuleconomy.gov

One thing my Dad told me. Dont always believe what you read or hear..
On a side not since were talking about gas. Just seen a show where they said that gas companies purposely (for profit) do not adjust fuel cost in warmer areas due to the expantion and contraction of gas with changes in temp. In colder climates (up north) you get more fuel mileage with the same gas???

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BigTruckDriver

One thing my Dad told me. Dont always believe what you read or hear..
On a side not since were talking about gas. Just seen a show where they said that gas companies purposely (for profit) do not adjust fuel cost in warmer areas due to the expantion and contraction of gas with changes in temp. In colder climates (up north) you get more fuel mileage with the same gas???

---

I did a thread on this subject!!

I had a 1986 Honda CRX HF, with a 5 spd and a 1.5L engine that got 55 hwy, 45 city. That is better than any Honda (and most all other cars) today. Only the Honda Insight (2 seat hybrid) came close and it was discontinued last year. In the early 80's several friends drove VW Rabbits and they all got over 42 mpg. Now it's 20 to 25 years later, so where are the improvements? We should be all getting at least 40 mpg. I guess it's true that the automakers and the oil companies are all in bed together.:eek: :LOL:

I was also reading another thread about the new fuel management systems stating that they were not up to the claims of the car makers , mainly GM???? From a lot of people that had the system they said it was a pain in the a$$ and was just something else to break down.

I know this much, with the prices as high as they are and going up in the spring as they always do, my primary around town transportation this summer is going to be a golf cart!!! Heck, the garage is 20 feet out the back door and the coffee shop is 2 blocks, I don't think I've bought any gas since last fall!!!!!

Then a friend of mine stopped over yesterday, saw Tom's coupe and said we ought to build a super light chassis, Speedway 'glass body and a four cylinder with a 5 speed for power!!! Seems it would be in the 35-40 mpg range down the highway and if the weight is kept below 2,000 pounds would probably be a blast to drive, too!!!!---Just what I needed, more good build ideas!!!!:LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

Ive been looking at the prius hybrid, and it only gets 42mpg! I think its really bad that we get taken this way, gas keeps going up, and the cars get worse!! My 60 falcon got 29mpg. and that was made like 48 years ago.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hotroddaddy

Ive been looking at the prius hybrid, and it only gets 42mpg! I think its really bad that we get taken this way, gas keeps going up, and the cars get worse!! My 60 falcon got 29mpg. and that was made like 48 years ago.

---

That would be 42 SLOOOW miles. Probably take 30 minutes to get 60 MPH:LOL:
Just kidding, but ya you could get 75MPG but there would have to be a special lane made for you..

Must be nice Denny! my toyota truck only gets 14mpg, and its only a six banger!! My buddies f250 gets the same, and its twice the size of mine!!

I dunno how the heck they figure mpg nowdays....
I always thought you divided the number of gallons it took since your
last fill up into the number of miles traveled.

My wife and I have a Prius and everyone pizzes and moans about the
FACT that it doesn't get the mileage advertised.
The're right. Wifie and I get 61 to 64 all the time.

Perhaps we're doing something wrong.......now that I think of it, I'm sure we are otherwise why would the EPA have dropped the supposed mileage down to 45.

I really don't know what to believe....

DT

On a related issue, I mentioned recently that my gas milage had fallen off on my Crown Vic daily driver. Next to last fillup I only got 150 miles on the 15 gallong tank, so 10 mpg average. So last fillup I switched to hi test instead of the regular grade I had been using.

My car is getting ready for a fillup again, but this time I have 225 miles on the same 15 gallon tank! I drive the same places all the time, basically to the shop and to the grocery store (I lead a very dull life :D ) Nothing changed except moving up to hi test, so my conclusion is that although my car was designed to run on regular, hi test burns more efficiently, or perhaps regular gas has gotten so bad that it is running through my car like water.

Dan has a Honda and he has been complaining too because he normally gets about 36 mpg, but lately has been only getting about 26. Could it be that the gasoline companies are giving us a lower quality product AND CHARGING US MORE????????? No, what was I thinking, they would NEVER do anything underhanded..........slap my wrist for even thinking such a thing. :rolleyes:

That would be like the tobacco companies putting something in the tobacco to keep people hooked...........that would never happen either. lol

Don

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

On a related issue, I mentioned recently that my gas milage had fallen off on my Crown Vic daily driver. Next to last fillup I only got 150 miles on the 15 gallong tank, so 10 mpg average. So last fillup I switched to hi test instead of the regular grade I had been using.

My car is getting ready for a fillup again, but this time I have 225 miles on the same 15 gallon tank! I drive the same places all the time, basically to the shop and to the grocery store (I lead a very dull life :D ) Nothing changed except moving up to hi test, so my conclusion is that although my car was designed to run on regular, hi test burns more efficiently, or perhaps regular gas has gotten so bad that it is running through my car like water.

Dan has a Honda and he has been complaining too because he normally gets about 36 mpg, but lately has been only getting about 26. Could it be that the gasoline companies are giving us a lower quality product AND CHARGING US MORE????????? No, what was I thinking, they would NEVER do anything underhanded..........slap my wrist for even thinking such a thing. :rolleyes:

That would be like the tobacco companies putting something in the tobacco to keep people hooked...........that would never happen either. lol

Don

---

Thats very possible and even more possible would be the gas station itself cheating you....
Proper tune up ,driving habits and correct tire pressure are a few things to looka at when wanting good fuel mileage.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dogtag

I dunno how the heck they figure mpg nowdays....
I always thought you divided the number of gallons it took since your
last fill up into the number of miles traveled.

My wife and I have a Prius and everyone pizzes and moans about the
FACT that it doesn't get the mileage advertised.
The're right. Wifie and I get 61 to 64 all the time.

Perhaps we're doing something wrong.......now that I think of it, I'm sure we are otherwise why would the EPA have dropped the supposed mileage down to 45.

I really don't know what to believe....

DT

---

My sis has owned several Geo Metro all have gotten at least 43mpg & as high as 53mpg. The one she has now gets 45-48mpg all the time. Now I know not everyone would drive one but why did the stop making them when everyone is screaming about MPG's....joe

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DennyW

They will call you in for a recall, and change it. I know someone that happened to some time back. It never was the same after. All they would say is that they fixed it to factory specs....:LOL: :LOL:

---

I've heard stories like that all my life - somebody bought a 50's land yacht, brand new, and it was getting something unbelieveable in the mpg department, took it into the dealer for the first tune-up and never saw the same numbers again. The dealership couldn't explain it. :eek:



It would seem to me that with all the engineers in Detroit that one of the Big 3........are they still the Big 3?.....would be going for the silver bullet when it comes to alternative-powered vehicles. What about Natural Gas or Propane? They used to be fringe vehicle fuels. Now, no one that I know of has those set-ups and I understand that we have at least 100 years of natural gas in the Gulf.

Could it be that someone, somewhere just isn't interested in the US being energy independent?..........I hate sounding like a conspiracy theorist.

Yep ,unfortunatly ,the world is run by the BOTTOMLINERS and all that counts is the bottom line..............http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOy3H4yyocQ

Mileage is subjective. Guidelines are just that a guide. Back in the REAL old days they had the Mobile Economy Run and each year every manufactured car was driven in the real world over a substantial course with monitor guys on board to make sure there was no cheating. For example there was no neutral coasting on downgrades. But the stories got out how they cheated any how.

WW I ace Eddie Rickenbacker emphasised how mileage was an individual achievement. He'd say he would drive a car someone got great mileage out of and he couldn't do it.

After the CAFE limits were instituted they resulted in some hokey figuring completely unlike real world driving. It's akin to the times when the insurance companies got tough about HP and so manufacturers began reading HP at the end of the transmission instead of at the flywheel for a lower reading.

It's the same with any government mandated fuel economy projection. Now they supposedly got a new new/better way of figuring it. Yeah. They can make it come out the way they want depending on subtle things.

About all we can tell from the BS on the stickers is if one car says 21/33 mileage and another says 23/31 that the 1st car will get somewhat better mileage....though yours may vary

At some time in the last few years the EPA changed the meathod of calculating mileage , the old meathod was done at speeds that no one drove so they were all rated at higher than what could be expected. I was tought that you needed to average from several fill ups to get a true MPG. My work truck may get 11 one week and 17 the next. but its average is 13.8 over the last month. That Toyota makes me feel ok about this , 13.8 from a 9800 lb. 4x4

Another thing many manufacturer do when testing MPG ratios is that the vehicle is tested on a straight and usually level run or track at about an average speed of 55mph ...no stop and go...no sitting and idling...no slowing down, no speeding up, no climbing up hills or mountain passes, no A/C running, cars...vechicles are "super fine" tuned and tire air pressures set to ambient weather conditions. The cars/trucks are filled with gas in a special one gallon tank remote from the main gas tank then monitored and run until the vehicle runs out of gas. Vechicle fuel gauges are not used just the test monitoring gauges.
There was an expose done on the practice a year or so ago in a program I watched on, if I remember correctly, the Science channel. They never came out and stated the manufacturers but the cars looked to me a mix of then current Fords, Chevy's, Toyotas with the logos blocked out and camo type graphics on the test cars.
It never gained wide spread media attention because who the hell watches the Science channel :)

Could it be that the gasoline companies are giving us a lower quality product AND CHARGING US MORE?????????

Don seems like that happened in my truck as soon as prices started to climb .

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Twitch

Mileage is subjective.
WW I ace Eddie Rickenbacker emphasised how mileage was an individual achievement. He'd say he would drive a car someone got great mileage out of and he couldn't do it.

---

Back in '82 my wife and I had to travel a lot so we bought a pontiac T-1000 (Chevette) because it was touted to get 30+mpg. When I drove it, using my best abilities, I got 17. I took it back to the dealer and they drove it and got 34. When my wife drove it she got low 20's. We had it for 17 mos and I never got over 20 with it. My new F150 5.3 is supposed to get 17-24, I can't get 12,the wife can get about 15. The answer is that I never dirive.:LOL:
John

dang i only get 8-11 mpg 60+ bucks a week :O 18 gal tank

Yeah, well what do you expect at 9,000 rpm's? :eek:

not in my car , in my stock 1980 350 q-jet truck !!!! thank god its a stick! the car actually gets better gas mileage then the truck :eek: but now that its a little more beefed we will see how that fares :LOL:

:LOL:
86 mustang 5.0 stick ,20 plus miles to the gallon ,still at almost 200,000 miles........with my foot dEEp into the throttle .............highway mileage is alot better around 26 to 30 depending......I predict even better mileage ,now that I changed the original 1986 plug wires last month.:LOL:
91 4 cylinder mustang 2 plugs per cylinder a rock solid 30 mpg at all times!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shawnlee28

:LOL:
86 mustang 5.0 stick ,20 plus miles to the gallon ,still at almost 200,000 miles........with my foot dEEp into the throttle .............highway mileage is alot better around 26 to 30 depending......I predict even better mileage ,now that I changed the original 1986 plug wires last month.:LOL:
91 4 cylinder mustang 2 plugs per cylinder a rock solid 30 mpg at all times!!!!

---

'97 Ford Ranger 4cyl/5-speed - synthetic from front to back. Best I can do is 24 mpg in the summer/19-21 mpg in the winter.....and I don't even down-shift anymore.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by techinspector1

Yeah, well what do you expect at 9,000 rpm's? :eek:

---

Really I was talking to a guy yesterday and he was complaining about paying 150 dollars for gas on the same drive I did at 50 dollars. I told him driving like a maniac at 100 MPH does not help....

Then we could also talk about all the yuppies commuting daily with their Yukons, Tahoes, Excursions, 4 door pickups..... Maybe if the demand for gas went down a bit, the price might follow??? The Bonneville gets about 24 mpg, the Excort 30 and change, we just won't talk about the toter or the drag cars, none of which have been out since October. Towing is going to be a huge expense this summer, not looking forward to that at all. Probably just have to miss a few of the "away games" we used to go to....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Towing is going to be a huge expense this summer, not looking forward to that at all. Probably just have to miss a few of the "away games" we used to go to....

---

I am with Dave on this one.

Shirley and I have talked about the expense of towing the 32" goose at 5MPG x $4 a gal, and then the price of alchohol for the race car, entry fees, not to mention all of the other expenses just getting the car ready for every race. This could be a bad year for racers and tracks alike.
We live about 75 miles from 3 different tracks, so that is a minimum of $120 for gas. 20 gal of alcohol at $4 is another $80, entry fee is $75+ that's $275.00 just to get there. Then there is pit passes and food for the family and crew and we are talking another $200-250. So a day of racing will cost us $500 if everything goes well.
Now add to that the cost of maintenance and insurance on the trailer, replacing dated safety equipment, freshening the backup motor and trans for the season (won't even talk about the need to build a replacement motor for the one we blew last year), stocking the trailer with oil, spark plugs, gaskets, cleaners, towels, etc, and all of a sudden the cost of this hobby gets out of hand fast.
How about you other racers, what are you going to do?
John