Car mpg performance. Can anyone explain this?

by coffee_black 46 Replies latest jw friends

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  coffee_black

  I have a 2001 Saturn SL1. It has just hit 200,000 miles. (almost all job related) I get 37 mpg on the highway. It has been a reliable car...no major repairs, just normal maintenance. I will keep it as long as possible. I know that sooner or later I will have to get a new car... so I've started looking just to be informed when the time comes.... and I've discovered that my car gets as good gas mileage (or better) than the Mini Cooper....and other very tiny cars. I have to have a fairly roomy car because of materials I have to carry for business..(including full size windows)..so a tiny car won't work for me.

  The only way I can get equal or better gas mileage to my current car is to buy a hybrid. I'm not opposed to that....but why does my 7 year old 4 door roomy car get better gas mileage than even the tiniest current models of non hybrid cars.... and why does Saturn no longer make the SL1?

  Coffee
• 

  Junction-Guy

  that is a good question. I had a 1985 Cadillac Eldorado that got almost as good mileage as my 1988 3 cylinder chevy sprint that I had. Makes no sense whatsoever.
  
  My small dodge dakota pickup topped out at 25 mpg, my current chevy Monte Carlo tops out at 25 mpg, yet my 8 cylinder Cadillac topped out at 29 MPG on the highway.
• 

  CoonDawg

  and why does Saturn no longer make the SL1?

  lagging sales and need of freshening. The Saturn label overall has suffered in recent years, even to the point of temporarily closing the main plant in Spring Hill, TN. Saturn is trying to reinvent itself. Most of it's products are re-badged Opel products produced in Belgium. They will soon try to bring a new smaller and more utilitarian 5 door to market here in the US to compete with the Aveo/Fit/Yaris market - the Mireva. It has been previewed in Europe and is due there next year. The car may be slated to replace the Astra and will be produced in the Ghent, Belgium plant.
• 

  oompa

  Actually the cooper gets 40 mgp, but it takes premium fuel which sucks! I love them though, very roomy expecially the new stretch CLUB versions with a third side door. Your best bet is prob a honda civic, I think they get 37, and the toyata Yaris gets about the same....they are a way better investment than a hybrid, esp if you do mostly highway driving.............oompa.

  hard to belive we dont have 60 mpg available in small cars right now
• 

  Junction-Guy

  Wasn't there a honda back in the early 90's that got 50+ MPG? What happened to it?
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  coffee_black

  Oompa.... My cousin has a Yaris... it's much much smaller than my car.... and not quite as good on gas as my car. It would never work for my job....I have to have more space than it offers...I have to bring lots of samples with me as well as presentation equipment, and usually at least 1 or 2 full size windows for display. I looked up the Mini Cooper's gas mileage online...the best I found was 36 mpg... I'm sure there's variation though. I just want to be able to get as good gas mileage as I get now with as much space as I have now... not finding it.....

  I know that the SL1 wasn't really a popular car...but it has been really good to me... I'm keeping it as long as possible....hopefully another year at least.

  Coffee
• 

  PrimateDave

  My 2000 Toyota Echo averaged over 40 mpg and got nearly 50 mpg on long highway trips. I don't know what the current models in the Toyota line up are like for mileage.
  
  Dave
• 

  Satanus

  My theory as to why some specific models get such good mileage is that, it's luck. Naturally, technicians make the best working parts that they can. They trick is to get all the components working TOGETHER optimally. This applies, not just to basic components, like the best engine rpms matching the gears in the tranny, but also to individual sets of components just happening to work optimally w other parts. For instance, the pistons w the valves w the length of the intake runners, w the exhaust manifold lenght, w the exhaust back pressure, etc, etc. The same applies to the transmission; the ratio of the gears may just happen to be well suited to the wieght of the car, to the diff, etc. In other words, sometimes the millions of variables all come together favorably.
  
  For instance, in a pontiac laurentian, 1970 w 350 ci 2 barrel carb, automatic, by modifying the intake, upgrading the ignition and modifying the carb, it was able to get 30 mpg on the highway. Not bad for a full sized 4 door.
  
  Sadly, many times technicians build truly space age style components, and then poorly match them all together. Plus, a winning combination is not necesarily retained, as techs are always trying new technology, supposedly better, faster, cheaper, lighter, better for the environment, safer, etc.
  
  S
• 

  WTWizard

  hard to belive we dont have 60 mpg available in small cars right now

  And we never will. The oil companies (along with the food and drug companies) actually run this country, along with the Federal Reserve Bank. And they do not want anything to come along that might result in people using less gas.

  I remember the early 1980s, when they were advertising cars that got gas mileage in the 40s and 50s. Ever since, gas mileage has been getting crappier and crappier. We have the oil glut of the late 1980s and most of the 1990s to thank for that. They wanted to build gas guzzlers and force them on the public during that period, so the cheap gas would run out faster. And now they are refusing to budge above the 35 MPG range--you might see small cars in the lower 40s, but nothing more than that.

  They also need to be working on alternate energy sources. Cars that are powered by hydrogen fuel cells (where the hydrogen comes from geothermal or solar, or even nuclear, power) might provide an answer. I see no excuse for continuing to rely on gas and petroleum after the energy crises of the 1970s.

  And, yes cars should be getting more than 100 MPG. But, every time someone invents a car that gets more than 100 MPG, those pigs at the Big Three buy them out (incited by the Big Oil) and then sit on the patents. None ever get put out. (Notably, those cars are usually more reliable, safer, more powerful, and simpler to maintain than the crap cars we are allowed to buy).
• 

  Indo_Dude

  Well insane conspiracy theory ranting and raving aside, the reason is because the EPA has changed the way MPG is calculated.

  Previously the MPG on car window stickers was pretty optomistic if not downright impossible to achieve. Now they have gone to the other extreme, by adding additional drag, air conditioning, and higher speeds on the highway. It is now pretty easy to best the mileage listed these days.

  To find real world MPG go to the various sites where they do test drives and extended road tests of the model you are looking at. Also, almost a truism across the board is that we have added horsepower to engines and faster acceleration times rather than gas mileage. You can do one or the other, but not both. In the 80's we were focused on mileage due to CAFE standards. By the 90's and 2000's it switched over to providing more horsepower.

  There is a huge difference from what you 'remember' getting MPG back in 1985 when speeds were 55 MPH vs. today with much higher speeds and electronic equipment to power.