I was wondering what the best speed for a near-stock 420A was on the highway. Basically, what speed will bring the best efficiency and least amount of stress to the engine. 55? 65? Anyone have an idea?

Speed is a function of engine speed and gearing, which is a function of not only the transmission, but also wheel and tire selection. While traveling at a higher rate of speed requires the engine to make more revolutions and, thus, burn more fuel, you shouldn't worry as much about an ideal speed so much as you should concentrate on getting to and maintaining that speed as smoothly as possible. The more speeding up and coasting back down you do on the highway, the worse your gas mileage will be.

From my experience, the 420A likes to cruise around 70-80mph. We are fortunate that our cars came with a very favorable drag coeeficient, which means the body of the car slips through the air more efficiently. (Most of your body kits, however, fuck the laminar flow around the car into cock's hat, however, so keep that in mind.) :D

It's a matter of constant load over a set amount of time.

Any constant situation, with a set load, over any measurable period of time will yield good gas mileage. It's not a matter of gears or location or anything else.

My turbo 2.4L, standalone MSnS setup got 31MPG from Houston to Chicago when I drove it to SO 2006. It got 32MPG when I drove it home from Ohio to Houston. Constant load, long period of time.

I used to get 35+ back when I was commuting 70+ miles one way, usually about 75-80 mph (sometimes quite a bit faster if it was really late) the car got used to it, after a couple weeks the Mpg went up, just the ecu building a memory, anytime I pulled the battery cable it dropped back down to about 30mpg for a bit

Great replies. I'm aware that maintaining a constant speed is a very good thing to do and not to accelerate too quickly. It reinforces it in me though. Thanks guys, I think I will stay at 60mph average since that's what my ECU is familiar with and I won't be driving long enough in the near future to alter the ECU's memory. Since I will be in storage for a while. Thanks! :)

Driggs... "into cock's hat?" lol, never heard that phrase before.

Originally posted by chris712vt
Driggs... "into cock's hat?" lol, never heard that phrase before.

Heh. I picked it up from the movie Ronin. If you're familiar with the movie, there is a scene when they all end up at this colluseum in Aurel. At one point, Gregor is up on a bridge or something, having a conversation with two gunmen sent to kill him under the guise of buying the package. They apologize for the previous attempt on his life and he says something back to them about how now everything is "fucked into cock's hat."

I don't know if he says it wrong in the film or I just heard it wrong, but it's not as easy to find on Google as, say, the meaning of "Huckleberry" in Tombstone, when Doc Holiday looks looks the other guy dead in the eye and says, "I'm ya huckleberry." ;)

Anyone here who hasn't seen Ronin yet needs to get out there and see that shit. One of the best movies evar.

Now, we return you to your previous discussion.

Check out forums.2gnt.com/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=7&topic_id=99242&mesg_id=99242&page= posted recently. The DSM creed is "Go Fast With Class." John's car does exactly that. That GS just oozes class. Don'tcha think?