How to get the best mpg from your rolla

[slickgeoprizm]

Hello all, I just wanted to know what do you guys, girls do to get the most mpg from your daily driver. I have read about swapping the 5th gear in your transmission to have a higher final drive ratio which will let you travel at a lower rpm in 5th gear. Does anyone know if there is a higher 5th gear to swap for our cars? I have the 1.6L 4afe 5 speed in a 96 geo prizm. What options do we have??? I already granny shift, just looking in other areas to try to save more. The more gas I save the better

[Rich L]

Aside from all the normal things (e.g. proper tire pressure) I find my 5 speed prefers slower highway speeds. In the summer, I routinely get mid-40's at 55mph, mid-30's at 65mph, and high-20's at 75mph.

Fuel economy on my car is negatively impacted by two major items: ambient temperature and ethanol in the fuel. Cold temps drop my mileage by 20% over summer usage. I have documented this since '03 when I bough the car. E10 fuel dropped my mileage by 3-4mpg.

I run Mobil 1 5w30, Redline GL-4, and keep all maintenance up to date. I check tire pressure every other week and keep it around 42 psi. Not sure how much difference this stuff makes.

[TheNightWolf]

I drive with my foot on the floor and manage 32-35mpg

On the highway I cruise at 70-90 and shift high....No idea how I manage good gas mileage but I'm much happier in this than my last car.

[azcorolla]

I pretty much agree with Rich. IMO there aren't any cost-effective tricks or gadgets that are going to help much, and may even hurt your gas mileage. These cars are already efficient as hell, and you aren't going to gain more than a couple mpg by spending money on it; it'll never pay you back in savings.

I've tried about everything - even hyper-miling tricks - over the years, and none of it was worth the effort.

You'll probably try some things anyhow (I would, it's kind of a fun experiment), but really, just drive halfway sensibly, keep it tuned up, change oil often, plenty of air in the tires and try to avoid ethanol. The rest of it isn't worth the effort.

[speedy25]

Keep it STOCK. Keep up on maintenance.

Works for me.

-SP

[PhatRoyale]

Originally Posted by speedy25

Keep it STOCK. Keep up on maintenance.

Works for me.

-SP

This.

[ganda1f]

+1 on this. Good maintenance is the key.
Avoid having *anything* on the roof. Even an empty rack will kill the mileage. For me it dropped from 34 to 26 mpg.

[z27ls3]

avoid cheap tires
I really like yokohama or michelin harmony,
the michelin harmony were suggested to me by toyota and have delivered best mpg.
check your local COOP, ours sells actual gas (not cut) and only 10 cents over local prices.
the Ag stores are big on uncut fuel as vehicles / engines stored for long periods suffer from
ethanol breakdown causing condensation that oxidizes the fuel system, short story there is the fuel system rusts. you can fix the symptom with stabil, or address the problem with pure gasoline.