[cleatus12r]

The only real things that can be done to improve fuel mileage (and this relates to any vehicle):

Right foot control
Weight
Rolling resistance
Wind resistance

The unfortunate thing is that it takes a specific amount of power to make a vehicle maintain a certain speed at a certain RPM (gas or diesel). It takes a specific amount of fuel to make a specific amount of power. Gasoline engines REQUIRE a specific range of air/fuel ratios to run properly and efficiently. Diesel engines just require a specific fuel quantity. At any rate, (especially with gassers) the higher the engine displacement (cubic inches/liters), the more fuel you have to use to create the ideal air/fuel ratio in each cylinder.

If you lower any resistance to movement (air/rolling) then the power requirement goes down. Lower speeds create less wind resistance. Here's a shocking tidbit of info....any time the speed is doubled, wind resistance quadruples. In addition, if you lower the weight, similar acceleration requires less power.

BUT

The automakers have so many collision safety hoops to jump through that weight becomes an issue. If the NHTSA didn't have such an impact with legislation to make cars "safer", then cars could realistically weigh 2/3 of what they do now.


The right foot and the speed at which you drive plays the biggest role in the minimum amount of fuel you can burn in a given vehicle.

However, comparing a Taurus with good aerodynamics that will not realistically ever use the 300 horsepower more than a couple times (since it's not going to make 300 HP while cruising 55 MPH to the grocery store in steady traffic) isn't a fair comparison.