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Well, some of you already know that I DID leave this morning on the crazy road trip from Austin, TX to Sausilito, CA, in my brand new 04 SSR!
When I started the trip this morning at 6am CST, the SSR had about 200 miles on it. After today, it now has 1060 on the odometer!
I spent the first 200 miles this morning (i.e. up to 400 total odoemeter miles) giving the engine lots of frequent short bursts of moderate acceleration that gave it some "load", followed by coasting down to normal speed again, and then repeating every couple of miles. This SHOULD have seated the rings in nicely.
I think it worked.
Because, after that, I used the fuel average mileage computer in the DIC to track my first 3 gas fill ups today*
1st fillup, after 336 trip miles today (during which I did a lot of the above acceleration / coasting. which hurt gas mileage a fair bit): 17.7 mpg based on pump receipt (because I reset the computer after the 200 miles of accel/coast). The DIC showed 18.3, because I had reset it after the first 200 trip miles this morning, once I put the SSR into cruise. Note that this was at 78 indicated miles per hour on the speedometer, as my set crusise control speed!
The 2nd fillup, with the crusie control still set at 78 mph on I-10 gave 19.1 mpg per the DIC, and the pump receipt gave the same result.
The 3rd fillup, still with the same 78 mph cruise speed on I-10, gave 20.0 mpg !!
Bear in mind that these were not "flash" readings, but were each averages over hundreds of miles.
So, the mileage improved from 18.3 to 19.1 to 20.0 as the engine got broken in under this pretty hefty load: 78 mph in rolling hills on an interstate.
Next finding: The odometer and speedometer are BOTH individually accurate to less than a 1/2 percent error (you can't get more accurate than that using 10 miles of mileage markers). The slight error in both is that they are a fraction of 1/2 percent pessimistic (i.e. you are going a tiny bit faster and further than your instruments are indicating), so be careful about crowding the speed limit. I was running at an indicated 3 mph over the posted limit of 75, and was actually doing slighty more than 78.
The sound system is very good, but not as good as in my former Corvette Z02 nor in my former Nissan Altima with the upgraded system.
The engine sound is awesome.
The transmission needs to be reprogrammed for MUCH more "tightness" and precision, probably via an aftermarket microtuner or chip. It 's ridiculously loosy goosy right now.
The seat must be good, because I put 860 miles on the odometer today in about 12.5 hours (do the math - I don't stop very often, stops when they do occur are short, and I AVERAGED 70 mph while doing 78 when actually driving).
Viisibility via both windows and mirrors is GREAT. No blind spots, and total awareness of my surroundings.
VERY smooth engine and very smooth ride considering the low profile tires. By the way, I am running 33 psi in the absence of better reocmmendations from someone knowledgeable.
Well, that's it so far (remember, only 1 day so far!). I won't have Internet connectivity tonight after this posting, but will have ti again Sunday evening, and hopefully every evening after that, so I will try to track and respond to reply postings, but might be a bit slow in doing so if I have trouble getting an Internet connection at any of my stops!
Jim G
When I started the trip this morning at 6am CST, the SSR had about 200 miles on it. After today, it now has 1060 on the odometer!
I spent the first 200 miles this morning (i.e. up to 400 total odoemeter miles) giving the engine lots of frequent short bursts of moderate acceleration that gave it some "load", followed by coasting down to normal speed again, and then repeating every couple of miles. This SHOULD have seated the rings in nicely.
I think it worked.
Because, after that, I used the fuel average mileage computer in the DIC to track my first 3 gas fill ups today*
1st fillup, after 336 trip miles today (during which I did a lot of the above acceleration / coasting. which hurt gas mileage a fair bit): 17.7 mpg based on pump receipt (because I reset the computer after the 200 miles of accel/coast). The DIC showed 18.3, because I had reset it after the first 200 trip miles this morning, once I put the SSR into cruise. Note that this was at 78 indicated miles per hour on the speedometer, as my set crusise control speed!
The 2nd fillup, with the crusie control still set at 78 mph on I-10 gave 19.1 mpg per the DIC, and the pump receipt gave the same result.
The 3rd fillup, still with the same 78 mph cruise speed on I-10, gave 20.0 mpg !!
Bear in mind that these were not "flash" readings, but were each averages over hundreds of miles.
So, the mileage improved from 18.3 to 19.1 to 20.0 as the engine got broken in under this pretty hefty load: 78 mph in rolling hills on an interstate.
Next finding: The odometer and speedometer are BOTH individually accurate to less than a 1/2 percent error (you can't get more accurate than that using 10 miles of mileage markers). The slight error in both is that they are a fraction of 1/2 percent pessimistic (i.e. you are going a tiny bit faster and further than your instruments are indicating), so be careful about crowding the speed limit. I was running at an indicated 3 mph over the posted limit of 75, and was actually doing slighty more than 78.
The sound system is very good, but not as good as in my former Corvette Z02 nor in my former Nissan Altima with the upgraded system.
The engine sound is awesome.
The transmission needs to be reprogrammed for MUCH more "tightness" and precision, probably via an aftermarket microtuner or chip. It 's ridiculously loosy goosy right now.
The seat must be good, because I put 860 miles on the odometer today in about 12.5 hours (do the math - I don't stop very often, stops when they do occur are short, and I AVERAGED 70 mph while doing 78 when actually driving).
Viisibility via both windows and mirrors is GREAT. No blind spots, and total awareness of my surroundings.
VERY smooth engine and very smooth ride considering the low profile tires. By the way, I am running 33 psi in the absence of better reocmmendations from someone knowledgeable.
Well, that's it so far (remember, only 1 day so far!). I won't have Internet connectivity tonight after this posting, but will have ti again Sunday evening, and hopefully every evening after that, so I will try to track and respond to reply postings, but might be a bit slow in doing so if I have trouble getting an Internet connection at any of my stops!
Jim G
arty 
