So as a whole, how important is fuel economy to us Cadillac owners?

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

I know this topic has been beat to death, but I wanna consolidate all discussion into this one thread, or atleast make this the main discussion to refer to in the future.

So, when you're buying a car, how important is the car's fuel economy?
To me, it's not a huge issue, but good MPG is a definite plus. Between a reliable, rock solid durable car that gets bad mileage, and a unreliable car that gets great mileage, I'll take the reliable guzzler!

How about you guys?

[AlBundy]

When it comes to a car I love it doesn't really matter.

[P-Funk]

Doesn't matter much to me. I'd like good gas mileage but not at the expense of good performance/luxury.

[derrty_deville]

It depends...

[Jesda]

Long range is a convenience. Fuel economy... I dont care. If you can afford a luxury car, you can afford gas!

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

When I was younger, and working part time, fuel economy used to matter a lot to me, and I would get angry having to throw down $35-$45 a week in gas, but now, as I'm a bit older, and working full time, I don't care as much. Regularly, I pay $32-$37 a week to drive ~200 miles but I don't really even notice anymore, money is more bountiful for me, and I know what about I will pay for gas for a week. What I don't like is expensive and frequent repairs. They're usually hundreds of dollars, and you can't predict them and get ready/budget for them.

So lets say for instance I'm looking at a 1979 Cadillac Sedan deVille d'Elegance and a '00 Volkswagen GTi VR6 to replace my '92 deVille as a daily driver. The '92 has never gotten good mileage in city, but pretty good on the highway. In city, I've seen as low as 9MPG when it was hovering around zero with a bad EGR valve and lots of idle time warming up...the highest I've ever seen was like 15.5, and that was when it was when I first got it with 99k on it. Usually, it's anywhere between 12.6 and 14 or so. On a steady highway (interstate) drive, I've seen anywhere between 21.8 and 28.3...average is about 23-25. Now both the '79 deVille and '02 GTi to me, are desirable, fun to drive cars in totally different ways. In good tune, the deVille will probably get 10MPG city in the winter, 12MPG city in the summer....16MPG highway in the winter, 18-19 MPG highway in the summer (rated 13/18 IIRC). The GTi would probably get 19 city in the winter, 21 city in summer......27 highway winter, 31 highway summer (rated 21/30). The deVille is very reliable and durable...cheap to run. The GTi is notoriously unreliable and quite expensive to run, so based on that, I'd go with the '79.

[Red_October_7000]

Really, unless you get into the neighborhood of the guy I know who bought an Excursion that gets single digits, it really doesn't matter. Since no Cadillac I know of that is a viable choice for me has mileage so abysmal, (and in fact no vehicle I can think of, not even the Hummer H1, has such dreadful mileage) I voted "Couldn't Care Less".

[caddydaddy]

I agree with ALBUNDY. In the case of my '79 SDV with a 472, I don't care what mileage it gets, it's my fun car! But my STS is a ton of fun and still gets over 20 MPGs. I guess as long as I can afford the gas, I'm not too worried about it. I'm just happy my commute to work is short, and I have a motorcycle that gets 60 MPG to commute to work.
I would still rather drive a Cadillac that gets 20 MPG, than a ugly Honda or Toyota that gets 30 MPG!

[chico]

well said...Couldn't care less

[LS1Mike]

Yeah right...I kill a tree a day and get a Christmas card from OPEC.
I have the Caddy, the Trans Am no cats, a big block Powered truck 10 mpg and an 88 Fleetwood Southwind Big Block Chevy Class A Motor Home 6 to 8 mpg.
Gas mileage isn't even in my vocabulary.

[EDBSO]

MPG is a score card on how well the engine is performing.

[codewize]

Well if you're buying a Cadillac you should be looking for Luxury not Economy. Cadillac has never been listed as an Economy car.

My personal take? I don't care within reason. If my car started getting 4 or 5 miles to the gallon that would be an issue. Something between 16 and 20 is ok with me for that amount of car I get to drive.

I voted for in between but that's my explanation

[codewize]

What? That has something to do with it but it's certainly NOT a scorecard.

Originally Posted by EDBSO

MPG is a score card on how well the engine is performing.

[gdwriter]

I knew when I bought my car that it was a V-8, so I didn't expect high gas mileage. Still, I've been pleasantly surprised with how good the 4.9 is on gas. Although, most of my driving is on the highway, even so, my average economy is in the 18-20 MPG range most of the time. On a longer road trip, MPG gets up into the mid 20s. For the comfort, smoothness and readily available power, it's a worthwhile tradeoff.

It's more important to me that I like the car than get great gas mileage. I'd rather get 20 with my Cadillac, which I love, than get 30 MPG with a car I hated.

I'd like to get better mileage with Betty; with her I average around 13 MPG, 15 MPG tops. But part of that is due to the limitations of the two-speed Powerglide. At highway speeds, she's turning over 3,000 RPM. Still, I'd have to drive a lot of miles and save a lot of gas to justify the cost of putting in a 4-speed automatic with overdrive. A friend with a '64 Impala SS 327 did that, and his gas mileage went up quite a bit, but he can afford the conversion, and his car doesn't have the original powertrain anymore anyway. Mine does.

[DILLIGAF]

If I get 15mph out of anything I own i'm happy.I'm down for a couldn't care less.