Gas miser thread 40+Mpg

NYSpeed Automotive
161

Remember, the Volt is EV first (~43 miles), then it has a nice engine acting as a generator to keep me going indefinitely, 300+ miles per tank (9 gallons) as it keeps charging the batteries.
It’s kinda the best of both worlds :slight_smile: I have utilized my car 90% all-electric driving so far, using just 6 gallons of gas in 60 days. However, if I needed to go 80 miles in a day or take a 1,000 mile road trip, I’d still get over 36 MPG after I run out of my initial EV charge (~43 miles) for as far as I need to go.

Speaking of which, I don’t quite understand 100% EV vehicles, since you’d need two cars to do everything you can do with a normal car. The Volt is fun, luxurious, comfortable, smooth, quiet, yadda yadda… but unlike a conventional EV, I can drive for as long as I can get to the gas station. Let’s see a Honda Leaf or Tesla do that. (OK, I’d totally own a Tesla S if I could afford it, and just rent a car for road trips!)

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How does that work out cost-wise when you take into account electricity use, I assume you charge at home. It’s still less than gas, but not THAT much less, right? I think the last I read a “gallon” of electricity was around $2.50 or so. Your 348.68 only takes into account actual fuel consumption, right?

---------- Post added at 04:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:54 PM ----------

Any update on this? Does your friend have an updated MPG average since doing the mod?

163

For the cost of electricity in Buffalo, my electric bill barely went up last month. You’re really high on your number, unless that’s a Google search number from California.

My electric bill went up maybe $30/mo. I charge my car every day, but I usually have a few miles of EV charge left at the end of the day.

As for money savings, you’ll be shocked. Switching from my BMW which I was paying $480/mo. to purchase, I ended up in the Volt lease for $364/mo. and my trade-in paid the $2,350 down payment and I ended up with an extra $2,600 cash in my pocket. My BMW used to suck down $360/mo. in gas. I’m saving almost $500.00 each month…

Doing the actual math, the car has a 16.5 KWh battery pack, of which you really only use 13 KWh every day. The car never lets you fully discharge or fully charge the batteries, so that they last longer. Lithium Ion batteries don’t like to be fullying charged/discharged, so it compensates so they can last 10+ years.

Any hoo, doing the math on my electric bill, including delivery bull crap and whatnot… it would cost me $56.95400340715503/mo. if I had to charge all 16 KWh of the battery. My elelctric bill barely went up $30 though. I found that $56.95 by taking my current bill, including taxes/fees/delivery/KWh and just divided it from 480 KWh

Realistically, you’d only charge 13 KWh/day = $42.75/mo. for a full charge every day.

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No, that sounds about right with the national average of electricity. According to consumer reports, the average electricity cost makes the volt $0.04/mile, where as my TDI is around $0.10/mile. Considering I pay just around $105 or so a month on fuel, this thing being up to $42.75 a month is spot on with the consumer reports estimates.

And holy crap for you paying $360/month for gas in the BMW!!

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http://badges.fuelly.com/images/sig-us/220941.png

Close, Still breaking in, under 3500 miles. Should be no problem, but this is mostly city driving. Non ECO, Auto. 1.4l Turbo.

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This was performed on a vehicle we were selling (I own an automotive business that sells alternative energy vehicles exclusively, mostly hybrids). The vehicle was sold to a customer, from whom I haven’t heard any complaints.

I was averaging 65mpg using the feature somewhat sparingly.

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im sure the volt is a great car, however id prefer the prius plug in over it. better fuel economy when using gas and solid technology thats been in use for over ten years now

168

My goal was to use barely any gas and save as much money as possible to get a great car. I did a lot of research before picking, since I knew I was going to miss my BMW going to anything else. The Volt is so solid compared to the Prius and drives/handles like a luxury car. I did drive a Prius, too. It felt loose, cheap and under-engineered. The worst thing about the prius… it was so ugly and I just couldn’t drive it. The Volt isn’t a BMW, but at least it’s pretty cool looking for what it is.

Looking at my VoltStats, I rarely drive over 40 miles per day, which is perfect. At 70° out, I get 43 miles or so EV. When it dipped down to 50° I am getting about 37. I’m sure when it gets colder and I have to start using the heater more, I’m going to dip down to I’m hoping 30 miles EV, as I’ve read on the Volt forums. That’ll still be enough to commute to/from work without the engine kicking on.

Sadly, the Prius Plug-in only has an 11 mile EV range and 50 MPG afterwards. The Volt is ~37 mile EV range with 37 MPG. My 6 gallons of gas in 60 days says quite a bit about the Volt being just about right for my needs.

Also, with the Prius, my engine would turn on every day. Just my commute would cost me 15 miles of gasoline @50 MPG (1 gallon every 3.5 days). Just going to and from work, I’d have used 24 gallons of gas! Then, I do activities right after work (golf, volleyball and billiards leagues), so I don’t have time to plug in. With my Volt, I still have 15 miles of EV range left to do that stuff. The Prius… more gas = less savings per month.

Here, check out my stats (Link below). I’d have still only used 4.5 gallons of gas in the last 60 days if I didn’t have three emergencies come up. On those three days, I had to use the most gas per day than any other normal day that the engine kicked on. Even still, I have yet to go to a gas station. Two emergencies were work related and one was a family emergency to the hospital. Besides that, my engine rarely turns on. It’s quite incredible, since I used to visit a gas station every 5 days.

Volt Stats: Details for Volt #2013-48571 (716 Volt)

For a bonus, here’s my favorite Chevy Volt review. 25 minutes long, but it goes through how the car works, too. Pretty cool watch if anyone is interested…

169

how much did you get the volt for?

170

I originally was going to get a base model for $1,800 down / $299 a month / 12k miles
I instead opted to get a fully loaded one for $2,350 down / $360 a month / 12k miles

Trading in my BMW gave me twice as much as I needed for the down payment, so I also got a nice $2,600 check back :slight_smile:

Now that the 2014 models are out, they also dropped their prices by $5,000. If there are any in stock yet, they could potentially be had even cheaper than that…

171

Thread resurection

I just picked up a '99 Civic Ex Coupe 5spd, that I plan to mod for 50mpg this summer. This will replace my current dd '00 Corolla auto, I had to fight to get 39mpg.

Planned mods for the Civic to hit 50mpg
-Upper grill block off, and partial lower grill block off
-Moon disc wheel covers http://www.mooneyesusa.com/Moon-Disc-Snap-On-p/md11-sn.htm
-Warm Air Intake WAI, warm air requires less fuel. (Maybe just a short ram intake would be good)
-50psi in the tires
-5w20 synthetic oil
-Possibly a trans swap, EX has 4.25 final drive, but DX has 4.058, CX/VX has 3.25 !=~ 2200rpm @70
-Driving techniques: Engine off at light, Engine off coasting, pulse and glide, driving speed limit (a tough one, try it)

      • Updated - - -

http://www.greengrandprix.com/ allowable top speed is only 60 though, but lots of laps

172

50 psi in tires? Tire cost worth gas savings?

173

you do that :stuck_out_tongue: Ill load up the jetta, knock the tires down to 25psi, and only use 4th gear and see who gets better mpg :stuck_out_tongue:
I know some one selling a 2 door tdi golf 5speed needs a turblo for cheap.

as for 50 psi… it wont wear the tires much faster… and the cost of 14" tires for a civic is mute point anyways.

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You’re absolutely right it would be penny wise and dollar foolish to burn up tires to save a few gallons of gas. I already experimented at diff pressures. Remember many tires have 44 or 51 psi max inflation cold. I haven’t noticed any increased tire wear on my corolla with narrow 14’s at 50psi, handling is not worse either, and the change in coasting is very noticeable

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Hmm, yea I forget that 13-14" tires are super cheap.

176

After driving the Miata all weekend:

32 mpg.

And it does burnouts.

Suck on that.

177

Just drove from Jacksonville to ft pierce in my dads ridgeline (sorry we couldn’t meet up @Willybeen) and got 17.1 mpg lol. But man, what a cruiser!

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@Jam Next time! I want pizza now

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I picked up this 3rd gen '10 Prius in October. So far I’m pretty impressed with it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v308/jetta8v/null_zps76e8b458.jpg

It is the top of the line V trim level. This gives it 17s, heated leather, JBL sound, LED headlights, the ability to use the smart key on the passenger side and trunk, bluetooth and some other stuff I am forgetting. It also has the navigation package and the advanced technology package. The advanced tech package gives it radar crusie control (AWESOME), self parking, and lane keep assist. Pretty much the only thing missing is the solar roof package.

I looked around for a while to find one loaded up like this because I rationalized that if I was going to drive a Prius, I wanted it to have a ton of gadgets. Also, in the used market, it seems like the more basic models are selling for very slightly less.

After driving it 12000 miles since October, I’d say I’m pretty happy with it. We’ve taken 2 road trips with it and it is wonderful for that task. Quiet, comfortable, reliable, and the radar cruise is such a nice feature. It would be hard for me to have a car without it. It is also great for commuting. The JBL sound system is pretty nice. I thought I’d miss driving a manual, but rather enjoy not driving a manual in traffic. When I want to drive a manual, I take out the wife’s Fiat, or the Miata.

Speaking of the Fiat…

You can see it in the background of the photo above. It has been consistently getting better than 40 MPGs mixed driving, all winter. Its a great little hatchback, but the lack of space and the fact that we are trying to keep the 4yr/50K warranty valid as long as possible have us driving the Prius everywhere. My wife is jealous of the Prius’ heated seats and bluetooth audio.

180

From a TDI to a prius didn’t see that coming…