I completely regret buying the Mirage! Chose the wrong transmission.

[debburyl]

Also what I do is I learn when to really give it more gas and when to let off the gas. To get better Mpg . And I do that in the right hand lane. Because everyone likes to go as fast as the Indy500 everytime you leave the stop sign. So after I'm doing a good speed then I can get In the other lane because I'm traveling the speed they are.that way I'm not race it to get up to the speed limit. I think that's when your burning the most gas is when your trying to hurry up to the speed limit. Also you don't have to drive like a old lady , my Great grandmother had a Lead foot she had a Buick and she was called the old lady from Pasadena !!!! She would Fly down the freeway!!!

[nternal1]

That rally car driver's suggestion to never press the accelerator more than 1/3 of the way and always keep under 2000 rpm seems to work. I can easily drive at the same speed as the rest of the traffic once I'm up to speed but it's the acceleration that I have to watch. I used ride a VFR 750 and watching everyone take off on the green is tough but... that's OK...if I wanted another crotch rocket I'd get one.

[El Kapitan]

i'm surprised, and happy, that you came back to post again. i know you can do even better than 14.7 km/L. i have the same car and live in the same region. i do drive longer trips than you do, which is where the mileage really starts to get crazy good.

[Cani Lupine]

Short trips are never very economical, especially near freezing point.

[Daox]

Its good to hear you're getting better mileage nternal1.

I agree, having a steady foot will definitely help mileage with the CVT. If you keep hunting with your foot, the ECU is going to keep hunting too. Press the accelerator down and keep it in generally the same place and the ECU will calculate how to most efficiently accelerate at that rate you've selected. IMO it doesn't need to be super slow either. A little bit of RPM doesn't hurt fuel economy much as long as you don't immediately hit the brakes afterwards (which wastes all that gas you just used to accelerate).

[Basic]

Your comment about ambient temps is spot on. Especially in the Mirage. Now that it has started to warm up I have noticed almost 10 MPGS difference for the better... being cold is tough on these little guys.

[mpaton]

So, as another newbie here who's read your post with interest, if I may - welcome back!

I bought my ES manual to have an economical car, one that could get great economy, but would always get reasonably good economy (and I saw only 74bhp as an advantage).
And I've spent the time so far playing at trying to see how good I could get it. After 2 tankfuls of 45 and 46 mpgUS, and having seen on display A a max of somewhere in the 57s, I thought I wouldn't see any better, and I wondered if I could ever get numbers in the 60s and 70s as some people in the logs get.

So yesterday I'm driving along a country road, about 40mph, no different conditions than I've seen before, and the A Gauge is reading 64. Never seen that before!

I have delved deeply into the code used in the ECUs of Ford trucks of the 1990s, and I know thay have an alternate calibration, and I'm told it is used for the initial miles of a vehicl's life. My total miles at that point was about 1030, so now I'm wondering if Mitsubishi has such a thing as well.

So it may not be possible to get the best ecocnomy early on in the car's life, completely aside from issues like mechanical parts "loosening up"!

[Marrero]

Your comment about ambient temps is spot on. Especially in the Mirage. Now that it has started to warm up I have noticed almost 10 MPGS difference for the better... being cold is tough on these little guys.

100% agree I got a 25mpg highway trip going 55mph in -17F degree weather in Maine, same driving conditions I would have easily gotten over 55mpg in Florida .

[Mikhail]

To own a car is a little expensive, especially for a little commute. The author said his commute is 7 km one way. That means about 70 km per week. Dividing it by 11 km/l that's about 6.3 L of gas. So, he spends $7 per week and concerns about that? How much does he want to save, extra $1? That's nothing compare to the expenses on the car payments itself and insurance.

[nternal1]

To own a car is a little expensive, especially for a little commute. The author said his commute is 7 km one way. That means about 70 km per week. Dividing it by 11 km/l that's about 6.3 L of gas. So, he spends $7 per week and concerns about that? How much does he want to save, extra $1? That's nothing compare to the expenses on the car payments itself and insurance.

It's not really any of your business "why" I expect this car to live up to it's "billing" as fuel efficient. If the only reason you pay attention to fuel efficiency is to save a dollar that's sort of pathetic. I could easily spend more on a car and the money I spend on gas is virtually irrelevant. As far as I'm concerned fuel efficiency has nothing to do with saving money... it's about doing the least possible harm to the environment. I think that if one is not willing to give up the convenience of driving, at the very least, this is a social responsibility.