im looking for ways to improve gas mileage and perhaps performance but dont really want to go all crazy with turbos and the like. Do cold air intakes improve gas mileage, how bout catback exhaust systems, theoretically since air through your car flows smoother in one way and out the other, the gas mileage should improve right? i think these would be the mods i would get

before i had my cai in, i had a short ram and averaged 17-20mpg, with cai in, i average 20-23mpg...plus with a cai you get a better throttle response and is fun to drive

Cold air intakes will not improve gas milage, they will register the air as being colder ie denser, so will enable the car to add more petrol, making it slightly faster but not more economical. Performance mods will not make your car more economical, the only thing that will is a fully mapped ECU. If you want Economy leave it as Toyota intended, if you want more performance then add the AM stuff.

get a tornado >> jk

saying something like i want better performance but dont want to waste gas is like saying i want a ferrari F50 but i want to get the same gas mileage as a hybrid honda.

they dont mix.

This post has been edited by RedSunCelica: May 19, 2005 - 5:37 PM

my celica gets 28-30 miles per gallon (city driving not highway)... i use Amoco Ultimate, and concentrated fuel injector cleaner octane booster treatment often... plus i charge the battery a lot, seems like it makes sense while im always working on it and the door lights use battery power, i have a plug in charge attacted to the battery, so i keep in plug in til its fully charged before i go anywhere... >>

-RedSunCelica+May 19, 2005 - 3:36 PM


Actually, they do mix, at least up to a certain point, any time you improve the efficiency, the net result will be better economy IF you drive it the same as before. the mileage you get depends on how you drive it. Yes you can have more power available, but the mileage will suffer only if you use that power to accelerate quicker or go faster than before. If you use the extra power to move the vehicle more efficiently, the mileage should improve, in other words it now takes less fuel to get up to cruising speed because you are using the same amount of fuel to make more power than before. Usually the mileage suffers because we are always sticking our foot in it to enjoy that extra power >> However if you go with radical cam profiles or other serious mods, , you can get a lot more peak hp, but the fuel mileage will suffer, there is a curve involved,
As far as a cold air intake, they already are taking colder air from the fenderwell. maybe a free-flowing air cleaner element, smoother flowing piping to the air cleaner, synthetic lubricants in the engine/trans, a lot of little things can add up. A GT 5-speed should get around 30mpg in average driving.

-LewFX+May 19, 2005 - 6:16 PM

wtf!? That's seriously high fuel consumption you got going on there, LewFX!
mine does an average of 27mpg, and i thought that was low!

30 MPG??? wtf are you driving like a grandma? I only get 20-24 usually

i get about 270 miles b4 filling up and thats about 13-14 gallons

hwy i can go 400+ miles

I always get 330-350 with mixed hwy/city driving. The most I have ever gotten was 450 and that was with almost all hwy driving.

Usually get around 375 miles and that's with leaving about 2+ gallons in the tank. Mostly city driving... one of the reason's I'm probably going to keep the celica. RSX-S at premium adds up...keep the celi on regular.

even if the gas mileage does not improve, the efficiency of the car would and would also make the engine not be working as hard

97GTinKC, I totally agree. After I installed my CAI, I drove my GT very hard for a few tanks, and didn't notice any gas millange improvement (19.5mpg avg). However, when I started to drive easy, I noticed my gas milage jump up to 23mpg.

I hear that engine treatments like Zmax and the use to synthetic oil will also increase performance and power. I'll let you know tomorrow.

after putting on my cai and using non arco gas. i get about 23 mpg on the avg. When i drive it hard it may drop to about 21 to 22 mpg.

-urbandork+May 23, 2005 - 1:37 PM

ditto, maybe its a cali thing that we get sucky gas mileage!