26.9 mpg! 26.9 mpg!

[krispos42]

On the most recent tank of gas, my beater got 26.9 mpg! It's a new record :woohoo:

Why is this notable? Because my car is a well-worn, somewhat battered, 19-year-old, two-ton Oldsmobile full-size sedan with an old pushrod V-6 and 177,000 miles on it!

And those crazy Minnesotans on I-35 like to cruise at 80mph plus. Usually 'plus'!

Here's a visual aid:



I have the four-door with better-looking alloy rims and without the corny vinyl top, though. :P

Considering I'm commuting 150 miles a day right now, this is quite important to me!

[fasttense]

1. You are commuting 150 miles a day?

Is that one way? How long does it take you and why are you commuting so far?

[liberaldemocrat7]

3. I get 30 miles per charge with my electric motorcycle.

[Javaman]

7. How much did that cost you? and what is the average speed?

I'm thinking of getting one

[krispos42]

4. 75 each way

Five damn days a week.

It's only temporary, though. Once I get a place up there (I should know tomorrow), I'll move in and be only about a half-mile from work. :-)

My job moved. It used to be 22 miles from me, a half hour or so. Easily doable. But we outgrew our space, so we moved north of the Cities. But I live to the south, so I have to plow through St. Paul and then warp up I-35 to my job.

[AndyA]

2. I have a 1989 Oldsmobile Touring Sedan that I ordered brand new.

It's similar to your car, except it is a four door and has front and rear bucket seats, center console, floor shift, etc. It was designed to compete with BMW, Mercedes, etc., and I still love it to this day. It gets good gas mileage, handles very well, and when you step on the gas it GOES! It always starts, always gets me where I'm going and home again, and has everything on it the new cars have.

Plus, I have no car payments, no depreciation, and it's a great car to drive. My mechanic told me the engines in these are about the best GM has ever built.

[krispos42]

5. So far my car has been reliable as hell

I've had it about 2¼ years and 35,000 miles. The paint is peeling, the interior has a few problems, and I got hit by Ford Explorer that whacked the hell out of my bumper. The A/C is failing, the steering column is loose, the bright beam switch is broken, there is a slight antifreeze leak that I can't track down, the cruise control has become erratic, and I'm holding the headliner up with steel shipping straps from my job because pushpins and spray glue just wouldn't work.

Among other things, of course.

But, it starts right up, goes nicely and is dead reliable. And again, no payments and no depreciation. I am looking to replace it soon, though before the failings stop being cosmetic or convienence and start being expensive and mechanical.

[EOTE]

6. It's a 231 ci V6, isn't it?

My first car was a 1987 Olds 88 Brougham with the 231 pushrod (3.8 liter). Maybe GM's best engine ever and was consistently ranked amongst Ward's top 10 engines. It may be very old technology (the engine has existed in some form or another for more than 50 years, and they've only very recently retired it), but GM does very well at adapting old technology for new times. A lot of automotive snobs look down at GM for still making OHV engines, but they're smooth, powerful and still get good fuel economy.

Most recently, GM developed the first pushrod engine to incorporate variable valve timing. Called vario-cam or cam in cam, it allows the exhaust portion of the cam to move independently of the intake side for completely variable timing on the intake and exhaust. VVT has existed for about 20 years now, but GM has stayed competitive without it up until now. GM is still making good pushrod engines that compete against a fleet of cars all with overhead cams. I recently drove in a G6 with the new 3.9 liter unit with variocam and it's a great engine. Very powerful with boatloads of low end torque, yet very smooth as well. It doesn't quite rank up with Nissan's 3.5 liter unit (Or Toyota's 3.5 as well, I assume), but I think it comes damn close for an engine found in much cheaper vehicles.

[krispos42]

8. Yup, the 3800 series V-6

I used to drive a Ford Thunderbird, with Ford's 232-cid engine, and that thing was a rock as well. I used only Castrol Syntec motor oil in both engines. The Ford lasted 255,000 miles with everything in the engine original before the head gasket finally blew. The Olds has 177,000 on the odometer and doesn't burn any oil that I can see, and it's also all factory original, as far as I can tell.