Daily Driver, Auto-xer and now Long distance cruiser?

[BobMs_wht2k2]

Just back from NC. Had a great time on the OBX (I still do not understand that spelling). Drove the car out, took US 52 from Huntington, WV to the Virginia state line. Makes the "Dragon's Tail" look like amatuer play. . . but more on that later.

Car turned over 75k miles on the way home. Somewhere in KY IIRC. Ran absolutely flawless and returned some of the BEST mileage I have EVER gotten in 75k miles of ownership.

Quick disclaimer: Since my tires are not OE size, i've recalculated the extra 4% in miles driven for the last few years. In this "chart" I'll show you both raw and re-calculated mileage.

Here goes:

Miles driven Corrected Gallons MPG/corrected MPG

301.1 313.1 8.5 35.4/36.8
303.8 316.0 8.6 35.3/36.7
349.9 361.8 10.2 34.1/35.5
307.9 320.2 11.0* 28.0/29.1*
309.8 322.2 8.1 38.2/39.8
337.5 350.5 9.0 37.5/38.9

total miles driven act miles gallons mpg/corrected mpg

1908 1983.8 55.4 34.4/35.8

Now, the Asterisk (*) is there for a reason. We filled the car at about the same point every time. Smae miles (~300), same point on the gas gauge. This one tank we got ripped off.

[kylemorg]

OBX = Outer Banx? Those North Carolineans must not be able to spell...

[BobMs_wht2k2]

But at least you can understand what they're saying. Them West Virginiears are bad.

[TheHybrid]

I always thought it was "Outer Banks Xtreme" which makes me cringe.

Bob, what all have you done to the car to help improve the MPG?

[BobMs_wht2k2]

CAI, Muffler and NGK V-powers. The rest is all driving. Maybe it's finally "broken in" at 75k miles!

To be honest the first tank suprised me. I honestly expected the next tank to be more "normal". When the second and 3rd tank followed suit I was impressed and nervous, waiting for the other shoe to drop so to speak. That 4th tank that ripped us off made me think OK, here we go, back to normal. Then the 5th and 6th tanks were even BETTER.

In all honesty, I think the taller tires, allowing me to run the speeds with the lower engine rpm's helped the most. 70mph indicated put us at 73, which 73mph puts us over 3k rpms, about 3100 actually. 70 puts me at 2900. 200 rpms may not sound like mcuh, but with our utterly craptastic PCM tuning it means the difference between good and great!

Our last Vaca with the car was . . . several years ago IIRC. I can't remember if it was out to Rochester, NY with the inlaws in it running my 17" Enkei's and 215/45's or if it was to Gainesville/Ocala, FL with the Enkei's, either way we got right at 32-33mpg.