Okay whats everyone with a 3.8 V-6 get for gas mileage? I've never owned a cougar or any car with a 3.8 before,i'm just curious
I will be curious as well. Just filled up my first tank on my newly purchaed 87 TBird and will be keeping an eye on the mileage. Previous owner said he got 30 MPG on the highway. We shall see...
I get between 30 and 40 mpg with my '84. It seems to be the exception to the rule though. ;)
Average V6 economy from reader reports: city 16-18, mixed 18-20, highway 20-24.
If you get above 24 mpg on the highway, consider yourself very lucky...
heck yeah :D
better than my truck
any ideas as to why you're getting those kinds of numbers? tune? driving style?
I average between 18-22. Most of my driving is in town with alot of stop/starts as I hunt down people. On the highway I get as good as 25.
It's all that slick wax you have on it... Cuts aero drag so it slices through the air almost effortlessly...
I more suspect your speedo is lying, 30 maybe, even close to 40, no way... You'd have be defying the laws of physics...Maybe if we cut off the top & quarters, threw away the fenders, hood, doors, trunk lid, most of the interior, exhaust system, pumped the tires to 60 psi etc, etc...
I got 27mpg average once before in my 3.8L bird. Now it gets 0mpg.
OK, I do drive it like a grampa...and I'll admit it. :D
Honestly I think the new cylinder heads have everything to do with it though. I bought the car with blown head gaskets and so it wasn't even driveable until that was fixed. But in the process my mechanic and I discovered that the original heads themselves were both cracked. Ordered up a pair, slapped them on, did some in-town driving for about a month, and then I hit the road for Carlisle '07. On 3 fillups I returned 29, 40 and 31 mpg. Tire height is original, speedo head works fine, and I verified speed at several roadside radar stations. Plus my buddy was driving my Mountaineer that was towing the convertible, and we verified side-by-side as well (the Mounty is extremely accurate).
New heads have no build-up yet...no carbon on the valves to soak up the gasoline. It was cruising along effortlessly like a new car. I might never see those numbers again but it was sure nice to see that when I needed it...with a V6...and no overdrive... ;)
ditto, exactly!!
all highway miles, I got 27 mpg w/AOD, 3.08 gears. 1988 Tbird. Now it gets zero sitting in my yard.
Best I got with my 3.8 was 37 mpg. A K&N will really help to squeeze out a few more miles per gallon! I wonder what I'm gonna get with my 331 once it's done...
I averaged 450 miles to a tank with stock sized tires and driving like an ass when ever there was an incline.
i just spent the last 3+ weeks doing nothing but driving my tbird for 8 hours a day for a py parts delivery job and i was getting 26mpg driving dirt slow in the heart of the ghetto(its city driving incase you didnt know) around here with some pulse and glide from my c5. might have gotten better if i had washed and waxed my car during this period.
my tires are some beat 215/70r14s and i have relatively new air and fuel filters, i run 10w30 full syth oil as well though i could use an oil change and some sparkplugs. my windows were down most of the time as i dont have my a/c working currently(just in time for the humid temps we had lately:flame: )
if my temp guage wasnt at half my mileage dropped down to 22mpg.
i didnt include the time i drove on my spare in my calculations which was about two days. i also never had more than half a tank of gas.
what im thinking of doing just for kicks is taking all my wheels off and throwing on four spares(since i rarely do highway driving anyway) and see what i wind up with after a week.
I have been getting 26 Highway/18 town pretty consistently. I refuse to use ethanol fuel as it drops my mileage down 3-4 mpgs. 87 pump gas works just fine for me. I have the AOD transmission and the rear end from a v8. My town mileage suffers because of the higher gear in the rear end, but I have managed to get 30-32 on the highway before.
cool, thanks for all the replys, i should have the cougar together tomorrow and running :D
supposedly synthetic oil helps with the fuel mileage... less resistance or something.... i don't know... i can tell you that when driving 9 over about 75% on the interstate in my focus i was getting 26.4mpg..... i decided to slow the 9mph and go the speed limit everywhere..... it went up to 29.4... wow, i guess speed really does kill... the mpg that is :)
I used to average 22 in town. 26 hwy.
Now 351w. 14 in town 17 hwy.
speed only kills the mpg if you don't have a trip computer whatnot. Get up to 100 or there abouts, and your doing 99+ mpg untill you hit the gas again.
I get a whopping 0 MPG!
Heh,
I was supposed to have her on the streets this summer, But no....
Still getting put to the beck of the list. *sigh*
:mad: :mad: :mad:
My 95 3.8 gets ~18 city 27 highway. Then again I'm not exactly a lead foot when I drive it.
2005 GTP-COMPG-3.8 supercharged..gas for me isn't all that bad but i'd be insane to put in reg. I use mid at the lowest. im guess around 18-21.
174 mpg down a hill once.
I get about thirty on the highway. I averaged 29 on a 300 miles trip. But i got lost in the city for over an hour. I didn't think that was bad.
My gauge says 99.99mpg going down hills somtimes lol somtimes in the 60s..dont think I can believe it though.
I got around 33mph on a highway (55-65mph), and around 25mpg in the city.
I got this mileage when the temperature is around 70`F, less if coldest, and a bit better if is warmer.
My engine is carbed, 16inches tires (225/60r16) at 35psi, oil is full syntech (castrol) 10w30.
Regards,
Dom.
P.S.
My "new" 1991 firefly 3 cylinder got a good 50mpg mixed road/city :), This will be PERFECT to replace My Econoline in the winter :)
I have a feeling some of you guys are getting some very inaccurate numbers. If you are getting 40MPG's, then you need to go to Motor Trend magazine or some other publication and have them test it out. I just don't believe it.
This is the sticker from ours----our mileage over the years is close to this. I have not checked lately.
It is correct because when you let off the gas it cuts fuel to the engine. No gas used x going miles = infinite mpg.... while youre off the gas at least.
Theres a difference between instant mpg and average mpg.
Oh by the way.... 25-30 mpg in my tbird aint that bad, but my last fillup in the festiva was 48.3 mpg. Thats combined city/highway. Im hoping for 50+ within the next few fills.
When I was using my 88 cat for a daily driver, I averaged about 20 in stop and go traffic and 28 on the highway at a steady 62mph. Now it's sleeping in a barn and getting 0. :D
Personally I don't trust the Tripminder figures to be accurate. There are too many variables constantly changing and it's just so easy to rely on that data. The only true way to figure out fuel economy is to drive from a full tank, fill up, and back-figure the mileage vs. the gallons it took to fill the tank. That's still the method I use on all my vehicles.
So when I drove home from Carlisle exactly 160 miles on one stretch of road, then stopped to fill the tank back up, and it only took 4.0 gallons...that is a 40 mpg figure that cannot be disputed. ;)
And yes, the tires were the correct height, and the speedometer was verified to be accurate.
see sig for n/a figures :D all city driving
i've been getting about 25mpg if not better, last time i filled up it only took 10 gal, but said i had 1/4th tank left, gage is a lil bit off
mine a 1986 3.8 with a c-4 and 3.08 gears,205/65/15 tires. i get 20 in town and 32 highway at 60mph but only 28 when i'm driving the speed limit at 75
I used my Mother's 87 Cougar for a few months over the mountain to work, and got around 17. Most of the roads around here and especially to work are all mountain. Took it for a cruise up the hi-way once and was getting around 27. It's all stock with the 3.8 and AOD.