[pinmagic]

Is there an official EPA gas mileage rating on the Elise? The Celica gets 24/33, and I suspect the Elise will be better (since it's so much lighter). The only site I found with info says 14/18.
http://www.panix.com/~clay/elise/specs.html

 

[Reddirt14]

It was worse than the celica numbers you posted. I didn't right it down so thinking back a wfew days ago when I saw it, I believe it was something like 27/23. Don't quote me on that and I'm sure someone can give you the exact figures off the sticker.

 

[HoopyFrood]

And Chris reported that's about what he got - I was hoping it was a case of "undersell", but even keeping the revs relatively low, it appears 30mpg is out of the question.

 

[Stan]

23/27 Per the EPA on the window sticker: http://www.pbase.com/image/31599126/original

Stan

 

[Genjuro]

And Chris reported that's about what he got - I was hoping it was a case of "undersell", but even keeping the revs relatively low, it appears 30mpg is out of the question.

The engine needs to get through a few thousand miles before we can make any assumptions.

My M coupe was at 8 MPG for the first hundred miles, then is slowly moved up to 25-30MPG after a few thousand.

Granted, that was nice driving... I usually was as much lower numbers when I felt the need for speed.

 

[Martin F]

I would have figured better. I was hoping for 5 points better all around. My dad's Corvette weighs much more and has much more HP, yet gets 30 MPG on the highway. Must be the drag coefficient.

Not why you buy a sports car, but one of the items that seperates it from the rest.

 

[suv_bait]

I don't really get it. The latest Rodent Track clains 26/38 city/highway, which seems about right to me, given the total frontal area of the car and its weight. Not sure why the window sticker is (drastically) different.

My current M3 with a 6-speed transmission, a 3.15 rear end, and an engine with 11.3:1 compression just averaged 32.5 mpg on the highway going ~85 mph over a 500 mile trip. (3000 rpms at 85 mph). For comparison's sake, the Elise supposedly hits 3000 rpm at 60 mph in top gear, again according to R/T. I think this comparison may be meaningless, but thought I would throw it out there anyway.

It will really be quite strange if the Elise cannot at least match the fuel economy of my M3, which looks like a checker cab sitting next to an Elise.

Best,
John

 

[zvezdah1]

I got 25.5 mpg. Mostly city driving, I'm thinking hwy would be 30. the epa sticker I think says 23/29
Chris

 

[iwilson]

Cruising you should be able to easily get over 30mpg. I've got a Honda K20A in the back of mine 2.0L 220hp and I've had over 40mpg at a steady cruise. Get heavy with your right foot and it will drop drastically esp. when you hit the high cam.

 

[Stan]

>>>Must be the drag coefficient. <<<

If it is aero related, it's due to the CdA. Which is the coefficent of drag times the frontal area of the car. Vehicles with the same Cd can have different total drag factors since Cd comes from the shape basically, and ignores size. So a model Elise and a real one can have the same Cd but the drag would not be the same due to the difference in the frontal areas. Frontal area is ~ what you see if you look at the front of the car along the center line. Oversimplifying a bit here but that is essentially the case. You can measure CdA using a stopwatch by just timing a coast-down from one highway speed to another and crunching the numbers. Here's an online calculator for it: http://www.race-technology.com/WebPage2/Other/Utilities/Coastdown/CoastDownCalcs.html

Stan

 

[Esprit]

WOW!! A 400HP Z06 gets 24/30. That's better than our 190HP Elises. Damn! I don't get it...really... For a car that I really don't like, that Corvette keeps amazing me.

 

[Mean TT]

Yeah but the Corvette has the infamous "skip-shift" from first to fourth. What a terrible design. I can see how it improves gas milage, but to be honest, teh whole point of driving a manual transmission is to allow for more driver involvement, not to take it away. I am sure that all the new owners are religiously following the under 4K RPM too . In reality, it eh gas milage is under 30 MPG so be it. I used to average around 28-31 MPG on my TT even after it was putting out around 270 hp. But in town, with the boost, it was more like 15. If anyone wants to donate their car for me to test the mileage, I will accept their challenge....

 

[Genjuro]

I got 25.5 mpg. Mostly city driving, I'm thinking hwy would be 30. the epa sticker I think says 23/29
Chris

Please report back after 2000 miles. I'm curious to see how much mpg changes.

 

[zvezdah1]

iwilson,
Are you sure you're not referring to imperial gallon with 5 liters vs a US gallon (around 4 liters)
Chris

 

[iwilson]

iwilson,
Are you sure you're not referring to imperial gallon with 5 liters vs a US gallon (around 4 liters)
Chris

oops. And you wonder why the occasional spacecraft slams into Mars . Why oh why can't we have some sort of global standard. If you're fortunate enough to arrive in a country with the same voltage you can guarantee you'll be faced with the proverbial round peg in a square hole when you try and use the socket.

Rant over - now where were we

 

[Surferjer]

First tank-24.4MPG, 2nd tank, 27.9MPG (1/2 highway). I think 30 is probably with pure freeway cruising, but who would want to do that?

 

[z06fun]

Actually the Corvette skip shift is a great thing. Sure it takes ~$10 and 10 minutes to add a simple by pass connector to make it go away forever but it also was GM's solution for not having us customers pay the gaz guzzler tax. Saved me some bucks, alot in fact.
The down side to the C5's great gas mileage is that it was a trade off with gearing the car better for racing. Meaning the car could have been much better geared for racing if they were much less concerned about gas mileage. For track work the car is essentially a 5 speed. This is all for the 6 speed manual C5 of course, the automatic is yet another story

 

[genieman17]

Actually the Corvette skip shift is a great thing. Sure it takes ~$10 and 10 minutes to add a simple by pass connector to make it go away forever but it also was GM's solution for not having us customers pay the gaz guzzler tax. Saved me some bucks, alot in fact.
The down side to the C5's great gas mileage is that it was a trade off with gearing the car better for racing. Meaning the car could have been much better geared for racing if they were much less concerned about gas mileage. For track work the car is essentially a 5 speed. This is all for the 6 speed manual C5 of course, the automatic is yet another story

Correct me if i'm wrong, but the gearing on the tremec t56 (i think thats the one in both the viper and corvette) is made so that hypothetically at redline in sixth gear the car can go 250+mph. That is why at 60mph on the highway you are at 1700rpm. It's not exactly a "close-ratio" tranny...

 

[fitfan]

There is a global standard.. its called metric, but the us is too retarded to get onboard with it. i have taken to using metric, like giving directions, "go about 600 meters and turn right.."

 

[genieman17]

There is a global standard.. its called metric, but the us is too retarded to get onboard with it. i have taken to using metric, like giving directions, "go about 600 meters and turn right.."

They are not too retarded. It was being considered...then people realized that it would be WAY too expensive to convert everything. It would cost a million zillion dollars. Plus it would take years for people to get used to it.