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Hi all.

I've just started driving a 1993 Toyota Celica (manual 5, 2.2L) and managed to get it up to 33 mpg on the first tank on which I used the techniques you've all helpfully aggregated here (for which many thanks). I feel pretty good about this given that the new combined EPA rating is 20 mpg (http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calculatorCompareSideBySide.jsp?column=1&id=9869), but I feel like with smarter driving I should be able to consistently get around 40 mpg.

Having some sort of FCD would help I expect, especially an iFCD of some sort. Since the car's so old, however, there's no OBD-II port on it (or at least, I don't think there is...if there is I'll be very surprised (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-Board_Diagnostics#History)). So the question is: does anybody know how to get instantaneous (or even average) fuel consumption data out of a car with no OBD-II port? Right now I am just calculating every eighth of a tank, which is alright, but generally not great because my fuel needle tends to wander a bit.

Thanks for any input, and thanks again for the awesome resources on the site.

Welcome!

On a pre-OBDII car I think your best bet is a simple vacuum gauge. It won't give you trip-by-trip numbers but it will give you the instantaneous feedback to help train that right foot. High vacuum means less fuel being burned, low vacuum means more. The best part is that vacuum gauges are incredibly cheap.

Aha! This makes great sense. Thanks!

Hi, six, I think your Toyota could easily get between 35 - 40 MPG, up to 45 if you tried hard enough :)

six, if you do a Google search for SuperMID you may find what you're looking for. All it needs is an injector signal and a vehicle speed sensor signal. There are also some threads on this forum relating to the SuperMID. As brick mentioned, a vacuum gauge is the lowest cost option.

The SuperMID works on pre-OBD2 cars that have 4-cylinder fuel injection and an electronic (not cable) speedometer. It uses the injector pulse width and the pulse rate from the speedometer sensor unit to calculate FE. I have one on my 92 Civic. They've also been installed on Geo metros, and older Ford escorts.

@psic: Me too. Right now I'm shooting for a consistent 40 mpg. 200% of EPA would be pretty sweet ^_^

@diamondlarry, basjoos: Thanks for the additional lead. I'll traipse around the interwebs/ask some folks who might know whether or not the '93 Celica has electronic speedometer; if not, vacuum gauge it is—

@diamondlarry, basjoos: Thanks for the additional lead. I'll traipse around the interwebs/ask some folks who might know whether or not the '93 Celica has electronic speedometer; if not, vacuum gauge it is—

I know my '96 Toyota Carina has an electonic speedo, I think your Celica probably does as well. Easiest way to find out is to call your mechanic.