i was just wondering how many of you still drive your camaro daily, taking into consideration the increased fuel prices? i personally still drive my L03 camaro every day, only in the summer. i figure im going to have to drive and buy gas no matter what, so i might as well enjoy it. i also dont think that a tbi camaro is really that bad on gas. especially in comparison to most yuppie SUVs. its not a cobalt or cavalier, but its not horrible either. im personally downright impressed with the highway fuel economy my car delivers. i truely believe that a tbi 305 camaro is capable of near 25 mpg on the open highway at a steady cruise control speed.
i would also say that my dreams of making the car a super powerful 350 car is simply forgotten. i would rather drive the car everyday with a fairly weak L03, than install a 350 tbi and make in unfordable to drive. im probably more likely to buy a rebuilt 305 then buy a 350. i also feel that cars were meant to be driven. so i say drive it everyday when its not road salt season, maintain it, and basically love it. the thought of my car becoming an all year round garage queen is horrifying. the 305 might be a bit doggy, but who cares. its good on gas and dependable, what else could you possibly ask for.

 

well i may not have a Camaro, but i do drive my 88' Trans Am every day. With not having a secondary car anymore due to an accident, i was forced to drive my Trans Am through a Michigan winter. It did good after 1 bent crosslaced rim, and a broken nose cover and foglight due to sliding into a snowbank. BUT mine has an LO3 and it gets good gas mileage when i don't beat on it and race haha. But soon coming is a new paint job and full body work hopefully before july. For now ill have to settle with headers/exhaust, TB spacer, B&M shift kit, and some other minor mods. Like you said its a good dependable car so why not enjoy it. I would of rather walked everywhere i went then to drive it in the salt but with my work bieng 30 mins from my house i had no choice. But it held up great cause i washed it every 2-3 days to get the salt off. But i love my car as well and am always maintaining/ fixing/ caring to its every need.

 

im 17....this is my 1st and only car

 

Mine is only driven in the summer when its not raining other that I drive a 93 silverado Z71 daily.

 

I try to drive mine daily, but I do have to admit that when I know I'm going into the city I tend to take my other car. As long as it's an open cruise, The camaro does just fine. It's only the stop and go that burns up my gas. I honestly almost despise the other car. It's an '02 metro. Talk about both sides of the fence... The camaro is big, fast, and flashy. The metro is little, slow, and embarrassing (6'2" guy in a tiny car like that... LOL) But damn does it get good mileage... All in all I love driving the camaro, and would never make it a garage queen. I believe in using a machine for what it was designed for.

 

I have( or will have again soon I hope) a company car as I drive between 700 and 1100 miles a week. I tried to drive my RS for work back before I parked it for the last 5 years(flunked Emissions) and I started the TPI swap.
but now that I finally have time to devote to it again(divorce) I will only be driving it on weekends and to enjoy with my kids( they know its a camaro and that bumblbee is a camaro so they are on me to paint it like him).
So if thats all I drive it I'm ok with it. Just seeing the delight on my girls faces when i start it with them sitting in it is enough for me. They can't get enough of it.

 

I have cut back on my selected car shows for the year. In fact, I've been so busy this year she's still parked in the garage under storage!!!
I did take it out for a quick sneek around the block due to not wanting it to sit for so long. Total miles this year, about 3. Over the last 10 years I've probably average around 2000.

 

I drive my 91 daily, while my 85 has been sitting in primer since early this year. I've been collecting parts that fills a corner of the garage for it... including a new motor! December thru april (and on nice saturday nights) I will drive my restored 88 sportside. Now that truck gets bad mpg, but I make up for it during the summer

 

I drive my camaro whenever it is nice outside. I won't drive it in the rain. It's parked in the garage from October to May and also sleeps there every night. I drive my two other cars in the winter and on rainy days.

 

My car is similar to a postal worker..
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night"

I drive it back and forth to school, work, girlfriends, I've taken it fishing on several occasions, and pretty much anywhere I wanna go.. It's a car, right?

 

I've put 1,500 miles on my '90 since I bought it in '01; I've put 1,500 miles on my '93 since I bought it 6 months ago; and with fuel prices where they are, I DD a 35mpg Saturn 4-cyl.

 

It's my daily driver in the sense that it's my only car and if I need to drive anywhere, it's the car I use, 12 months a year. However that doesn't mean I actually drive it every day. Probably more like 3 or 4 days a week do I actually drive it. If I need to go anywhere within a 10 mile radius I ride my Specialized Rockhopper.

At 28MPG highway, my Camaro is actually a very attractive choice for long highway trips. That's better than a lot of new mid sized sedans. Certainly spanks my GF's 02 V6 Mustang vert in that dept.

 

My chicken hasn't gotten many miles going at all right now. I've had it sitting in my driveway for awhile while I did some of the resto' work.

Now that all that is done, I was in the middle of replacing the intermediate pipe until I got in a car accident and hurt my back. Not to mention that I need to replace the AC Compressor because So. Fla's summer always comes early and now feels like it's in full effect meaning 90's from here on until October. Even though I get a car allowance from work, I still couldn't afford to drive it daily.

Luckily my Nissan Sentra wasn't damaged bad enough in the accident (just some dents) and that has been my daily driver cause I drive almost 700 miles a week too. On the weekends and evening engagements I always drive the 'vette so it's kinda leaving my F-body out in the cold.....for now. But once I get the AC back and kickin', it'll take some of the stress off the Nissan during the week for shorter local trips. Plus alot of times, it's just more important to look cool, then anything else.

However, since this conversation is about gas mileage, has anyone noticed that their gas mileage has gone down since alot of gas stations started using that garbage 10% ethanol gas?

 

i drive my 89 rs everywhere, i have a pathfinder too, but i let other people drive it because the 305 gets better gas milege, and im proud of it because the other day i went from where i live in greenville, to shreveport on 46 dollars worth of gas and still drove around town the next night =]

 

Me and the car are the same age, and it's my only car. And it gets worked on. A lot.

25MPG highway and 18 city aren't bad for a 350. Not bad at all. Not like I drive it needlessly. But I've driven it in all kinds of weather. Including snow. Once. And I didn't even wrap it around a tree like so many people do during their first snow drive in a RWD.

 

Exactly, Rain, snow, whatever i'm driving my car in it!...why waste money and insure two cars...Yes i'm painiting it with-in the week and even after that i'm driving it whenever i need to. Lots of trunk space for grocery's, 4 seats, power on tap when im late for work...good to go

Gas prices? who cares, enjoy your toyota puris...not gunna get my panties in a bunch cause i pay a bit more. Talk about micro managing your life because owning a car is always going to be expensive...so get over it

Do i need two cars am i missing something?

lol

 

Right now I'm running my '02 Z28 to work three times a week (I work from home the other two days) which amounts to 140-160 miles per day depending on where I have to pick up my son. The LS1 is getting 25 mpg right now and I'm sure I could get a little more out of it if I'd get off my butt and do some data logging and tuning with my HP Tuners software. However, I'm right in the middle of converting the LG4 from my '86 sports coupe over to TPI running with the 411 ECU. Once that's done and that car is running I'm planning on using that as my daily driver and giving the '02 some rest. Of course by the time I get done getting the '86 back on the road the 5th gens will probably be ready and I'm thinking a direct injection six cylinder would make a nice daily driver.

 

as of now and since last november my camaro sits in the carport waiting for me to get my drivers license next march(so far away ) but it still gets out a little bit on the real nice days since november its got maybe 150 miles put on her but ijn march she will be a daily like she has been since her life started in 92 and she has 288,xxx miles on her to prove it

 

Are you actually getting that for mileage?

 

Seriously!!!! I get that in my C5 which weighs 400lbs less and is much newer. Somehow, I'm actually finding that difficult to believe without some kinda mods or decent weight reduction. The '02 F-body is a little more believeable.

But still, no ones touched on the ethanol question. Is it just us in Florida getting screwed with this garbage?

 

i dont think a 350 will get better gas millage than a 305.

 

Mine does, however again I'm comparing my C5 Corvette with an LS1 that weighs roughly 3200lbs compared to my Gen' 3 F-body that right now weighs about 3500lbs with a 305. Smaller weaker engine pulling more weight equals crappier gas mileage.

But if comparing them between third gens, I tend to agree with you unless you do some mods and weight reduction to the third gen with the 350. At that point then I could see a 350 getting better gas mileage.

 

I think up here there is plenty of that stuff to go around, it seems to effect us, but I think its just like the "winter blend" fuel myth goin around

 

My current F-body has never been a daily driver. Always owned by old people, it only has 27K on the clock. The original owner was in her 70's when she passed, and I am 52. Since the low mileage is the one thing that makes it more rare, and maybe one day more valuable, I content just owning it, but not driving it all the time. The car was driven 167 miles in the last 16 months. On the other hand, if I were 30 years younger, I would have a hard time not driving it. And since this tread is supposed to be about gas mileage, the MPG on the highway is 24.

 

i drive mine everyday to school, and when i go out occasionally.

 

Nope. They just passed the law here in Georgia that all stations have to start carrying at least a 10% mix. Anyone got a quick answer on if that affects mileage? The suspicious side of me thinks it's going to decrease mpg... Wouldn't that be typical... "we're having a gas crisis, so let's enforce a blend that gets even worse mileage"... I wouldn't be surprised.

 

Brother it is worse on mpg for sure. I've noticed roughly a decrease of about 2 to 3 mpg easily on the hwy. My dad who is very compulsive about these things was the first one to notice it. he's one of those people that resets his trip counter after every fill up. I started noticing it myself and so has my father-in-law. He also resets his mileage counter after every fill up.

We are not just getting screwed, we are getting HOSED!!!!!!!!!!

 

How about a weekly driver, yet it's my only car?

I easily only go out maybe once every 4 or 5 days, at best. Often times, way more than that. Even then, it might just be the half-mile trip to & from the Post Office to mail out my Netflix DVDs that came in that morning!

 

I bought my third gen specifically to be my daily driver. I had been going to work in a 98 F150 with a 4.2 L V6. I was lucky to get 17 mpg during my commute on the truck. My 85 Z28 gets 20 - 21 mpg (mix of city and highway), so I'm not complaining at all. I take the T-top out almost every night on the way home from work. Can't beat the feeling!

 

I drive them every day rain or shine. That's what they are for.

 

I am in the minority here....drive it once or twice a week. Never to work. Only in nice weather.

I don't think its "just a car" or meant to "be driven" ---at least not all the time.

It's too special to rack up mileage just because. And expose it to the dangers of the road and traffic.

I do enjoy driving it--don't get me wrong. I just want to pamper it---and to use it as a DD is wrong IMO. But to each there own.

 

I can definitely understand this point of view. On the way to the late model races last night, a friend and I stopped at a car show in Dade City, FL. There was an absolutely perfect 1958 Corvette fuelie. While it was cool to look at, I was kind of sad at the same time. A car like this is obviously way too valuable to take out for dinner and a movie (for example) and besides, adding miles to the odometer is a terrible idea, anyway. So if I owned this perfect car, what could I do with it except for trailer it to shows, then load it back on its enclosed trailer and take it back to its climate controlled, secure storage area. I'm definitely not criticizing the owner of this car in any way, but I'm happy that none of my "special" cars are so special that I can't take them out and enjoy them, including going to work in a way that makes it really fun.

 

well i think it all depends on the car cause lets say like most of the people that dont driver theres daily there cars r probley very low mileage and still in awsome original condion as where most the people who dd theres there cars r probley over 100 somthin thousand miles and wornout a bit so they still driver them daily, cause with my car it is no where close to a show car but still looks good (i think enyway) and has 288,000 miles so at this point with mileage the more i get its just like dam that car wont die lol

 

just too add...my car 112K mikes on it....but its been 95% completely restored to better then new.

And I do get on it and like a nice cruise--around townh or on the hgihway. But if I drove it more frequently that means I'd spend alot of time/money washing it!

Still it can be tough letting it stay in the garage...waiting for good weather! I dd thirdgens years ago as well

 

I got 26Mpg in my 1989 Formula 350 Convertible with the top up and at 65 - 70 Mph from Asheville NC to FLint, MI.... Highway, stopped to pee & eat.

John

 

Yea, I am. It's always 16-18 city. It depends on how many times I gas it, which directly corresponds to how many times I have a passenger. :P

Bone stock TPI 350. I keep the oil changed often. It's got a problem with the canister purge though, and it pressurizes the tank to the point I pull over and take off the gas cap because I can hear it making noise, let it vent and get back in the car.

Also runs rich on startup, not sure what it is.

Edit: The car gets better mileage when driven often. If I let it sit, and caught rides from everyone, I'd get 12-14 city, and 20 or so highway. But if I drive it every couple of days, the mileage gets much better.

 

The greatest thing about these cars when it comes to the mileage, is that with buying them for straight up cash from a private party, you have no car payments, so in turn you have lots of extra money left over each month to pla y around with in gas.

I've wanted a Camaro sinc I was about 14 (19 now) and my family said no because of the gas prices and such, but I had my own logic about them and a few weeks ago I went and bought the Trans Am I own now. I love it. It only took about $50 to top her off and probably only used a little under a quarter tank getting her back and that was a good 50 mile drive from where she was sitting. Only about half the drive was open highway.

 

i daily drive it 365 days a year. I avg over 20mpg with mostly city driving. Driving in the snow is fun. Driving in the summer is nice too with the t-tops off. Driving in crazy thunderstorms is fun too. I dont have the money to collect cars, but that doesn't mean I dont care about the show quality of the car. Just one of those people who if they have a favorite car, they only ever want to drive that car, rain, snow, fog, sun, overcast...whenever.

 

I dd my 85 z28 with an lg4 all year round. Commute is 10 minutes to the train station. Full tank lasts me about 2 weeks.

 

I drove mine daily for 11 years in almost all kinds of weather. The only times I garaged it was when I lived in Flagstaff, and slid backwards down an icy hill swapped it for the Jeep. This time for the last year while I'm doing paint, bodywork, and interior. I got 18ish in town and 27+ on the highway, and miss it terribly. My Jeep has been averaging 10-11mpg so its killing me....softly.

 

I have daily driven my 91 Formula since I bought it brand new in 1991.
Have seen 44 of the lower 48 states with it.
It now has 286,000 mile on it. Needs restored. But I still drive it every day to work and back.

 

IROC212, I wouldn't drive any non-4wd car in Flag. Too dangerous with all of the snow. But Jeeps do suck the gas. :/

 

Not sure how this relates to History/Restoration. Sorry guys but I think this post is just idle conversation.