What's the hardest you've driven your Mirage?

[7milesout]

I searched to find a thread to add this to. But nothing was similar enough. So I thought I'd start another. Some info in here might be interesting.

So I just did a really long drive in my Mirage over this weekend. It was in the vicinity of 500 miles "there" and 500 miles "back." I went to buy a car, for my youngest son. Turns out it was a turd, and the seller was a nervous-talking hustler. So I told him I was not going to buy it. And my son and I got back in the Blueberry and put it on as much warp speed as I dare and we headed back home. A disappointing trip for my son, but not as disappointing if we'd have bought the turd. It's probably a mistake to consider a car so far away from home. But not as big a mistake if I had bought it.

Anywho - I say I drove the Blueberry "hard" because the fuel mpg was, what I consider, low. The first leg I drove mostly by myself, to get my son as he was on spring break and was visiting with family (along the way to where we were going). And then he and drove on back roads to get to the interstate, got a hotel and refueled Saturday morning. I knocked out 48.4 mpg on that leg. But from that point on, all on the interstate, we shared driving and got right at 36 mpg. If you ask me, that's running pretty hard. I had just done an oil change immediately before the trip, so all was good there. And I watched various values on the Torque app (like coolant temp), and it ran well, and in control of all parameters. But ran hard it did. We kept it on 79 mph - 80 mph on the interstate. As far as "performance," if you ask me, it performed like a little badass.

One other mildly interesting point. The last stop I made (on the way back) was at a Flying J. This station did not offer an 87 octane fuel. The least expensive was an 88 octane fuel. And some sticker on the pump made it confusing. I believe what the sticker was saying was that if 88 octane fuel was chosen, it was E15 gas. I went back and forth considering whether that was safe for the Mirage or not. In the end I decided to use it because I knew I'd blow through it quickly. I also assumed with more ethanol, the mpg would be lower still. And it was. On that tank, same speeds as before, the LCD screen said it was averaging 34.1 mpg. Which by my estimation was really about 32 mpg. That's pretty darn low, in my opinion. So, in my opinion, I'd steer away from E15 if possible. Now, I'm going to search again, I'm betting there's info here on the forum about running E15.

So ... HOW HARD HAVE YOU ALL RAN YOUR MIRAGES? I'm betting there will be some interesting info on this.

[7milesout]

Yep - Looks like I wasn't supposed to run E15 in the Mirage. Ooooops. It's down to 1 bar now. I'll fill it today probably. When I do, I'm going to fill it with E0 to help get rid of whatever ethanol remains.

[Dirk Diggler]

I drive to Charleston SC at least once a month to help my step-mother with my father who suffers from dementia. It's a 700 mile journey there and back. I'm usually doing 75mph with CC on and net about 38mpg.

[Mark]

I'm betting there's info here on the forum about running E15.

So ... HOW HARD HAVE YOU ALL RAN YOUR MIRAGES? I'm betting there will be some interesting info on this.

Some of my longest one day driving trips have been

Llion, NY to my home in SW Wisconsin (through New York, Ohio, & part of Illinois/Wisconsin), which equaled approximately 965 miles last fall. All done with no cruise control. I must admit that I use my left foot on the gas pedal sometimes to keep pushing along.

I've gone from home to Minnewaukan, North Dakota & back a few days later several times (650+ miles one way). I will be doing this trip again in May.

I've gone from home to Tennessee & back the next day a couple times (700+ miles one way).

My parents are about 225 miles one-way, & I do that quite often (like this past weekend).

88/E15 has been quite common in my area for about 5 years now. It's always 5-15 cents cheaper per gallon than 87/E10. I use it in my driver's education car (2015 Impala flex fuel vehicle) quite often. I really don't think it would hurt a Mirage, but I don't use it in my Mirage (owner's manual states no more than 10% ethanol gas).

I stopped to get gas in Oshkosh, Wisconsin yesterday, & I noticed the Kwik Trip gas pump had one hose for the 3 gas options (87/E10, 88/E15, & 91/E0). The Kwik Trip pumps in my area have 4 choices & each choice has its own hose. The 4th choice is usually diesel or E85 flex fuel gas.

I only bring this up, because I only use 91/E0 in all my small engines (especially 2 strokes). If the gas pump didn't have individual hoses, that would be a concern. I would pump a gallon in my car before filling my 5 gallon gas cans to take home.

I suspect 87/E10 will run a little higher mpg than 88/E15, but it's hard to make a fair comparison with my driver's education car.

[Wallythacker]

My toughest haul was a long trip into upper Michigan the year after I got my 2017. I covered about 1700 miles over 3.5 days. I was shocked that Michigan interstates had 75mph speed limits, which means nearly everyone is driving 90mph. I decided not to buck the trend and hung out in the middle lane doing about 85. This is during the hottest part of July. The little thing never missed a beat. Never used oil, was pretty stable even with tractor trailer winds, overall, another reason to love my little car.

I forgot. No CC so the right foot got a good work out. I was used to driving long haul with no CC. As for fuel. it never dawned on me there was such a variance in US fuels. In Canada we have 87, usually 10-15% ethanol, mid grade, 91 or so, 5% ethanol and hi-test, 93 octane or close (Shell is 94 IIRC) with 0 ethanol. Anyhow, I simply pumped the cheapest blend at stations whose name I recognized, Exxon, Sunoco, ah, I forget most of the others. I kept a normal eye on fuel use and had a scangauge as well and nothing seemed off.

The border shut in March of 2020 as I was about to set off the the southwestern states. And here we are 3 years later.

[7milesout]

Mark - I wish we had 91/E0 in these parts. Every now and then I see some 90/E0. And on a very rare occasion I see 93/E0, and it is quite 'spensive. 91/E0 to me sounds optimal. I found a post about E15 from 2022, that I actually made a reply in. And it pointed out that E15 is not for our cars. I'll check the manual too. Probably didn't hurt anything, but I won't run it again.

[Ares]

The (then girlfriend) called stating someone was kicking the front door open.

What would normally be a 15-20min commute, I did in 9min. The engine was at mid-top RPM the entire drive. I broke a few laws that day; I had to do what I thought I had to do.

After the 3rd kick, I told her to yell out that she has a gun and will shoot - then call 911.

I lived in those apartments for a good 2yrs before the incident. Maybe lived there another half a year before we moved out.

[precisionxt]

The (then girlfriend) called stating someone was kicking the front door open.

What would normally be a 15-20min commute, I did in 9min. The engine was at mid-top RPM the entire drive. I broke a few laws that day; I had to do what I thought I had to do.

After the 3rd kick, I told her to yell out that she has a gun and will shoot - then call 911.

I lived in those apartments for a good 2yrs before the incident. Maybe lived there another half a year before we moved out.

Sounds like a scary situation. Glad everything ended up ok.

[7milesout]

Ares - Sounds like a situation where an exception is warranted. Hope all came out alright.

[precisionxt]

Mark - I wish we had 91/E0 in these parts. Every now and then I see some 90/E0. And on a very rare occasion I see 93/E0, and it is quite 'spensive. 91/E0 to me sounds optimal. I found a post about E15 from 2022, that I actually made a reply in. And it pointed out that E15 is not for our cars. I'll check the manual too. Probably didn't hurt anything, but I won't run it again.

Buc'ees is the only place close to where I live that carries Ethanol free fuel. We have 93/E0 and 87/E0. I'm sure the extra octane would help but it's ridiculously priced. Usually $1.50 more than 93/E10.