Got my fuel-sipper!
 

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.)

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...b8130693e7.jpg

Re: Got my fuel-sipper!
 

Congrats!

Re: Got my fuel-sipper!
 

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

Re: Got my fuel-sipper!
 

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

Re: Got my fuel-sipper!
 

Better (daylight) pics:

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...a6d9cd870b.jpg

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...17c281959d.jpg

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...93b4edb6f0.jpg

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.)