Official Thread for posting daily FE updates

[CO ZX2]

Originally Posted by kickflipjr

I am getting a new windshield in the mazda today. So, it will be inspected soon.

I have been itching to find out the mpg of it.

kickflipjr, have you got your new car on the road yet? Haven't heard much from you lately. I know you're not snowed in.

[The Toecutter]

My parents have a larger Sidekick than yours(~2,600 pounds), and I have managed to push it to 35 mpg at a steady 40-45 mph in 5th gear over the course of last month. Over 60 mph, it turns into a serious gas hog. Before it got a tuneup, it only got like 16 mpg at normal highway speeds. After the tuneup, it's around 20-22 mpg at 60 mph. The tuneup also made it a little more responsive: 0-60 mph is now about 15 seconds instead of > 20 seconds and it will now hit about 90 mph whereas it used to do about 71 on flat ground...

On Christmas, I did do a lot of driving at 85-90 mph. I used about 7 gallons on a 90 mile trip, for a nice 13 mpg. Its aero drag sucks something horrible.

Still slow and ugly, and not very efficient, but better than it was. The Sidekick has about a .5 drag coefficient(I recall it being .48 or something in that area). If that Cd were to be lowered to about .30 and its frontal area to about 20 square feet, and about 700 pounds were shaved off, it would get roughly the same fuel economy as a Geo Metro.