Performance chip to help improve fuel mileage?

[vhoward1122]

Is there a chip or control unit you can get that will maximize fuel efficiency? I don't drive aggressively. Have not noticed any difference in mileage when using premium versus regular. Just looking for other ways to improve miles per gallon.I average 32 mpg city and around 40 mpg highway. Am I already getting the best I can do?

[DiveNut]

I believe these "chips" are snakeoil. Your milage seems very good for our Vibes. Though you might run more efficiently w/a standalone ecu. Most folks install them for improved performance. Just my 2 cents.

[vhoward1122]

Yeah, I was searching the internet and found a few between $250 and $600 depending if it was only a chip or a complete stand alone ecu. Not looking like I will be buying one if there won't be any significant benefit for me.That 72 Duster sounds like a fun project.

[DiveNut]

Quote, originally posted by vhoward1122 »That 72 Duster sounds like a fun project.Ya she's turning out to be a lot of fun....though it's not so good on the MPG's (Music to my ears)

[vhoward1122]

Participating in a hobby keeps you sane. Life would be boring otherwise. Looks good.

[Salsa Guy]

Those "chips" that run about $25 to $100 are 5 cent resistors. They;ll work for a short time but the ECU (Engine Control Unit) will figure it out and adjust the fuel trim back. They could cause damage to the engine by running it lean. So stay away from them including the Turbonators or anything that could obstruct air flow. Your Mileage is fairly normal. If you want to improve mileage keep the engine maintained, remove any excess weight from the car....ie golf clubs, tools and etc, and keep tires properly inflated. There some hypermileage techinics and cheap mods. A good K&N air filter, even an SRI and CAI may help. Keep the REVS below 3K rpms.

[vhoward1122]

When I am driving around town, I shift at 2000 rpm unless I am going up hill. Fortunately for me there are few hills I have to climb.The original reason I asked this question is I have a co-worker who has a Mazda sedan that looks to be a 2006 model and he has done something that enables him to get 60 miles to the gallon.

[Salsa Guy]

That intersting but he maybe running is engine super lean in which case he'll end up ruining it. I've heard of some guys getting upper 40's maybe low 50's on these cars but what they are doing is pretty extreme but cheap mods and hypermileage technics

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by vhoward1122 »Is there a chip or control unit you can get that will maximize fuel efficiency? I don't drive aggressively. Have not noticed any difference in mileage when using premium versus regular. Just looking for other ways to improve miles per gallon.I average 32 mpg city and around 40 mpg highway. Am I already getting the best I can do?My 2009 is the 1.8L AT - your mpg is significantly better than mine. That is the same as my 1.8L AT 2003. Maybe if I drove 55 mph I could get 40 mpg highway. But at 65-70 I get about 33 mpg max. My mixed city/hwy with the emphasis on the city and short trips is low to mid-20's. Remember, the govt. has us all using that lower energy 90/10 gas/ethanol blend whereas the EPA numbers are based non 100% real gasoline. If there were a chip that could improve gas mileage you can be sure that Toyota/GM would be using it so they could advertise a higher mpg.

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by vhoward1122 »When I am driving around town, I shift at 2000 rpm unless I am going up hill. Fortunately for me there are few hills I have to climb.The original reason I asked this question is I have a co-worker who has a Mazda sedan that looks to be a 2006 model and he has done something that enables him to get 60 miles to the gallon. The something he is doing is most likely stretching the truth.

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by Salsa Guy »Those "chips" that run about $25 to $100 are 5 cent resistors. They;ll work for a short time but the ECU (Engine Control Unit) will figure it out and adjust the fuel trim back. They could cause damage to the engine by running it lean. So stay away from them including the Turbonators or anything that could obstruct air flow. Your Mileage is fairly normal. If you want to improve mileage keep the engine maintained, remove any excess weight from the car....ie golf clubs, tools and etc, and keep tires properly inflated. There some hypermileage techinics and cheap mods. A good K&N air filter, even an SRI and CAI may help. Keep the REVS below 3K rpms. I could probably get better mileage if I lost 40 lbs. And think of what I'd save on my beer budget?

[vhoward1122]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »The something he is doing is most likely stretching the truth.He and I and 2 other coworkers were in the car. Took a 180 mile trip and he only used 3 gallons. That is what he put in when we got back. We were all there.

[06pvibe]

Either he's a liar or his math is VERY faulty.As the original owner of a 2004 Mazda3 (5-sp manual) the best I have ever done back and forth to work is 30mpg and that was driving very conservatively. On one 1600 mile trip we got 33 overall...'course with my wife driving part of the time.....? We might've done better.Mazdas are not known for great mpg's, just Zoom-Zoom.Your coworker would have to strip out the entire interior of the car, pull out the spare and jack, and drive in 5th @ idle everywhere and even then I don't think 60 would be possible.And from my esperience, a CAI/SRI is not going to do anything to improve fuel mileage either. Spending $250-$600 on a chip or ECU? Do you know how much gas you could buy for that money? The way my wife drive's our Vibe, she is getting around 28, with a 5-sp manual. Be happy w/what you've got.

[cq358]

changing your oil a little bit early like 3500 miles and every other month use compress air and blow away dirt clogged inside your air filter. Reduce brake drag by free up caliper slider pins and brake pad contact points. check your tire pressure and ensure it is around 32-35 in the coldest time in the week. Too much air could make your tire rubber age faster and more crack showing on the tread.Just by doing oil change early will improve your gas consumption by 5.4% this is based on the two fill up before and after my recent oil change.

[star_deceiver]

Quote, originally posted by 06pvibe »Either he's a liar or his math is VERY faulty. He's converting using English (UK) gallons vs US gallons (4.55L vs 3.78L per gallon)... or he filled the car to the top of the filler tube before leaving then short filled the tank on return... or his odometer is way off!Either way, I'm not buying it.....

[06pvibe]

Quote, originally posted by star_deceiver »He's converting using English (UK) gallons vs US gallons (4.55L vs 3.78L per gallon)... or he filled the car to the top of the filler tube before leaving then short filled the tank on return... or his odometer is way off!Either way, I'm not buying it.....I hadn't thought about Imperial gallons as part of the equation, but did wonder about taller tires, in which case he's lying to himself.I'm just wondering how tall they would have to be to throw off the math that much? OE tire size is 205/50-17, or equivalent in a 16". It would have to be a huge tire to cause that much of a difference, in which case the coworker would either be aware of it and is compensating for it, or is getting pulled over for speeding very frequently. Nope. I ain't buyin' 60mpg either. Sorry. Does anybody remember the VW ad from the late '60's/early '70's where they stripped out a Bug, took out all the glass, put bicycle/motorcycle tires on it all around, cut out and removed all but the bare bones of the sheetmetal of the car and had a horse racing Jockey as the driver. They claimed they were able to achieve 70mpg, IIRC but there wasn't much "car" left.

[Bedlam]

Quote, originally posted by vhoward1122 »He and I and 2 other coworkers were in the car. Took a 180 mile trip and he only used 3 gallons. That is what he put in when we got back. We were all there.That's a nice story and all but you should have paid more attention. Something is wrong as other shave pointed out, but you must have missed it. Maybe if the car was stripped down to weigh 1500lbs and rode on skinny tires and had no passengers he could get there. Was the trip actually 180 miles, or is that just what his odometer said? You can use some hand held tuners to adjust the tire sizes way up so that they car thinks it is travelling much farther with each turn of the axle. Maybe a 35-40mpg car could be stretched that extra bit to make it legendary..either way, you should know better that to just accept a number like that without something incredibly drastic being present to justify the massive gains. If it was that easy we'd all be driving 50-60mpg cars.

[06pvibe]

It took me a while but I found it. They claimed 84mpg!! But look what they did to it to achieve that mileage.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XUKOUbp_PAI hadn't seen that comment before, but you say there were 4 people in that Mazda at the time? I agree, you should have known better, that something is/was not right there.