Well, no matter which car you get, if you drive the wheels off of it it is not going to get good fuel economy.

I have a feeling that most on here that get a new Mustang, whether V6 or V8, are not going to be getting that great fuel economy just because they won't be able to hold themselves back, because the fun factor of driving the cars hard will be irresistable! I know I wouldn't be able to.

Heck, I can't keep myself from getting into boost in my '04 all the time just because it feels so good. My car should be getting 17-18 MPG around town is down around 14 because of it. I did get 25 MPG on my last round trip to Dallas though...

 

This is great news!!!!! I might get to order my V-6 next week, if everything works out right.

 

Ford must have given a different press release to Motor Trend, Autoblog, and Autoweek.

 

That is rather outstanding re: 2011 V6 mileage. Well done, Ford! Well done indeed!

 

Something else to consider is that the mileage ratings are for cars with the standard equipment rear gear ratios, 2.73 for V6 and 3.15/3.31 auto/manual for V8. Any optional lower ratio rear gears will take away some of the highway fuel economy.

 

Autoweek and Motor Trend say 30 mpg on the manual and Autoblog says 29. The manual is better on the low end from the projected 18 to EPA 19. I am hoping 30mpg is the number.

 

Doesn't matter what any of the magazines or blogs have to say, the official Ford press release states that the EPA rating is 19 city for both trannies and 30/31 manual/auto on the highway. No reason to question anything else.

 

Actually, if you look here: http://media.fordvehicles.com/articl...ticle_id=32160

It says 29 MPG for the manual. Though frankly, I don't trust ford media to get the number right anymore than I do the auto mags. Best bet is try to find information directly from the EPA, though I'm not sure info direct from the EPA is available yet.

 

When Ford figures out a way to cam the V6 to give it a V8 rumble I think thats going to be the final nail in the coffin for V8's in a Mustang.

 

How much real world difference do you guys think there will be between the 2.73 and 3.31 gears? I am also wondering how much difference in performance will be. I have a 100 mile commute and this could be a great DD. The Fusion only gets like 28 mpg with a V6. I would love to have another Mustang. A goverment motors car is not even an option for me anymore. I have had my share in the past and I am done with them. I cant come to grips with buying another stang or waiting for a the fiesta and focus. Decisions decisions.

Another thing that puzzles me is how the AT cars are 2 mpg better on the highway. I have always like to row my own gears but this has me thinking as well. I was back tracking and My mach 1 is rated at 15/23 by the new 2008 standards and it will get about 18 in town and I have gotten 26-27 on the road without even trying.

 

I'm going to order a V-6 with an automatic (bad left leg) and the 3.31 gear. I've been wondering about the same thing. They are some people here thats good in figuring out things like this.

Someone figure out, what will the m.p.g. be on a V-6, manual and automatic transmissions with 3.31 rear gears. Thanks!

 

When you get your car please post back. I am just torn right now. Most of my commute is interstate but nothing chaps my *** worse than a car geared too high especially with a auto. I think you have probably made a good choice. I am leaning to the 3.31 and I am willing to give up a little gas but I dont want to give up a lot. I still dont understand why there is a 2 mpg penalty for the M6. Good luck with your new car. I was thinking about buying maybe just a base stripper model. I have to spend so much time in one I though I may as well get something that I would enjoy instead of a fiesta or something like that.

 

The fuel economy drop will mainly be the highway mileage and consequently the combined mileage, city mileage probably won't be affected much.

A good way to figure the difference in highway mileage would be to compute the percentage of difference in the rpm between the gears at highway cruise and figure about that same percentage decrease in the highway fuel economy.

Now, you guys that are concerned about the fuel economy compared to the acceleration between the 2.73 and 3.31 geared V6 cars, remember that the first gear in the auto tranny is 4.17 and the MT82 manual is 4.236. Those are some super low first gear ratios so even with a 2.73 rear gear the acceleration should be pretty good.

 

I found a gear ratio chart on the internet. The best i can figure from it is.......at 55 m.p.h. with the 3.31 rear gear ratio the engine will be doing around 397 more r.p.m. than with the 2.73 rear gear ratio. I wonder how bad the extra r.p.m. will hurt the m.p.g.

 

You guys are hilarious! Does even 2 mpg make THAT much of a difference anyways? 20,000 miles a year equates to 45 gallons more a YEAR! (Difference between 31 and 29mpg). At $3 per gallon that's $135 a year!
How about a whopping 5 mpg! (25 versus 30mpg). That's $1.09 a day.
How about the difference between 20mpg and 30? Now we are talking real money! A whopping $2.75 more a day. Not bad admission price to 412 horsepower!
'Nuff said.

 

The difference comes out to about 21% but I don't think it would change the mileage by that much, that would take it down to about 25 MPG, looking at that I would bet more on the order of about 27.5 MPG with the 3.31, but no true way to tell until you drive it. No way to tell for sure even if you went with the 2.73 if you would be able to get the 31 MPG either.

I don't do that much highway miles to worry about the difference in the mileage so I would go with the 3.31 just for the performance boost.

And like was said in another post in this thread, probably wouldn't be looking at $100 or so a year difference in your gas bill, hell, I waste way more than that on crap I don't need so spending it on gas isn't that big of a deal.

 

I'm still going to order my V-6 with the 3.31. I'm not worried about the gas mileage, just curious.

 

Might want to take a look at the ratio of 6th gear.

 

Yeah, about the same ratio in 6th as the 5th gear in the older tranny.

The thing they gained in the 6 speed was a deeper 1st gear more than anything else along with a closer ratio spread in 2nd through 6th.

 

Here are all the comparison numbers between 2005-10 V6 and 2011 V6 w/ std. 2.73 & opt. 3.31 gears and std. 17" & opt. 18" tires ...

1st gear @ 30 MPH:
05-10 V6 AT ... 4082 RPM w/ 215/60-17, 3.220 1st & 3.31 FD
vs.
2011 V6 AT ... 4229 RPM w/ 215/65-17, 4.171 1st & 2.73 FD
2011 V6 AT ... 4346 RPM w/ 235/50-18, 4.171 1st & 2.73 FD
2011 V6 AT ... 5269 RPM w/ 235/50-18, 4.171 1st & 3.31 FD

05-10 V6 MT ... 4754 RPM w/ 215/60-17, 3.750 1st & 3.31 FD
vs.
2011 V6 MT ... 4353 RPM w/ 225/60-17, 4.236 1st & 2.73 FD
2011 V6 MT ... 4413 RPM w/ 235/50-18, 4.236 1st & 2.73 FD
2011 V6 MT ... 5351 RPM w/ 235/50-18, 4.236 1st & 3.31 FD

O.D. @ 75 MPH:
05-10 V6 AT ... 2250 RPM w/ 215/60-17, 0.710 OD & 3.31 FD
vs.
2011 V6 AT ... 1751 RPM w/ 215/65-17, 0.691 OD & 2.73 FD
2011 V6 AT ... 1800 RPM w/ 235/50-18, 0.691 OD & 2.73 FD
2011 V6 AT ... 2182 RPM w/ 235/50-18, 0.691 OD & 3.31 FD

05-10 V6 MT ... 2282 RPM w/ 215/60-17, 0.720 OD & 3.31 FD
vs.
2011 V6 MT ... 1798 RPM w/ 225/60-17, 0.700 OD & 2.73 FD
2011 V6 MT ... 1823 RPM w/ 235/50-18, 0.700 OD & 2.73 FD
2011 V6 MT ... 2211 RPM w/ 235/50-18, 0.700 OD & 3.31 FD

If you order your 2011 V6 w/ std. 2.73's & std. 17" tires ...
AT: you'll have 3.6% more RPM in 1st & 22.2% less RPM in OD (than an 05/10 V6)
MT: you'll have 8.4% less RPM in 1st & 21.2% less RPM in OD

If you order your 2011 V6 w/ std. 2.73's & opt. 18" tires ...
AT: you'll have 6.5% more RPM in 1st & 20.0% less RPM in OD (than 05/10 V6)
MT: you'll have 7.2% less RPM in 1st & 20.1% less RPM in OD

If you order your 2011 V6 w/ opt. 3.31's & opt. 18" tires ...
AT: you'll have 29.1% more RPM in 1st & 3.00% less RPM in OD (than 05/10 V6)
MT: you'll have 12.6% more RPM in 1st & 3.11% less RPM in OD


In a nut shell ...
With the std. 2.73 gears, you get "similar" off-the-line performance but "gain" reduced cruising RPM's in OD compared to an 05-10.
or
With the opt. 3.31 gears, you "gain" off-the-line performance and get "similar" cruising RPM's in OD compared to an 05-10.

Hope this helps,

Doug