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The mk4 GTI has a 5 speed. At 100+mph I could really use a 6th.

ElZorro wrote:My 4EAT, doing the speeds that people drive around here, I definitely see a correlation between speed and MPG.

Sadly, it's not just gearing (or final drive ratio) that makes the FXTs mileage so poor. Above 60 mph the vast majority of the Forester's power is being used to just break through the air. The Forester's Coefficient of Drag is .42 IIRC (the Legacy's is .30 for comparison), that makes a big difference at higher speeds.

Oh, no doubt, it might as well be a Honda Element.

Good point good Dr.! Subaru has definitely been trying to help the brick through the air too. Look at the differences in the rake and other angles of the 2000 vs 2015.



vs.



Gabe: Yep, a 6th would help as long as it has the power to push with a higher gear!

drwrx wrote: Sadly, it's not just gearing (or final drive ratio) that makes the FXTs mileage so poor. Above 60 mph the vast majority of the Forester's power is being used to just break through the air. The Forester's Coefficient of Drag is .42 IIRC (the Legacy's is .30 for comparison), that makes a big difference at higher speeds.

I'm still hitting over 28 mpg, sometimes 32 in the sedan with the FXT trans. Same as the WRX trans. I can't tell a difference.

There was an article written many years back in one of the auto rags about engine speed and MPGs.
They did a bunch of instrumented tests with 4 different cars. I remember one was a Vette, one was a Civic, one was a minivan and the last a truck. The testing showed that the Civic actually got slightly better mpg at 70 mph than at 55 mph, as did the Vette. The other two were much worse at higher speeds. The vehicles were then put on rollers, and the truck and minivan's mileage increased significantly. Their conclusion was that the MPGs were more affected by drag than by speed or RPM.

How much drag could a mk4 Golf have?

Oh, yeah....

Today while searching for parts for the GTI, I found this:

Almost finished sanding the interior parts to remove the "soft touch" coating on various plastic surfaces. I'm sure it was great when new but 10 years on it turns into a gooey mess.

I really, really hope I can get the suspension done this summer. I'm pretty sure that anything left undone this year will never get done.

it'll get done... it will just take much more time than you'd imagine. i got my bike fired up and running on its own just yesterday. it's been sitting for almost two years.

it'll happen, i promise. just not quickly.

The handle for the glove box fell off on Friday. There's an amazing amount of engineering in that glove box lid but the end result is that it still failed but now it's a PITA to fix. Starting to think twice about caring about a 10 year old non-classic car...