Entries from June 2008 ↓

The questions is can you have your cake and eat it, too? I love the idea of fast sports cars that handle well and also serve as a decent daily driver. However, as I mentioned before in the last article, gas prices are on the rise and are currently over $4.00 a gallon with no relief in sight. Where does that leave the driving enthusiast?  Bored… and annoyed (At least I am.)

You can’t take that leisurely trip up north or to your favorite mountain pass on the weekend, you have to save that precious fuel for getting yourself to work and back. So what is the solution?

Carpool if you can, ride a bicycle if you live close enough, or buy a more economical ride.

I never want to recommend that people trade in their existing car for the sole reason of poor gas mileage. If there is nothing wrong with your vehicle it always better to stick with it even if fuel is expensive. It will take a long time to make up the difference in price for the fuel and maintenance on your old vehicle versus the fuel savings from a new vehicle. With that said let me suggest some sporty and economical vehicles.

First and maybe not the best for this category is the Chevy Corvette. Really, it does actually get fairly decent gas mileage considering it is putting out 430 HP. It averages 16/26 mpg. You get the performance, the handling, and the gas mileage, but (and there is always a but) you have to pay for it. It is close to $48,000 and you don’t get a back seat, so as long as you don’t care about the price or hauling anyone but your best friend then I say go for it. This car is not realistic for the everyday driver. It is impressive none the less to get that good of gas mileage out of a car.  I was shooting for sporty cars with the city gas mileage over 20, cause let’s face it who here mostly drives in the city… I certainly do!

Let’s start with something that is not necessarily functional but most definitely sporty, the Mazda MX-5 (Miata). I know Austin is actually considering getting one of this and I know what you might be thinking. “What is he, uh, a little girl?” Truth be told the only people who I have ever met that referred to the MX-5 as a “girls” car are the ignorant masses that have never driven one. Drive one and see for yourself how much fun they are. They start under $22,000 and get 22/27 MPG. Not bad… maybe I should get one.

But what if you want something sporty AND you have to haul around the Kids, dogs, boyfriends without a license, ect. Then you might want to look at either the SE-R Spec V Sentra, which starts below $20,000 and has 200 HP, or the Honda Civic SI Sedan, which starts at just below $22,000 has 197 HP. They both get 21/29 mpg and have 6 speed Manual Transmission Option. If it was me I’d go for the SE-R Sentra it looks to be a little more bang for the buck, but on the other hand you get the long line of dependability with the Honda. Tough choice.

To be honest, I think I’d choose the Mini Cooper S. There is a back seat but it is not as easy to get to as the Sentra or the Civic, but it is priced about the same and gets 26/34 mpg. Not to mention the joy of a turbocharged engine, a sport tuned suspension, a six speed transmission and a better warranty of 3 year 36,000 miles bumper to bumper with free maintenance. Pretty slick.

If four doors aren’t critical, then check out the Chevy Cobalt. I’ve never really been to keen on theses in the past because they had a supercharged engine but I think they might actually have something this year. A 2.4L Ecotech engine that is turbocharged and get 22/30 mpg. It also puts out 260 HP and 260 ft-lbs of torque. This Cavalier legacy car is actually starting to get my attention.  In addition they have a neat shifting feature that when your are running wide open throttle you do not have to lift the gas pedal to shift the gears.  The engine computer actually holds the rpm for you as you plop it into another gear.  Whatever makes you go faster, right?

Then there is the Impreza WRX. It has the back seat 4 or 5 door option, 224 HP turbocharged engine with All wheel drive. It also gets 20/25 mpg and they start just under $25,000.

But what would the WRX be with out its arch rival the Lancer. Mitsubishi has released a GTS version of the car that is more performance oriented then any of the other variants (with the exception of the EVO) that puts out 168 HP and 167 ft-lbs or torque while still maintaining a 21/28 mpg. Not great, but not to shabby. In addition the price tag is $5,000 dollars less that the WRX, and it comes with a tuned suspension and upgraded brakes.

If you’re one for the European cars, Volkswagen has a decent selection of a Coupe and a Sedan.  The GTI mkV and the GLI both get 21/29 mpg and both have the same turbocharged direct injected engine that puts out 200HP and 207Ft-lbs of torque.  The GTI starts at $22,800 and GLI starts at $24,300.

Too sum up, All of these cars are performance driven and still maintain a minimum city gas mileage of 20, with the exception of the Corvette. Honestly, who buys a Corvette for Fuel Econmy’s sake anyway? If it boiled down to choosing one of the cars above, I would probably go for the MX-5, then the Mini Cooper S, and just cause my wife would probably make us get a sedan due the functionality of it, the SE-R Spec V Sentra.

Yesterday was the first day in my entire life that I paid more than $50 to fill my fuel tank on my 240sx. I paid almost $4 a gallon. (I took a 15 minute pause right here in the article to punch a few inanimate objects and yell at the fact that gasoline is so so expensive… Feel free to do the same.)

So I figured, I would recommend a few ways that you can save and hang on to that precious liquid gold in your tank a little longer.

First, keep your hands, arms, heads, and puppy dogs in the vehicle at all times. As much as my dogs like the windows down the gas mileage of you car can suffer greatly by just having the window down. With the windows open air flows into the vehicle and not around it, decreasing how aerodynamic it is. This is more critical the faster you are driving. So at freeway speeds it is a must.

Note: This is not my dog, I own a much much cooler dog than this.

Second, Don’t use your air conditioning. It robs the power from the engine and can affect the gas mileage of your car. Unfortunately I can’t even follow this advise. It is 100 degrees out here in the summer and I particularly do not want to be drenched with sweat when I get home from work. On the other hand it is a great way to lose weight.

Third, Anticipate the flow of traffic and lights. I’ve noticed that most people where I live fail to do this regularly. Besides it is a good driving habit, the smoother and less inputs on the accelerator pedal the better. When you sharply stab that pedal the computer in your car reacts and almost immediately dumps as much fuel into the engine that it can get. If you’re smooth on the throttle the computer can anticipate your needs and only give the engine the required amount of fuel.

Forth, coast your car to the light. Most fuel is used to get your vehicle up to speed but very little is used to maintain your speed. If your car is still rolling when the light changes you require very little fuel to get back to cruising speed.

Fifth, drive the speed limit. Most cars are engineered to be the most fuel efficient at 65 mph. Let’s take my 87 Corolla for example. The Corolla was designed in the 1980s and the highest speed limit was 55 mph at the time. That is where that car is the most fuel efficient. I noticed that my car gets 2 to 3 miles per gallon better if i do not drive faster than 67 mph. If I cruise anything over that the fuel economy drastically suffers (28 mpg to 25 mpg).

Still don’t believe me? Take a look at the Bugatti Veyron, at 257 mph it will go through a take of gas in less than 10 minutes but cruise it at 60 mph you can drive it at least 300 miles. Granted at 257 mph you covered over 40 miles in that 10 minutes, I could get from my house to work in under 4 minutes. Oh, that would be fun but sticking to to the Oil Companies.

Back to my last point, if you are cruising for some time try to cruise behind a Big Rig, (eighteen wheeler). Even at a safe following distance behind one of those rigs will increase your gas mileage due to the amount of air that a vehicle that size displaces.

This is my little way of fighting back and sticking it to the (Insert four letter adjectives here) Oil Companies… Greedy little (adjective)… Oh they make me so mad those (several more adjectives)… I’m going to go hit a few more inanimate objects right now…