Hey guys... I had been doing a little bit of searching and experimenting on how to both enjoy the car as much as possible without thinking "I hope my range didn't drop by 40 miles because I hit boost once"
If you are like me, I didn't buy this car for the gas mileage but I still wanted an Evo for the sake of getting an Evo and I bought mine as a daily driver- if I wanted to make it into a dedicated race car, believe me..mpg would be the LAST thing on my list.
I live in a medium-elevation area (Billings, MT) and my average, 100% town driving (with 5 minute commutes to work that are horrible for mpg anyways) is about 14 mpg. My best ever was driving from Butte, MT back here with 50+ mph winds pushing me along... I went about 75mph and got 27.6 mpg.:rock:
Only mods to my car is an HKSPF and Cobb Stage 1 91 1.08 ( I use 93 and the appropriate maps too on occasion).
As I said, I didn't buy this car for the mileage but hopefully you might see an idea here that might help you get from point a to point b a little more efficiently so that when you DO decide to go balls-to-the-wall it will be with that much more of a smile on your face. Obviously some are common sense, but I know that the world as a whole is in short supply of this..so I am including them anyways.
1: With TC-SST: Normal Auto is complete crap for driving around town IMOP. It still revs just a little higher than I would like. Unless you are going up hills, you have no need to be right at the boost threshold before an upshift. I would just as well use manual sport mode and keep my revs to a minimum without bogging the engine: i.e. no lower than about 2000.
2: Use Cruise control AROUND TOWN: If you are driving in areas with a constant 35mph speed limit or so (and obviously minimal to light traffic) try using cruise control as it is the only time that I ever keep normal mode on at all. You will be amazed.
3: Try "resetting your throttle"- as I call it. Before you go :wtfsign:, hear me out. This one is hard to describe without sounding like a retard unless one of the technical-guys that can explain how the throttle works in detail steps in. The only way that you can see this work is by watching your instantaneous mileage on your gauges. (I do not know if this would appear the same on the red 2008 gauges as it does on the LCD screen)
The next time you accelerate to get up to speed, try removing your foot from the throttle completely before continuing to cruise INSTEAD of just easing up pressure on the pedal. If you pay attention to your mileage, the "measurement" appears to slightly reset itself, almost as if your throttle had been closed for a moment and settled back into a groove of cruising. Of course, this may just be in my head and be the result of the EXTREMELY sensitive throttle.
4: Get your accelerating done quick then back off. Your average mpg is the obviously the cumulative fuel efficiency of your total miles travelled. If you spend ALL day accelerating and decelerating from 0-35-0 non stop without continuously travelling AT 35mph for a length of time your mpg is going to suffer. Get to speed as quick as possible in the shortest amount of time and distance possible and back off the throttle. As I said, this throttle is very sensitive (see #3) and can go from "drink like a college chick at a frat party mode" to "exercise moderate restraint mode" with very little input from your right foot. Understanding this will also help make #3 make more sense. It only does to me if I actually watch it happen.
5: Don't go over 65-70 on the freeway. On the MR's, 70mph has you at about 2900 rpm. This is right about where your turbo starts to spool up to get ready to play and gets read to start dumping in fuel to make boost. Granted on a longer trip, an extra 5+mph can seem tempting but considering that will cost you an extra 3-5mpg or more on average, this is where restraint pays off. I would rather use minimal gas on trips when I have noone to impress and burn that extra gas saved at the stoplight while humilating some riced Honda. :shades:
6: Then there are the usuals: Make sure you change your spark plugs regularly- 10-15k intervals are good, change your oil EVERY 3k miles, don't keep extra, un-needed items in the car, keep your tires inflated properly, etc.
I hope a few of these help anyone who felt a need to read this. Happy motoring, guys !
If you are like me, I didn't buy this car for the gas mileage but I still wanted an Evo for the sake of getting an Evo and I bought mine as a daily driver- if I wanted to make it into a dedicated race car, believe me..mpg would be the LAST thing on my list.
I live in a medium-elevation area (Billings, MT) and my average, 100% town driving (with 5 minute commutes to work that are horrible for mpg anyways) is about 14 mpg. My best ever was driving from Butte, MT back here with 50+ mph winds pushing me along... I went about 75mph and got 27.6 mpg.:rock:
Only mods to my car is an HKSPF and Cobb Stage 1 91 1.08 ( I use 93 and the appropriate maps too on occasion).
As I said, I didn't buy this car for the mileage but hopefully you might see an idea here that might help you get from point a to point b a little more efficiently so that when you DO decide to go balls-to-the-wall it will be with that much more of a smile on your face. Obviously some are common sense, but I know that the world as a whole is in short supply of this..so I am including them anyways.
1: With TC-SST: Normal Auto is complete crap for driving around town IMOP. It still revs just a little higher than I would like. Unless you are going up hills, you have no need to be right at the boost threshold before an upshift. I would just as well use manual sport mode and keep my revs to a minimum without bogging the engine: i.e. no lower than about 2000.
2: Use Cruise control AROUND TOWN: If you are driving in areas with a constant 35mph speed limit or so (and obviously minimal to light traffic) try using cruise control as it is the only time that I ever keep normal mode on at all. You will be amazed.
3: Try "resetting your throttle"- as I call it. Before you go :wtfsign:, hear me out. This one is hard to describe without sounding like a retard unless one of the technical-guys that can explain how the throttle works in detail steps in. The only way that you can see this work is by watching your instantaneous mileage on your gauges. (I do not know if this would appear the same on the red 2008 gauges as it does on the LCD screen)
The next time you accelerate to get up to speed, try removing your foot from the throttle completely before continuing to cruise INSTEAD of just easing up pressure on the pedal. If you pay attention to your mileage, the "measurement" appears to slightly reset itself, almost as if your throttle had been closed for a moment and settled back into a groove of cruising. Of course, this may just be in my head and be the result of the EXTREMELY sensitive throttle.
4: Get your accelerating done quick then back off. Your average mpg is the obviously the cumulative fuel efficiency of your total miles travelled. If you spend ALL day accelerating and decelerating from 0-35-0 non stop without continuously travelling AT 35mph for a length of time your mpg is going to suffer. Get to speed as quick as possible in the shortest amount of time and distance possible and back off the throttle. As I said, this throttle is very sensitive (see #3) and can go from "drink like a college chick at a frat party mode" to "exercise moderate restraint mode" with very little input from your right foot. Understanding this will also help make #3 make more sense. It only does to me if I actually watch it happen.
5: Don't go over 65-70 on the freeway. On the MR's, 70mph has you at about 2900 rpm. This is right about where your turbo starts to spool up to get ready to play and gets read to start dumping in fuel to make boost. Granted on a longer trip, an extra 5+mph can seem tempting but considering that will cost you an extra 3-5mpg or more on average, this is where restraint pays off. I would rather use minimal gas on trips when I have noone to impress and burn that extra gas saved at the stoplight while humilating some riced Honda. :shades:
6: Then there are the usuals: Make sure you change your spark plugs regularly- 10-15k intervals are good, change your oil EVERY 3k miles, don't keep extra, un-needed items in the car, keep your tires inflated properly, etc.
I hope a few of these help anyone who felt a need to read this. Happy motoring, guys !
