housedj

iTrader: (2)

i have debated with a few people on whether sacrificing performance over fuel savings is really worth it. these people think that its all about MPG like the commercials. it's really about TOTAL miles driven per tank. i have provided a small comparo to make my point. the numbers below are averages only based on actual MPG (city/hwy combined) & do not factor in driving style, hypermiling, or lack of vehicle care. out of all the cars researched (i will add more if requested), the EVO X is similar in total miles with the Honda Civic CNG (compressed natural gas), & the new Honda FCX (hydrogen). i have 3 lists showing the average miles per tank of fuel (or range , ie: electric)

EVO X total miles per tank-275 (with a tune u could gain almost 20% more bringing you closer to 330 miles/tank)

This 1st list is hybrids, alternative fuel, & diesel cars/SUV's sold in US:

Honda FCX-280
Honda Civic CNG-289
Honda Civic Hybrid-553 (my buddy has one & gets closer to 580)

Toyota Prius-495 (good, but if u mod the electric motor u can get 1110miles!!!)
Toyota Camry Hybrid- 561
Toyota Highlander Hybrid-447

Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute Hybrid-480
Mercury Mariner Hybrid-460

VW Jetta Diesel-500
VW Touareg V10 Diesel-448

Mercedes GL320CDI Diesel-554
Mercedes ML320CDI Diesel-527
Mercedes E320CDI Diesel-780 (the highest mile per tank car for sale in US!!!)

Nissan Altima Hybrid-680(this is a really impressive car, 2nd highest on my list)

Chevy Malibu Hybrid-448
Cadillac Escalade Hybrid-553 (not too shabby for a 6.0L V8 behemoth)

Chrysler Aspen Hybrid-527 (another V8 powered slugger)

Lexus RX400h Hybrid-438
__________________________________________________ ______________
This 2nd list is a few gas powered cars/trucks/suvs sold in US:

My Land Rover LR3 V8-200 (the wife loves it so she pays to play...)
My EVO 8 mildly tuned-120 or 340 (Track/Street)

Smart ForTwo-317

MINI Cooper (base) -428

Dodge Viper-296

Lambo Murcielago LP640 -290

Chevy Aveo-313
Chevy Cobalt-377
Chevy Vette-378 (not bad for a V8 powered performance car)
Chevy HHR-392
Chevy Impala-357


Lancer-390
Eclipse-374
Endeavor-385
Galant-357
Outlander-348 (2wd)/331 (4wd)
Raider-374 (2wd)/352 (4wd)
__________________________________________________ ___________
This 3rd list is a few vehicles sold in europe:

Range Rover TDV8 Diesel-883 (if u add a propane kit u can go 1297 miles!!!!!)

Smart ForTwo mhd Diesel Hybrid-745 (excellent for a puddlejumper!!!)
Smart ForTwo Diesel-522
Smart ForTwo-435 (that's 200+ more miles than US & its the exact same car!!!)
Smart ForTwo Electric-301 (London to Edinburgh Scotland on a single charge!!)

BMW X6 3.5L TTV6 Diesel-816 (SUV's seem to go further there than here)
BMW X6 3.0L TT i6 gas-624 (still pretty dam good)

The point is you don't have to sacrifice styling or performance to save on fuel.

For example, in the Mercedes E320 CDI, Motor Trend drove it from L.A. up the PCH highway to San Francisco, then back down the I-5 to L.A. total trip 750 miles + 30 miles back to the editor's room. the old E-Class Diesel got 750 miles per tank. also the new E-class diesel has 400lbs of TORQUE stock for great passing power. The Prius (495 miles/tank) would have to stop for gas 1/2way back from SF to LA. Or u could drive the mercedes from New York City to Charleston, SC on a single tank of diesel.

I say drive what YOU want, not what society dictates. everybody is hooked on the Prius yet few of them realize that it is MORE HARMFUL to the environment manufacturing them then the amount of gas it saves (as quoted on Top Gear).
If that EVO X (or used 8/9) catches your eye, go ahead & pick one up

Happy Motoring

UFO

iTrader: (7)

275 miles to the tank? Who are you? Miss Daisy? I see around 200 per tank.

nawaz

Performance is a must-have for me. As long as the gas mileage is OK....then it's good for me.

Jabjab

iTrader: (2)

rocking about 200 a tank, feel up once a week normaly lol oh and im stock

MrBonus

iTrader: (4)

The hell? My car is tuned and I see about 180 per tank.

txfoster

Good research just need to throw in tank capasities to compare distance.
But yes i to get 260 on a tank or 120 (mood dictates).

Great job though!!!

Noize

iTrader: (24)

Yup. The original post is bunk, because those hybrids have super tiny tanks.


I also call BS on 330 miles to a tank. I had a custom tune, full catless exhaust on my X, hypermiled the **** out of it on a couple trips, and I could never even hit 300. I could hit high 200s, but it was bone dry.

I think the X gets pretty bad gas mileage because of its gearing. It needs a sixth gear badly.

I have an extra liter of displacement now and am getting better fuel economy due to gearing.

DigitaLSD

yeah, tank size is what matters... which is why MPG matters... because my moms SUV gets the same (pretty close anyways) mileage per tank as my Jetta, but her tank is twice the size. So essentially I am using 1/2 the gas she is..

Hiboost

iTrader: (9)

I made it to Buschur Racing twice in a row with one tank full and it was 310 miles for me with an average speed of 75 or so. That's about 24 MPG and I could likely get 26 MPG if I slowed down to 65-70 but where is the fun in that. Speeding up to 80 usually puts me at 22 MPG on the highway and I would likely run out of gas trying to make 310 miles on one tank at that speed. Around town I'm still 20-22 MPG romping on it whenever traffic clears up and the coast is clear.

Find a nice flat stretch of road on a highway and keep the accelerator at a constant speed (or use Cruise) and reset the MPG indicator, it should give you a realtime snapshot of your MPG at that moment. Would be kinda of interesting to do that for 55 mph through 85 mph at 5 mph increments and see what approximate MPG each yields. I've seen some really silly numbers decelerating as well as going full throttle during a reset.

housedj

iTrader: (2)

getting good range on an EVO X is possible but difficult to achieve. the tune allows the motor to run more efficiently which should increase its range

as far as tank size on cars go here is another way to look at it. my wife drives about 200 miles per week in her Land Rover LR3. it gets about 10mpg & the tank is 22.9 gallons. she fills it up once a week. if she had the Diesel model from the UK which gets 27mpg, she would only have to fillup once every 618miles or every 3 weeks. if we had that same diesel model & then added a propane kit, her mpg would increase to 47mpg giving her a range of 1076 miles or only filling up once a month.

as far as hybrids having small tanks go, they all don't. the '08 Nissan Altima Hybrid has a 20gal fuel tank. it averages 34mpg combined (35city/33hwy) for a range of 680 miles. the gas model '08 Altima averages 27mpgs (23city/31hwy) & gets a range of 540 miles. both cars have the same size fuel tank + same size 2.5L i4 motor. its safe to say that the electric motor in the hybrid model makes up the extra 140 miles of distance.

Now the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid gets lower mpgs than the gas Altima (20.5 vs 27), however the fuel tank in the Cadi is larger (by 6 gallons) so it has almost the same range (533 vs 540 miles). so yes to an extent mpg is important, but total overall distance between fillups is even more important especially if u r planning a roadtrip.

lets say u need to buy a hybrid as a DD (so u can enjoy your EVO on weekends). the Altima hybrid would make more sense than a Prius because its total range is higher (680 miles vs 495) because its fuel tank is larger than Prius (20gal vs 11.9) + it has more room, costs about $2k less & doesn't look like a babyshoe. mpg is ok to look at, but i look at how many times a year do i have to fillup. in the scenario of the wife's Rover, she could go from 52 fillups a year to 12 after 2010 when Land Rover brings over the diesel models. thats an instant savings of about $3700/year in fuel cost in a 6000lb SUV. no need to buy that puddlejumper if u only have to get gas once a month!!!!!!

housedj

iTrader: (2)

in this scenario, it looks like she's filling up 1/2 as often as you so you both are spending about the same in gas over the course of a year...

Papi4baby

iTrader: (1)

Some of you guys need to get off the gas pedal a bit lol, what are you guys shifting at 4000 5000 rpm???

housedj

iTrader: (2)

For gits & shiggles, here's another vehicle that ppl claim sucks alot of fuel, but does it really???

Chevy Silverado 2500HD Duramax Diesel truck with a 6.6 L Turbo V8. avg mpg 10.5, 34 gallon tank, effective range-357 miles.

that's the exact same total mileage as a Galant. the Galant gets double the mpgs but the fuel tank is 1/2 the size giving it the same overall range.

in this case, u might as well buy the truck. at least u can tow the toys to the lake...

UFO

iTrader: (7)

Redline baby! Only way to drive.

Stop&TurnFreak

Don't be so sure, I travel for a living, and spend about 90% of my waking life in a car or plane. One thing I have found is, if you set the cruise, and don't touch it for @250m, your mileage goes up incredibly. Don't believe me?

2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee -- 68mph, 21mph (tall gearing, towing package, huge motor).

2005 Dodge Magnum -- 29mpg over 685m trip.

2008 Evolution MR -- 34mpg on its first tank, flat land, then dropped @26mpg goign through the hills.

The minute you break cruise, you mileage drops. I have done better in my Magnum, but I document mostly by miles per tank, rather than mpg.