Low mileage?

[GTRS Fiero]

On the way home, there was a Fiero on the right shoulder.  I was in the left lane, but got over.  The driver was probably in his 60's, and had oxygen tubes.  He said he drove 148 miles, and thought it was out of fuel.  This was an '85 SE V6 with a 4-speed.  Only 27,xxx miles on the odometer.  It would sortof start.  His wife eventually showed up with a jerry can of fuel.  I added that 2 gallons, and the Fiero started right up.

Doesn't 148 miles seem mighty low?

[Fierofool]

One would have to assume that the tank was actually full when he started the 148 mile trip.  The 85 only had a 10 gallon tank and it's commonly accepted that 2 gallons of any Fiero fuel tank is unavailable.  So take 148 miles divided by 8 and you average 18.5 mpg.  That is low, even for a 4-speed with 14 inch tires. 

[GTRS Fiero]

He said he filled the tank himself. This Fiero is in good condition, from what I saw.  There is a piece missing from the steering wheel, and the gas gauge reads well past full.  The tires/wheels are larger than stock.

[Fierofool]

If the wheels are larger than stock, then he's traveling more miles than the odometer and trip odometer are registering. 

Let's theorize that he's actually traveling 63 for every 60 miles registered.  At 148 miles, he would have actually traveled almost 157 miles in actuality.  Divide 157 by 8 and you get 19 5/8 mpg.  We might guess that he was also running the AC which could have brought the mpg down that low. 

Something I've found on the Fiero is that if I lock the filler nozzle on it's lowest flow setting, that I will not get a full tank.  The fuel tends to foam a lot and that causes the nozzle to shut off early.  Instead, I manually hold the fill trigger to flow as slow as possible.  When it shuts off, that's it.  It's going to be as full as you can safely get it without the possibility of harming the vapor canister.  And that is always my constant. 

[GTRS Fiero]

Hmmm.  I set the nozzle on the highest setting on all my vehicles.