My lease ended and I decided to finally get a fun commuter daily driver with a manual transmission. >inb4 dart Got a 2015 rallye trim CPO with a warranty @29k miles for under 10k (within my budget)
Naturally I know the mpgs won't be as high as my impreza, but averaging 23 city, I want to pick up some techniques as I continue to practice with the stick shift. I noticed considerable consumption after filling the tank on Thursday and using 1/4 tank commuting to and from work just that day (approx 12 miles each way). I'm positive its the result of my novice shifting and dragging gears.
Fun cars and mpg don't go together. If you want better mpgs stop having fun and drive like a boring old man that wants this car to be the last car he buys
Dominic Stewart
The rallye is really dumb. What, 160hp from a 2.0l turbocharged engine that MUST use premium fuel? It's dogshit.
If you wanted to buy a relatively new car that was CPO for as cheap as possible, you should've went for a Veloster Turbo or an Elantra GT.
Isaac Campbell
its kinda fun to try and max your mpg if you have a real time display especially with a manual
Jaxson Robinson
You could probably find someone to tune your ECU to get more MPG's online through an ECU flasher. Isn't as good as a dyno tune, but still better than the factory tune and they can do more than just increase the fuel economy.
Owen Myers
The fact you're expecting less mpg out of an eco-box with a 4 cylinder than out of a AWD car with more power is rather telling.
Luis Evans
Keep the RPMs low, don't use the brake unless you absolutely need to so leave distance between you and the cars in front. Anticipate traffic light changes so you don't have to come to a complete stop whenever possible. Maintain the car in good working order and the tyre pressure where it should be.
Sebastian Fisher
>Fun >Dart Pick one and this is a pretty autistic decision when shit like the elantra GT or fiesta st exist. Even the used market has better options than that unreliable shitbox
All you need is really low gears, a torquey motor and a light chassis. Then just use minimal throttle and keep revs low as possible.
William Hill
It's still a massive piece of shit that requires premium.
Aaron Edwards
this
Hunter Hall
Fuck them for bringing back the Dart name for this pos. Its no wonder they no longer hardly make any cars anymore.
Thomas Young
thanks for contributing to this thread with your mature, and intelligent rebuttal.
Adrian Howard
It actually does not "require" premium, the ECU will cut boost to run lower octane gas.
t. owned one for 4 years
Bentley Peterson
OP, the only way to actually hit 41 MPG in one of these is to drive like a granny. If you get into the boost at all the fuel economy drops like a rock. Alternately you can try removing the ugly-ass interior, that enables it to get 41/42 MPG with less effort on the part of the driver. Most people who shit on the Dart have never driven one, or if they have it was the 2.0 automatic. Even as heavy, underpowered FWD cars they handle incredibly well and have great passenger comfort, fucktons of space inside, and the exhaust note and recirc noise on the 1.4 Turbo is nice.
Except most have. It's a garbage car and the turbo 1.4l is gutless and dumb. It's so bad that Dodge scrapped it before it could get an SRT4 treatment. That alone should tell you enough to know it's a piece of shit.
Camden Wood
I literally owned one for 4 years. It was an excellent car when driven properly and never gutless as long as you stayed in the powerband.
Retards who think things should have torque all the way from 1500 RPM are the reason the car has a bad reputation. Keep it above 3K and it will fly.
Matthew Jackson
Dodge scrapped it because gas prices lowered for 3 months and Marchionne thought that meant it was time to make nothing but SUVs and minivans. Now the supid fuck is trying to sell Chrysler to China. Nothing he does makes any sense. The platform is still being used and sold to Europeans and the Middle East as the Fiat Tipo/Chrysler Neon, so you're just fucking wrong.
Jonathan Harris
> so OP, with the Dart, as stated there is a huge gap in the beginning of the powerband, where the boost does not kick in fully until about 2800-3000 RPM. If you stay around 2800-4000 you should get decent fuel economy. The problem is the Dart's first gear is very short and the rest are really long, so to get moving you will want to give it some beans and rev it out to 5500-6k in order to end up at the beginning of the powerband on the next shift. Once you are rolling you can keep it just below 2800 cruising and enjoy NA 1.4L fuel economy. Shortshifting after 1st gear to keep it in the economy zone is essential. There should be an MPG meter in the EVIC on the gauge cluster. It's accurate. Use it. Also, when you are at low revs, do not suddenly stomp on the gas, gently roll on the gas until the turbo spools and then stomp on it. It's laggy and the engine hates being bogged. Do not use cruise control if you can help it, the car is completely incapable of scaling a highway-grade hill in 6th gear without bogging the engine down.
it's an econobox that drives like an '80s turbo F1 car but with a fraction of the power. It's not surprising bad drivers think they're just shit.
