SilverUberXeno
El Tigre Blanco
- Jul 26, 2005
- 4,620
- 26
I currently drive an 03 Chrysler Concorde; a large, 3402 pound vehicle with a 3.5L 6 cylinder engine. Not a gass GUZZLER persay, but certainly a full size family sedan.
According to www.fueleconomy.gov, my car gets approximately 17 mpg city, and 25 mpg highway. This makes sense, as the car is quite large.
I had an 01 Concorde for quite a while and got excellent mileage with it due to some changes I made which were both simple and easy. To further test my theory, I made the same changes to this vehicle.
Pre experiment, I was averaging about 26.4 mpg on the highway (a 4 hour drive from New Jersey to upstate NY), with the cruise control at 72. With town driving included, I averaged about 22 altogether. I found this unnacceptable.
The experiment:
I'm a big proponent of synthetic oil, so I did an oil change and used Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic. This can be purchased for about $20/5 gallons at WalMart.
I'm also a big proponent of K&N Air Filters, as they just plain work, and you never need to replace it. You do however have to clean it every 50,000 miles. Dear me! These are VERY expensive as far as air filters go; expect to spend 40-60$ per. If more air gets to the cylinders, les gas is needed to create the same amount of combustion. Oxygen and gasoline are both fuels; more of one, less of another.
The results:
I drove 2 hours today on the interstate, between Buffalo and Syracuse, NY. I averaged 29.3 MPG going 78 with the air conditioning on the coldest setting.
I reset the computer once I left work to check my mileage on the drive home, which is about 12 miles on the highway, 7 miles through a 30mph town with many lights, then 4 miles down country roads.
I averaged 31.4 mpg for the trip. Was going 65mph highway with AC on.
Conclusions:
My highway mileage improved 3 full mpg, at least. This is an 11% increase in fuel economy. It effectively makes a $4 gallon of gasoline only cost $3.56, as it only takes .89 gallons of gasoline to get me where the full gallon used to.
Assuming one drives 15,000 miles a year, or approximately 300 miles a week...
For the sake of measure, we'll use my car, in which I used to get 26mpg highway, and now get 30...
@26: I need 11.54 Gallons to travel 300 highway miles
@30: I need 10.00 Gallons ...
This saves me 1.5 gallons a week. 1.5 x $4 = $6 week saved.
In 10 weeks of driving, the K&N filter will pay for itself. It should take about 200 weeks of driving before I even need to clean the filter.
In 4 more weeks the oil will be paid for. Synthetic oil does not need to be changed but every 8,000 miles +. Expect about 40 weeks between oil changes.
In the first 40 weeks, I will save $240. This takes into account the price of the air filter, and the price of enough oil for an oil change. For every 40 week period thereafter, I will save about $300, as I do not need another air filter-- ever.
In the first 50 weeks (year), I will save $315 total. Assuming the price of gas to stay near $4, that is 78 free gallons of gas, or 2340 miles of driving.
You'll also notice your car has a little more pep once the K&N air filter is in there.
Results may vary; I do not drive my car like it's a racecar.
The more you drive, the more you will save.
According to www.fueleconomy.gov, my car gets approximately 17 mpg city, and 25 mpg highway. This makes sense, as the car is quite large.
I had an 01 Concorde for quite a while and got excellent mileage with it due to some changes I made which were both simple and easy. To further test my theory, I made the same changes to this vehicle.
Pre experiment, I was averaging about 26.4 mpg on the highway (a 4 hour drive from New Jersey to upstate NY), with the cruise control at 72. With town driving included, I averaged about 22 altogether. I found this unnacceptable.
The experiment:
I'm a big proponent of synthetic oil, so I did an oil change and used Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic. This can be purchased for about $20/5 gallons at WalMart.
I'm also a big proponent of K&N Air Filters, as they just plain work, and you never need to replace it. You do however have to clean it every 50,000 miles. Dear me! These are VERY expensive as far as air filters go; expect to spend 40-60$ per. If more air gets to the cylinders, les gas is needed to create the same amount of combustion. Oxygen and gasoline are both fuels; more of one, less of another.
The results:
I drove 2 hours today on the interstate, between Buffalo and Syracuse, NY. I averaged 29.3 MPG going 78 with the air conditioning on the coldest setting.
I reset the computer once I left work to check my mileage on the drive home, which is about 12 miles on the highway, 7 miles through a 30mph town with many lights, then 4 miles down country roads.
I averaged 31.4 mpg for the trip. Was going 65mph highway with AC on.
Conclusions:
My highway mileage improved 3 full mpg, at least. This is an 11% increase in fuel economy. It effectively makes a $4 gallon of gasoline only cost $3.56, as it only takes .89 gallons of gasoline to get me where the full gallon used to.
Assuming one drives 15,000 miles a year, or approximately 300 miles a week...
For the sake of measure, we'll use my car, in which I used to get 26mpg highway, and now get 30...
@26: I need 11.54 Gallons to travel 300 highway miles
@30: I need 10.00 Gallons ...
This saves me 1.5 gallons a week. 1.5 x $4 = $6 week saved.
In 10 weeks of driving, the K&N filter will pay for itself. It should take about 200 weeks of driving before I even need to clean the filter.
In 4 more weeks the oil will be paid for. Synthetic oil does not need to be changed but every 8,000 miles +. Expect about 40 weeks between oil changes.
In the first 40 weeks, I will save $240. This takes into account the price of the air filter, and the price of enough oil for an oil change. For every 40 week period thereafter, I will save about $300, as I do not need another air filter-- ever.
In the first 50 weeks (year), I will save $315 total. Assuming the price of gas to stay near $4, that is 78 free gallons of gas, or 2340 miles of driving.
You'll also notice your car has a little more pep once the K&N air filter is in there.
Results may vary; I do not drive my car like it's a racecar.
The more you drive, the more you will save.
United States
