Bigger Power, Better Fuel Mileage - Find Out How.
When it comes to sport compact enthusiasts, we're united by the same common goal: to improve the quality of our cars in as many ways as possible. Whether to place higher at the next show, establish a new personal best with the next run or lap, or lengthen our margin of superiority on the streets, we modify our cars to perform better. By its very nature, the sport compact culture is attractive to us "mere mortals"-those without an unlimited amount of financial resource-in that it allows us to compete within our means against those who are seemingly above them. That an inexpensive, underpowered, and generally lack-luster consumer car can be made to outperform the majority of performance-built rides in production is the shared quest that keeps our movement motivated. As anyone fortunate enough to have had the experience will tell you, besting the owner of a luxury or exotic with a sport compact in any event of automotive competition is one of the best feelings to be felt.
Unfortunately, due to our financial shortcomings, the ways in which we modify our cars are approached cautiously and must offer value as well as performance. And as willing as all of us are to sacrifice much to accomplish our goals, no one likes throwing money down the drain. With gas prices steadily increasing every time we fill up, we may feel like we are doing just that. And in fact, we probably are.
Last year, as a freelance automotive journalist, I found myself driving exorbitant distances for the sake of attending events and chasing down features. In less than 1 year's time since purchasing it, my '94 Integra LS had racked up over 40,000 miles. Factoring the EPA's '94 31mpg highway rating for my automatic LS, along with a conservative $2.80/gallon average price for 87-octane gas, this meant that I had spent at best over $3,600 in gas for the year. Realistically, factoring in stop-and-go driving, aggressive driving (of which I have a tendency to do a lot) and excessive idling, based upon a rate adjusted by fueleconomy.gov to reflect the EPA's new testing standards, a 21mpg city rating and slightly less conservative $2.85/gallon gas price, I'd probably spent closer to $5,400 all totaled. Following the brief nervous breakdown that took place in my accountant's office after adding this value to all my other travel expenses for the year, I decided right away to start looking into ways to improve my fuel consumption.
Coincidentally, a few days later, the topic of fuel efficiency came up in conversation with the owner of a car that I had been assigned to feature; he claimed to be averaging over 40 mpg on the highway with his turbo S2000. As he explained it, since Tony Phouaykoumpha's low-boost tune and lean air/fuel ratio produced more power than the car did previously, he spent less time accelerating under heavier throttle, than he did with the car in stock form. And since more power was produced without adding much mass to the moving assembly of the engine, power production (and likewise, fuel consumption) was produced proportionately more efficient. "The trick," he says, "is staying light on the throttle!"