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Old 07-13-2008, 10:22 PM
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bar10dah bar10dah is offline
Ridiculously Active Enthusiast
 
Real Name: Keith
Location: Las Vegas
Hybrids: '05 Accord Hybrid
Posts: 1,341
Default Re: Fuel Economy and Gas brand

Yep, consistently. In fact, if I drive on relatively flat ground and rarely have to leave 70 miles per hour for slower traffic, I can get >45 MPG. I only use 87 octane. Once I had to use 86 and another time I had to use 88 because 87 wasn't available at those two stations. 86 octane is the minimum our cars can use.

Mine floats like it's on glass! I'm still on the OEM tires. Do you know what kind of tires you had before you replaced them? That would make a difference in ride quality. The struts shouldn't need to be replaced at 80K. However, I do hear you can improve on the ride quality with some nice aftermarket struts. But for me, it's not worth the cost, as the stock suspension feels just fine.

As far as tires are concerned, I've been learning an awful lot about them because I've been researching on which tires would be best for my Odyssey. I've learned the OEM tires are usually very good compromises between handling, ride quality, cost, and fuel efficiency. When you replace tires, you can gain/lose on different aspects of the tire. So, you may be able to get tires with better traction, but you'll lose a few MPG. Case in point, I found some tires about $200 cheaper than the OEM replacements. They're much quieter than the OEM tires and they handle better. However, over the course of 50K miles, I'll consume an extra ~$900 in fuel. $900 isn't worth quieter. And the traction of the OEM tires is just fine, as I don't plan on driving it in a spirited fashion anyways. Why I bring all this up is because maybe the tires you had on your car weren't a good match for you. And that's why the car rode so rough. And maybe now that you have different tires, you may see a change in your fuel economy. Let us know what tire brands you had and have now, as well as any discernable differences in MPG. That'll help the rest of us with HAHs that will be needing tires in the near future. Namely, me!
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