Hyper Mileing

[Da Klugs]

After the game last night coming home from Sams tried "the extreme". What could I get based upon getting up to the speed limit (eventually), cruising to stop on neutral, low rpm, force upshifts, etc.

Rolled almost to a dead stop in my driveway with 31.7 MPG showing on the display. Max speed 35 mph. Max RPM 1600 where it would upshift. Cruising rpm 1200. Idle RPM 800 when in neutral. About 2 miles. 2 stops that I rolled at about 3 mph, one left turn in neutral and the left into the driveway rolling to a stop with just a bit of brake.

Got me thinking that with all the electronic gizmos they put on cars today it would be pretty easy to add an "eco mode" that does all the things I am trying manually, automatically. They have performance switches on our cars changing the shift patterns, suspension settings etc, why not the other direction? Switch that moves the shift patterns to the minimum RPM, automatically "freewheels" the transmission and also changes the throttle to much less sensitivity (lots of pedal movement for a little increase in RPM). Seems like it would be much less expensive then "retooling". Would give each of us the option of having different types of MPG and performance vehicles with the flip of a switch. In my case, for city driving this might mean a doubling of mileage. Pretty interesting.

[borndead1]

Did you use cruise control too Dave?


I had a '03 Prius. It got about 48 MPG when the weather was warm, about 42 in the winter. NO BALLS whatsoever.

But on the highway with the cruise set at 75 it was reading over 55 MPG, and going through town with the cruise set at 35 it was reading 99.9 MPG (running on pure electricity).

Sounds great, right? I never realized how much I hated that car until I got my '09 Corolla. Smoother ride, better handling, way more power, and I'm getting over 30 MPG. Plus the car was built in America. Plus I won't have to shell out $4,000 to replace the hybrid system.

Anyway, my point was that cruise control does make a noticeable difference in your mileage.

[Da Klugs]

Originally Posted by borndead1

Did you use cruise control too Dave?


I had a '03 Prius. It got about 48 MPG when the weather was warm, about 42 in the winter. NO BALLS whatsoever.

But on the highway with the cruise set at 75 it was reading over 55 MPG, and going through town with the cruise set at 35 it was reading 99.9 MPG (running on pure electricity).

Sounds great, right? I never realized how much I hated that car until I got my '09 Corolla. Smoother ride, better handling, way more power, and I'm getting over 30 MPG. Plus the car was built in America. Plus I won't have to shell out $4,000 to replace the hybrid system.

Anyway, my point was that cruise control does make a noticeable difference in your mileage.

Sub 35 mph stop and go so cruise doesn't come into play. My point is that I got over 31 mpg in a 4400 lb 350 hp car city driving through extreme behavior modification. Normal driving = around 14 with no thought to it. My point in all of this is that some "automation" would yield results somewhere in between and not carry the same concerns or costs associated with hybrids etc. The aspect of choice, clicking the Eco button on a car who's normal performance is appealing to us, as an option that might almost double city fuel economy, just makes the concept very intriguing to me.

[Da Klugs]

Cable didn't have the game tonight.. no nfl network. Was late coming up to the office to watch and have a cigar.

Put it in "sport" seemed to shift at 6000 RPM + and held gears at anything less. Didn't make many friends on the way here.

Got... 10.8 MPG and it felt great.

[Da Klugs]

On the way home last night realized I had no baseline for "normal" so just drove. Did the same this morning. 14.8 each time so it puts the commute numbers into context.

Worst - 10.8
Normal - 14.8
Best - 27 (I think)