I was wondering if it is possible to shift from 1st to 3rd to increase gas mileage, similar to the skip shift system used on the Corvette.

How would you do this without severely bogging in 3rd gear AND manage to boost fuel economy? I never quite understand the 1st-4th skip shift on the GM cars.

 

You would be better off doing 2nd to 4th or 5th. You only want to do this technique when you are on flat streets or the highway. Otherwise you'll just bogg the engine for no reason going up hills.

Good luck with it...

When I'm commuting to work in my V6 I'm into 5th by the time I reach 50mph. But i'm just cycling throught the gears real fast. I'll generaly stay in 5th all the way down to 40mph before down shifting.

According to the Owners Manual the up shift #'S for best fuel economy are...

Shift from:
1-2 11 mph
2-3 19 mph
3-4 30 mph
4-5 40 mph

 

I do it when heading down a steep hill.
It works perfectly that way.
If you are on the flat, just make sure you are up to speed that 3rd can handle without bogging.
Just never let your rpms get too low uphill.

 

When I drive my Dads GT....I watch the Info center with the bars that tell you the fuel economy you get...and I it seems that it doesnt matter which gear you are in....I tried to short shift, but I had to push the pedall down further at the next gear and I was still only showing one bar...

 

Shift it into neutral, apply the parking brake and turn off the ignition. I GUARANTEE results!

My Z/28 with the T-56 had the 1st to 4th skip shift and it was a pain in the ***. I think I had the car less than a week before I disabled it. At any rate, for economy it's all about your rate of acceleration, not what gear you're in (more or less). If you get too aggressive with the short shifts you'll bog the motor and actually use MORE fuel as the motor struggles to make power. Just go a little easier on the pedal when you're starting up and try to use momentum as much as possible. If you REALLY want to save fuel try to keep the motor as close to steady state as possible. If you're going up an incline add as little throttle as possible to get yourself up the hill. You might give up some speed, but you'll make it up on the other side. Now with this and all of the other advice you'll get here, you might gain an extra mile or so per gallon which should equate to a nice $1 or two in your pocket. Just drive it and don't worry about it!

 

I've noticed these speeds correspond to about 1500 top end RPM in each gear, so that's where I shift at when trying to be ultra conservative. For awhile I was shifting at 2000 or 2500 consistently and my fuel mileage went down about 10-15%. So...not sure if that enough to really concern me.

 

guys brace yourself because they are raising the price of gas again.

 

I shifted at 2000 rpms around town and saw my fuel mileage consistantly increase. I got 1 to 2 mpg better.

 

Oh, why am I not surprised? 4th of July is coming up!

 

I shift at around 2000 RPM as well and I get about 19 mpg in my mixed city/highway driving. My last 3 fillups were all 19-19.5 mpg w/ the Max A/C running. Using my 00 Crown Vic (3.55s, Comp Cams, 4R70W), I get 15-16 mpg in the same driving style/route without the A/C!

 

I try to get as close as I can to idle without bogging down the engine. I've even gone down the road at 30 in 5th gear (~800 rpm if I remember right). After a week and a half long experiment I just did, I found that overall, the best way to improve your gas milage is day to day consistency and patience. The first few days it was extremely difficult to get good gas milage as the computer was still used to my regular driving style. The only way to maintain 20 mpg was to never take the engine over 1500 rpm and make 0-60 come up in 60 seconds. As the week progressed, the car's computer readjusted to my more sedate style, and I could actually drive normally (by non-mustang standards) and maintain the 20.5mpg for the rest of the experiment. And when I did sink my foot on the pedal at the end, there was some significant lag. Evidence of how the computer learned my recent habits. But the gas milage was great. Then I screwed it up by swapping the CAI out and went back to stock and reflashed the computer for the stock intake, and it forgot everything I taught it! Back to 17mpg.

 

Shift from:
1-2 11 mph
2-3 19 mph
3-4 30 mph
4-5 40 mph

My '07 is mostly just driven to work. I started driving this one differently and it seems to be paying off. This is all city driving at about 33mph. I'm averaging exactly 20mpg. I didn't read it in the manual, but I just experimented for a few days, and that is where I get best mileage. Mind you, my entire commute consists of two small hills. Everything else is flat. It's about 10 miles each way to work. I think those numbers are dead on for optimal fuel economy on relatively flat ground. The '05 on the other hand, usually gets shifted between 2500 and 4500 rpms

 

Ugh, forget creeping around for me, its painful

 

6000 rpms with the pedal never coming off the carpet during the shift. Only proper way to shift a mustang.

 

Mustangs weren't built for green. They do alright numbers but if your really worried about saving a gallon or two and not enjoy the car might as well go get a prius and floor that puppy all day.

So much worrying about shifting into what gear and what rpm at what time making sure u dont bog the engine and blah blah blah blaahhh.

Drive it like you stole it.

 

Yea, once again, I just don't understand fuel mileage discussions regarding a Mustang GT or other performance variant. If you're going to try to achieve 20mpg with this car, why bother buying it? This is NOT a fuel mileage machine. This is a snorting, butt kickin fun azz car that is meant to be driven. I'm not saying you have to bounce off the limiter all day every day every shift, but to sit in it driving to achieve the best possible fuel mileage is just nuts.

Toyota offers lots of fuel efficient vehicles and buying one supposedly makes you smart. That's what they say anyway. It also makes you slow and boring.

For fun, once in a while, see if you can get rubber in 2nd AND 3rd. It's a gas.

Mr. Pepetual 15.2mpg.

 

I've heard this type of argument regarding many other Ford cars with V8 engines. I won't accept it simply because I know my Mustang can do better. Right now it consistently gets 19 mpg in mixed city/highway driving (mostly city) with less than 1000 miles on the odometer. I just want to know how much more I can squeeze out and still "eat my cake" as well. So far, the Mustang is more comfortable, more powerful, better handling, and more fuel efficient than my Crown Vic. I'm not sure why I didn't buy a Mustang in the first place... No more saloons for me.

 

I get over 20 in mine AND drive the snot out of it!

 

torque

 

+1. My cousin just bought an '07 C6 Vette - told me it'll pull from 4th pretty easily. Says it gets slightly better mileage than his old Lexus IS300 to boot!