My Pontiac Firefly / Chevrolet Metro / Geo Metro / Suzuki Swift
metrompg.com welcomes fuel efficiency nerds everywhere

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Latest fuel economy stats
for my '98 Firefly 1.0L 5-speed
  best: 2.3 125.1 104.2
 worst: 6.4  44.1  36.8
prev.3: 3.3  82.3  68.6
   all: 3.8  73.4  61.1
L/100km | mpg IMP | mpg US
Jul 28/07: more, graph, calc.
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Google

Best non-hybrid MPG: Mitsubishi Mirage
Highest MPG for a new car: Mitsubishi Mirage?
Mitsubishi's 1.2L, 3-cylinder Mirage is the first new non-hybrid car that can match an old Metro's mileage. The company says 44 mpg (US) highway, 37 city. (Some drivers are already beating that in various economy driving contests.) How? An efficient engine, very light weight and aerodynamic design.


Cheapest to own? 2015 Nissan Micra Forum
2015 Nissan Micra Forum
The Micra's fuel economy isn't its most notable feature -- the $10,000 price is. That makes it one of the cheapest cars to own. And its 109hp, 1.6L engine and good power-to-weight ratio means it's fun to drive too.


Latest 10 posts:
1. Recipe for getting 99.7 mpg from a Geo Metro
2. Aerocivic.com - famous aerodynamic Honda Civic gets a web site
3. Snapshot: effect of tire pressure on rolling resistance
4. 65+ vehicle modifications for better MPG
5. Metro mania: forget stocks, put your money in old Geos!
6. 100+ Hypermiling / ecodriving tips for better gas mileage
7. Experiment: how long should a block heater be plugged in?
8. Everything old is new again: Car and Driver magazine modifies an econobox to improve MPG
9. Project Convertible XFi: alfresco efficiency
10. The floor is yours: MetroMPG opens a fuel efficiency forum
11 ... 64. Show all posts


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Links:

Good MPG forums: I spend a lot of time at Ecomodder.com and have also been known to lurk around cleanmpg.com.

Chevrolet Aveo forum - AveoForum.com: discussion of the Chevrolet Aveo and its siblings (Pontiac Wave, Pontiac G3, Suzuki Swift+, Daewoo Kalos).

> Lots more Metro links...
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Send me a note:
darin AT metrompg D-O-T com,
or here



MetroMPG has opened a fuel economy forum
Read about the project here, or go straight to EcoModder.com.
ScanGauge fuel economy computer Save fuel with a ScanGauge II fuel economy computer.
I personally recommend this tool. I've owned both versions (I and II) and can't say enough good things about it. If you're serious about saving fuel, get one.

For more information and to order, visit EcoModder.


1000 km by Blackfly: a 52.5 mpg (US) journey

Posted Thursday, February 9/06 in General

1000 km round trip in January

In late January, I made a trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, and put roughly 1000 kilometers / 600 miles on the Blackfly. The driving was clear and windy.

This was the first long hwy trip I've done since adding or modifying a number of items on the car, and since learning about the pulse & glide driving technique.

For a mid-winter trip (though admittedly a mild one), my mileage was really encouraging.

Full MPG details after the jump - plus: how a good tailwind helped me along to an astonishing 73 mpg (US) on one leg of the journey.

Niagara-on-the-cheap

This is the first long hwy trip I've done since adding or modifying these items:

The results:

  • 52.5 mpg US (4.5 L/100 km / 63 mpg Imp): round-trip average, broken down as follows...
  • 50.1 mpg US (4.7 L/100 km / 60.2 mpg Imp): on the way there (into a 25-40 km/h headwind)
  • 54.9 mpg US (4.3 / 65.9): on the return leg (similar strength tailwind)
  • 50.3 mpg US (5.0 / 60.4): prior to this trip this was my average mileage over 3700 km of exclusively hwy driving. I beat that figure by 4.4%.

Compare these results to the car's EPA hwy rating of 49 mpg US.

The mileage seen on this trip is significant for a couple of reasons:

  • Considering the time of year (avg temps were around 3C / 37F during the driving) - and the fact that my previous hwy average was weighted to warmer weather (because I started tracking in April 2005).

  • Because it was a long trip, I drove slightly faster than normal - I set the cruise at 95 km/h (59 mph) most of the time, though I varied my speed to suit the traffic conditions (ie. going faster to avoid being a nuisance) and topped out at 70+ mph (113 km/h) a few times.

10 kilometers of glory: 73 mpg US

73 mpg stretch
The 73 mpg 10 km / 6 mi. stretch between St. Catharine's Ontario and Niagara-on-the-Lake.

This was a windy drive. The first leg started off going west along the north shore of Lake Ontario into a strong s/w wind (gusting 25-40 km/h). Driving at 95 km/h (59 mph) the ScanGauge was showing high 40's (US mpg).

The path to Niagara-on-the-Lake took me around the western tip of Lake Ontario, and as the direction of the highway slowly arced through the eye of the wind and continued turning east and away from it, the mileage dropped, and then started climbing again.

Now on the south shore of the lake, I exited the freeway and joined a secondary highway for the last section of the drive: about 10 km / 6 mi of dead level road (80 km/h / 50 mph limit) with a handful of traffic lights scattered along the way.

With the wind now squarely at my back, I hit "reset" on the ScanGauge's average fuel economy function and watched as it bounced around briefly and then began to settle down somewhere in the high 60's mpg (US).

In addition to the benefit gained from the tailwind, I was able to get in a few long glides around a couple of the stop lights, boosting my mileage even further.

By the time I reached my destination, the ScanGauge was resting steady around 73 mpg US (3.2 L/100 km / 87.7 mpg Imp). Amazing.







EcoModder fuel economy forum Note: MetroMPG has opened a fuel economy forum
Read about the project here, or go straight to EcoModder.com.



darin AT metrompg D-O-T com, or here