I'm looking for a more fuel efficient daily driver than my truck and heard of some Corvette builds pushing 40mpg on the highway. Corvettes are a little out of my budget for a daily driver but I would still like something that I could have the option to have fun in. The 05-14 mustang came to mind but to be honest I'm typically more of Chevy guy and don't know much of the s197 mustangs. Is anyone getting decent gas mileage in theirs after some modifications or has there been any eco focused builds, and if there has been what's the max mpg that can be made? Or am I going just crazy for trying to get good milage out of a mustang?
I own a C7 Corvette . Totally stock 8 speed auto. I regularly get 35mpg on open road trips [confirmed at the pump And the computer]
This is 41.5 mpg Imperial gallon [US Gallon = 3.8 litres , Imp Gallon =4.5 litres]
The Corvette is slippery but so is the Mustang .The biggest aerodynamic aid on a Corvette is the belly pan [flat bottom underneath]
The best mod you can do is "driver skills" and I don't mean annoying hypermile techniques [life's too short for that]
Aerodynamic drag is "squared' to the speed of the car. [double the speed requires 4 x the power]
So if you compare 65mph to 75mph [an increase of 15%] 1.15 x 1.15=1.32% or almost a 1/3 more power is required.
The average modern car only needs about 25hp to
cruise at a constant 65mph. Increase this to 75 and it jumps to 33hp
The secret to modern economy is transmissions [they keep stacking the ratios so when back off the gas the car will cruise at low rpm with low hp demands]
The C7 Corvette has a 0.65 O/D in 8th [which is similar to other trans] but it has a 2.41 rear end ratio.
Where it gets acceleration from is the 4.56 1st gear. But when cruising at 65mph is only pulling 1200 rpm
At 1200 rpm under vacuum I doubt if the engine is making 25-30 hp.
Now with driver skills! I spent many wasted years of my misspent youth driving low HP cars on the race track [circuits]
I didn't have the luxury of HP [if I had more power, so did everybody else] So I developed skills of carrying momentum through corners etc. [higher corner speeds = higher exit speeds, and less braking requirements etc]
Now if you transfer these skills to the road [pretending the car is a gutless P.O.S] learning to apex corners correctly, accelerating gently down hills to get momentum up the other side etc Your car should get an increase in economy [close to 33%]
On a side note....I have an Aussie 4.0 Falcon [These get 18mpg average]
I did a cross country trip to deliver a car hauler trailer . I averaged 28mpg towing the trailer and 35mpg on the empty return trip.
I also had a gutless P.O.S Mazda 2.2 diesel pickup [these things are a "slow death" on the highway]
I had the Cops chase me through a winding gorge and the couldn't catch me. I never went over the speed limit [or under it], My ability to carry speeds through corners at the limit meant they couldn't catch me.
They thought I had a V8 under the hood [but it was the opposite]
