Originally Posted by 2006_RA

We do 75mph at 3500rpm. At 65mph it would be 3000rpm, so only 400 more.





You just dont understand the Mitsubishi paradigm. Think half assed. It's what they do well. They wanted something to compete with the SER, the Si, the Impreza RS etc. But being Mitsubishi, rather than make anything new, they simply used some left over gearbox internals from previous offerings (Cyborgs, Evos who knows) I am unsure what they took the final drive from, but the gear ratios are common in the early Evos) So they needed something better than the 2.0L in the OZ Rally which was being criticised for being all show and no go, hey the 4G69 has 30 more bhp and some more torque, let's throw that in with a close ratio box.

Honestly though the low gearing is not that far fetched, it's the way hot hatches and sports sedans used to be. Think Astra GSI, Corolla FX GT, Clio 172, 306 GTI. All fabulous cars that never sold in North America. Mitsubishi just gave us a taste of what we miss out on over here and even though they had production cars with a front LSD already, FTO, Cyborg, earlier Evos, in their normal half assed way they decided hey, we can make it cheaper without one even though it would be fantastic with an LSD.

When I drove to Long Island though, I really appreciated the low gearing when I was effortlessly going up very steep parts of the highway, anytime I had to speed up I was leaving the other cars around me for dead. Truth be told, this gearing also lets us punch above our weight. ( read as most recently smoked a Legacy 3.6R )

Originally Posted by floating doc

Good post. You're right about Mitsubishi; I just hadn't seen anyone put it so clearly.

I guess the gearing isn't as bad as I thought, but I often run 75-82 on the highway here. I can't imagine what would happen to my mileage cruising with the mivec activated.

BTW, I got 29 mpg out of the first tank with the accord. Not bad for a mix of highway and town, plus it's all E10 here in FL; no pure gasoline to be had. I use some of the hypermiler tricks like skipping gears and shifting up at 1900 rpm.

I'd love to see what I could pull down with the lancer and a manual transmission. The torque difference at low rpm between the f23 and the 4g69 is really noticeable. That would really help my town mileage, but if I'm running at 3600+ rpm on the highway I can't imagine getting better than 20-22 mpg.

Originally Posted by 2006_RA

Well I cruise between 82 and 87 mph, I try to stay under 4000 rpm . Mileage is not terrible, I average 24 mpg but I recall some guys in Australia saying that with the MIVEC point at 4000 rpm, they get 50 miles more per tank than usual.

My mileage only tanks enough to concern me when I do 4000 rpm and up on the highway. The low fuel light comes on just after 250 miles on a full tank then. I skip gears plenty, the low gearing makes it easy, 1,3,5 and 1,2,5 are common place for me.

Does E 10 mean up to 10% ethanol ?

If so, is that what you get for 87 octane in Fl ? It is what we get here and what I use most.

I try not to be too concerned about mileage with the RA, it would be a bad mindset to have given that as my long term goal, I am working towards an Evo 9 or 8 or 4 or 6 any of them except the *!@#$%^&* X.

Originally Posted by CrAnSwIcK

trade? why bother with all the work when there's so little benefit...