2wd for gas milage

[VXjunky]

im a-feared to turn mine on and off , on the fly...the previous owner (who installed it)...said he'd always switched it off and on, with the engine off, in neutral....and like you Coastie, i dont notice any difference in gas mileage .

[Riff Raff]

Nah, a better way to saving overall gas money is to buy yourself a used cheapo gas mizer car and use it for your Daily Driver. Buy like a used Ford Festiva, Honda CRX-HF, Geo Metro, etc for cheap $$$. Save the VX for pleasure outings. If you must use your VX for your DD, then pretend you're hauling fragile eggs and gently feather the gas pedal at all times.

[LittleBeast]

I have both CV's removed, and the front driveshaft removed, and do not see any real improvement in the MPG.

I have not yet replaced my CV's that I blew while mudding, and just took the front driveshaft off because it was not doing much good anyway and the CV joints on it (yes our front driveshafts have CV on them, U-joints on the rear driveshaft) were completely shot from just being old, so I already have new ones, but am waiting for a real good reason to replace it all.

[VX KAT]

We all know the VX is a gas pig, but have you ever calculated the break even point on buying an ADDITIONAL car or doing some spendy mod?? Hope you can follow my calculations, they go from top to bottom in each example. Hope this is helpful to folks trying to make a decision.

A) Buy a cheap gas-miser car:
Assume it costs $2,000, and it increases MPG from 16 to 30 MPG....a full 87.5% increase.

~ VX: 16MPG x 22.5 gallons = 360 miles per tankful
~ Miser:30MPG x 22.5 gallons = 675 miles per tankful (assume the tank is same size as VX, doesn't affect calculations)

~ You'd gain 315 extra miles per full tank

~ 315 miles ÷ 30MPG = 10.5 gallons to travel that far

~ At $3.50/gallon x 10.5 gallons = $36.75 saved on a full tank....
~ At $4.00/gallon x 10.5 gallons = $42.00 saved on a full tank...

~ Another way of looking at it is:
with gas @ $3.50, you save .05 cents/mile ($36.75 ÷ 675)
with gas @ $4.00, you save .06 cents/mile ($42 ÷ 675)

~$2,000 ÷ $36.75 = 54.4 tankfuls....before breaking even
~$2,000 ÷ $42.00 = 47.6 tankfuls....before breaking even

If you fill up every 2 weeks:
~54.4 tankfuls (x2) would take 109 weeks =2 YEARS, 3 months
~47.6 tankfuls (x2) would take 95 weeks =2 YEARS JUST TO BREAK EVEN.....and only then would you begin saving any money



B) Do some modification to the VX:
Assume you do modification that costs $1,000,and it increases MPG from 16 to 20 MPG....a full 25% increase, which is doubtful.

~ 16MPG x 22.5 gallons = 360 miles per tankful
~ 20MPG x 22.5 gallons = 450 miles per tankful

~ You'd gain 90 extra miles per full tank

~ 90 miles ÷ 20MPG = 4.5 gallons to travel that far

~ At $3.50/gallon x 4.5 gallons = $15.57 saved on a full tank....
~ At $4.00/gallon x 4.5 gallons = $18.00 saved on a full tank...

~ Another way of looking at it is:
with gas @ $3.50, you save .03 cents/mile ($15.57 ÷ 450)
with gas @ $4.00, you save .04 cents/mile ($18 ÷ 450)

$1,000 ÷ $15.57 = 64.2 tankfuls....before breaking even.
$1,000 ÷ $18.00 = 55.5 tankfuls....before breaking even

If you fill up every 2 weeks:
~64.2 tankfuls (x2) would take 128 weeks =2 YEARS, 8 MONTHS
~55.5 tankfuls (x2) would take 111 weeks =2 YEARS, 4 MONTHS JUST TO BREAK EVEN.....and only then would you begin saving any money

Insurance costs and other misc. cost factors weren't applied in these calculations, but I hope it gives you a better overview of the break even points.

Found this website handy for tracking MPG, fuelly.com. It's kinda fun. Here's my VX:
http://www.fuelly.com/driver/vxkat/vehicross