Hi folks,
2006 Vista Blue GT here (IUP, 18 inch polished factory, and a few minor cosmetic upgrades)...

My average fuel milage is right around 12.5 mpg. I only drive about 6 miles total every day and it's all city driving so i'm sure that has mostly to do with it, but i do think my car is getting poorer milage than it should. Thought?

Also, i am considering doing some performance upgrades, however, i'm very concerned about warranty for the time being. Are there any performance mods i can make and not void my warranty? For example, CAI without a tune? Is it even worth it without a tune? Or would the CAI itself void my warranty? And can i assume a CAI with or without tune will have a positive or negative impact on my fuel efficiency (just curious, won't affect my decision)?

I know there are numerous threads on CAI's and which one to get...but with the new mustang being a few years old now is there a clear favorite brand and type?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

You have issues if you are only getting 12.5 mpg. Of course driving only 6 miles a day won't help your mileage. You probably don't spend much time at operating temperature which in itself is not good for the engine - I hope you clean it out on the weekends. If you are going to get a CAI, get one with a tune if you want to improve the performance plus your mpg won't suffer. There are plenty to choose from.

 

At only 6 miles per day and all city driving, nothing you do will significantly increase you mileage except leaving the car parked then walking, buying a bicycle or motor scooter.

Your warm up and time at idle kills any chance at good mileage figures.

 

To answer your question about mileage. Yes, the limited amount of miles driven are the main reason why the MPG is so low.

Now, about warranty and CAI. There are a few CAI's that work without a tune. Many on here will say they aren't worth it. I used the Airaid CAI and was very happy with it. Heck, you can ask CR. He saw it in person when I took my car to him. For a stock setup, its not bad at all. Plus there is S & B, K & N, and even Roush has one (but its the same as Airaid). These without a reflash won't void a warranty. If a dealer is being a total a$$face about the airbox, go somewhere else who are mod friendly.

Now saying that. Just spend the extra, get a CAI + tune from Doug or Brenspeed. You will get better MPG's with a tune. I'm averaging 18 to 19 mpg around town with my 93 tune with longtubes!! Now, about getting around a dealer and warranty? What you do, is when you have to go into the shop for service, take the CAI off, reflash back to stock, drive it approximately 50 miles, and the only thing that will show up is a P1000 dead battery code. They won't be able to come and say "hey, you had an aftermarket tune in the car, your warranty is shot"! They won't know.

 

Take that thing out and drive it for pete sake!!

OK, in seriousness. Fill your tank, make note of the gallons filled and your milage, re-set your mpg info on the car, then take a road trip (a long one). Now re-fill your tank and check your milage the good old way, and compare it to your on board computers figures. If there's a big discrepancy, or you really are getting that bad of milage get it in to the dealer, somethings wrong. You should be getting over 21 mpg on the highway, unless you have low rearend gears.
As to the CAI, If you've read alot of threads on it you already know you have to get a tune with it. IMHO the tune will improve your milage, because it's more efficient. If you run the premium gas tune though (and why wouldn't you?), your fuel will cost a little more. I can't recomend a specific CAI, but if you get one from a reputable vender that has the tune/cai pkg (like Bamachips) you can't go wrong. Good luck.

 

Yeah, that's kinda what i figured. I was only disappointed because on occassions when i do get to go for longer drives i don't get on the highway what i'm "supposed" to get in the city. I used to drive about 20 miles in each direction to work and that was PURE interstate miles because my house and work were both right off the exit. During that time i think i was getting aroun 16.8, which i thought was also really bad. But at the time my car was brand new and i figured i needed a few thousand miles to brake in. Now it has @11,000 miles and the mileage is still really poor. Obviously i didn't buy this car for great mileage, i'm more concerned that something is wrong vs. cost of gas. As long as everything is "healthy" i'm not really that worried about the fuel efficiency.

Re: CAI...what are everyone's thoughts on Granatelli and their products (Throttle body, CAI, etc...). If i'm to believe what they say and some magazines have confirmed/tested it seems to offer pretty decent gains (around 40 rwhp) for relatively little money. Thoughts?

I really appreciate everyone's help.

 

I'd stay away from Granatelli.

 

I drive around that same mileage everyday and I get 15-17 mpg, so I would say you have some sort of issue going on.

CAI, the consensus on the forum is C&L and JLT2 seem to produce the most gains WITH a tune. If you get the CAI get a tune, the car is night and day difference.
Doug @ Bamachips or Brent @ Brenspeed are highly recommended here as well.

I personally have the 91R Tune from Doug and run a C & L Street CAI.

My mileage after the CAI actually got a little worse, but I'm pretty sure that is because I can't keep my foot out of it now.

As far as warranty it really wont VOID it, but the dealerships usually don't like it and try to make it an issue. I would recommend one of two things:

1)Find a dealership that is MOD friendly and won't give you any crap about your performance mods.

2) Install the stock air box and flash back to stock prior to taking it to the dealership.

 

What he said.

 

I got a used Steeda CAI from a guy here.....cleaned it and oiled. Had it`s own MAF attached. Got a SCT Tuner thru Brenspeed. With the 87 tune and a trip from Austin to Houston and back to see a sick Work-mate, I averaged 24.5 mpg. Your short hops are Killin it. Take a long cruise. Then tell us.

 

)Find a dealership that is MOD friendly and won't give you any crap about your performacne mods.

That is the answer to your problems. Take the time and make the effort to find a deraler that will work with you even if you have to drive 20-30 miles to get to them. My dealer is putting in my 4.10's today and is also doing my emmissions test - I am not taking off my CAI to reflash to stock.

 

Anyone aware of a mod-friendly dealership in Houston? I only ask because i heard mention of Austin/Dallas/Houston so far in the replies so i'm hoping someone is aware of a mod-friendly dealership.

Re: Granatelli, kinda worries me that most of the GMS posts are right around Oct./Nov. of last year...not much forum activity about their products after that.

 

What would worry me more is the car is getting barely up to temperature before you get to work. The reason this is an issue is that the engine heats up and then cools down forming condensation in the engine. This is not normally a problem, but in short trip driving you won't have time to get rid of that. Your only defense is to change the oil frequently, say every 3 to 4 months. This is important if you plan to keep the car.

Back to the CAI topic, I don't think there is one that will give you much better fuel mileage. This is largely due to the fact that at the speeds in which you will be driving the stock system should not offer much restriction and it’s (generally speaking) the restriction that is making the engine less efficient and causing the gas mileage to go down. Let’s be realistic, stop and go really kills the MPG. The first thing I would do is take it in and have the dealer make sure it is running correctly.

If you have a standard transmission try varying you’re shifting, say shifting at 2000 to 2200 rpm’s. Don’t try to keep up with traffic if they race from light to light, accelerate at a more moderate pace instead.
If you have an Auto, you options are more limited. A good tune, calibrated for the driving that you do, may be of some help.

Something else to consider is the possibility of changing the gears. Believe it or not, running 3:73’s or 4:10’s can actually save you gas. The reason is simple. One way that they do it is they make the engine more efficient down low… In other words your torque that the engine puts out is multiplied by the gears the same way that using a pole that is 10 foot long will roll a bolder that you couldn’t budge. This means more power for the same amount fuel and it is not likely that you’ll be driving speeds that would cause the gas mileage to go down.

The other way gears could help you is that you could cruise in a higher gear. Let’s say you top out at 48 to 53 mph. 4th gear is starting to get high in rpms and thus you will be using more gas… But 5th gear is too low and the engine bogging and now causing you have to give it more throttle to keep up with traffic. Put in 4:10’s and now 5th gear is much more usable and fuel efficient.

Here is a link to a spread sheet that could give you an idea of what to expect http://forums.bradbarnett.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=13172&d=1162519643 Play around with it and get an idea what the gears will do for you when you drive in traffic.
Sorry for the long post, I hope this helps.

 

That is because they got themselves in to a ruckus when they overstated some claims and then were questioned on it. JR does not seem to understand that discretion is not only the better part of valor but business as well. They, like a lot of companies have a bad habit of using suspect marketing practices. For example – A company sells throttle body cleaner and claims that using it will give you 5 hp. What they don’t explain is that if your throttle body is not dirty and in need of cleaning, it won’t do anything. What the label should say is that it typically restores up to 5 lost hp to with a dirty throttle body. There is plenty of information on this topic so I won’t get into it here.
That being said, most of the people who have bought their stuff seem to be satisfied and they do seem to have good customer service.

 

driving short trips 5-6 miles will make condensation and that will become a problem over time it could rust out muffler and is the death of a pro chamber, take it out and really go through the gears, these cars need to be driven hard to keep the learning curve sharp. if i were not ready for a tune i'd use a k&n panel filter. otherwise you could be losing money.

 

Well, I have to be honest. I have the GMS and I had it dyno'd tune to make sure it was ok with the A/F ratio and I can tell you that it needs to be tuned. Just make sure that you check your tune on a dyno to make sure that the A/F is ok. Better safe than sorry. I love mine and I really love the performance tune that I have. I agree with most, if I have to do it all over again. C&L and Tune from Bama would be my choice.

 

Not to be *****y, but if people think a company needs to explain that something needs to be dirty in order for their "cleaner" to work as advertised, maybe the problem is not with the company.

 

Agreed. I won't buy from them again. But since I already had their CAI installed, I worked around the issue and had it dyno'd tuned by a respected tuner.

 

That was just a simple example of misleading advertisement. You should also consider that not everyone has tons of experience with cars and such. Considering some the questions I have seen asked here (and on other forums) stuff that you or I might take as simple stuff others have no idea. Of course, that is what makes these forums so good.
Besides… I wasn’t about to dredge up that whole nasty GMS CAI thread with its implied lawsuits and all.

 

Well, there are a lot of nasty threads and complaints. I learned from my mistake, but as I stated. I like the product, just had to get it tuned. I will not bash any company on a thread, just will recommend to anyone that gets a CAI and a tune should get it dyno'd to check the A/F Ratios and other things. I got a tune for the GMS from one of the respected tuners (I won't name which one) and it was not set up properly. The A/F was way off even from one of the respected tuners that stated specifically that it was for a GMS CAI. So my recommendation for ANYONE that has bought a CAI and Tune is to get it DYNO'd to be SURE and then you can have the peace of mind afterwards when you are enjoying the car!