mileage: 4wd terc vs. 2wd terc?

[Mattel]

Good decision David! glad to have you around still. what doyou think about my idea of possibly removing the rear driveshaft and sealing up the diff and transfer case holes where it was. Or even some sort of rear freewhealing hubs? and then replacing it come snow season? other ideas could be lightning the car.

Four of us All-trac users got together in Melbourne on teh weekend. some of us are thinking of getting 7afe engines.

[dlb]

i like the idea of manual locking hubs, although i guess that wouldn't really save any drag on an all wheel drive. as for removing the rear driveshaft, it's not a bad idea but i still like having the 4wd so i don't think i would go that far. i am curious to see if i get slightly better mileage now with the warmer summer weather. i think i will. my friend has an automatic all trac and averaged 11 km/L over the winter but just got 12.5, which doesn't sounds like much but is actually substantial.

i'm glad to still be a part of the 4wd wagon club too! i have a lot of pride in both t4s and CATs so i'm happy to still be able to represent them.

[dlb]

my buddy has been consistently getting 12-12.5 km/L (28-29.5 mpg) for the last several warm weather tanks in his automatic all trac. i just got 13.8 km/L (32.5 mpg) on 50/50 city/hwy driving in mine. i'm really happy about that.

[Romulux]

I like the decision you made. I think it's good to have pride in the looks of your car, and it sounds like sacrificing that 10-15 mpg was well worth it for you! I feel the same way about getting a 4wd Tercel over something in the same price range that gets better gas mileage (like the Geo Metro). 32.5 mpg is still really good!

[larry mcgrath]

I checked the gas milage in the Rocket yesterday, 33.6 running around 80-85 mph not bad.Sure is fun to drive. Larry

[TominMO]

One thing you can do is build a cheap airdam to attach to the front bumper area. I built two out of aluminum mesh gutter-guard stuff and duct tape. They extend down another 5" below the bumper on both cars. Held to the car with L-brackets, stainless screws, and stainless Nylock nuts. Total cost about $20. On my Festiva with a 1.6L motor (stock is 1.3L), I went from 42 to 45 MPG. On my Aspire with the stock 1.3L, I went from 45 to 51 MPG. Air drag under the car is a very significant factor.

I do a lot of aero and motor-mod testing for MPGs on the Festiva forum, and am very careful with tank filling, correcting the odo, etc. My results have been very consistent. My next experiments on the Aspire are an MPG-grind cam and an adjustable FPR; hoping for 60 MPG at a steady 60 MPH.

[emmahumpfritter]

I know a bit about the suzuki products. The metro WILL get over 50 MPG (1.0L 3-cyl) but it's not nearly as reliable as say anything toyota has built. the metro XFi (sort of the MPG holy grail) will get over 60 MPG (my personal record is 67 MPG) but again, expect to work on it a lot, have it highly prone to rust issues and well, difficult to impossible to find anymore. If you do a google search under my name (Brenton Netz) you'll see I was once the "metro man" and had NPR and other media outfits coming to my humble home to interview me. If you're into extreme MPG's...the XFi is worth having. If you want a good reliable and do anything decent vehicle, stick with a T4wd IMHO. It will take long time to pay for the gas.