MrSandman

Kona with the glass roof is a winning combo! ... I have never regretted getting the class roof.. it adds so much to the driving experience.. especially if you have passengers.

sketchy00

Thanks for the reply Stangs-r-me. I too drive on the freeway a fair amount, with about 20 of my 40 mile round trip being on a 70mph Interstate. Tell me, what does 6th hover at when you are doing 75mph? I had a cheat sheet that said the 2.73 would be running at about 1800 RPM at 75, with a 3.31 being at 2150 at 75mph. Is that what you are seeing? I would have paid attention more on the test drives, but was trying to soak in too many other things. Since your driving sounds similar to mine, what have you been getting with the MPGs? (just a guess is fine)

03gt04mach1

Your right. I'd like to be under 2k @ 75 mph. Since 3.73s, I kinnda miss it. But, ONLY on the highway. If you do half and half, I'd go 2.73s too. It's also a little easier on the drivetrain.

sketchy00

MrSandman, you would have made my decision a lot easier if you said you hated your glass top, and didn't like the color. :-)

tigercrazy718

as far as the glass roof my dad just got his in his new 5.0 and it is pretty kick ***
only problem is that it was hard to find his car with all the options he wanted (brembo, 3.73 gears, comfort) with the glass roof since that seemed to be the deal breaker

LTDan

I have the 2.73's, so I can't speak for the 3.31's. Those numbers are right on though. I'm right around 1800 at 75 MPH in 6th and right around 2000 cruising at 80MPH. My combined MPG's have been around 23-24MPG. Purely highway driving at around 80MPH has been around 27-28. Driving hard in the city has gotten me as low as 18. Though I typically get around 21MPH driving in the city only pushing it hard at times. I didn't use the onboard MPG calculator for these numbers by the way. I fill up and divide the miles driven by the gallons of fuel used. The on-board is usually 1-2MPG lower than actual.

stangs-R-me

By formula and with the 235/50-18 tires, 75 MPH should be ...
1827 RPM w/ 2.73 (& 2211 RPM w/ 3.31)

My tach reads under 2000, but seems closer to 2000 than 1750. I'm going to have to put it into "engineering test mode" (a digital tach is one of 63 different displays) then go out and lock the cruise at 75 and see what that reads digitally.

My average MPG's over the 16,000 miles diven since May is just under 30. Worst mileage I've gotten on a tank was around 21 MPG ... best was 33.97 MPG.

My MPG numbers are all hand calculated, the MPG display is typically 1-2 GPM less at fill up.

Doug

sketchy00

Looks like next Friday will be decision day for me. I waffle between the two every 5 minutes or so. I almost wish one of them would sell to make the decision for me. My plan is to go to the dealer that has the blue pony with glass roof and 2.73's to give 'er another look and test drive then trust my gut from there. I think since the last test drive was with the gray mca perf pkg, thats the best approach.

Question for all of you ex car salesmen though. When the dealer says they can get you any car from any lot, it seems to me that a guy still has the best leverage on the car that is on there lot, no? The reason I ask is that the dealer with the gray one is one of those 'no dicker sticker' places. sorry Charlie, I want to dicker. :-)

LTDan

I'm no dealer, but I've bought quite a few new cars. The way I understand it, if a different dealership has the car you want, the dealership that's selling you the car will trade a car in their stock for the car you're trying to buy to the other dealership. EX: if dealership A has the car you want and dealership B is selling you the car, then dealership B will take another car from it's inventory and trade it to dealership A in exchange for the car you want. I imagine the dealerships also charge a few $ for the service between eachother too. So, yeah, you can probably squeeze another $200-300 off of a car in stock at the dealership you're buying from than if they had to trade with another dealership for your car.

oldmountainman

I have 3.31 gears with auto. when passing at 55-65 by what it does, I would of been unhappy with 2.73 gears. probably at that speed 3.55 would be better. but for a 6 its ok. I have a hhr ss-turbo 4 cyl about the same performance wise.