Will my wife shoot me? V6 vs V8 MPG at 80 MPH

[3star2nr]

Hey man,

I have a 2016 Mustang GT performance pack. I bought the car brand new in 2016. And have about 54k miles on it. Ive also driven the ecoboost several times.

My car is the performance pack So it has the 3.73 rear end, so my car should get the worst MPG out of the bunch minus the gt350s.

Bottom line plan on 25- 28mpg on long road trips.

I have done a bunch of long drives in my car a and its without a doubt the BEST car for long drives. I've found that these cars actually get the best MPG at 60mph and at 75-80mph. The GT has about a 350-400mile range per full tank. I like to stop every 300 miles just to stretch...

There is a weird gap around 70 mph where the car burns more fuel and you'll get around 25mpg at that speed. And above 80mph it starts drinking again.

Heres a summary of a few trips ive taken and the number of stops. I've gotten better mpg using premium so plan on $35.00 -40.00 per fill up.

Dallas Texas to Savannah GA. 16hrs 4 stops (I have done it in 3 but its nerve racking lol)
Savannah to Asheville NC. 5hrs (1 stop)
Memphis to Atlanta (1 stop)
Atlanta to Sav 4 hrs (0 stops)
Savannah to Miami 8hrs (2-3 stops)

As for ecoboost mpg vs GT. The ecoboost in reality isnt all that great on the highway. I found the difference to be negligible and id recommend just buying the GT...

Where the eco does shine is around town. An eco will easily get you in the 20s around town. My GT typically gets 15.7mpg in stop and go traffic. On the racetrack the GT gets 10mpg haha

All that said MPG doesnt tell the whole story. These cars are so smooth, that they dont tire you out on the highway like a budget sedan does. While a old Honda civic will give better mileage its way rougher and fatigues you more.

You can drive 6 hrs in these cars and get out feeling fresh enough to do a 3 mile hike... 6hrs in a civic and you want to kill yourself after...

Plus the sound of a V8 grunting along at 2000 rpm is a magical experience and that alone is worth the price you pay. Trust me as good as the ecoboost is I will guarantee you if you buy the GT you wont ever think what if...

As for the wife killing you, I'm not a relationship therapist but i suggest buying the GT. She'll be mad at first till you let her drive it and she'll get over it pretty quickly. If she doesnt she'll get over it after the first road trip. If she doesnt divorce aint that bad you got pornhub and Asian massage parlors... Life is way too short and too precious to spend it worried about practicality and budget. Life is meant for living and thats what the mustang GTs are all about. I can't ever see myself owning any other car. This is my second GT and the s550 platform is a masterpiece... Its basically a e39 BMW M5 on steroids.

The other option is to sell both your cars buy the GT and a honda accord for her. The honda accord is actually a really fun car to drive and it gets insane gas mileage my Girl's car does miami to savannah on 1 fuel stop!

And it handles supprizingly well. It's not as smooth on the highway as my GT but we usually take her car. She also loves driving my GT the few times ive thought of selling it she actually talked me out of it...

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[3star2nr]

Also heres how you sell it to her.

Sell her on the experience. She wont understand why you want this car, and no logical or practicality argument is going to work.

If however you sell her on a lifestyle change. I.e. you will be doing more road trips like to the Carolina's and up to the mountains to drive the tail of the dragon and blue Ridge Parkway and you sell her a lifestyle of more vacations per year, more romantic getaways with the mustang being the centerpiece she'll bite...

And if she doesnt its worth just buying it and having the fight. Buy her some 3 wick candles take her to a romantic dinner or plan a trip to Napa valley to apologise and she'll get over it.

Also, you wont get why these cars are amazing driving on highways... When you take it on a mountain road, flip that sports mode switch you'll understand.

Its not that these cars are the best handling, best road trip, or best performing car. The corvette is indeed better at all these thing but Its the fact that you can drive this car anywhere do what ever and it will let you do it. And unlike the corvette you dont feel trapped in a claustrophobic oven...

You can drive to a racetrack, stomp the hell out of it, drive to work, then leave early on friday drive to NC Tear up a mountain pass, do some hiking come back home on monday... Go to work hit the beach next weekend... Its that kind of car.

You wont find a better all around car on the market, with the refinements and benefits of a s550 at its price point and thats why the GT is cool.

Sorry for the essay

 

[Hidalgo]

Also heres how you sell it to her.

Sell her on the experience. She wont understand why you want this car, and no logical or practicality argument is going to work.

If however you sell her on a lifestyle change. I.e. you will be doing more road trips like to the Carolina's and up to the mountains to drive the tail of the dragon and blue Ridge Parkway and you sell her a lifestyle of more vacations per year, more romantic getaways with the mustang being the centerpiece she'll bite...

And if she doesnt its worth just buying it and having the fight. Buy her some 3 wick candles take her to a romantic dinner or plan a trip to Napa valley to apologise and she'll get over it.

Also, you wont get why these cars are amazing driving on highways... When you take it on a mountain road, flip that sports mode switch you'll understand.

Its not that these cars are the best handling, best road trip, or best performing car. The corvette is indeed better at all these thing but Its the fact that you can drive this car anywhere do what ever and it will let you do it. And unlike the corvette you dont feel trapped in a claustrophobic oven...

You can drive to a racetrack, stomp the hell out of it, drive to work, then leave early on friday drive to NC Tear up a mountain pass, do some hiking come back home on monday... Go to work hit the beach next weekend... Its that kind of car.

You wont find a better all around car on the market, with the refinements and benefits of a s550 at its price point and thats why the GT is cool.

Sorry for the essay

Hell Ray, You live in Savanna! Some beautiful roads to drive on in your neck of the woods. Kudos.

 

[3star2nr]

Let me show you some math:
8000 miles at 25 mpg = 320 gallons of gas. Assuming $3.50 per gallon = $1,120 in gas.
8000 miles at 30 mpg = 267 gallons. Assuming the same price = $935 in gas.
Difference = $185.

You're talking about $185 more in gas over 18 months for those road trips. If that is a deal breaker, you have much bigger problems my man. Get the V8. Get a 2018 A10 GT. The '18 A10 GT with PP1 is a very fast mustang. They accelerate faster than a GT350 and GT350R. They accelerate faster than all previous GT500s except for the 13/14. They accelerate faster than the 2012 Camaro ZL1 with 580 hp. All this with "only" 460 hp. They are a beast, and get decent gas mileage on the hwy. For reference: with the cruise on and on a flat hwy my 2018 GT PP1 with the 10 speed auto: 65 mph = ~32 mpg; 70 mph = ~30-31 mpg. PP1 A10 cars have a 3.55 rear end w/ the performance package (compared to 3.15 with the base model). At 80 mph I'd estimate around 25-26 mpg is feasible.

Listen to this guy!

Yeah bro stop waiting just go buy the car. I had alot of doubts and worries till I took it home... Its been up and down but I do not regret buying this car at all and I'll drive it, fix it and keep driving it till, the wheels fall off and the engine seizes then I'll buy another s550...

 

[Kermitz]

Just buy the GT. It's better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

 

[3star2nr]

Hell Ray, You live in Savanna! Some beautiful roads to drive on in your neck of the woods. Kudos.

Yeah man the low country has some nice spots. im in DFW Texas right now, there are some secret gems around here too. Thats the thing about these cars, it makes you want to go out and just drive around.

 

[Balr14]

My 36.7 mpg run must have been good luck or something. A similar run this morning gave 28.9 mpg.

 

[Adz]

If you're worried about MPG then a mustang probably isn't for you.

However using the cruise control at 70-80mph on relatively flat roads got me 30mpg

 

[bnightstar]

08 Civic 4 door, but it is pretty worn down so my car is the one we use for long drives.

if you are worried about gas millage you pick the wrong forum. Mine get around 23 MPG 2017 GT Premium on trips with similar speeds but I baby the car a lot. Also fuel costs are usually around 20% of all costs on a car. Best way to calculate if you can afford a car or not is if it's less than 6 net salaries you probably could afford it. If you can pay it in cash as well. But if you need to finance a Mustang for the rest of your life please don't do it.

 

[TheReaper]

From Mobile Al. to New Orleans @ 80 mph my car averaged 25.8 mpg.

 

[Bull Run]

If you want a budget-friendly solution, consider a used EB since they start close to $15K nowadays. Adding a tune and a used intercooler (~$200 to $300) upgrade will give you plenty of passing power without impacting the gas mileage. But using 87 oct with the V6 may be more cost-effective than using 91/93 oct with the EB. EB with a stock tune can use 87 oct but you'll feel the power loss.

 

[Balr14]

Best way to calculate if you can afford a car or not is if it's less than 6 net salaries you probably could afford it.

Do you mean net for 6 weeks or 6 months?

 

[kz]

Thanks so far guys. It's just the 2 of us for a few years at least, so no need for it to be a family car. Again, she's on-board already - but if it can't get 25-30 MPG on our trips I will need to go another route.
/QUOTE]

You easily can - I've a number of 300+ miles trips - two people in the car + 4 wheels and whole bunch of other junk (jack, tools,...) - essentially car was full. 27 mpg easily going I75 south through the KY hills. In either this car (which has the shortest gearing being PP) or '15 I've had (which had 3.55).

 

[dogiebitt]

I must have purchased a dud... because on my recent trip of Central Florida > North Carolina (560ish miles, all highway at 80-90 mph) I got 22 mpg. I get 13-16 in the city. Am I leaking MPGs somewhere? Is this covered by the powertrain warranty?
http://www.fuelly.com/car/ford/mustang/2015/dogiebitt/384157

 

[speedfrk]

If you're getting a 15-17, I'd get the EB over the V6... way more low end torque. Remember, the 15-17's had several issues like the driveline vibration problem that Ford fixed in the 18+ and a lot of the early cars have AC evap problems. The DL vibration is basically unfixable and the AC is really expensive. Personally, I'd try to find a used 18 EB. They are plentiful and cheap. The real cost in the V8 vs V6 or EB comparison is purchase price and ins. You will pay at least 5K more for a GT which makes the extra fuel cost a rounding error in the big scheme of things.

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