So anyone with the CZ unit , have you had it long enough to see gains in fuel economy ? If so what's the average MPG now ? If it is signifcantly higher , I'm going to get one of these CZ ECU's.

 

You wont see signifigant gains... If anything, you MIGHT lose gas mileage because it's so much more fun to accelerate now.

I used to get 16-17mpg.. I get about 15 now. After 1500 miles on Stage I.

 

So guy... any other St. 1 impressions after 1500?

What's the verdict, dude?

 

Question:

Is the ECU reflash partially responsible for the loss of mileage, or simply that it's based on an outdated test methodology?

If the ECU reflash contributed, shouldn't CZ's upgrade give that mileage back?

It seems to me that it will help because at the higher RPMs you will be using slightly less fuel, and may need to be at those RPMs sliglty less time (because you get through them and on to the next gear sooner).

 

Does it get you off the Throttle more often? Or does it get you to want to be on the throttle more often? That is the question.

 

Well, after putting some miles on the car yesterday/today with the stage1, if you drive as you usually do, it's prolly gonna be the same. If you do high speed highway cruising, it is marginally better.

But to be honest, I am enjoying that extra womph at 5500RPM too much and have been a bit heavy footed recently :D The exhaust note when using WOT is also more agressive and harsher.

 

I guess there's two different ways of looking at it:

1) Will my driving be affected by this new item, resulting in more agressive driving which tends to use more gas?

2) If I drive exactly the same, will my MPG improve vs without the new item?

It seems like you're saying #1 is true, I'm asking about #2, since I actually am at 5k+ quite a bit on my drive home from work - 1 lane each direction, lots of passing slow cars.

 

Then yes, you will see a marginal MPG increase, but it's going to be pretty minimal. The car is only consuming about 15% less fuel at those RPM's (I think)

 

Lets see, I'll get the calculator out. $500 dollars will buy 285.7 gallons of gas at a rate of 1.75 a gallon. At 15 miles per gallon, thats 4285 miles. At 18 miles per gallon, you gain 857 miles per 500 dollars of gas for a total of 5142.9 miles. If you actually receive a gain of 3 miles per gallon, it would take approx 26,000 miles for the CZ PB investment to make a profit. You buy this mod for the extra power, not extra MPG. I read somewhere on this forum that a member had stopped worrying about MPG and suddenly he enjoyed his car more. I get about 20 MPG on average, but I don't worry about it, and I am happy. But I am looking foreward to having my stage 1!! Not trying to be mean, just my 2 cents.

 

If you drive it as you normally do, you may see a slight increase in mileage.. I would say about 1 to 2 mpg.. I *TRIED* very hard to go 1 tank driving "normally" and had gotten good results 1/2 a tank in. However, I was too tempted to get it into the > 5000 RPM range. Maybe others out there have more willpower than me.... Just to set the record straight, I cruise at around 3k..

 

My impressions are that I love this mod.. I have the Borla exhaust and the RE Intake.. I have yet to do a dyno.. But..

My initial thoughts are that Stage 1 + Borla with the stock exhaust gets me an extra .5 to 1 mpg.. and sounds better for my tastes.

I like the RE intake but I don't feel much more of a gain with it in this combination. A dyno might prove me wrong.

Stage I is most fun in 2nd gear I think... 1st is too short now.. 3rd is alright.. and though it is a little quicker in 4th and 5th it isnt as noticeable... You're beyond legal speeds in the > 5K range in 4th and 5th anyway..

The only other problem is..... I still want more...

 

Right -- if you get addicted to the 5500 rpm "rush" your mileage will get even worse. Back off and the needle moves slower. Not verifiable, but the damn big gas gauge is actually a pretty good indicator of how your mpg is doing. (My suggestion to Mazda: put in a smaller gas gauge that stays on "full" for the first 30 miles like most of them do, and we'll all be less obsessed with our lousy mpg.)

 

I agree fully with the statement, my gas is free (thanks to work) anyways. I'm simply curious about improvement, whether it's relevant to me or not.

 

As others have said, driving habits are the biggest factor in fuel economy.

Once people get used to their improvement, and settle back to their usual drivings habits, we expect to see a small improvement in mileage, mainly in higher rpm use.

Cleaner running plugs will be the one of the biggest contributors to this, overall.

 

EXACTLY! Well put!