Gentlemen,

Just thought I'd share this because gas mileage comes up now and then. Recently came back from vacation. Lot of mountain driving but also flat expanses as well. 4K miles total. Mileage was better than I expected. I got a range from 16.1 - 17.8 MPG. Checked it many tankfuls. The low end was with A/C and driving 80 mph. But generally I was getting in the 17's which I was tickled about. I was not trying to hypermile or anything. I always used 91 octane from the majors ..mostly Shell, BP or Mobil (no cheapo gas). We had a decent amount of luggage, tools, gear and ice chest that probably added up to 250-300 lbs plus wife and kid. I also have a homemade kayak rack on top that, although empty at the time, doesn't add anything to the aerodynamics, and is 1/8" square tube so they probably weight 40 lbs.

Anyway, like I say, I was pleasantly surprised. I haven't checked mileage in a while. It ran like a top and narry a problem other than some plastic crap my wife and kid broke out of carelessness. I was expecting somewhere in the 15.5 range based on past performance. Before I left I did a complete tune-up with new wires (STI), plugs (NGK regulars - old ones were quite worn), O2 sensors, filters (Fram), regular fluids and more. Tire pressure was 26 lbs front, 36 lbs rear (per the manual). Firestone Destination LE stock size tires. I've been getting "worn Catalyst" codes lately so that's probably the next thing on the list to address.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. I'll have to check overall highway/town miles now and see what that looks like.

What have you guys been getting?

 

I've been averaging 15-16 mpg, combo of street and highway driving. If I was ever to go on a long drive in this thing, I'd estimate 15 mpg, and budget accordingly.

 

Well, when she was running, my 97 got about 17mpg, I was getting 400 miles per tank (23.5 gallons) the last two fill-ups I had, and I drive a mix of city (country) and highway sometimes, but for me it's just careful driving is what makes or breaks mpg. That and I didn't realize until I was using the GPS that my speedometer is 5 mph faster than it actually is. But I like scenic driving.

 

Why do you read the manual for tire psi? Why not look at the tire you have? I run 40 PSI in my tires, and the max I'm supposed to run is 45.