Many people on here have been wondering how to get the most gas mileage out of our cars. I'm here to tell you that my GT gets me 31+ MPG. How? I will tell you in this guide how you can achieve this much, if not more, but following some simple steps.

1) Learn how to drive
This is by far the most crucial step in getting better gas mileage. First, DON'T HAVE A HEAVY FOOT! Now, I know you didn't buy this car thinking it was the fastest **** on Earth (though I could be wrong), so why have a heavy foot with such a slow car? The key is the be light on the gas. For you 5 speed guys, this is where the next step comes into play: shift points. Many people on here drive up to 3-4k RPM in each gear and then shift. This makes a big difference in your gas mileage. Instead, shift at 2.5k RPM each gear, and even at 2k to get into 5th. This alone will help with gas mileage. Also when decelerating, keep it in gear until you almost come to a complete stop, then push in the clutch. By doing this, you are not firing fuel when slowing down. If you throw it into neutral then slow down, you are wasting fuel. Little things like this make a difference. Also, whenever you're in a neighborhood and such, pop it into 4th. I go about 30 MPH in my neighborhood, and coast in 4th. And concerning speed, DO THE SPEED LIMIT! This will also play as a factor with your gas mileage. Now, much of what I told you will be different if you have an automatic, in fact, if you're auto, there's not much you can do with this step (except for driving with a lighter foot).

2) Maintenance
Now that you know how to drive better, let's not forget that you need to maintain your car. If you're running standard oil, switch over to synthetic, and even go down a grade to 5W-30, as it is more efficient. I suggest Pennzoil Platinum 5W-30, and a Napa Gold (Wix) oil filter. This will help your motor last longer, run more efficiently, and you have less interval changes (meaning you can change your oil every 5-6k miles, don't believe that BS every 3k miles stuff you hear, synthetic oil is made to break down at around 10k). Spark plugs play another role as well. I run NGK 6097 copper spark plugs. "But I thought platinum spark plugs were the best." WRONG. Copper spark plugs provide the best spark response, but don't last as long, so change your plugs everytime you change your oil. Now, another good maintenance step is to use Seafoam. This is a multi-cleaner that will clean everything from the carbon build up in your motor, the fuel injectors, to the inside of the crank case. Run it through your motor to remove build up, then put some in your gas tank as well (1/3 of the can for each), and even put some in the crankcase (though I haven't done this myself, I plan to soon when I do my next oil change). This will make your motor run like-new!

3) Don't sweat the small stuff
Once you've done steps 1-2, there are a few other things you must check before you are finally set. First, you need to take a look at your tire pressure. I am running the 7th gen GTS wheels, with 205/50/16 tires, running the factory recommended 32-33 psi. This is by far one of the most important things you must look at. Even if you're 2-3 off on each tire, you will lost 3-4+ MPG. This is everything I can think of at the moment, and will add info if something comes to mind.

The most important thing here is to follow these steps to the tee. If you do, I promise you you will get better gas mileage. There is no reason why a efficient 4 cylinder shouldn't be making 30+ MPG. Good luck guys! I would love to hear your success stories.

-Matt

On a side note, there have been MANY mileage discussions on this board, and considering oil hit $113 US a barrel today, I think anything we can do to get better gas mileage is a great idea. I like hearing different people's tips... I drive 40 miles a day commuting, so getting good mileage is a huge thing to me. I try to do pretty much all of the things that were suggested here... I'm not always so good about not being lead-footed though, sometimes at the end of the day you just want to burn off some tension on windy country roads

I did notice an increase in mileage when I installed my SRI though. Whether you have SRI, CAI or stock-I , it's super important to remember to always keep a clean air filter! A clogged air filter will rob you of mileage. So will a bad distributor cap and rotor - good to stay on top of those, as well.

The biggest thing is how you drive. I always go the speed limit and my '94 GT gets 32.5 mpg. I also don't have to worry about tickets and resultant insurance increases costing me more money.

Yup, the 2.2 can easily do 32 MPG on the highway (summer time), I did it several time with a 5th gen and the 6th gen. Just keep your speed around 100 KMH or less (60 mph, over that it goes downhill pretty fast)

You can get a GT to do less than 10litres per 100k in the city cycle.
The question is why? Gas in Europe is x2 the prices in the US. Celica is a kind of car that likes high rev. 5k+ rpm brings out the most joy so why restrain myslef? You should not buy a sports car and drive it like a senior citizen just to save up on gas.....

you have to remember your celica gt is much faster than the usdm celica's
yours has a 3sge with 177bhp
usdm celica gt has 5sfe with 135bhp
so we own sporty looking cars

I also read somewhere that driving on the highway with open windows decreases your gas mileage use. AC consumes lesser gas than driving on the highway with a lot of drag due to open windows.

^That's assuming you're driving at a higher rate of speed - like you said, highway driving. If you're just driving on the average side-street, like 30 mph, it's more efficient to roll the windows down and not use the a/c.

I have a question - this has been bugging me since I read it yesterday:


How does this work? If the point is to keep your RPMs as low as possible, then by that theory, coasting in neutral would be the MOST efficient. It seems like you're firing the least amount of gas when the clutch is engaged or you're coasting in neutral. For that matter, it would explain why manual transmission vehicles tend to get better overall mileage than automatics.

Anyway, I was just wondering what the math is behind that. I have a hard time wrapping my brain around some stuff... I'm just not a sciencey-type whatsoever.

I also noticed that when decelerating without stepping on the break, my air/fuel ratio has no reading and when I step on the break for deceleration it gets a reading... maybe I'm just being stupid right now but does this have anything to do or even related to this topic? lol

About upping the oil to synthetic, I think it is important to consider if you have high mileage and have been running standard oil, do not switch over to synth. because it can actually cause some of the "over the many miles" gunk that has fused itself to your engine insides to become loosened and possibly go through out your motor causing probs. and sticking around more throughout the engine due to the less frequent synth. oil changes that are needed. I would just stick with a good brand of oil and maybe change it up more frequently. I have 172K and change my oil every 2700 miles. Runs great!

That's where a product like Seafoam comes in. It removes all of that build up and gunk.

-Matt

no no dude its cause that old gunk that synthetic/ seafoam removes can create leaks because all of the carbon and what not thats inside is actually sealing the leaks.

That's exactly what I mean.

Good info, I just have a couple of things to add.

The MOST important thing is to drive smoothly and plan ahead. Use the inertia of the car, not the gas. The less you use your brakes, but also the earlier, the less gas you will use.
Braking takes force from the car. Don't brake unless you have to.
On the flip side, if you wait too long to brake, and brake harder, if you don't have to fully stop you've taken more force from the car.
Point being, plan ahead. If it looks like the stopped cars ahead are going to go in a few seconds, brake lightly, so when the cars move you're not stopped directly behind them, you're a little ways back and you've kept your forward momentum.
Braking too early [you might not have to brake at all] will slow you down more though, so it's a trick you have to learn.

Use hills. Accelerate going down, and coast going up. If you're going down one and right up another, use the force of the down to help you on the up.

Going the speed limit is relative.
On the highway, yes it will save gas. On backroads, maybe not. Most of your backroads are probably ~ 50MPH limits.
Other places have lower limits, and going 35 isn't more fuel efficient than going 50.

Also, copper plugs aren't necessarily better.
Platinum maybe, but not iridium.




With the throttle fully closed and the PRMS above roughly 1500 RPMs the ECU pretty much shuts off fuel to conserve gas.
Once you take it out of gear and let it idle the ECU starts fueling again, otherwise the engine would die.

Not a huge difference in consumption, but every bit counts....


Most importantly, have courtesy for other drivers. Remember, they might not want to go 30 up the hill when the speed limit is 50....

about seafoam, ive heard lots of stories about it. its magical properties and also how it will kill almost any car.
i can understand if its high mileage and you use an engine/fuel cleaner your probably going to gunk up your fuel filter and prob just clog you engine with tihs.

i know this happens alot with people who try to switch their car over to 100bio diesal and dont change their filters.

so what would be a good mileage to not use seafoam? past 170xxx miles?

i gotta wonder when that gunk uhh, un-gunks where does it go? just gets burned up? dont think so....

also im not trying to start a argument so dont take it that way.

hmm

I wouldn't dare let the oil sit in my car for 5 - 6 thousand miles before a change. I don't care what kind of oil you use with whatever filter. I change mine either 2500 miles or in 3 months if I don't reach 2500 miles. If its being stored its getting a change before storage and when it comes out of storage.

Do what you want, it's your money you're wasting.

it's his engine his taking a lot of care too...

The longer the oil sits in your engine the worst the gas mileage gets, the more dirty the oil gets and the more of a chance that something bad will happen. Yeah you can keep buying that seafoam, but thats your money you're wasting. I'd rather stick to proper oil changes. Even an engineer will tell you. No matter what kind of protection the oil manufacturers say. Its still best to change your oil every 3000 miles. At 2000 miles the oil is already dark. I'd be sad to see a 6000 mile oil change on my engine.

Here is a post that I made on the Supra forums about oil and time. Good read for the ignorant ones who think oil only lasts 3k miles.

http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70780

This guy is an oil expert, so if you question him, do some research and you'll realize he's right.

-Matt

also it should be noted that in the toyota celica owners manual it suggests oil changes every 5k-7k...sooo why would toyota recommend this if it was so bad? i can understand 3k but anything less is a little excessive

When you get off the gas pedal your injectors shut off so thats why you get better gas mileage when going down a hill than going up. once you go in neutral youre on idle so your injectors are on at that time. Another thing that helps is cruise control. your tps will read the smae speed for as long as its activated, how it does this, simple..you cant keep your foot on the same position so injectyors go on and off instead of staying on the same speed and goign on a steady pase..