[redline14]

I haven't been getting good fuel economy in my new redline at all. I calculated 11 mpg in the city and it is drinking gas like nothing. Has anyone else had this problem? What kind of fuel economy do you get?

 

[scooter]

Don't take this the wrong way. How are you calculating it? That's just nuts! I can't see how it could be so bad!

 

[Vita]

that's very well possible if you are gunnin' it ALL the time. i get about 20mpg with a nice healthy mix of baby'n it, and beatin' on it!

ONCE i got around 280-290 to the tank highway miles, some city driving and more highway miles, and it wasn't set on cruise.

how many miles do you get out of a tank, because if you're only getting 10, you should be filling up at about 100 miles, unless you run it dry. i'm pulling 200+ out of every tank

 

[redline14]

OK here's how I calculated it...

It was close to empty and put $10 of premium in which gave me 5 gallons. It has a 13.2 gallon fuel tank so 13.2-5 is 8.2 I reset the trip after I filled it up and after 95% city driving, I went to fill it up again (almost at empty) and the trip said 82.5

Then 82.5 divided by 8.2 gallons is around 10.

 

[redline14]

I don't gun it all the time....I do what you do Vita, I drive it passively and I drive it agressively, but I don't burn out from stops.

 

[redline14]

Correction on my calculation... I wouldn't have 8 gallons...I would have around 5 which would make it come out to about 15mpg...still not much better

 

[Tom01SC2]

You need to start with a full tank, otherwise you'll never know for sure. Then after that the next time you fill up take how many miles you drove and divide it by the amount of gallons you just then filled up. Example: 280 miles / 10 gallons = 28 mpg...

Tom

 

[redline14]

I noticed that on the dash it has the "shift now for best fuel economy" light...however this never lights up. Is it supposed to? If not, is there a way to activate it?

 

[Tom01SC2]

I've never seen a shift light come on while driving, and I have driven about 300+ miles so far. I'd think they wouldn't have one considering it is a performance driven vehicle, they pretty much assume that the person driving it will no when to shift. Seriously, just shift lower in the RPM band to get better gas mileage. Sorta from your statement I can tell you haven't driven stick for very long, am I correct?

Anyways, filled up my first tank. 21.5 mpg, not bad since I had to give like 5 buddies a ride in it over the last two days, lol...

Tom

 

[redline14]

Good guess! This is my first manual car

 

[Tom01SC2]

Well I decided to take a road trip with my RL and let her stretch out her legs. Ended up with 24.5 mpg. I pretty much went fromm 1000 elevation to over 5000 ft elevation. So going up hill and the high altitude can probably be blamed for the lower gas mileage. Me cruising between 80 to 90 didn't help either. Although I did get to have some fun playing with a BMW Z8...

Tom

 

[Blu_Redline]

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.

 

[Tom01SC2]

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.

Actually the top speed on the car is 144 mph. My buddy hit 135 mph on the way to Cali and has a pic to proove it. You are probably getting shut down by the PCM because you are PINGING all over the place for using 87 octane I could have sworn you needed to use 91 octane or higher, shit it's not like it has forced induction...

Tom

 

[scooter]

Saturn says it is safe to use 87 octane in the Red Line. They just recommend 91 or higher. I filled our first one (1st Red Line on the lot) up w/ 87 octane. *what was I thinkin* Then on the second tank I filled it up w/ 93 octane. You can feel a difference.

Barry has hit the 135MPH mark too!

 

[Tom01SC2]

Saturn says it is safe to use 87 octane in the Red Line. They just recommend 91 or higher. I filled our first one (1st Red Line on the lot) up w/ 87 octane. *what was I thinkin* Then on the second tank I filled it up w/ 93 octane. You can feel a difference.

Barry has hit the 135MPH mark too!

True, but the key word you said was recommend. A lot of cars that use premium can run off of the cheap shit, their PCM's are usually designed to retard timing or not run as much boost (if FI). I knew some young guy who was running 87 in his Evo 8, he couldn't for the life of him figure out why he wasn't hitting his full boost. I told him to use the recommend 91 octane and a lot of his problems would dissapear. What do you know, that fixed the problem.

Blu_Redline, I'm not trying to rag on you or anything, so don't take it that way. I guess that is part of the reason why I won't buy a used FI car...

Tom

 

[Vita]

you SHOULD be running 93+ octane...

and you SHOULDN'T be racing with so little miles on your car. the reason the speed limiter is cutting off fuel at that low of a speed is because it's in the break in period! i feel sorry for your car. you car isn't really truly broken in until around 3-4K miles, although it's ok to drive it hard during this time, your car will love you if you dont beat on it till this time frame is up, i know it's hard, but do it for your car, remember, you probobly plan to have it for a long time...

 

[Blu_Redline]

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

 

[fi-r_head]

well said chap

 

[Vita]

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

 

[Tom01SC2]

Well being in sales myself (not car sales), I do have to admit that most salesman are not honest. If you think about it, premium gas cost more money and can deteur a customer. Easy solution, tell them they can run 87. Technically you are not lying since indeed the car can operate on 87, but you aren't fully telling the truth either. But the truth doesn't get something sold and definitely doesn't make the commission. Also, did any car salesman tell anyone of you that the oil changes are 100 dollars a pop? I would be surprised if they did, lol...

Tom