Yesterday, I drove my '01 s2k from Dallas to my home in the Oklahoma City area -- a distance of 240 miles. It was unseasonably hot, so I did have the
AC on. I 35, which is always a "fast road" was unusually fast, so I was doing 90 most of the time. I even got into a bit of a "road battle" with a Porche 911 (which I was winning until I called it off at 120).

I filled my gas tank just before I left the spot where I had stayed in Dallas. When I got a few blocks from my home, I noticed that my fuel guage showed way more than 1/3 of a tank left. To check my mileage, I filled up again a few blocks from home. She took 8 gallons flat! That's 30 mpg, and I was "driving it like I stole it!" Using VTEC a lot for passing and such.

How can this be?

Thanks,
Richard

 

I've noticed even when I'm speeding a bit on the hwy I get better mpg then on local streets

 

You had the dial set to KPH instead of MPH.

 

I guess the difference between highway and city mpg is more than we think

 

Nope, all read-outs were set to mpg. Yes, I have always gotten better mileage on the highway than in city driving. This is normal. But my best highway mpg so far had been in the range of 27.5 mpg --- and I wasn't "beating" the car the way I did yesterday.

One thing comes to mind. Premium unleaded gas in Dallas is 93 octane, whereas here in Oklahoma it is 91 octane. Could those two octane points result in better mileage of this significance?

Thanks,
Richard

 

BlueIon, 44runner and myself did better than 30mpg on the way to DragonBall Run 5 last year. We drove in close formation allowing each other to draft, tops up, windows up, and would only turn the AC on long enough to cool the cabin down before shutting it off. (We did this intentionally to see how far we could go before fueling) We too drove between 80mph and 90mph. It seems to be the sweet spot for the S as far as MPG goes....

 

Makes sense. 80 to 90 mph in 6th gets the engine into its "pre VTEC mode" of around 4.5K rpm or so, where it seems to runn more freely than at lower rpm. I also have a bit of a "ram air" mod that may be part of the answer.

Thanks,
Richard

 

I have actually gotten 26 mpg in the city, although it has probably gone down since then.

I dont usually beat on the car. Once in a while take it to Vtec, I dont make a habit of it.

But I achieved 32mpg on the highway on the way to the Huge Deerfield beach meet. A few higher speeds, but the pack of cars only did 75-80mph there most of the time due to traffic. That was top up, a/c on.

So I am happy with the mpg so far. The sticker doesnt promise all that much. Its nice that they had ours lower than it really is, unlike most of the cars that are never able to achieve the sticker numbers.

 

This topic has been discussed somewhat before (search around). The conclusion among those in the discussion was that best gas mileage is had just before vtec (usually around 80-90) in 6th due to the fact that the engine's air-to-fuel ratio leans out a bit just before going into vtec.

 

This shouldn't sound too surprising for you. I've also hit over 30mpg on many trips from LA to Vegas with aggressive driving (which is about 300mi). It's good to know our cars do very well on gas.