Our favorite GRM cars and MPGs

In reply to RossD:

I get 30-32 in town and 35-37 on the freeway with my '88 CRX-si.

Somehow I managed to average 29-30 mpg over thousands of miles in each of my three most recent GRM-esque vehicles: '92 Miata, '98 Escort ZX-2, & '91 Nissan Sentra SE-R.

I averaged 18 mpg in my '91 Crown Vic, 14 mpg in my '86 Country Squire Wagon, and somewhere around 42 mpg in my '97 Geo Metro 3cyl hatchback.

I've kept a spreadsheet tracking mileage (and gas prices) for every fill-up for all of my vehicles over the last 3 or 4 years.

The turbobrick gets 22 usually, and something is wrong now and I am stuck at 18. Pathetic.

MK1 MR2 NA-35mpg tops, averaged 32 MK1 MR2-SC (late AE92 4agze)-29 daily (60hwy, 40 city). At a track, 12 mpg. '01 XJ 4.0 Auto-22 all highway, 18 average (50/50)

My 93 Cherokee got 13 summer and 10 winter

My 05 Saturn relay gets 19 mixed, ang 23-24 highway

the motorhome got 10.5 highway. I am told that is pretty good as most are around 6

The Audi I have only baought gas for once, so I don't know.

'03 MiINI CooperS 28.5 mpg according to the on board computer, but it lies. Real number is more like 27. My wife's Xb has gotten 29.5 from new. The Miata never gets checked and I don't care.

The Miata gets mid-20's on average, up to about 29 on the highway.

My '99 V6 Passat gets verrrry close to 30 on the highway and 23-25 around town.

I've averaged 16 mpg in my '91 535i, with the occasional 22mpg highway trip here and there. Not exactly the most efficient engine on earth...

mtn wrote:

forzav12 wrote: My 69 Polara gets 13mpg with a Miata in the trunk.

Gas mileage be damned, that is a seriously cool car.

OT: I saw a late-60's Polara in full police regalia in Carlsbad, New Mexico recently. Full whip antenna and everything!

Back to mileage - the Valiant has seen 26 MPG highway in stock configuration, but I haven't really monitored since redoing the suspension/brakes/wheels, and putting another 100K+ miles on the engine/transmission.

forzav12 wrote: My 69 Polara gets 13mpg with a Miata in the trunk.

What is it with you-does everything have to be about Miatas?

WRX:low 20's
DiscoII:11 to 12
97 328i: 22

Those are mostly city and usually less than 15 minute/5 mile trips. The BMW has had a few road trips at 31mpg to bring up the 18mpg city average.

I have not gotten below 35mpg with my 2011 Fiesta. Got got 39.5 on a 900 mile trip with 90% of the speed at 70-75. very easy to get 40+.

The onboard computer in my '88 BMW 528e stays at 27.6 mpg. Those are almost exclusively in-town miles.

Margie

2007 Mazdaspeed3 - 26 mpg on the cpu but I know it's really pulling down 24 mpg with a 70/30 city/highway mix.

1992 Turbo Miata (10lbs of Begi SSM boost, 2.5 exhaust, stock tires) - Gets 24 mpg with the same city/driving mix.

Crap, I can't get more than or less than 20 mpg with my 2.3 Ranger 5 speed.

What am I doing wrong?

Dan

This is some great data, thanks to everyone. Anyone with a fox body mustang with either a 2.3 or 5.0 with manual want to chime in with MPGs? I guess the car I'm looking for would be rwd, manual and get around 25-30 mpg with 75% highway driving. What do Fieros get for fuel economy? MPGs for a zetec Focus?

'87 BMW E28 535is - 18/25, overall 23.
'90 Porsche 964 C2 - 19/27, overall 22.
'91 BMW E30 325i - 20/25, overall 21.
'97 BMW E36 328is - 22/26 overall 23.
'98 BMW E36 M3 - 21/27, overall 22.
'01 Toyota Tundra V8 - 12/16 overall 12 (6-9 towing killed it)
'04 Chevy 2500HD Duramax - 18/23 overall 18. (15 towing ...).
'05 E46 325XiT - 23/29, overall 26.

That covers my last decade of DD cars more/less.

My old 83 533i would manage 28 pure highway, around 22-23 mixed. The 99 9-5lpt (auto) could push 32-33 highway, but wasn't much better than the 533i in mixed driving.

Currently, the 01 525i is really impressing me; since replacing the CCV system and the VANOS seals, I'm getting 31-32 pure highway and 27-28 in mixed use. Before the maintenance it was more like 29 highway and 23-24 mixed.

My heavily modified 74 2002 actually manages 25 on the highway and about 18-20 in normal use.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

Interesting that I beat you by 4-5mpg highway with my 97 328i. Does the "iS" have shorter gearing? Am I just an idiot for trusting the trip computer? 31mpg seems almost too good to be true, but I hope not.

To the OP-I get 28 highway with an '03 2.0 WRX with freeflow exhaust and a tune.

Ever hear the term "Your mileage may vary"....? That's because nobody gets the same mileage with the same car, particularly old ones that may be in better or worse condition. Some people rely on trip computers, some measure every tank, some measure the occasional tank, some only tell you about the best mileage they ever got for a single tank, some only measure when they go on highway trips. I find more and more often that I don't really put much stock in what "other" people get for mileage. I have got a fair correlation between my expected mileage and the EPA mileage. I usually beat the "old" EPA numbers by ~5% on average, more like ~10% on "new" EPA numbers.

I have nothing useful to add.

Bryce

Oh yeah:

www.fueleconomy.gov

It may not be "real" mileage, but it is a ruler that all cars since the 80s have measured themselves against, so it's useful for comparing one car to another.

07 Subaru WRX stage II 25-28 mpg

91 Turbo Miata 24-25 mpg

This is mixed highway and city driving. Pure highway I get slightly better.

RX-8 14-19 mpg

Miata 21-25 mpg

95 Nissan pickup 18-20 mpg

74 F-100 6-10 mpg

That's the exact reason that I orginally bought my 99 Miata (then I found autocross & GRM ). Mine is a 5-speed if that makes a difference and I average 28-30 mpg. 28 w/AC, 30 w/o. MPG's seemed to have dropped a smidgean with 10% ethonal gas but still significantly better than the 14mpg my F-150 gets. And bonus is at least twice as much fun to drive.
Can't honestly say about the other choices. Driving an RX8 now and it still gets better than the F-150 but only about 19mpg, got 21-22 mpg on the highway once.

In reply to Nashco:

"Your mileage may vary" is the exact reason I asked. Plus looking up what a brand new 1980 RX-7 might do for fuel economy does not mean it will still do that 30 years later. Anyways the way most of us drive cars can be different from the average motorist so, like you stated, the governments estimates can be off.

No mustang owners?

SVT Focus - I have trouble cracking the low 20s. Luckily it takes premium.