Krambo Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 I have a beater car (94 Plymouth Acclaim) of which I use to commute to my job 67 miles one way. Its ugly but it does keep the miles off the SSS. Well, since last winter, I have been keeping track of my MPG, fuel used (brand, Octane), and of course cost per gallon and oil changes / type, fuel filters and additives. Here are some interesting, non scientific findings: 1. There is a 4.1 MPG difference between PA 87 Octane (any brand) and NJ 87 Octane (any brand). PA fuel is better in the winter months only otherwise there is no difference (54,000 miles of data) 2. I saw an increase of 1.6 MPG after using the "Restore" oil additive and switching to Mobile 1 synthetic. (32,000 miles of data) 3. No signifigant difference of MPG in Octane levels. if the data showed anything, 89 Octane came out slightly ahead (doesn't warrent the $0.10 more per gallon) 4. Very minor differences in brand (+/- 0.6MPG), however, I got 2 bad tanks of gas from "US Gas" in NJ. I did not include them in the averages because they were obviously erroneous, averaging 8MPG less than the rolling average and the car would stall in traffic and sputter under acceleration. Notes: I have been keeping track since I got the car and put on over 60K miles on it. I started with a complete tune-up (cap, rotor, platinum plugs, wires, new air filter, fuel filter) and have been faithfully servicing it every 3K. Air filter was changed 3x, fuel filter 2x. The car has no A/C so the windows were open in the summer months (didn't see a drop though). I switched to Mobil 1 and extended my service intervals to 5K last spring. Been using Fram oil filters. New tires last spring as well (same size, different brand - Goodyear Aquatreds to Yokahama somethings...GY stopped making the Aquatreds in my size). The PA fuel vs. NJ fuel may have something to do with the NJ fuel being Oxygenated in the winter months. The drop was noted 2 years now from October to April. Just fun with the beater car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolBlueSS Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 I kind of did that with my SS, since I drive it daily. Of course, being in the south we don't really have harsh winters like you do up there. Using 93 octane it gets 1.5-2 MPG better than the lower octanes. Switching to synthetic oil (Castrol 10w30 Syntec) it improved about 1.5MPG, and a K&N filter brought another .5. Not a huge amount, but every little bit helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geomcrider Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 KRAMBO, You should be a statistician for the NFL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.