For a minute there I thought I had to get off my couch, when all the while the fact is we don't have to do anything much but keep things afloat for just a few decades more! In fact, we'd best shut up about PO, because if our offspring finds out we knew about it all along, they'll turn and wring our necks come 2036!
Joined: Oct 12, 2004 Posts: 592 Location: The Pit of Despair
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:15 pm Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
I started a similar thread a few months ago. When I take extreme measures, my '99 ford escort (epa says 34mpg highway) gets nearly 40mpg. Without getting too extreme, I easily get around 36 or 37 mpg in mixed driving (but mostly highway). Prior to "driving smart", as I like to call it, I was regularly achieving about 27mpg.
I always calculate mpg by using the trip odometer on the car (miles) divided by gallons at the gas statin to fill the empty tank.
The whole reason I started driving smart was to save money. I save about $40/mo. just by driving smarter. I also quit cigarattes, saving at least another $75/mo.
The easy path to hypermiling is just two things:
1) The slow lane
On the highway, get in the slow lane and stay there, preferably behind a truck at a safe distance (NOT tailgating). The speed limit is your friend. If the limit's 65, do 65. If it's 55, do 55. You should never do more than 70, because after much fooling around over the summer, 75mph seems to be the magic number in my car for declining fuel economy.
2) You have no brakes.
Drive like you have no brakes. This is where the "safe distance" for highway driving is really important. You want the vehicle in front of you to cut through the air for you. But you don't want to have to hit the brake hard if he decides to slow down for whatever reason, preferring mainly to take pressure off of the throttle to slow down.
Where the 'no brakes' rule really applies is in town where you have traffic lights and stop signs. Try to hit the traffic light green without using your brake at all. Try to stop just ONCE at each stop sign, rather than stop behind a car or two that are already stopped.
In mixed driving, I used my brake only six times one morning on the way to work and was pretty proud of myself.
Other things that I have done to increase fuel economy seem to result in much smaller gains than the driving technique above. I've tried keeping the windows up at all times, and later decided that aerodynamics are not important in town at low speeds, so with no air conditioning, I put the windows down for city driving and saw no difference in fuel economy.
I test drove a used Prius a few weeks back and on a 10-mile trip, I achieved 47.4mpg with half of it on the highway. The fuel economy gains of the hybrid really don't amount to much when you consider that you could buy two Chevy Aveos for the price of one Prius.
I am not advocating any kind of driving technique, just offering my own observations. Safety always comes first.
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:44 pm Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
For the past few months I have been driving a 96 Toyota Tercel with a manual transmission. It needed new tires so I put the thinest tires I could on it 165 X 85 13's. I then put 60 psi in the tires to reduce rolling resistance. With thin tires aired up like these you just don't need power steering, so I removed the power steering belt, further reducing the load on the engine. I average 40 mpg around town and 45 on the freeway. I don't shut my motor off while driving but when coming to a light I will shift to neutral to increase the coating distance to the light.
I plan to replace the Tercel with a Yaris. Hoping I can get similar mileage.
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 10:37 pm Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
Rabbit wrote:
I plan to replace the Tercel with a Yaris. Hoping I can get similar mileage.
The best mileage I've ever gotten were with 80's era Honda Civic's, a regular 86, 4cylinder, 4 speed, no A/C, which could return a solid 50mpg at <65mph, and a Honda Civic CRX HF ( before it became just the Honda CRX ) which would return a solid 50-55mpg as well.
Its terrible we can't do similar with modern auto's. Although I've got a Camry 5 sp manual which returns a solid 36mpg at 80mph+. I have expectations of 38-40mpg if I slow down to 65mph or so, eastern US flatlander type speeds.
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:08 pm Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
We drove a 1976 Dodge Colt (4 cylinder, 1.6 L engine, 4 speed standard) from Alberta to Cape Cod, MASS, on a tank of gas - JUST KIDDING! Seriously, we got about 60 mpg on the highway with that car, it was great, really fun to drive.
Joined: Apr 05, 2005 Posts: 1619 Location: Springsteen Country (NJ)
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:46 pm Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
I've been simply watching my acceleration and putting my 2003 Honda Accord in neutral (auto trans) when possible and increased my mileage from 20mpg to almost 24mpg.
I think most people could get at least 10% better mileage by simply not hitting the gas so hard when accelerating and coasting to red lights, but most won't do it.
Why won't they? Because they're stupid, that's why! _________________ Joe P. United Political Debate
"Only when the last tree is cut; only when the last river is polluted; only when the last fish is caught; only then will they realize that you cannot eat money." - Cree Indian Proverb
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:46 pm Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
ClassicSpiderman wrote:
There are hardcore hypermilers out there who go to even greater extremes--they like to tailgate larger vehicles (to cut down wind resistance) and sometimes they even go as far as completely turning off the engine when they coast down a hill. I refuse to do this, as it sounds dangerously insane.
I would never try shutting down the engine while driving downhill, but I do like to kill the engine when I get to the driveway at work, then coast through the yard for 1/4 mile, dead silent. I enter at 25 mph, make two turns and end up getting to my parking space at about 9 mph. The only trick is remembering not to hit the brakes until I'm at my space -- power steering only gives me one shot at unassisted braking. After that, it's a squeaky handbrake as a last resort.
I've found out, with the help of that mpg counter in my dash, that a big truck is good for a draft up to 10 car lengths. Since most people won't get behind a truck at all, and since most people around my area think 3 car lengths is a safe following distance, I figure it's safer following a truck.
What's the payoff? Normal adherence to a 65 mph speed limit with the cruise control on yields 39 mpg in my sebring. Same speed, 10 car lengths behind a big truck gives me 47 mpg. I'll even get behind a 60 mph truck and get 51 mpg the whole way to work.
Overall, I get 41 mpg with hypermiling tactics. That's a heck of a lot better than the 27 mpg I get when keeping pace with everyone else's crazy driving style. _________________ http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
"We are building a religion; we are building it bigger. We are widening the corridors and adding more lanes."
Cake - Comfort Eagle
Joined: Aug 24, 2005 Posts: 295 Location: Costa Geriatrica, Spain
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 5:42 am Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
Yup... though I never turn the engine off like the competitive hypermilers do. That's just crazy dangerous. If something unexpected happens in front when you're rolling along with no power steering or brake servos - you're varked!
I dont turn the climate control (set to 20.5C) off either. Im not that keen! Getting hot and flustered isn't conducive to serious concentration on what the traffic is doing on down the road and making appropriate decisions.
I'm getting about 55mpg mixed urban and suburban driving from an eight month old Citroen C3 1.4HDi diesel (compact 4 seater 5 door hatchback, 5 speed manual)
If I drive aggressively it only trims off a couple of minutes from my regular journey - but the increase in diesel consumption is huge. I havent actually worked it out , but I can see what is happening from the fuel consumption readout on the dash.
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:37 am Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
A friend of me have a VW Passat. I'm not sure of the name used in US. It is 4 wheel drive, 1,9 litre diesel, 2001 model, 130 hp, 5 speed manual. In Europe it goes as an midsize to large stationwagon. Its easy to get about 58-60 mpg (4 l/100km) at highway when limiting the speed to 55 mhr and do some coasting and avoid applying brakes as much as possible.
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:17 am Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
JoeW wrote:
you could buy two Chevy Aveos for the price of one Prius.
Yes but but if you want auto/power steering they are usually packaged with a bunch of other crap you don't want but add $1000's to the price. Those cars are also junk and won't last 10 years.
I got a Civic Hybrid for much less than a Prius and can easily get 49 mpg. You also don't need to change the oil for about 9500 miles because it has uses 0 weight oil.
I calculated the cost of several compact cars vs. the Civic Hybrid and found that I made the extra money back in ~4 years time (assuming gas averages $3/gal). I plan to keep the car for 10+ years do it was worth it.
Honda's service record speaks for itself, so does GM's & Ford's!
I think Consumer Reports listed the Aveo as a "worst buy" for quality and customer satisfaction.
Joined: May 24, 2004 Posts: 3428 Location: California, USA
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:44 am Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
'96 Dodge Caravan, 6-cylinder, automatic transmission (this by way of my work, which requires the cargo capacity and involves hills in San Francisco that shred clutches). Normal mileage is 20 - 24.
Lately I've been doing my darndest to coast to stops, shift into neutral while stopped (less drag on the engine), accelerate slowly, and drive as slowly as I can get away with on the freeway (e.g. 60 - 65 in moderate traffic, 50- 55 when the traffic is light enough that they can all pass me if they feel like it). Also I tend to shift to neutral and coast on flats, so long as there aren't a bunch of people behind me who'll get all weird about it as I gradually slow down approaching the next intersection.
I don't have a current measurement but I should when I fill up the tank again shortly. I've been averaging less than a tankfull per month lately, this by way of being able to do most of my work from my home office desk via remote.
When I move to the woods, and have more than one tiny parking space, I intend to get some kind of second vehicle. If the distance to town is within the range of an affordable electric, that'll be the likely choice. If not, then some kind of biodiesel or hybrid or whatever. BTW, the highest mileage I ever got, first-hand, was a mid 1980s Chevy Geo Metro: 65 miles per gallon at 65 miles per hour on flat freeway with the air conditioning on.
OTOH, the 1950s microcars typically got in the 75 to 90 range at speeds up to 60 miles per hour.
The way to deal with those nasty "keep the engine engaged at all times" laws (aside from ignoring them), is to go for electric or hybrid with regenerative braking.
Agreed about not turning the engine off altogether. We don't need to go darwinizing ourselves; in fact we need to become the dominant subspecies ASAP.
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 3:18 pm Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
I read every response, thanks for your replies.
I'm convinced that my car is a gas guzzler now.
I saw many posts alluding to 1980s cars (even American-made ones) getting 50+ mpg. I assume that it's because these cars had low power (60 hp or so). My car is rated at 110 hp.
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 5:47 am Post subject: Re: Who here is into hypermiling?
I only seem to have a mild case of 'hypermiling' - coasting in neutral to stop lights etc, although since reading this thread I have found myself more deliberately looking for places where I could cost.
My wake up point was reading about the Prius, and how they generated electricity from the braking system. I said to my self "if there is so much waste energy from breaking that it is worth putting in a generator for each wheel, the I could save a lot of energy if I drove in a way that did not need as much braking as I had been using". _________________ We should teach our children the 4-Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rejoice.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
News
Discussions
Resources
Members
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
