Well my '09 Sport Auto has treated me well so far. I'm a happy camper.

Toward the end of this summer I reached a true 40 mpg tank for everyday driving, with tanks before that averaging 38 to 39 mpg. The 40 mpg tank was chronicled in an earlier thread where I questioned the use of a K&N drop-in filter.

This is just an observation, but now that I've hit the 5000 mile mark I can definitely tell there has been a "break-in. The car is more responsive both off the line and in passing situations, which is nice.

Due to the weather getting worse here in Iowa (and the temp dropping = tire PSI drop), I have not enjoyed quite the mpg I had at the end of this summer. My last few fill-ups have come out to 34, 35, and 36 mpg.

So I think the point of this post is that reaching the 5000 mile mark has shown me that even though this little 1.5L engine was quite grandpa-ish at first, it's now become a quick little bugger that is more than a gas saver. I can see why people would want to tune it.

Has anyone else noticed this 4-5000 mile mark change in response?