good news and bad news
 

I bought my dx coupe 3 years ago, with a dx engine and tranny.. or so i thought

the best mpg that i got was about 45 and thats with 70% highway
now i get about 30 mpg with 100% city


bad news: i found out that i have a EX tranny, the previous owner had a B18 in there, then swapped it back to a d series when he sold it to me. so ex tranny = faster acceleration and higher highway rpms. at 60 mph, im at 2500, 70 is at 3100, and 80 is at 3500 or so :thumbdown:


good news: i drive 100% city, so i never use 4th or 5th gear for now.


no wonder my little 1.5 liter hauls *** on 1st and 2nd gear, compared to my friend's dx:)

Swap in a VX or CX tranny and you'll see your MPG go up a bit. You could turn-around and sell the EX tranny for more than the new tranny, and actually make money off the deal if you can do the work yourself.

Then again, a taller transmission like a VX or CX transmission is not going to help with city MPG. In the city, you will probably not be driving fast enough to want to be in fifth gear with what you have anyway. In fact, it could make city MPG WORSE, since the taller and more widely spaced gears could keep you on the throttle harder just to keep up with traffic. I would keep the transmission you have, unless you plan to use the car more on the freeway.

Fourth on a CX/VX trans is equivalent to fifth on an EX trans, just like third, etc... so I don't think it'll be an issue. That being said, more throttle on average is better for the vast majority of cars in a given gear. :thumbup:

i know that the mpg woundnt be any different in city driving, but im just a bit suprsied that i had an ex tranny all along. if i had a dx tranny i would of gotten better mpg throughout the life of the car. my best was 45 mpg, it might of been 50 :(

All makes sense.

However I think something must have gone bad in your system since the time you were getting better mpg earlier. Now dropped to 30, so why?

Rethinking that, maybe not. Best ever of 45 mpg at 70% highway, now 30 at 100% city. Might be reasonable. Are you on winter fuel now? Dunno if WA does that to you, but here in New England our mpg drops noticeably in late Nov. when we get that stuff.

I live in philadelphia now, yes its probably a winter mix of gas. its all city now, i never go over 30 mph on my trips, fill up once per month

Might've got 50 mpg at speeds of 55-60 too...

Now on my car I have no qualms about using 4th and 5th at speeds as low as 25 mph.
5th at 25 might not work with a 1.5l, but 4th sure would.
I'd be all for using at least 4th, that won't hurt for sure.
5th at 30 should be gtg as well, why not try it.

lol lucky...my chevette is 3k rpms at 58mph... lol havent had it on a highway trip but can aparently get over 40mpg even tho your running at 3500 rpm's...(touch the pedal and the car takes off like a rocket cuz its reved so high) wish i could find a 5speed tranny to swap in there...