Hi guys, ive been driving my RX for about a month now. The only thing that kills this car is obviously the MPG. Im not a Car God or anything so i dont know TOO much about car parts and etc....However, i was told that changing the Catalytic may help me a LITTLE with gas consumption and make the car sound pretty nice. Other than that, any upgrades you guys think i should do to my car that wont possibly make my car waste anymore gas than it does already???

 

No cat + cobb accessport tune. But, keep your cat in case you need one for emissions testing
Oh, and maintain the engine, and drive only once a week :P

 

An AccessPort with a tune for mileage will help a little. Some have claimed a little better mileage from a catless midpipe. Do those two things and drive it like a granny, and you might get 2-3 mpg more. Keep below ~3700 rpm on the highway as well. All in all, you have the wrong the car to be worried about gas mileage.

 

the best upgrade is sell the 8 and buy a Geo Metro or 1990-1995 Civic.

Other than that, nope.

you are driving a sports car. not a Prius.

 

+1. Cobb, midpipe, etc. don't do **** for mileage. They just make you want to drive faster.

 

dont drive it.

 

A very light right foot.

 

At 15,000 miles/year it will take about 1/12 years to recover your cost of a Access Port.

That's if you get 2 mpg more.

Problem is you will use you right foot more, so you are looking at 2 years.

 

engine swap

 

some say they see a difference with the upgraded ignition coils from BHR. other than that your best bet is cobb ap and a catless midpipe like everyone else has said. but dont expect a difference.

there are so many things that contribute to the mpg's that a car gets. the biggest thing you can do is is just control you driving, its very easy to want to accelerate quickly. but keep you shifts below 3k and i think you might see a difference. i also usually shift in a 1-3-5 pattern. i have noticed a small difference doing this.

 

decent grounding kit, BHR ignition kit

keep in mind you kinda need to rev the car once in awhile.

 

why buy a sports car if youre gonna care about gas mileage?

 

How about making it your weekend toy and getting a Civic or something? Or public transportation always helps

If you really want to save gas, shift at 4k RPM or less, but redline at least once a day. Guaranteed to see improvements in mileage, but you'll hate driving it at the same time. Sadly, you can either enjoy the car and not worry to much about MPG, or worry about it and dread your car at the same time. I pay attention about MPG, but the handling of the 8 always impresses me, so the low mpg is still worth it to me. I do wish it was a little better though, but cars like the 350Z are about the same, so you can't complain too much.

 

cut the foot off.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys, even the sarcastic ones. Im not expecting a sports car to push 40mpg or anything, i knew what i was getting into when i first bought it. I was just trying to see if a way of increasing your mpg other than driving like a grandma existed.

 

Your foot is the only gas saving mod you can do.....

Honestly thats it... don't be fast on acceleration from stops and don't keep the revs high.

 

Doing some in city testing, I was able to get 17 mpg. While not high, it required me to do a **** ton of NOT FUN DRIVING. I'll never do it again, since it was the worst idea I've ever had.

 

right foot AND right hand-SHIFT. thats what its for. also clean your filter. change your oil. change plugs and wires, you know- MAINTENANCE. keep an eye on your tires. switch to narrower tires. lighter and smaller wheels

 

I agree with others who've said the best thing to get better mileage is driving style, but you don't have to lose the fun doing it. My #1 piece of advice is to coast in gear as often as possible. Heading towards a red light? Let off the gas, leave it in gear. Heading towards an intersection where you know you'll have to slow down? Let off the gas, leave it in gear. Only clutch when the revs get below about 1500, only brake when you really need to. I've got it now to the point where I barely use the brake pedal in normal driving.

On the other hand, when the opportunity is there, I never hesitate to get on it. I redline the car at least once a day (usually a lot more). Thanks to the coasting in gear trick, I still average close to 18 mpg even including the fun stuff.

 

Zoom started you on the right path -- weight reduction. Lighter wheels (try forged 17s), flywheel, remove anything you don't care about from the car or replace it with something lighter.

OEM Exhaust and cat pipe are a tad heavy. Battery is heavy but I wouldn't recommend going too small here. There's a thread with the weight of everything if you search.

 

 

I honestly track my mpg, not because i worry about it, but so i can use it as a tool is something starts to go wrong.

In my 97 BMW 318Ti, tracking my mpg I noticed the mpg slipping from averaging 30 mpg droping to 25 mpg. no lights, no drop in performance... checked things out, it was the O2 sensor going bad. then just last month, same thing happened and this time it was the ignition going... no lights or anything other than drop in mpg. It has 185,000 miles on it and still averaging 31 mpg.

So, watch your milage, I average 18 in mixed driving, but don't worry about your mpgs.

Enjoy your car for what it is.

 

When I slowed down on the interstates, I was able to go over 300 miles before the low fuel light went on. Other than maintenance, this is about the only way to increase highway miles.
A lighter weight car (removing items) will help in city cycle driving in stop/go traffic.
Over inflating you tires 5 lbs can reduce rolling resistance.

 

How does overinflating your tires affect treadwear?

 

I like the engine swap idea. A swap with a Prius maybe? I like burning fuel. The more fuel I burn the better becauseI know I'm driving the car as it was intended.