I have 199,000 miles on my 80 280zx non turbo standard transmission.

I currently am getting 22.1 mpg over all. I drive 50/50 between highway and city.

I don't drive the car hard. Is this as good as I should expect or should I be doing a little better?

The only symptoms I have is sometimes the engine will flutter a little when driving and go away and at cold starts it idles around 400 rpm's until warm then idles around 800-900 once warmed up.

 

A full tune up will do wonders for a tired engine.

Other factors:
-Tire pressure
-Tire size / gear ratio
-Ambient temperature
-Car weight
-How heavy your foot is (driving habits)
-City / freeway driving



Remember, it is a 6cyl engine. A few people have been able to achieve 30mpg's from the 280zx, but it's rare. I believe the gov "official" estimated MPG was ~22mpg.

 

22 is pretty good. ive heard megasquirt can get you near or low 30's if tuned for economy cruising

 

I get about 27-28 highway with a 4 barrel set up. It was pretty close to that with the FI.

82 N/A 5-speed

 

You put some money into a header and 2.5" exhaust from MSA and do a cold air intake you'll see a nice increase in gas mileage. I have these mods on my 280zx that got wrecked and I was seeing a little over 600 miles a tank if I drove straight interstate so that was about 28 mpg.

 

when i went to msa in 07 i got 600+km in a tank easy. but that was all highway driving at mostly 70ish mph. whatever the metric conversion is.

 

I've gotten 32mpg going 62mph in my car, just accelerating very lightly and trying not to brake.

That's boring though, so I can live with 20mpg and my foot in the asphalt :P

 

check your airfilter, if its heavily clogged it can reduce your mileage by 2 or 3 mpg

 

Who buys a datsun sportscar to save fuel??

 

i cant keep my foot out of it half the time. i was going to drive my car this summer but with prices sitting at $1.50 per litre of premium gas i opted out until i have more cash in reserve for the $150 per week gas bill