What to DO and NOT TO DO...To save gas..

As the title says I wanted to hear some specific hints for a 02 WRX MT on what will save me gas and what won't it's just that I feel like it's eating gas twice as fast as I expected...

Mo

 

I've lost like...25mpg now. Must be the winter gas......

 

yeha i have ben getting horrible mileage, must be the cold.

anyway tips: if you have aboost gauge - while your cruisig try to pull as mcuh vaccum as you can. that will help conserve fuel. i can normally go 70-75 at -.5bar.

just be easier on the gas pedal in general. less boost time is lees gas time.

 

Here's a little list I can think of:

1. When it's safe to, cruise with the gearshift lever out of the gears and in neutral.
2. Use quality fuel that doesn't have too many oxygenates in it. ie-don't use Holiday gas.
3. The MPG in 4th gear < 5th gear with cruise control. But if you're accelerating at all, use the lower gear for maximum power. ie, 5th gear at slow speeds or going uphill will dump fuel into your motor until it is in it's efficiency range.
4. Try to maintain your speed.
5. Take the freeway as much as you can. Stop and go driving will kill your mpg because you're dumping fuel when accelerating and not gaining any back when you decelerate.
6. Don't idle your car too long, especially in the cold. Your motor will warm up faster when you're driving it and you'll be going somewhere with that fuel you're using.
7. Cruising at 70 mph consumes about ~1-2 mpg more than cruising at 65 mph. You're getting to where you're going to faster, but faster = greater wind resistance.

 

Cool..Thanks all...and fong about "6. Don't idle your car too long, especially in the cold. Your motor will warm up faster when you're driving it and you'll be going somewhere with that fuel you're using." are u sure about this one...so what would u say is a good time to let it idle. I usually wait until it hits the C then I go...

Mo

 

on the freeway when you are cruizing, keep it under 2500 rpm, yes i know thats slow, but it saves gas like crazy

 

very true. you should let your car warm a bit... but for fuel efficiency, you should let it warm only until it just barely budges. after that, you're fine to drive... just keep your car under boost until it's warm, though. warm means it's touching or past the C. if i'm in a hurry, sitting there and idling my car wouldn't get me anywhere. instead, i'll slowly drive, shifting around 2k rpm, just to get going, and to help in warming the engine... not the best thing to do, maybe, but it'll get my car warmer faster, and atleast i'm gaining distance. just my .02

 

I never let my car warm up by idle. That warms up the engine but not the driveline. I just start the car, let it idle for about 1min or so then start driving. slowly drive it under 3k rpm until the car warms up and until the tranny doesnt feel sticky anymore. I find that its better like that.

 

WOW...How do I find out what MY CAR runs at best...interms of MPH...weather it's 60 or 70 MPH...

 

you could try using a scan guage or other OBD2 reader. i know Fong's tells him MPGs and such.

 

^^that's how I know what I know. It's from personal experience.

 

if your car has a boost gauge, you could keep it in vaccume, and not boost it :idea:

 

I found to save fuel is easy... STAY HOME!!!

ha ha ha

 

Have someone drive you or ride with someone when more then you are going.

 

Yeah, is it something about the cold on the driveline causing drag or what? Because in the last two weeks, my MPG has really fallen. This week (when it got colder) especially. I can check my log book later today, but my MPG has dropped at least 20%.

 

problem is it is better for your piston and rings to drive your car very nicely rather than just sit for a long time running

 

My MPG has dropped alot too. I'm not sure if it is the winter gas or just the colder weather. What helps is accelerate slowly keeping the tach under 3K. When you get up to speed, put it in cruise control. Stay on highways and keep stop/go to a minimum. Boost is the MPG killer so keep as much vacuum going as possible