Okay so i know its normal for a car to get worse MPG with age, especially a V8. By 93 allante used to get somewhere between 18-20 MPG driving through and around town, and sometimes even up to 22-24 on highway. Now, im lucky if i can get my MPG button to say anything higher than 13 mpg. And it shows, i dont get nearly as good mileage anymore. Just wondering if that much of a drop is normal, and what are some good tips to increase mpg on the vehicle??

Also, my trunk seems to not want to seal anymore. it will latch, but the motor doesnt seem to close the trunk anymore. just a bad motor?? or something else?

Finally, the soft top. Anyone else have problems closing the top?? sometimes, although rare and usually when parked uphill, the front part doesnt want to lock. But always, no matter what the rear part will not latch. What i mean is, the latch will not lock onto the part that the motor brings up. I have to pull back on the latch and push down slightly to get it to catch the rising latch as it rises. Sorry if that isnt very descriptive...just wondering if anyone else has that issue??

Thanks again!

Okay so i know its normal for a car to get worse MPG with age, especially a V8. By 93 allante used to get somewhere between 18-20 MPG driving through and around town, and sometimes even up to 22-24 on highway. Now, im lucky if i can get my MPG button to say anything higher than 13 mpg. And it shows, i dont get nearly as good mileage anymore. Just wondering if that much of a drop is normal, and what are some good tips to increase mpg on the vehicle??

13 mpg seems way too low .. something is wrong .. check for codes, have the cat inspected, make sure the stat is closing and working well, make sure the engineRPM's are what they should be (transmission shifting to high gear).


Also, my trunk seems to not want to seal anymore. it will latch, but the motor doesnt seem to close the trunk anymore. just a bad motor?? or something else?

does it close if you apply a bit of hand pressure? the seal may be dry and dragging on the lid.


Finally, the soft top. Anyone else have problems closing the top?? sometimes, although rare and usually when parked uphill, the front part doesnt want to lock. But always, no matter what the rear part will not latch. What i mean is, the latch will not lock onto the part that the motor brings up. I have to pull back on the latch and push down slightly to get it to catch the rising latch as it rises. Sorry if that isnt very descriptive...just wondering if anyone else has that issue??

you got three different latches here (2 fronts, one rear), please explain which one does what?

Okay so i know its normal for a car to get worse MPG with age, especially a V8. By 93 allante used to get somewhere between 18-20 MPG driving through and around town, and sometimes even up to 22-24 on highway. Now, im lucky if i can get my MPG button to say anything higher than 13 mpg. And it shows, i dont get nearly as good mileage anymore. Just wondering if that much of a drop is normal, and what are some good tips to increase mpg on the vehicle??

Also, my trunk seems to not want to seal anymore. it will latch, but the motor doesnt seem to close the trunk anymore. just a bad motor?? or something else?

Finally, the soft top. Anyone else have problems closing the top?? sometimes, although rare and usually when parked uphill, the front part doesnt want to lock. But always, no matter what the rear part will not latch. What i mean is, the latch will not lock onto the part that the motor brings up. I have to pull back on the latch and push down slightly to get it to catch the rising latch as it rises. Sorry if that isnt very descriptive...just wondering if anyone else has that issue??

Thanks again!

I also own a 93 Allante with 63k miles and I also get horrible mileage like you and I have no codes. I get 11 mpg around town but if I shut off the engine at the long stop lights, I can get several mpg higher. On the highway, I get the best gas mileage driving between 55 and 60 mph. I can get nearly 23 mpg if drive very conservatively like this. If I drive with traffic on the highway, my mileage drops into the teens. My guess for the bad mileage is the amount of ethanol that they're putting into the fuel now days. Ethanol has less BTU's.

the point was and is that whatever mpg the car got, should still get ..

IF the mpg has dropped considerably overnight, something is wrong, or driving habits have changed, or as Ed stated, the fuel has changed to lower energy fuel. I do avoid ethanol for two reasons: 1) low energy content, 2) it gels if you dont use it fast enough.

at 15mpg, a change of 2 mpg IMO, would be considerable.

I dont see any significant mpg reduction on any of my cars between 50,000 miles and 150,000 miles (I buy all my cars at between 50k and 100k miles).

age in itself will not drop the mpg drastically .. in fact, a car at 75,000 miles running well, may get better mpg than it got when it had 1,000 miles on the odometer.

if the mpg is about what it was for the past 10,000 to 20,000 miles, it may be normal.

i can often improve by 2 mpg or better by driving habits:
- try cruising in town w/o using the brakes .. meaning time the stop lights .. them jack rabbit starts take energy, using brakes wastes the energy used to speed up.
- pump the tires to 36 psi .. specially if you often do 65 mph or more.
- choose your fuel by its energy content, not the octane.
- dont warm up the car.
- dont cruise around parking lots, walk a little from the far away spots.
- shut the engine down on those 4 minute long stop lights.
- choose the route you take .. idling stopped in traffic gives you 0 mpg for that period.
- slow down when climbing a hill, coast downhill.
- get rid of the 200 lbs of stuff in the trunk that you dont need.
- plan your errands, driving to one, then soon to the next .. car engine stays warm and efficient.
I find that my engines stay pretty close to operating temp for about an hour.


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IF the mpg has dropped considerably overnight, something is wrong, or driving habits have changed, or as Ed stated, the fuel has changed to lower energy fuel. I do avoid ethanol for two reasons: 1) low energy content, 2) it gels if you dont use it fast enough.



Since you also in live S. California, where can I buy fuel that doesn't have Ethanol in it?

CrackerJack70, you might also try using low octane fuel. I get nearly 1 mpg better using it over premium. This was surprising for me until I did some research on it and contrary to popular belief, low octane fuel tends to have more BTU's than high octane. If you're wondering, BTU's is energy content. I don't notice anything different on my engine using low octane other than slightly less power.

i should have stated the e85 mix that is now found around the country .. its low energy, it gels.