Checked my gas mileage again

1867 Views 18 Replies 12 Participants Last post by rob, Oct 4, 2004

Stan

Discussion Starter · Sep 20, 2004 (Edited)

Lessee lotsa driving over the weekend. Mostly Highway at 80-90 MPH with the top down, a few stints near 60-70 MPH....plus five autocross runs and related idling...an Elise "demo" ride, an hour 15 minutes in slow stop and go Sunday night along with some around town driving throughout. 243 miles, 8 1/4 gallons. That's 29 and change and I thought that this tank might yield crummy mileage. It's certainly easy to beat the EPA 23 city 27 Highway. When just piddling around you can skip-shift as in 1-3-5. And 6th is useable pretty often as the car is so light. Maybe the EPA rates the Elise for 50% street and 50% Track fuel mileage or something.

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NMRJock

· #2 · Sep 20, 2004

Don't they have to shift when the light comes on if one is equipped? If that's the case they're driving around with the things wound up a great bit of the time when we would not.

YELOTUS

· #3 · Sep 20, 2004

Cool..

ours is hovering at about 23 mpg...of course no real long distance driving (unless you consider 100 miles long distance) and lots of shifting type driving

Funny...I have been asked that question so many times 'what is gas mileage...' My answer... smile and they get the message....

BrianK

· #4 · Sep 20, 2004

are there any issues with the synchros when you skip shifts (i.e. from 1 to 3)? I remember hearing that once, but it seems that as long as you do it slowly (allowing the gear side to slow down to get closer to the drive side), it should be ok. Thoughts? Opinions?

Nice to see that high milage number. How many other sub 5 second 0-60 cars get almost 30 mpg?

Randy Chase

· #5 · Sep 20, 2004

My Roadtrip MPG- 34-35

Stan

Discussion Starter · #6 · Sep 20, 2004

>>>ours is hovering at about 23 mpg...of course no real long distance driving (unless you consider 100 miles long distance) and lots of shifting type driving<<<

That's about what the EPA says for city driving and seems about right to me. I don't do any pure city driving for a tank full though. The EPA's highway number of 27 seems screwey to me though. Since the larger and much heavier Celica GT-S is EPA rated at 24 city / 33 highway if memory serves. So the light, small Lotus is supposed to get 6 *less* highway MPGs? I think the Celica weighs about 500 or 600 pounds more than our cars.

Stan

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 20, 2004 (Edited)

>>>are there any issues with the synchros when you skip shifts (i.e. from 1 to 3)? I remember hearing that once, but it seems that as long as you do it slowly (allowing the gear side to slow down to get closer to the drive side), it should be ok. Thoughts? Opinions?<<<

Been doin' it for years on BMWs. If anything it aids longevity, at least for the clutch. You need to use suitable revs such that the next gear is not in the lug zone. Once you are used to it, it's actually easier in some kinds of driving as less driver involvement is needed. The car has enough torque for it's weight (and close gear ratios) to be able to do the skipshift. Some cars can't pull it off. We can't always run it to redline on twisty roads...

>>>Nice to see that high milage number. How many other sub 5 second 0-60 cars get almost 30 mpg? <<<

Or over 30 MPG real world. My old Europa was pretty economical in it's day and actually had less frontal area and a lower Cd than the Elise. I think the Elise Cd is around 0.35 / 0.36 (less with the hard top) but the area is small so the total drag is not too bad.

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Surferjer

· #8 · Sep 20, 2004

It's funny you mention the shifting. I'm like you, only I go 2-4-6. I often skip 1st and 3rd. Starting in 2nd is no problem, especially if you're moving, even just a little..

evomind

· #9 · Sep 24, 2004

i cant believe you guys are talking about gas mileage.....

Stan

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 24, 2004

>>i cant believe you guys are talking about gas mileage.....<<

Quite a contrast to the fuel consumption of the Evo, eh?

Miguel

· #11 · Sep 24, 2004

But if the speedometer is off by 10% like a lot of people state then what is the real MPG figure?

roadrunner

· #12 · Sep 24, 2004

But...

Miguel said:
But if the speedometer is off by 10% like a lot of people state then what is the real MPG figure?

If it works like BMW's, then even though the speedo is off, the odometer will be dead on. Can anyone confirm this?

Stan

Discussion Starter · #13 · Sep 24, 2004 (Edited)

Miguel on many cars with optomistic speedos, the odometer is actually on-the-money. BMWs seem to be in that category. Speedometers and odometers don't have to be inextricably linked as in the past since it's all done electronically these days.

Ground Loop

· #14 · Sep 24, 2004

I sure hope they don't install an 'optimistic' odometer.. one that would trim 10% off the warranty term, for example..

Miguel

· #15 · Sep 24, 2004

That's just too funny that they can have an accurate odometer but the speedo is wrong, they must have an error on the KPH to MPH conversion, instead of 1.609 they probably rounded it down to 1.5

Stan

Discussion Starter · #16 · Sep 24, 2004

Miguel it's not an error or technical limitation. It's how cars are made so that their customers are happy. Like in that Marching Morons story I brought up the other day.

evomind

· #17 · Sep 25, 2004

stan, in stock form i didnt think the gas mileage was too bad..(if i think about it..), but in its present form it does use much more gas. for those of u that are concerned about gas mileage.
i imagine the cobra is much worse for me stan...

damcgee

· #18 · Oct 3, 2004 (Edited)

Stan said:
Miguel it's not an error or technical limitation. It's how cars are made so that their customers are happy. Like in that Marching Morons story I brought up the other day.

It's more complicated than that. In Europe there is a law that says the speedometer of a car can NEVER read a speed lower than the actual speed. However, it is fine if the speedo reads higher than actual.

This rule is supposed to apply even if the consumer fits larger aftermarket wheels/tires! Therefore, German cars always have very optomistic speedos.

See here:
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=4&article_id=1906&page_number=1

Here is an excerpt:
The European regulation, ECE-R 39, is more concise, stating essentially that the speed indicated must never be lower than the true speed or higher by more than one-tenth of true speed plus four kilometers per hour (79.5 mph at a true 70). Never low. Not even if somebody swaps a big set of 285/35R-18s for stock 255/45R-16s.

rob

· #19 · Oct 4, 2004

Supposedly Lotus offers the most accurate speedometer of any European manufacturer - nearly always within 1%. This means 100mph is between 99 and 101.

Every other car I've owned I would guess typical 5 mph difference at that speed.

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