im in the market for an 04 lightning. what kind of mileage do the lightnings get?

 

Why are you worried about it? A Lightning isn't a Geo Metro, you know. If you're worried about the gas mileage but want the Lightning look, grab a V6 F150 Stepside and dress her up. (I'm joking, guys.)

---On a serious note!---

The Lightning uses a turbo 5.4L V8. Considering the Lightning has 4.10 gears (am I right? I know the old Lightnings did.) I wouldn't say the mileage would be that great; but you could probably pull a solid 16 MPG highway. I wouldn't know from experience though. Others on here will know.

 

The Lightning is a supercharged 5.4L V8 with 3.73 gears. EPA ratings are 16 mpg highway and 13 mpg city. Since its supercharged its going to require a minimum of 91 octane fuel and mileage can vary tremendously based on how you drive it (much greater impact than driving style has on naturally aspirated engines).

 

*Supercharged*, not Turbo'd. Sorry. I don't know what a Supersharger is.

I thought a 4.10 gear ratio didn't sound right for a HO 5.4L.

 

My HD SC (almost the same motor and a heavier truck) gets 17 mpg at 75 mph. Above that speed and the mpg drops quick.

 

4:10's were installed in the GEN 1 (93-95) Lightnings.

 

Right, that's what I said in my first post. I assume the reason Gen2 L's have 3.73 gear ratios due to the much more powerful motor. They don't need the deeper gear. I think 3.73 is a good gear ratio for a truck anyway. -shrug-

 

The 99 and 00 L got 3.55's. I don't really understand why the L1 got 4.10's and the L2 went to 3.73's in 01. Neither hooks up worth a crap. I guess it doesn't really matter to me since my truck is just a weekend toy.

I think I get about 18mpg on the highway, but it's hard to tell. I'm usually on my way to the track and the track time screws up the mileage a bit. I know the L gets better mileage at 80mph than my 4.9 gets at 65.

 

I almost feel the need to defend the 300. I know you weren't cutting on it, but I do want to say this; Properly set up, a 300 in good shape paired with a truck in good shape with high gears *can* get up to 18 / 20 MPG. It's all in how it's set up.

What do you mean by this? "Neither hooks up worth a crap." You don't mean truck pulls, do you?

Makes sense to me the L1's have deeper gears. Just like the old trucks of back in the day; they all had I6 motors, and to make up for the lack of power, they were all geared deep (5:1 and such. Now I'm not saying the 351 is underpowered, but that's why they put a 4:10 gear ratio. I could be wrong, feel free to correct me if I am.

Anyone know what the Gen1L's rival, the 454 SS, was geared? Now I'm curious.

 

I assure you the Gen1's do not have a lack of power. The factory horsepower rating is probably a little conservative. The 4.10's were probably used to help get the heavy sleds moving. I usually get 14-15mpg on the interstate, around town I dont even want to know. Its bad.... I would say Gen2's would be capable of 16 on the highway if you drive it nice. Keep it in the boost and all bets are off.

I dont know much about the 454SS but the old road tests from back in the day that I have read show the Lightning either neck and neck or faster than the Chevy. Not bad for 100 less cubes. Plus they were rated to tow more and handled better.

 

There are very few EFI 300's that get that kind of mileage. Most are in the 15-17 range. Mine will barely go 80mph and spends most of its time in the 65-70 mph range. However, I'll be curious to see what kind of mileage the L gets when it has 350k miles on it. At the rate I'm going it will only take me until about the year 2230 to see.

No, I mean when you are sitting on the starting line at the dragstrip and floor it all you get is tire smoke. You've got to drive them well at the starting line to get the best numbers from them. I suspect either truck would run very close to the same times with a 3.27 or 3.55 gear than with 3.73 or 4.10.

The 454SS came with 3.73's. It was a turd, but that wasn't the fault of the gears. I remember a shootout one of the magazines did and they said something like "the Lightning will run high 14's all day long. The 454SS couldn't get into the 14's if you ran it straight down a mineshaft."

 

Thanks for the info, you two. SS, I've read on FTE several times of people claiming to get 18/20 MPG with their 300's. However, with the experience I've had with mine, I'm much more inclined to believe 17 /18 is the highest you can get. After reading what you wrote I feel better about my own mileage (14.5 / 15.5 highway). I don't think that's bad considering it's set up to pull. Of course, this is at 60 MPH and rarely at 70; however the 14.5 mpg count occured when I had many hills to climb. So at least the mileage is consistant. =)

 

Most of the 300's that get up around 20 mpg are older ones with a carb, manual and really tall gears. Few of the efi models will come close to that. I got 19.6 once, but I don't claim it gets that mileage because I don't have the benefit of a 30 mph tailwind every day.