2000 Dodge Neon HELP ME

[eton66racer]

Im a teenager this car is my first car and the scammer i brought it off of said ill "easily get 30 miles to the gallon" thats a load of nonsense because ill put in 10 bucks on a monday drive to school and home (which is a 5 mile drive) and ill have to fill up again on tuesday night! I dont have a job right now so getting the best FE out of my car will be saving me the troubles of paying for gas with scrapped together pocket change. the car has 130000 miles on it. Can anyone Help me?

[bowtieguy]

specifics please. are you saying you put in presumably ~3 gallons of gas, drove 2 days and 20 miles(5 miles, both ways, twice), now you need to refill? is your odometer broken? car run okay? auto or manual transmission?

that is bad if it's accurate. you need to try to fill up, nearly empty the tank, then refill...to calculate your fuel mileage.

that car should get 30+, but only on the highway. city mileage will vary greatly, and will likely be much lower than highway.

[tradosaurus]

Driving habits would be nice to know.

I remember as a teenage I understood two speeds; full throttle and stop.

[IndyFetch]

Originally Posted by tradosaurus

Driving habits would be nice to know.

I remember as a teenage I understood two speeds; full throttle and stop.

Amen

[theholycow]

Only driving 5 miles at a time, it never gets to warm up and will never achieve its potential fuel economy. That will be true no matter what you drive.

EPA rating for the automatic is 22 city 28 highway. If you drive patiently but normally, you can expect 22.

How many miles per gallon are you getting? You'll have to fill the tank to find out. Maybe someone can buy you a full tank for Christmas, and then you can drive 20 miles at a time between topping off instead of driving 20 miles at a time to put in the same amount...just always keep it full. Individual fills that small won't make useful calculations but the average will, or you can add up a few fills before you calculate.

It's hard to improve your fuel economy when you can't measure it.

[LxMike]

tel us more about you and car. where do you live?? is your commute flat or hills involved?? whats the speed limit and do you follow it?? give us more to work with

[slurp812]

My car is 26/30 and I drive about 80/20 highway/city. When Im nice to it, I can easily average 35 mpg in the summer. Foot in it gets me around 29. If it were in good tune, I bet I could get similar in a Neon with a manual, and a bit less in a auto. So I would bet 30 average me driving that is doable. But you gotta use some of the stuff we do here. In my younger days, I would get like 22...

[Ford Man]

5 mile trips hardly give it time to reach full operating temperature. How many times do you have to stop for stop lights/signs in your 5 mile commute? Each time you have to slow down or stop and regain speed takes more gas. Is the car running smoothly? It may need a tune up. Are the tires aired to at least door placard recommendation? Are you like I was when I was a teenager? Every other takeoff wide open throttle? Being a teenager, working on driving skills will probably do more for your mileage than anything. I'm not saying you're a bad driver, just inexperienced. As you learn more about driving and train yourself in good driving habits you should see your mileage improve. Some people never learn, but since you're here and asking questions it shows you have an interest in learning how to get the most out of your gas dollar.

http://www.gassavers.org/article.php...ps-to-save-gas

[Wyldesoul]

I think the answer is in his name.

He's only just gotten his first car, and he decides to call himself a racer.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Let's give him a chance...