In article >, pws
> wrote:

> Stephen Toth wrote:
>
> > The '93 averaged 30-31 mpg while I drove it.
> > That was a mixed driving environment In its early days: Daily commute
> > was about 44 mi. one way - 2 mi. local small town - 24 mi. non-divided
> > hwy (traffic lights - avg 50 mpg) - 14 mi. interstate (70-75 mpg) - 4
> > mi. in city (Philly). Even stop and go because of traffic and accidents
> > did not change it much. Biggest difference was winter when it would
> > drop to 29-29 mpg.
> > My son claims to still get about 30 mpg now with mixed small town and
> > hwy driving.
> >
> > With the '06 I get 26-29 mpg mixed, And have gotten 35-36 on longer
> > trips that were nearly all interstate (70-80 mph - top up).
> > The mileage with the '06 seems to vary much more, but I haven't figured
> > out anything I can attribute it to. I tend to drive the same style on
> > most of the roads I travel, and always use the same brand and grade of
> > gas. As with the '93 it is a little worse in the winter, but varies
> > much more tank to tank
>
> Just curious what type of driving this generally was. My city mileage
> was never that good in my near-stock Miata, but I was not trying for
> good mileage except on long highway trips.
>
> I forget why the mileage is better in the summer than winter. Gas additives?
>
> Pat

Don't know how I would qualify my driving style. I can only describe my
general driving habits.
First rule which I have passed to my children is to be very
conservative with the throttle until the engine and oil is up to temp.
That generally means no more than 3-3.5k rpm for the first mile or 2.
After that redline is fine.
I live in a country setting so most of the near roads are 2 lane
blacktop with twisties and not that many stop signs, although the stops
are increasing as the population in the area is increasing.
Once warmed up, I accelerate moderately from a stop (keeping pace with
general traffic). Only occasionally does the urge hit me to push it
hard from a stop to make a statement to someone - probably only I
appreciate that statement.
In general conservative driving, I tend to shift early 3-4k and just
try to maintain momentum, and will hold in a high gear down to 2-2.5k
when just rolling the flats. I also drive well ahead of myself, so get
off the gas well before a stop, and seldom brake aggressively.
But don't get me wrong, when playing or finding a fun entrance or exit
ramp, I will use everything the car can offer, and push the tach to the
redline for shifts, and will keep the rpm in the 4-5k range. That
probably only accounts for about 10% of the time, but I haven't found
it to affect gas mileage to any extent.
For interstate driving, I tend to accelerate faster to get to speed as
quick as possible, and will keep with the flow of traffic. I used to
follow a 5% rule (make sure there a a few cars going a little faster
than you), but now tend too go more to 10-20% especially when my wife
is with me. For interstate driving, my rule is to drive well ahead of
myself to maintain a fixed speed as much as possible. Try not to get
caught behind slower traffic and have to accelerate back up to speed.
Around here, interstate speed can be anywhere from 65 - 80 mph
depending on the particular section, and time of day.

Having been a passenger in the car with my son, and also followed him a
few times, he generally accelerates harder from a stop, and will run
higher rpm for the most part. He will staty in 4th in places where I
would have shifted into 5th. Yet, he is still getting almost the same
mileage that I would get. Go figure.

The only other thing I could note, is that I have always used mid grade
gas in the car (89 octane around here), and the timing (14-15 BTDC) and
tune is set for that. At the last timing belt change (around 200k),
compression still showing very good (can't remember exact, and lost the
paper it was written on but remember around 165 psi cold and less than
8 psi difference overall.)

So, don't know if that tells you anything or not, but that is a general
overview.