300 Hp and yer worried about MPG!!!!

 

Yeah man, I want my cake and I want to eat it too!

 

Except for brand additives, there's no difference between independent gas and name brand gas. Base gasoline is blended to a specification. Each refiner blends to that spec and sends it to the distributor where it all goes in the storage tanks with gas of the same spec. In some cases, gas from different refiners actually gets mixed together in the pipeline. Brand specific additives (i.e. Chevron Techron) are added before it's shipped to the gas stations. The one exception to this is the higher octane premium that some brands sell (I believe Sunoco is one).

 

So you say you got 112 miles for 1/4 of a tank? That would be about 448 miles for the whole tank, and these cars have 16 gallon tanks, correct? That's 28 mpg right there.

 

JSHeehan I like your math. If you are right it's a beautiful thing.

 

I hope the Mustang doesn't turn out to be like the RX8 when it first came out. Mazda said it got about five miles per gallon more then that car actually got. Had to make a settlement with the owners......

 

I've got about 250hp (and the newer M3's have about 333), and they get over 20 mpg+ around town. (I can get 30 on the highway). I realize that's a 6 versus an 8. But there are other 8's that shutdown cylinders on the highway and get nearly the same. So I'd think Ford could do about same.

 

Hey, I hear you about the poor MPG. It may be that you got a lemon.

I had a 1996, 1998 and 2000 Merc Villager. All three were rated at 17/23 MPG. The 1996 and 1998 had exactly the same drive train. The 2000 was similar but had the 3.3 ltr engine vs. the 3.0. Anyway, the 1996 averaged 20MPG (combined city/hwy) and so did the 2000 Villager. The 1998 model only averaged 12-13 MPG! :bang: The best mileage I ever got was during a trip to Florida (19 MPG).

I had the car checked by several Dealerships and no one could figure out why the mileage was so poor. Ford finally gave me $2000 to cover the added fuel cost till my lease was up!

During one of my many phone conversations with the factory rep I learned that the mileage posted on the sticker is an average figure. If you look at the fine print below the mileage numbers on the sticker you will see a much wider MPG range. In my case the city mileage was as low as 12 MPG and as high as 19. The rep also told me that about one in 50 vans coming off the line were getting mileage towards the lower end of the scale. Go figure!

 

With 14 MPG, I would be too . I've got 500 horsepower, and I get 18-20 mpg.

 

I get around 10 with my fastback. Might have to get one of these as an economy car. Almost like a prius.

 

One thing about the mpg is that it is rated according to EPA standards, which don't really reflect people's driving habits now. They assume such things as that people warm their cars up before they drive them, and that people don't make 5 minute drives down to the corner store to pick up a loaf of bread. Most cars actually get a few mpg lower than what is on the sticker under normal driving, even less if you drive like I do.

 

Hmmm, I was hoping the GT would get better mileage then 14 though. I was hopeing that combined would be 20 at least. If gas keeps going the way it is, then that could hurt the resell value later on in a couple of years.........

 

As long as your not "gettin on it" all the time, you "should" be around 20mpg combined driving. Heck my 66' 289 made 360 horses and got 20 mpg!

(It was balanced and blueprinted, headers, edelbrock intake, and a 450 cfm Holley carb)

 

I got 21mpg coming back from Daytona today.I was doing 80 and 85mph.I love that info display.

 

Was that in a 05 GT ZRX4ME?

 

So you say you got 112 miles for 1/4 of a tank? That would be about 448 miles for the whole tank, and these cars have 16 gallon tanks, correct? That's 28 mpg right there. [/b][/quote]
I would tend to agree with one exception. Anyone who's owned these cars in the past know that once that needle starts to move...it REALLY MOVES. My drive was all highway back here. Time will tell.

 

That's a tiny pisser of a carb. A big reason for the mileage.

 

I've owned a lot of new cars and in the past 15 years have never gotten less than the city EPA average. 14 MPG seems pretty low. Hopefully it will improve. I usually ageraged 18-20 out of my 99 auto GT. If I drove it hard, I obviously got less.

 

Good, I hope so. I feel a little better now, thanks........

 

Okay, I know this sounds bad but when I complained about the fuel mileage I was getting in my Jeep this is what the dealer told me " Get on the highway and go 100km /hr (remember I am in Canada). Drive 5 km at that speed with cruise control on. Reset your computer and you will see for the first minute it shows exactly what it says on paper you will get for gas mileage." Wouldn't you know it, the bugger was right. I tested that in my 2000 Grand Prix GTP and it was accurate as well.