Got my fuel-sipper!

[Martinjmpr]

Picked it up last night. 1997 Mazda Protege 4 door LX. 1.5l, 5 speed MT. Has a decent stereo and AC and everything works. It's even in my favorite color (Green!)

Smokes a bit on start-up (clears up in a minute or two) and miles are high: Over 200k. But it's a nice, non-smoker-owned vehicle with new tires and a new clutch. Drives great.

Cost: $900. No rust that I can see (rust isn't generally an issue in dry Colorado anyway.)

Being a 1997 it's OBDII compliant so I can plug in my ultra-gauge for hyper-miling. Looking forward to 30+ MPG and a 14.5 gallon tank for >400 mile range between fillups.

Here's a pic (in yesterday's fading light.)

[Jay2TheRescue]

Congrats!

[bowtieguy]

congrats. BTW, unless you're driving mostly in the city, you should be able to get 40 mpg and beyond!

[GasSavers_BEEF]

at 40 mpg, you should be able to hit 580 @ empty.
at 30 mpg, you are still at 435 @ empty.

I have a cavalier that has a 15.2 gallon tank. I routinely get 450ish on a tank and I have the 2.2 liter engine. yours should be able to best mine easily with the 1.5

just have fun with it. start a gaslog and a garage

welcome to the site

[Martinjmpr]

Better (daylight) pics:







Fun to drive and MPG is pretty impressive: About 35mpg average on a trip that was about 1/3 city and 2/3 highway. The Ultra-Gauge is installed, calibrated and working well.

Unfortunately we got dumped on with a ton of snow and ice so I've been driving my gas hog of an SUV to work these last few days. Will probably drive it again tomorrow unless road conditions improve (given that our high temp today is supposed to be -2, I don't think that will happen.)