Unlike some of my younger, less experienced colleagues who think that the skinny red line at the top of the rev-counter is the indicator for an upshift, I am of the mindset that fuel is to be conserved. Why, I remember when the Ethel only two-bits a gallon and we'd drive all the way to the lake and back and still have enough left in the tank to go to the drug store and visit the soda jerk who would reach deep into the Kelvinator to make us an ice cream soda and then give us a handful of Squirrel Nut Zippers because it was a Sunday. Boy, howdy. Those were the days.
Just to show these reckless kids 'round here how to drive proper like, I conducted my own fuel-economy test this weekend. I tried to elevate the fuel economy of our 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X MR. By the way, that's no name for a car. I remember when cars had names that meant something like Special, Roadmaster, Ambassador, and Statesman. Those were cars to be proud of, and the men who drove them did so with responsibility and care. Not like alpha-numeric car drivers these days. But this "Evo," as I've been told to call it has a small-displacement 2.0-liter/4-cylinder engine and its fuel economy at the hands of these crazies has been deplorable.
So, I shifted the car at less than 3,000-rpm, avoided unnecessary gas-wasting down shifts, and I even utilized supplemental Pug-Power as you can see from the digital photograph I had my grandson take of me. To my surprise, I still only managed 16.4 mpg, or worse than the running average is on this car. Obviously, there's something wrong with this car. Maybe it needs its carburetor removed, cleaned, and rebuilt or perhaps a new set of plugs and points on its distributor would help. Darned thing. I'll give it a tune up and get back to you.
Zebulon Walton, Really Senior Road Test Editor @ 13,246 miles
jkp1187 says:
12:25 PM, 03/30/09
I'm not trying to joke here, but how much power does the Evo actually HAVE at or below 3,000 RPM?
Vision7 says:
12:28 PM, 03/30/09
Seriously, guys. You're going nuts tuning the GSR but you you should simply look at an AMS base tune for your MR and you'll see a significant improvement in your fuel mileage. If you dare, go for a stage 1 or 2 AMS tune and you will not be disappointed.
cruiserhead1 says:
12:30 PM, 03/30/09
what are squirrel nut zippers? i only know it as a name of a band.
bmguser says:
12:31 PM, 03/30/09
for whatever reason, mitsubishi decided to have the evo run incredibly rich from the factory. A tune is normally used to increase power AND mpg... not sure why but that is what always read on forums...
clarkma5 says:
01:01 PM, 03/30/09
Cruiserhead1: Squirrel nut zippers was a brand of pre-packaged caramel/peanut snacks from the pre-WW2 era (though I guess they're still being made today).
As for the car, not all cars get the best fuel economy by shifting sub-3000 RPMs, particularly higher strung cars like this that make power higher in the rev band. The idea is to run the engine hard enough that it's in the happy, efficient part of the power band without revving it needlessly.
I forget which car it was, but there was a recent new vehicle that the manufacturer claimed it got better mileage due to it being more powerful for that very reason...
carlisimo says:
01:03 PM, 03/30/09
Running lean with a turbo is a good way to blow up your engine... I guess the running rich is a safety factor.
And how in the world is "Special" an appropriate name for a car? "Ambassador" and "Statesman" sound really odd too.
"2006 Mazda MAZDASPEED Mazda6," now THAT's a name!
mnorm1 says:
01:49 PM, 03/30/09
Is that an action shot from a recent I-did-a-trot race?
carfreak8394 says:
02:11 PM, 03/30/09
"2006 Mazda MAZDASPEED Mazda6," now THAT's a name!"
Ha ha. Yeah, that's a pretty, um.. interesting name. Almost as bad as Cobalt :P.
2002blksle says:
02:12 PM, 03/30/09
I can't believe you found that picture of me and are using it without my permission. Damn Google Street View.
srlracing says:
03:53 PM, 03/30/09
Sometimes shifting early eats more fuel. I know my miata gets the best mileage shifted at around 4k rpms and cruising at 75 to 80 (3,500-4,000 rpms) on the freeways and my diesel truck does best shifting between 2,000 and 2,300 rpms (keep in mind the 3,200 redline) but does get amazing mileage if you have the patients to drive 55mph (needless to say I don't) or 1,600rpms.
church123 says:
05:12 PM, 03/30/09
Wow, that's really low mileage. However, the X is very sensitive to traffic. Stop and go will kill the economy quickly. In my GSR however, my commute is about 10 miles on surface streets and I can often get a couple miles of 45 mph cruising. On a good day I can return 19-20 mpg running averages. Heavy traffic days, 17-18 mpg. Even if I beat on the car (within the bounds of not getting arrested), I don't get less than 15-16 mpg. If freeway mileage is involved, getting 20+ mixed isn't an issue.
My car is completely stock except for a custom tune on the ECU. Maybe you guys should, as suggested earlier, flash the ECU. It isn't so much leaning out the full throttle range that helps (it does), but by messing with the cam timing you can get spool up much earlier so shifting early doesn't feel like such a chore. And by running the car closer to stoich up to a few psi of boost, even light boosting will not hurt mileage much.
Joeinboston says:
11:01 AM, 03/31/09
Agreed. Since Edmunds has taken to modding the GSR all out, why not cover an area of the MR (and most EVo Owners consider) - Should I flash it?
Cobb Tuning's accessport is a 'plug and play' unit, just plug it in. It uploads the factory ECU mapping so it can be re-installed and set back to factory at any time, and uploads a different map, which increases horsepower and mpg. IT even has a fuel economoy map, as well as valet mode, and other features such as a fuel economy gauge and 0-60 times. Best of all, it retails for under $700.
PLEASE edmunds, install Cobb Accessport and run some performance and fuel tests on the EVO MR, and when you are done if you don't like it, simply reflash it back to stock! Inquiring minds want to know!
spdracerut says:
10:45 PM, 04/ 1/09
17mpg is about right for being conservative with straight city driving. Generally, a 'tune' really only affects the A/F in the higher load and rpm range; i.e. not where you are while cruising or at light throttle.
Modern turbo cars run extremely rich when at WOT to keep the catalytic converter from melting.
To conserve fuel, shifting at low rpms is only one factor. You really need a boost gauge to make sure that you are not going into positive pressure. It's VERY easy to get into boost on the Evo between 2k-3k rpms.