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Quote:

Originally Posted by Project84 (Post 103784)

I was SO serious about buying a bicycle this year, and I've put it off because about 3 miles of my commute is on a two lane road w/ a VERY small shoulder, effectively leaving no room to safely ride w/o being in the way of traffic.

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22vehicular+cycling

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That being the case, I've given even more thought, recently, to buying a used Ninja 250. The downside, the 250 costs a lot more, and returns no health benefits and is possibly more dangerous than riding a bicycle those 3 miles on the road.

For such a short commute, with no highway driving, why not a scooter? For that matter, an electric scooter or motorcycle. Me, I'd buy the cheapest (after necessary parts to repair it) beater scooter or motorcycle I could.

You could also try to find a more bicycle-friendly route.

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I think being able to read the live results will help me a lot!

The DIY fuel rate monitor link in my sig might help if your budget is too small for a ScanGauge right now.

scan gauge is on the way, but I REALLY appreciate the input from everyone... are there any more tips out there for driving style??

Quote:

Originally Posted by Project84 (Post 103804)

scan gauge is on the way, but I REALLY appreciate the input from everyone... are there any more tips out there for driving style??

I think the best advise I have heard is to drive like there is an egg between your foot and the accelerator pedal.

I would check your plugs to see if the car is running rich too. I don't know what after market stuff is available for that car but you may be able to have the FI re mapped.

plugs have less than 10k on them and I just had them out and cleaned/regapped them less than 2k mi ago and they looked fine.

I don't think my car has seen 3,000 rpm, or half throttle, in nearly 6 months. Today's commute was typical, I did about 30mph when possible on my way to work where the speed limit is 45, and I take high speed turns and know which lights to coast up to, to give them time to change before I come to a complete stop. Like I said though, if a SOHC auto was having trouble getting 30mpg mixed, I'm feeling better about my achievements.

I just did the math and on a 12.5 gallon fuel tank, to get 300 miles each tank, I need 24mpg or better. I think I'll just drive to 300 from now on, each and every tank, and watch the mileage to see what's happening.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Project84 (Post 103784)

Zvolen, you make me feel good... for once in this thread! If you were having trouble getting 30mpg in your sohc saturn, and I'm hitting 30mpg in my DOHC, I feel a bit better. Not to take away from you but, if you look over my detailed gas log and vehicle description, you can see that I recently took charge and preventive maintenance and really gave my Satty all the goods it needed to return positive FE results. Perhaps your Saturn needs some maintenance. You may find it helpful to sign up at www.saturnfans.com (saturnalia) where I honestly learned quite a bit, and someone over there, I forget his name, has posted TONS of DIY videos on youtube showing you things like replacing the water pump, replacing engine mounts, replacing coolant temp sensor, etc.

I was SO serious about buying a bicycle this year, and I've put it off because about 3 miles of my commute is on a two lane road w/ a VERY small shoulder, effectively leaving no room to safely ride w/o being in the way of traffic. That being the case, I've given even more thought, recently, to buying a used Ninja 250. The downside, the 250 costs a lot more, and returns no health benefits and is possibly more dangerous than riding a bicycle those 3 miles on the road.

I'm really looking forward to the scangauge... my g/f's '04 Grand Prix has a monitor in the dash that shows instantaneous MPG and I was recently able to get her tank average from 27.3 up to 33.7 during a trip to Tennessee and back. I think being able to read the live results will help me a lot!

Glad I could be of some assistance and make you feel better. Although I guess I should clarify when I was attempting to get 30MPG it was during the winter season and I did not use any of the P&G/EOC methods. Now that I have the summer blend fuel and am being more careful I am starting to see those 30 MPG mostly city trips.

Oh and I am a member over at SaturnFans as well and like you find it very informative, Thanks.

I just realized after reading the 105 MPG tips that I've been P&G'ing all wrong... I haven't been placing the trans into neutral, or shutting off the engine. I was just pulsing to 55mph, then slowing to 40mph in gear, then pulsing back to 50mph. Today on my drive home from work, I put the car into neutral and was surprised to see the idle was like 1300 RPM w/ engine fully warmed. At a stop, I idle at 750rpm, set per owner's manual about 3 months ago, but even in neutral at any speed, the RPM is above 1,200, what gives?

It's easy. People that have huge fluctuations either because they changed where they drive or they manipulate the numbers to try and justify what changes they have made to the car.

:rolleyes:

What changes in where I drive? I'm still driving from the same house to the same office every day.

What changes to the car? It's a tire pump and a scangauge away from being bone stock.

And Project - that saturn is one of the cars whose auto-trans can handle EOC and be happy all day long. Just another option to think about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Project84 (Post 103973)

I had the same revelation in my Saturn as well, which is why I stopped doing it. Considering I could just keep the car at 40MPH and be somewhere around 1500 RPM's. However you could turn the car off, but being an automatic like mine you also might find that to be excessive as well. To each his own...