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Now that i technically have my own car again, a 1994 Lincoln continental( it was FREE) from my grandparents.

It only has 78k and it almost perfect condition BUT not at all built for MPG, which as you guys can imagine from me posting on here that MPG is at the pinnacle of things important to me right now.

It had been getting ~65mpg in my civic but this rather large auto is pretty tough for me to crack.

I already aired the tires to 45psi, max side wall is 35, i am planning on going higher very soon, but not sure much else i can do at this point

I want to sell the car but can't afford to at the moment, so i need to make the most of the car and any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

What about mods like a grill block and under body "belly" pan to improve aerodynamics.

Assuming it's a Continental (front drive Taurus) and not a Town Car (rear drive Crown Vic), you have a pre-OBDii nearly-2-ton luxo car. The best hope is gentle acceleration with fake shifting, and keep it rolling at (almost) all cost. The brake pedal is your worst enemy in that car because of the energy needed to get it moving. On the open road, at about 50mph, you will be impressed with what it offers, as long as it doesn't need a tune up. A bad O2 sensor or clogged converter, or dirty injectors, or old plugs will nullify all your best techniques.

It's not a bad platform to work with for a big car. And look at the bright side. It's better to see the car driven by a hypermiler than by a speed demon who'd redline it through the gears and burn a tank every other day.

Yeah i have been using my techniques from when driving my civic, accelerate briskly but hard since there is no tach, pulse and glide as much as i can, pretend i have no brakes and might try some kind of grill block using some clear plastic, i just don't want to overhear the car. Not sure how prone they are to that.

The car has such low miles and at 16yrs old it could probably use a really good tune up but i really can't afford to spend the couple hundred dollars it would take to really make it shine

I am wondering if there isnt anything im not thinking of?

Its not throwing any codes and driving just fine for a 16yr old car that was driven by my grandfather!

Do the required maintenance piece meal.

You don't have to do everything at once just go through the car
bumper to bumper and group what it needs into three columns.

What needs done now. Safety, fuel economy and emissions
What can wait but needs done.
What is least important but what I want to do, like detailing the car.

Then start working through your list as the money comes available.

This is the problem most people want to fix everything at once and never
think about spreading the work out over six to eight months along with the costs.

$750 going out in one shot can hurt but spread out over eight months is only $94 a month or $22 a week.

Since the car has an electronic automatic, pulse and glide may hurt more than help because of the locking/unlocking of the converter and the N to D shift returning to 3rd gear instead of 4th.
Get into the practice of fake shifting during acceleration (letting off the pedal to encourage an upshift), and find the lowest speed at which the car will hold overdrive. That'd be your target speed for steady state.

the thing about doing maintenance is that I really do not want to keep the car for very long and in a way will not own it long enough to spread out the items sadly.

My grandparents were trying to sell the car for months and new that I had and am looking for another car to replace my civic, most likely getting another civic but now need to find a dealer(ugh) or sell the car myself. The problem is its a 94 lincoln not many people are really after these cars but this one is in pristine condition so hopefully i can get about 2-2500 for the car at some point in the near future.

As i really want to start hypermiling again !

i was thinking about getting a vacuum gauge and giving that a try since the car is obd1 and i cannot use my scangauge2

My mom is in the same boat with the "Old Lincoln Syndrome". Her car is a 2000 model LS (rebadged Jaguar S) and it is also thirsty (17/23). She doesn't drive anywhere except to the market or to my brother's house (< 1 mile for either), so a tank lasts forever. But the old luxo cars don't hold their value all that well.
For a '94 Continental in showroom condition with 78k and every conceivable option lists on Edmunds TMV as $847 trade, $1,231 private sale, $1,881 dealer sale.

In "mom's" Lincoln, though, with plenty of air in the tires :D , I was able to get just over 30mpg on a long trip, with final average in the high 20s when suburban stop-n-go took its toll. And that's with the 3.9L V8 and 5R55N PintoGlide automatic, so the two Lincolns are comparable in their capability.

The EPA(2008) on your Conti is 16/24. That means you should be able to average 24 on a 50/50 city/highway mix. For highway, 30+ is achievable if the car is properly tuned and doesn't have dragging wheel bearings, poor alignment, or any of the above-mentioned tuneup issues.

Sounds crazy, but consider losing the right sneaker while you're driving. Large overpowered cars benefit more from barefoot driving because it allows finer throttle control that will make hang time or other secret FE weapons easier to find if they exist for the car. When I drive a guzzler, I pop my right shoe off and leave it on the floor in front of the seat, where I can pop it back on before getting out. I find I that very slight movements of the pedal can lead to improvements in FE that are worth pursuing. In a Large&InChargeBarge, you want to explore every option available.

I am not sure why edmonds puts this car so low but i was looking at kbb and the trade in value would be about 2400 which is perfect for me and more then enough to get another civic.

Hopefully i would get closer to that on the trade in, otherwise i think my grandparents might kill me, haha.

I have been doing well so far avg. 28, horrible for me but a good challenge!

The car is operating just fine, heck even after just airing up the tires it rolls quite well for such a big car, funny it seemed so much bigger years ago but now fits just right.

Its hard to really gauge the the shifting and rpms in the car since it is so quiet and freakishly smooth but i do know exactly what you are talking about with the shifting and have gotten good at that driving my fiances ford focus. Letting off the gas a bit so it forces it to shift into top gear is what i am always going for.

I really don't "think" it needs much of a tune up but since it is 16 something just might be quite at their peak, which drives me nuts!

Thankfully there are no fluid leaks or anything visible right now and i can keep her running strong till i find her a buyer!

so a bit of an update...The Lincoln is SOLD! i found a buyer and got almost 3k for it, thank God!

So after getting about 33mpg on the hwy and who knows city mpg, it was horrible in the city;

The hunt begins again for a mpg monster, most likely a 96-00 civic coupe 5spd

Now the fun part is finding one that is worth buying

Congrats and good luck!

congrats and good luck!

... a 96-00 civic coupe 5spd

Now the fun part is finding one that is worth buying

Yeah, that's always a hunt with Civics. So many people seem to mod them in "interesting" ways...

-soD