[s-cars] Gas milege on 95 s6

[Mark Turczyn]

At 4:39 PM -0700 1/31/03, Calvin & Diana Craig wrote:
>Mark,
>
>The car is a totally stock '92.  I have the stock all-season 15 x 7.5" rims.
>A couple of things to think about.  I always get the 25-27 mpg in the half
>of my trip to Minnesota that has Colorado and Western Nebraska in it.  I
>can't get this mileage in Iowa and Minnesota at the same speed.  I attribute
>this to the lower wind resistance in the higher altitude.  At 6k feet, the
>air density is about 20% lower than at sea level.  Assuming a flat road, the
>only things that figure into mileage is engine efficiency, frictional
>losses, and wind resistance.  By decreasing the wind resistance by about
>10-15% at the average of about 4500 feet that the Western leg of the trip is
>at, it helps quite a bit on the mileage.  I do think I get pretty good
>mileage compared to most other S-Cars I have seen, though, since I average
>about 22.5 mpg combined driving, i.e. average speed of about 38 mph on a
>tank.
>
>--Calvin
>



Calvin-

I experienced the same thing and mentioned it to the list about three
or four years ago.  My Avant came with the 15"  rims.  When I drove
it home to Maryland from Conn. I got about 27 mpg which really amazed
me.  The down side was those tires almost killed me since the car
handled (and horrible brakes) so bad.  I went into my first
decreasing radius turn expecting this car to handle at least as good
as my old Sub wagon and I nearly went off the road.  I know I got
over 22 in my normal mixed city/highway driving.

I quickly got a set of 17 inch rims so I do not have much more data
except that it was much harder to see much over 21 in my normal
commute.  It was hard to believe that wider tires could have this
much affect even though we all know that during most of the high
milage contests every car uses high pressure skinny tires.


I then got an RS2 EM and turbo with very mild software and now I have
to work very very  hard to see 19-20 for the last few years. Feather
pedal and no fun.  If I get on it a bit about 18mpg.  I have many
miles of data, a new T stat and O2 sensor so this a good baseline
number.

I suspect when I complete my full RS2 conversion with some of the
magic software from the East Coast Crew I will be happy to see 17 mpg
- perhaps less if I actually find that I have to play everyday.  This
is only a guess.

Of course mpg (politicaly very incorrect) is not the point of getting
the full monty and hot software.


What do lister's who have the full RS2 package and hot software get
if they baby versus run their cars hard--anyone

So all I can think of is stock setup with 15 inch rims and skinny
tires is the best setup for gas.  I know this I5 motor is really
amazing.  My wife had an 1980 90, and on trips we would get almost 30
mph on the highway. The car also had 15" wheels.

Mark Turczyn