I recently bought a sonic blue '05 stang GT. And I'm attending college a good 6hrs away from home, and I need to get the most mpg from my car(sorry, I'm a noob and trying to save some money on gas!) any suggestions anyone?

 

Drive a reasonable speed, use cruise control, and don't be in a hurry. Also, make sure your tires are properly inflated. That's about the best you're gonna do. If you already have a hand held tuner, you can spend the money on getting one of the tuning shops to write an economy tune, but I don't know if you'd really re-coup the cost of that with saved gas.

 

Being smooth in your driving makes a big difference.....avoid hard, fast starts and braking. Use the cruise when it's practical. If you have a 5 speed manual transmission, short shift into the higher gears as soon as you can, without lugging the engine. Tire inflation plays a part too.

 

This there any mods I can do to help anything? Thanks for everyone's input

 

I don't know what my other mods contributed but with a cai/tune and UD Pulleys in the lineup ( which are supposed to increase MPG) I'll average about 28-32 freeway MPG - between 70-80 MPH...

 

1) Get something like Sta-Bil that counters the ethanol in the gas (I do this in my Navigator and pick up 2 mpg).
2) Get a tune from VMP that's for MPG AND counters the ethanol in the gas (I chose this for my GT500 and picked up 3 mpg).

 

Sort of. There are modifications you can do that will slightly improve gas mileage if used/driven right, but in most cases it will take you years to recover the cost of the mods in money saved from using less gas. You can do the math based on how many miles you drive and how much you pay for gas, but for example, if you spent $750 on a tuner, CAI, and pulleys, and they improved your mpg from 22 to 25 mpg, gas costs you $3/gallon, and you drive 15k miles a year, it would take you 3 years to recover the $750 spent on the modifications in fuel savings. Changing your driving habits is your best bet, as it is free.

 

I use torco 2 stroke oil and it helps with the ethanol crap in the fuel.

 

Explain please. How does Sta-Bil or 2 stroke oil counter ethanol?


Also, in the winter I've been driving with the fan on low set for mix of floor and defrost. But I read that defrost actually engages the A/C and affects mileage. Is that true?

 

Thanks for everything everyone, your input was great! If anyone can think of anything else, please post it!

 

Honestly I don't know why it works but it does help my mpg. I first read about it in the gas savers forum and thought it was worth a try. It could work as an upper cylinder lubricant and counteracts the dryness of ethanol. I put 2 ounces in a tank and I get about 380 miles out of the tank with 3.90 gears with mixed city and highway. Before torco and stock gears I was lucky to get 320 on roughly 14 gallons.

 

Travel light. The more stuff you haul with you, the more you're gonna burn.

Make sure you're up on your maintenance
- air filter is clean (you can even get a K&N or similar which flows better..you might get 1 extra MPG)

- clean your MAF sensor (they have cans of cleaner at parts stores for like $4

- don't use heavier motor oil than you have to. In the winter you can use factory recommended 5W-20 just fine. some people go heavier in the summer for more protection with all the heat, but in winter it's a moot point and the cold makes it harder to start the car

And now the dangerous one:
-Draft behind other cars. don't get up on their bumpers, you'll be asking for an accident. But 3-4 car lengths behind them you can still start seeing aerodynamic benefits at highway speed. 18 wheelers especially. but if they can't maintain a friggin speed like most drivers on the road I see, you'll probably lose all of the benefits from speeding up and slowing down

 

Yes, it is true. When using defrost it cycles the A/C to, (I assume) get the moisture out of the air and keep it lubricated. If you just put it on the floor option, it should still blow some out of the defrost vents without cycling the A/C

 

Now that is interesting info. Nice to know. Thank you

 

drive down hill

 

...in neutral with the engine off.

 

Park the Mustang, get a motorcycle. My MPG went from 18ish to 45!

/yes, aware that's not a solution for everyone.
//And **** sure not in 28 degrees in Houston. Sheesh.

 

Probably the best advice for improved mileage, but it really sucks riding before dawn when it's cold and raining...

Most of the advice above is where it's at.

Don't tailgate, and do lots of coasting between lights. Make sure tires are a little over-inflated. Stay in as high a gear as you can, without lugging the engine, while keeping RPMs as low as possible. I'm another who believes in an upper cyl. lubricant. Right now, I'm adding about two ounces per tankful of Wally World's Supertech 2-stroke oil. Seems to make the Bullitt run more smoothly, or maybe it's just my imagination.. Oh; and I just switched over to Redline 5W-20 in it too. I was using the MC 5W-20 blend, till about 10K miles.

 

How long until it actually started saving you money overall though, when you count the purchase price of the motorcycle, insurance, registration, maintenance, repairs (if used), etc? I've heard other people remark that buying a motorcycle has saved them money on gas, but when all the expenses are factored in, they didn't break even for years, if at all.

 

the thing that comes to mind is switching to a higher gear (lower numerically). i don't know if they still make the 2.73, but assuming you have a manual, at 65 mph it would drop the revs from 2000 to 1500.

i know they still make the 3.08s which would drop the revs to 1700 at 65 mph.