I took a 2000 mile trip in my 5 speed xA a few weeks ago. 70mph, A/C on, me a freind and our luggage in the car. And I got roughly 35-36mpg. These cars do well on the highway.

 

Yeah. . . that's also a 16.2% increase in rolling resistance, if not more, as our OEM tires are geared for economy, and most 17" tires are not.

What kind of rims did you get? Are they a light weight wheel? Is the majority of your driving highway? If your MPG really is higher, then that's awesome, but I havn't heard of a single qualified case of someone's MPG going up, at least for those who actually keep track.

 

Okay, so I have noticed the rolling resistance increase during acceleration, without a doubt. The wheels are ADR Sokudo 17", and they're not particularly light weight, so yeah, it's a surprise that my MPG went up.

I track it about every tank, esp. in the beginning when I was trying to find out if the xA actually got the MPG it claimed to get. It didn't, but there was an increase after I put the wheels/tires on. And yes, I do mostly freeway driving, so it would make sense that a slight increase would happen. Rolling inertia also works to keep you rolling, it's a stop thing as well as it is a get going thing, even if it seems to work against us all the time.

As I wrote earlier, the reduction in freeway speed RPM was tangible, so I'm certain that's the reason. Oh, and I've stopped getting on the throttle for the most part b/c the car is pretty much all rev with limited pep. I've put my faith on the overall light weight of the xA and its handling capabilities, which increased as a result of Toyo Proxes 4 tires w/a larger contact patch.

So, that's it.

 

It's gotta handle well, that's for sure!

 

back to the topic now... my 97 dodge neon 3 spd auto 2.0L dohc would rev at about 3500 at 60 mph after that it would just keep climbing like on the xa but did't feel like it had nearly as much kick as the xa when i gas it hard and the best gas mileage i ever saw come from that car was 26 mpg as to the under rated xa getting 39 on my trip out to St.Louis and back 80+ mph all the way from ABQ,NM it was so NIICCCEEEE!!!!!