motorhead16v4

I don't mind...my previous car was a 1983 Rabbit GTI...the close-ratio tranny was at 4500 RPMs at 80.

c'mon c'mon where's 6th?

at least Mazda gave us a 14+ gallon gas tank.

JFanaselle

yeah, me either. I love having the power to pass in 5th without even downshifting if I'm already going 70 or so. I recently made a trip from L.A. to Phoenix (around 400 or so miles each way). At about 75 to 80 miles per hour the entire trip, I averaged about 30 or 31 miles per gallon. Thats good enough for me. I'd prefer to have the power and not have to take my cruise off than get another mile or 2 per gallon.

bogeypro

actually, I have the sport tranny and if you are doing above 65 and want to pass it doesn't downshift (in automatic mode). It has plenty of pull. Now if it ain't gettin there fast enough, I'll bump over and downshift it myself. In fact, for normal driving, the sport tranny will usually shift where I would normally shift if I were driving a manual. It really loves to wind up.

sleeperguy

what's interesting is that my 3.4L V6 (Grand AM) gets better mileage on the highway than the protege

StreetPreacher

Is there any danger running the engine at very high rpms for long periods of time? I travel a lot for work and on the last trip I was running at 4k for almost 6 hours straight... How bad is this for the engine?

-Sp

carguycw

If the engine's well maintained, it will be perfectly fine. It's designed to take it.

The high rpm's are less than ideal for good gas mileage, but that topic has already been beaten to death so much on this forum that I don't really even want to bring it up again.

KYREDP5

Yeah but look at how mush power it puts our relitive to it's size....175hp out of 3.4l? That's pitiful.

sleeperguy

msg deleted (duplicate)

sleeperguy

your point? this discussion has to do with rpms and mileage *obviously relating to highway mileage* nothing to do with hp/L

carguycw

Also, a large engine turning slowly is generally more fuel efficient becuase it will have lower frictional losses than a small engine that must turn much faster to generate the same amount of power. Although there are many other variables that come into play when you talk about fuel economy, but it's perfectly likely that a 3.4L engine may get better mileage than a 2.0L engine. Camaro Z28's have 5.7L engines and get 30+ mpg on the highway.