Gas Mileage

Too Fast

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With about 75% highway driving, the other city, my new winter beater Grand Am 2 door 3.1 gave me exactly 28 MPG. Happy about that, my other winter beater got stolen.

It was a 1990 Cavalier Z24 with a 3.1, auto with only 3 gears, no overdrive. The best it ever did was 100% highway, 25 MPG, and usually about 22 MPG doing the same commute as I did with the Grand Am GT. As a bonus, all the side cladding on the Grand Am hides the rust, and she looks pretty good all in white with her matching white wheels.
 
LOL! no j/k that's awful that your POS (no offense) got jacked man; that's never cool. Where are you at? I'm glad I don't have to deal with the salted roads (moved from MN to TX). I just took my 05 impala Base (3400) on a road trip camping here in TX from the Dallas area to the Waco area and I on the way back (filled up) went about 299 miles for 9.618 gal. I was pretty happy about that since I had: Me and my gf and the camping gear (which isnt too much) and my subs and sub box.

In all fairness, I milked that gas (very light pedal; tried to keep below 1500 RPM). But I did travel to Dublin, TX for some soda and had 1 rest stop and a few stops on the state hwy.

Good to hear you got better gas milage than before. I hope you have better luck and don't get another empty parking spot where your car used to be. Do a tune up see if you can squeeze more efficiency out of that old engine.
 
Yeah she runs pretty good for a winter/wet weather car. Nice and smooth like a 60* V6 ought to. Your Impala got about 31 MPG, nice. Especially with all the gear aboard.

Our Z got stolen from the driveway, we were away for 36 hours. Found it stripped of wheels, radio, battery, donut spare (!) subwoofer and the steering column was gashed to get it running. About $1400 damage, or buy another $1400 car, newer with better MPG.
 
Yea, not worth it at all! And even worse is it was at home when it was taken. I hope no one takes this one.

Yea a lot of ppl dog on the 60*V6 but I like them; pretty good gas milage, fairly easy to work on, plenty of power to pass, pretty cheap new parts, and lots of used parts to find at junkyards.
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+1 on the lots of parts for these cars. I almost bought a 1998 Aurora, what the crap was I thinking, besides how cool that 4.0 V8 would sound like with Flowmasters and it had heated seats. Never mind the poor tire selection, problems with head gaskets which really ruins the engines since the head bolts take the thread out of the block on Northstars, and there is only one '90s Aurora in the Pull-a-part here in Indy.

You should've seen the real POS someone wanted $1400 for, a '99 Grand Prix. Only needed a new paint job, 2 front hub bearing assemblies, 4 tires, the SES, ABS lights were on, no heat, no lock up torque converter, the fan only worked on high, no AC operation. I offered him $600 and he had it advertised 7 days earlier for $1900. At least it was a 3.8/2 door car. Oh yeah, the odo said 225k, but he said the seller told him it was really like 150k since he had to change the dash. I asked him if he had any proof of that, of course not.
 
Yikes! Yeah I like the 90* too. I bought a 2002 Grand Prix GT bad front wheel bearing too. $750 everything else was fine reading 112k. It is 4 door but I like sedans more and my Grand Am GT is coupe and my 2000 civic ex is coupe too.

But the 60* still lives on now. I have a 3500 engine I bought to for cheap and I will be a top swap on my Grand Am
 
You found an '02 Grand Prix for $750 with only a bad wheel bearing? 3.8? And everything else is good? Excellent. Those 3.8s last a long time.
 
Yeah, the previous owner had a misfire after someone (idk dad, brother, ect...) did a tune up.... misplaced wires (like 6 was on 2 or something) and they were done with it; this kind of thing does happen to the best of us, I have done it to :p. The passenger window was also broken but a window regulator assembly is like $50-$75 for a cheap on at rockauto so I didn't count that one.

On the hubs, yea they were in rough shape, the rotor was being ground (like when you have bad breaks). I think the hubs (both front) scared him along with the misfire and window on an old car, BUT I had to save it! 112k and it still shifts wonderfully. So that rotor is toast however, the pads have a little life and I am not driving the car often so I left it for the moment since it still stops and I will replace them in the summer.

It's a good car over all.. and it's a 3800! I might do some mods but idk. I have a Bonneville SSEi where I can play around.

My driveway is becoming a safe haven for Pontiac lol!

I had the Grand Am, Grand Prix, Bonneville, and I fixed a friends G6; come one come all, Pontiac is safe here :P.
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Yeah Pontiacs are safe here also. I have 3 now, others are a '00 black WS6 6-speed and a '68 red Le Mans convertible. Wifey drives an '03 tan Trailblazer, 3 row seating.

The WS6 used to be the gas mileage champ, she gets 25-28.x on the highway. City, of course, is way less! The TA and the Le Mans are in the garage now, waiting for clear roads/no salt. We had a winter storm the past 48 hours and went sledding last night.
 
Nice man! I never knew a ws6 could come close to that! I love the body style of Le Mans but I have always likes the 442 version from oldsmobile; idk I love that hood on it. It's an awesome car never the less!

Yeah, it's icy here in DFW too.

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That picture looks like it could be from around here. I see the dog prints, what kind do you have? Looks big!

A lot of people are surprised when I tell them how good the gas mileage is with the WS6. The window sticker said 17/27.
 
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I guess I never thought a big V8 would get that! You bought it new? I have always liked the meanness of the front on those WS6!

There are 2 dogs running around. One was my sisters pug and the other is an English setter. I used to have a chocolate and black labs but they are UNDER the backyard now. I just got the setter and it's my first dog non-lab! It's probably just this dog but WOW. This is the coolest dog ever in terms of non barking and being calm-maybe his bark mechanism is broken lol. He is a little jumpy but thats about it.

You have dogs then too, what type?
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Used to have a dog, he was a 50/50 Shar Pei/Shepard. Name was "Chang" lol. Male Shar Pei's are about 55 lbs, he was more like 75 and looked like a huge Shar Pei. Big wrinkled head/face, curled tail that would hold a tennis ball. He lived 9 years, great fun loving dog.

Now we have an outdoor cat along with 7 chickens, the chickens have been giving us 35 eggs a week since mid-July, but that should slow way down any time now with winter here.
 
So that's how you make your money, egg money! Lol That sounds like a cool dog. Some times I find mutts to be the best! I had a black lab and ??? It was literally shaped like a bear thus his name.

Where do you live that you have enough space for chickens? I suppose I have gotten spoiled to "city" though it's more like a country suburban area... there's not even a city but it is 5 minutes away from Fort Worth, TX.
 
Wow too hot down there for me in the DFW area. At least we get breaks from the summer heat here. And (usually) no hurricanes. We had the remnant of one a few years ago, couldn't believe how strong and how long that wind was, then the rain!

In Indianapolis, there are no codes regarding chickens. And no, the egg money is scarce. I get $3/dozen, and haven't even gotten $30 yet lol. We don't have a large yard, about .6 acre, but big enough for the chickens and lots of separation from neighbors. No housing addition/homeowners association for me!

The difference between an egg less than 7 days old vs the store bought eggs is like the difference between a tomato from your back yard vs the store tomatoes.
 
I hear that. No home owners where I am but everyone keeps up their yard; except this one guy that has a forest growing but whatever, he is at the bottom of the hill. If I could grow something in this crap dirt I would (tomatoes or other veggies). Idk about chickens, I have never had them. I used to play on a pig farm in Minnesota as a child but I have never been around chickens. Are they easy to maintain?

The DFW area isn't too bad. No harsh winters! Fort Worth is TEXAS incarnate as much as a big city can be. Dallas is nice too but a little bit "nose in the air" atmosphere. I haven't made it that far east (never been eat of the Mississippi). What's there to do in Indiana?
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Once the chickens are established with a predator proof coop/run, not much to do with them except feed/water every few days in the summer, more often in the winter I'm finding out. Oh and get the eggs dailey. We let them out to free-range the back yard, they love that. Funny to watch the hierarchies (sp), now I know such sayings as 'pecking order' 'all cooped up' 'scardy chicken' lol. My wife said they sometimes jump when a leaf falls near them!

Winter is being harsh right now, the past 6 days with little relief in sight. At least no big snowfall coming, but it's 15* outside now. And a bit windy. I had a dream last night I started an ice rink in the back yard! Did it one year here, it lasted 3 weeks.

Indianapolis, the 'Racing Capital of the World' self-proclaimed. Indy 500, Brickyard 400, Moto GP, place of the first US Nationals drag racing, stick and ball sports, hosted the Super Bowl a few years back, the wife and I were on the sideline for the Madonna halftime show, nice state parks, some fun roads to drive (gotta find 'em, tho) and I like the change of seasons. Fall drives are colorful, I organize a Mystery Cruze with the Indy Firebird Club for that. We drive the crap outta the cars that day, not much time for scenic looks unless we get caught behind something slow.

We have our snooty cities here, like Zionsville and Carmel.
 
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