Hello People!

As a young kid, I learned through my Dad to keep a record of each time I go to the petrol station. Thus I record date, mileage, price per gallon. gallons, total sale and location. We never had much money in the family, so when the huge repair bill came, and took food off the table, because of water in the tank, Dad made sure he would know next time where he got his gas.

Anyway, decades later I still adhere to this few second record keeping duty each time I fill up. Except now, I also incorporate my own political philosphy as to why petrol prices have rose as much as they have in such a short while. But that's for another forum.

Here is my question, I have a 1992 323. Through my accurate record keeping I have been able to determine that I get 35 miles to a gallon. Are their people out there that are getting more miles to a gallon than I am WITH THE SAME TYPE OF CAR? Question 2 is what can I do to increase the mileage my care already gets?

Opinions and suggestions are welcome.

Regards,

John

P.S. Does or has anyone ever heard of a 323 being turned into a propane or scrap oil car? How about one that operates solely on batteries?

 

I get about the same MPG. I also have a 1992 323 and I love it.

 

I have a 91 323 with 1.6 l and auto trans. I get around 33 mpg with mostly highway driving. Not a whole lot of things you can do to improve economy. Lighter weight in the car will help and the less you are mashing on the throttle helps as well. I have never heard of any propane or other conversions that would be available. I would however very much like to hear your philosophy about why fuel prices are are higher. I have my own as well.
Fuel as well as any other market comodity is based in price by demand. The higher the demand the greater the price. If diamonds were found all over the place then they would certainly be not worth as much as they are on todays market. Fuel follows much the same path. Anytime there is a 'scare' that the crude oil that is used to produce fuel might be cut off or prices raised for that crude oil, the fuel companies jack the price up in anticipation. The filling station across from where I work raised the price 20 cents in one day a few months ago. The fuel truck did not come and charge more money for the fuel that was delivered because there were no deliveries at that station. They just figured that since there were problems in the middle east that had escalated a day prior that fuel "might" be in short supply so they should adjust prices accordingly. Look at the gas prices that were being charged in Louisiana after the hurricane. They were charging upwards of $6 per gallon because they could,because we have to have it in order to drive our cars!!!!

 

Man is this a topic I love to see.

I feel the same way about trying to save money on not only gas but car ownership as a whole.
I have been until 2 weeks ago, driving a 1987 Mazda 323 DXi 1.6 5spd HB. 241,000 miles.
It was totaled in a rear end collision. A Ford Taurus hit me while I was almost stopped
at around 40mph. Knocked me a good 75-100 feet.

I bought the car new in 88 and began a mechanical restoration in 96 beginning
with the engine and recently wrapped it up with new halfshafts and struts.
Replaced damn near everything except the gas tank...which puts me back on topic...

How does a solid 39.7 mpg sound? I calculated this over 3 tanks of gas to improve
accuracy. I was shooting for 40 but heck thats close enough.

Here is how I did it.

Standard tranny. Get er in the highest gear without lagging the engine. Watch that tach! Keep it under 2,200 RPM's
You can shift at 2,000 but that tends to **** off the drivers behind you.
No junk in the trunk.
Feather the petal on takoffs.
Back off early from red lights and wait for em to turn green so I can coast through them.
Try to be in a lane that does not make you slow down and have to speed up again.
Mobile One Fully Synthetic Oil (The 15,000 mile stuff)

Now I was getting about 35.8 until I put the Mobile One in so that got me an extra 3.9 Mpg!
I also had to lower the idle on the car twice in less than a week after putting this oil in my
engine.