Fuel Economy

I just turned 900 miles on the Redline tonight and filled up for the second time to check milage. It was 23 mpg and the first time I checked it was 24 mpg, using 87 octane exclusively. I don't race red light to red light, but I do excellerate heavily on the interstate and going down the ramps merging with traffic. Then there are the 2 times I found the rev limiter kicks in at 127 mph.(that has to hurt fuel economy) I only have one "race" to my credit on this car and this last tank of gas. It was Saturday night against some V6 Accura sedan with dual exhaust that had the huge fart can mufflers switched out. We were leaving out of the HIN in Cleveland heading west on I-480 when I pulled up beside him in 4th. He nailed it, so did I and the Redline pulled ahead and left him. He gave up at around 115mph and I took it to 125 and coasted. He came up on me trying to do a "flyby" and I equaled his speed @ 85, he tried again to pass me and I left him hanging a second time. He gave up again around 115, I guess that must be the rev limit on that car. Anyway, a Redline owns V6 Accuras (stock for stock). Disclaimer: I do not promote or condone street racing, but sometimes $*!t happens.

Hmmmm, interesting. I was under the impression that the Saturn division had their $*!t together as far as knowing their line up and customer service. I asked the salesman ( a 14 year Saturn employee) twice about the gas situation and he told me that they ran on 87 octane & that hi test was not needed or recomended. I thought this was strange since we were looking at a new GTO also and that LS7 motor is a hi test only engine. I will try Sunoco 93 on my next tank. And on that last note, I have been buying cars for a Looooong time and the normal breakin time is 500 miles. Hell, a race engine is fired up and immediatedly run at 3500 to 4500 rpm for one hour to break it in. The rings will seat and the bearings will wear in. Change oil and give it hell. Production passenger engines aren't as demanding as they are initally fired on propane and broke in before being installed into the car. 5000 miles is ridiculous IMHO (and others as well) My 02 sunfire Ecotec shows no effects of this kind of treatment and it is just shy of 36K miles. For the record, no matter what octane is in that car, it taps out at 105 mph. Our 2000 Neon (the car the ION replaced) with the SOHC engine and automatic rev limits at around 122 mph. It is not as quick as the DOHC Ecotec up to 70 mph, but after that, the SOHC engine comes alive and will leave a Cavy or Sunfire behind. Don't get me wrong, I really don't make a habbit of racing the highways, infact the Accura was only my 3rd race. But I will, on a early drive to work, occasionally open up a new vehicle to see what it has. -John

its a FI vehicle, you DONT want to run 87, it wont kill it, but there is a reason SATURN reccommends the higher octane, it was designed for it. personally i let my car break in for that long every time, of course you've got to open it up during the first 100 miles or so (this is when any roughness is still apparent, and opening it up during this time will help the rings to smooth it out evenly) to really let it break in, but after that being easy on it for quite some time is good for it (alhtough this is my personal preference).


and asking a salesman for any type of advice about your car is just plain wrong, no matter how long they've worked there. he tells you that high octane is NOT recemmended, even when your owners manual tells you it IS. something tells me he is less informed about your car than you SHOULD be...

next thing you know, when you do your oil change, they'll tell you that it's not that important to use sythetic