49.4 mpg on a stock hm '99 Metro

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Scooter_man

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Hello all. I just recently took a decent highway trip with my '99 Chevy Metro 1.0 5-sp. 229k miles - and got 49.4 mpg.

Now, I averaged about 60-mph and didn't get in a real big hurry - but for a stock car/3-cyl. motor with 229,000 miles on it (mostly highway) that's not bad - not bad at all.

In case anyone's curious, I run Rotella T6/Mobil 1 Filter in it and use MMO in the gas.

Now I know why I like this little car so much and why people are actually collecting/restoring these things.

Rob
 
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Hmm while 49.4 mpg is nice, the 60mph avg changes the whole game. Many cars, driving on the highway at 60mph will get dramatically better mpg. I can almost double my MPG in my wrangler 4.0 when I am cruising a highway at 60mph.

What kind of milage does this thing get going 75+mph???
 
I hear there is a demand for these cars, as alot of the new cars available now still can't match the fuel economy they deliver. I drove a 1990 Pontiac Firefly for a while when it was a couple years old and it was amazing how far it went on a tank of gas! It didn't have much power but did the job of getting back and forth to where I needed to go. It was also a 5 speed manual transmission, so that helped get a bit more power out of it and made for a bit better fuel milage.
 
That sounds about right. I had a 94 or 95 a few years ago with a worn out engine. I had to floor it just to keep with traffic if there was a head wind at all. Even floored for most if not all of my commute it still returned better then 41mpg every tank.
 
I can get around 47MPG with my Corolla keeping it around 60 mph. Bump up the speed to 75 and it drops to the 42-44 MPG if the gas is not ethanol laced.

Speed does KILL the MPG.

Bill
 
Originally Posted By: ps49556n
Hmm while 49.4 mpg is nice, the 60mph avg changes the whole game. Many cars, driving on the highway at 60mph will get dramatically better mpg. I can almost double my MPG in my wrangler 4.0 when I am cruising a highway at 60mph.

What kind of milage does this thing get going 75+mph???


Still way better than that brick
33.gif
 
The 3 cyl Metro as well as the Sprint that preceeded it were good examples of how to achieve good fuel economy without complexity.
No expensive hybrid systems or diesel engines, just a low-cal engine in a lightweight car.
It also seems that these things hold together for pretty high miles, although they were about the least expensive cars available when new.
Maybe Suzuki really did/does know something about building cars?
 
Unfortunately in Missouri, we're cursed with E-10 - oh well. I guess I should mention that it is a 1.0 3-cylinder.

Suprisingly, at 70+ mph it still gets around 40-mpg - though I don't like to run it like that all of the time.

If it was a newer motor or lower mileage, it would perform a little better. I have an extra motor for it - also a '99 but with only 52,000 original miles on it, keeping for a spare.

But, I want to get all of the miles I can out of this one. It runs well and has decent acceleration, so why change it out now?

Sure isn't costing me that much do drive. Even a 50/50 driving mix i'm now getting 46-47 mpg - might be the summer blend coming in now too. Plus - this test was earlier last month, would probably break 50-mpg now.
 
Id like to buy another Firefly or Sprint or Metro that is in decent shape just for running back and forth to work. As much as I do not like small cars, id just like to have it for the short drive back and forth to work to save my pick-up from the abuse of short trips.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
It also seems that these things hold together for pretty high miles, although they were about the least expensive cars available when new.
Maybe Suzuki really did/does know something about building cars?


Hey, they've got my vote! Seeing and actually experiencing made me a believer.
 
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I have 2006 kia spectra automatic, on a recent trip all highway driving at 60 to 65 my milage was 47 mpg , on the return trip with ac on it averaged out to 39 mpg, nothing scientific, just rough calculations. also this is in imperial gallons. So in U.S gallons it would be less.
 
Originally Posted By: Scooter_man
Hello all. I just recently took a decent highway trip with my '99 Chevy Metro 1.0 5-sp. 229k miles - and got 49.4 mpg.

Now, I averaged about 60-mph and didn't get in a real big hurry - but for a stock car/3-cyl. motor with 229,000 miles on it (mostly highway) that's not bad - not bad at all.

In case anyone's curious, I run Rotella T6/Mobil 1 Filter in it and use MMO in the gas.

Now I know why I like this little car so much and why people are actually collecting/restoring these things.

Rob
If you had the option of ethanol free gas, you would have gotten 55mpg.
 
Newer vehicles have to contend with stricter emission standards, especially NOx. This curtails lean burn conditions, like during cruise loads, keeping the standard catalytic converter operating around it's peak conversion efficiency window about 14.7:1 IIRC. I though I heard of lean burn cat's out of Canada, but it might be a profit vs. progress stumbling block.?.

OT - Corporations seem stuck... torn between profits/share holder interests, answering calls by consumers/effect data, and putting jobs at risk as related to potential impacts to the established infrastructure.
 
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