Considering a 4 cylinder vehicle

With gas prices staying high, we are considering selling one of our 6 cylinder vehilces to get a 4 cylinder for all the the running around we do. Wondering if anyone notices a measurable savings with a 4 vs. 6 cylinder.

I'm reserching reliable used vehicles. I'd prefer a small suv or wagon. I know the hondas and toyotas are on the list but even used they can be pricy or have high mileage in our target price range. Any suggestions for vehicles to consider ... needs to be something that we can keep (and will run) for many years Hybrids are out of our price range.

I'll be looking more closely at what Consumer Reports has to say. What other reliable resources would be good to reference?

 

Check out Kermit :lol:
http://www.fordvehicles.com/suvs/2008escapehybrid/

 

There's not really a magic formula, there are too many factors to consider.

4 Cylinders typically use less than a v-6 but not always. Looking @ the displacement of each engine can help, but it is not always a the major factor in gas mileage. For example, you can have a large displacement 4 cylinder and it can use way more than a small displacement 6. Not to mention, the larger an engine is, the less it has to work on the highway therefore getting better mileage. Stock Corvettes with a v-8 get in the 30mpg's on the freeway, whereas a honda or toyota may be in the 20's.

If you narrow it down by percentages of driving freeway vs. city, and model's of cars you are looking at, maybe someone can help.

 

i have an 02 saturn sedan ( accord/camry sized ) automatic...

with 125k on the clock it burns/leaks no oil and gets 32mpg daily


edit: its a 4 cylinder

 

When I bought my Honda (4 cyl) I went from a V8 that made about 16 mpg on a good day to 30 mpg average.

 

Wow.

Never heard this explanation before- can you provide any sort of proof of this??


FWIW, I was in agreement with you about most of the other points you made in your post, but this one is just not true. If it were true, then why would they not put the most gargantuan engine in the world in 18 wheelers, since they spend 99% of their time on the road on highways???

And, most 4 cyl hondas and toyotas get at least in the 40's in highway-only driving.


Rig

 

a stock corvette also has to have the 6-speed manual transmission to achieve this. and the cost of the car is ~50k. i also doubt that " most " hondas/toyos get in the 40's. post a link saying this or its bs. the 18 wheelers do have big engines. yeah they might only be inline 6 cylinders but they are 6+ liters of displacement, redline at 1500rpms and have 10+ gears. for moving 80k pounds getting 5 mpg is good. if you can drive a manual tranny you will get better gas mileage mostly because you have more gears to choose from. example: my saturn has a 4 speed automatic ( 4 gears ) most cars these days have a 5 or 6 speed manual transmission, more gears meaning the engine can spin slower on the highway while maintaining the same speed. some cars these days ( lower end cars, 30k$ and under ) are starting to come with 5 speed automatics, but i would still choose the manual over an auto for mpg. some of the smaller cars ( civic, corolla, etc. ) can get high 30's on the interstate. but once you turn on the a/c or drive with the window open the mpg drops, not alot but it will. a smaller car with a 4 cylinder and a 5 speed manual tranny will get good mpg, but alot also depends on the driver and how you drive the car.

 

I have a 2006 Honda Accord and consistanly get 34-35mpg. I have never gotten lower than 30. It is a 5 speed which may help a bit but the auto 2003 we had got close to the same. I had a Prius as a rental last year while traveling and drove 465 miles and only took 9.5 gallons to fill up. That was awesome.

I don't know what your budget is but you are right the Hondas and Toyotas are pricy even at 5-6 years old. You may want to have a look at a used Mazda3 or Mazda6. Both give good mileage and are a little slightly less expensive used. Pontiac G6 is not a bad choice either and is less expensive being domestic.

 

Wow, that's REALLY hard to read- I have a couple of things at the bottom of this post that might help you in the future..


Posting a link isn't going to prove anything, but I'm pretty confident that most 4 cyl toyotas and hondas would get in the 40MPG range IF they were highway driven all the time (at a reasonable, constant speed with little or no stop and go driving).

I realize that 18 wheelers generally use large 6 cyl turbo-diesel engines, my point was that if what Daredevil said- "the larger an engine is, the less it has to work on the highway therefore getting better mileage" was true, then why not use HUGE engines, the largest engine that could physically fit in the chassis of a OTR tractor?? While it may be true that an engine has to work less while cruising at a constant speed down the highway, that's NOT just true of larger (or small) engines.








































Presents for WS:

1 <Enter> key (this can be used like a typewriter Return key, to space out paragraphs)
1 <Tab> key
1 <Shift> key (this can be used to capitalize letters, at the beginning of a sentence for example).

 

then bs on the 40+mpg with no proof. there is no perfect scenario like you listed. high 30's is possible, but i doubt low 40's on a regular basis is damn hard to achieve. as far as the larger engine theory goes, you want the engine that is most efficient. bigger is not always better. you get to a point where you are shooting yourself in the foot. there is no reason for a 10 liter engine sucking fuel like it would when a 6 liter engine, capable of the same hp/tq numbers can do the same amount of work while using less fuel. the smaller engine would be more efficient for the amount of work that needed to be done. look at a crappy civic, its got what a 2 liter engine? why not shove a v8 in there. according to your statements it would get better mpg because its bigger :re-My Friend:

out of all the forums i post on you have been the only one not able to understand what i said. maybe YOU should start learning about how to post. just read what i said. it makes perfect sense. and a toyo prius is a complete piece of shiat. if you think that are savingthe enviroment by buying one then you are a complete re-My Friend.

 

Uhm, yeah, you can prove it to yourself by maintaining a constant 55 mph on the freeway, then for the same amount of miles maintain 75mph. Your engine has to work less, so therefore is getting better mileage. I think you are confused that I am comparing larger displacement engines to a smaller displacement engine in a MPG war on the freeway. I think you missed the period @ the end of the thought. The smaller engine holding less fuel and air will typically do better for MPG in a head to head with a larger displacement all things being equal (RMP, speed,aerodynamics, friction,driveline losses). But who wantes to drive a weedeater powered car?

As for the tractor engine....a tractor engine is made for torque the displacement is large to get a bunch of weight moving. If you had that in your car you'd be getting going fast, but the gearing would have to be huge to reach freeway speeds.

If you get 40mpg out of a modern Toyota or Honda, you are one lucky person. ITs EASILY achieved with an older model 80's because back then nobody cared about HP. The average HP was probably around 120hp or so. Nowadays they START at closer to 200 HP.

 

i agree with you on the 80's model cars getting decent mpg. tiny motors and they did not weigh much at all. also agree on the 50mpg out of a late model honda/toyo, its not easily done, not saying its impossible but the conditions would have to be damn near perfect. today, mid 30's mpg is very good.

 

Let me start by saying that what little respect I may have had for you is completely out the window. Calling someone a re-My Friend based on one or two interweb posts is, well, stupid.

I was being honest in my asessment of your posts, they are hard as he!! to read, so I admittedly did not read over them very carefully as they made my eyes hurt. Why not try some punctuation, capitalization and a little space between paragraphs?? Is it really that hard?

I never mentioned anything about a Toyota Prius.

I never claimed that late model toyotas and hondas AVERAGED 40 mpg. Since you obviously don't get the point, I'm not going to try to explain it to you again.

I never said that a bigger engine got better MPG, I was refuting the point that Daredevil attempted to make along those lines.


You seem to have a problem with reading comprehension as well as typing, perhaps YOU are the one who is mentally challenged??

Repeat after me (it helps if you say this out loud, especially if at work or in a public place):

"I am sofa king we todd did, I am sofa kind we todd did"....



And yes, Daredevil, I may have misinterpreted what you were trying to say about the larger engines. I am still reluctant to believe your scenario of an engine getting better MPG at 75mph than at 55mph- I believe that all cars have a different "sweet spot" where they are working most efficiently, for some it might be 40mph, and for some it might be ~60mph. I just don't think you can make the blanket statement that all cars with big engines get better MPG at 75mph...it's just not true.

 

You are reluctant because that is not what I said Re-reading it it does sound a little confusing. YOUR car going 55mph will typically get better mileage than when it is going 75mph due to the engine working less, less aerodynamic drag, etc. I have to disagree with you on the "sweet spot" theory. The less the engine is spinning, the less fuel it is using.

Again maybe more clearly to everyone... Just because the engine is smaller doesnt always mean your car will get better gas mileage than a larger engine car. There are way too many factors.

I will tell everyone here exactly how to get better gas mileage in your existing cars.......

Keep your foot off the go pedal!! EASE onto it when needed, and slow down.

Loose weight (yes, you and the car). Clean out the trunk, and go on a diet.

Check your tires once a week to make sure they are properly inflated. I usually cheat a little and overfill by a pound or 2. Have them aligned as recomended.

Tune up the car, and keep the oil changed, air filter replaced, etc.

If you have a pickup truck, keep the tailgate UP. Not down,no bed net, etc.

And for the ultimate, soon to be disputed, gas saving trick.... Fill up @ night, or when it is cold outside. Gas pumps measure volume. Everything shrinks when cold, and expands when hot. You get a LITTLE more bang for your buck with cold gas. Helps if you pump slow since the gas is underground and takes a little time to cool off through the lines in the pumps.

 

That was ****ing funny.

I haven't seen or read that outloud to myself before :lol::lol:

 

i will agree that this is the funniest thing i have read in a long time...

 

I have a 99 Honda Civic, about 80% highway driven, and I get 38 mpg.

 

go to this website

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm


plug in the year the engine and compare. Really good info. As stated above a 4 cyl may not be that much better than a v6 with a better transmission.

 

This website, only use it as a guideline. They put the cars up on a lift, under no load and run it. Not an accurate representation of your mileage. Yours will be considerably lower.

 

that used to be correct, but they have adjusted for more actual conditions for 2008, and adjusted the old numbers also.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/ratings2008.shtml

there is also a section where you can see real world mileage from users.