Topic: MPG Challenge...Wanna Play?

[CTENG in KS]

So I am challenging myself to see what kind of milleage I can get outta my '98 Subaru Forester doing nothing but modifying my driving style.  I started the other day.  Ran my tank down to fumes, put in 5 gallons on the nose and recorded my mileage.  I have been taking it easy, doing the speed limit, timing lights so I don't have to start from a dead stop, shifting at 2k rpm...so far my gas gauge is moving toward empty pretty slowly...I will report what I can get now and then try to better it.

The challenge:  What is the best mileage you can pull out of whatever your daily driver is, and then can you figure out how to better that.

Who wants to play...could be a fun way to cut back on some gas usage and save everyone a dollar or two.  Except MWM of course.  But she can play too if she wants.

[MiniSimp]

I'll play.
I'll just edit this post for the whole thread with my updates.
will fill up tomorrow afternoon and post results from current tank.

2001 4Runner 3.4L V6
Tank 1 Milage (normal driving style): 20.09mpg 6/10/08
Tank 2 Milage (easy driving style):

[JanMarie13]

I actually caught a brief thing on TV about this the other day...this dude's been doing it for years but I felt his driving habits border on aggressive.  LOL.  For instance, he doesn't hit the brake for corner, etc.  I didn't really watch a lot of it because I thought it was stupid and no way am I driving like that to get a few more mpg.  I doubt it'll make much difference in my stupid automatic V6 4Runner anyway.  I'm lucky to get 16.  But I'm anxious to see if anyone does figure out any helpful tips!

[DTB]

I read about some group or club ( I think of highly obsessive people lol) that do this for fun or entertainment. I think they even have competitions and meetings and stuff.....cant remember what they were called...There IS a term for them...

[CTENG in KS [OP]]

Not advocating being stupid in the car...please drive responsibly.  This is more a question of, by going easy on the pedal and just driving smarter, can you squeeze that extra mile or two outta a gallon of gas?

[Rockcrawlintoy]

ill play. ill top off my take today on my way to work.

[79coyotefrg]

Not advocating being stupid in the car...please drive responsibly.  This is more a question of, by going easy on the pedal and just driving smarter, can you squeeze that extra mile or two outta a gallon of gas?

in a 4 cylinder YES,  in a v6  yes,  in a high geared v8 yes

in a low geared v8  like my dads old 69 ford 1 ton,  it didnt matter if it was driven easy with no load  or driven hard  with  20k on a trailer  it got 6 mpg

our suburban?  driven easy gets 18mpg,  drive it hard  and it drops to 10

[Lady Di]

So I am challenging myself to see what kind of milleage I can get outta my '98 Subaru Forester doing nothing but modifying my driving style.  I started the other day.  Ran my tank down to fumes, put in 5 gallons on the nose and recorded my mileage.  I have been taking it easy, doing the speed limit, timing lights so I don't have to start from a dead stop, shifting at 2k rpm...so far my gas gauge is moving toward empty pretty slowly...I will report what I can get now and then try to better it.

The challenge:  What is the best mileage you can pull out of whatever your daily driver is, and then can you figure out how to better that.

Who wants to play...could be a fun way to cut back on some gas usage and save everyone a dollar or two.  Except MWM of course.  But she can play too if she wants.

  it's all in relation to YOUR vehicle so just cause I'm getting good mileage by doing nothing but driving regularly doesn't mean I can't get better by trying different techiniques.

But I actually am already doing a lot of that.

So far my best mileage has bee 49.6 and my worst has been 43.5 - I've had the car now for 3 months and have had 4 fillups (11 gallon tank)

I'm trying to beat that 49 mpg - I'll play! 

[BLACKDOG]

I read about some group or club ( I think of highly obsessive people lol) that do this for fun or entertainment. I think they even have competitions and meetings and stuff.....cant remember what they were called...There IS a term for them...

read an article like that.  They park on hills, etc. so they can get rolling starts, shut the car off on coasts, coast a lot longer than they really should, obsessively time lights,  I think they're called hypermilagers or something?

I actually did this recently.  I'm used to driving on the freeway at about 75 or so, and usually get 17-18 in my f250.  This last tank, I did 65, and wound up with 22mpg

[Lady Di]

I read about some group or club ( I think of highly obsessive people lol) that do this for fun or entertainment. I think they even have competitions and meetings and stuff.....cant remember what they were called...There IS a term for them...

yeah, there was an article in readers digest about this. it was really ridiculous, putting it in neutral when going downhills (which I believe is illegal in a lot of states), the no braking thing to the point that when they are approaching their house, for instance, they just coast till they barely have to apply the brakes to stop, which of course means he was going way under the speed limit till he got to his driveway (and the article did comment on the pissed off drivers behind him).

I can actually do the 'neutral' thing in the prius by getting the gas pedal right between using the electric engine and the braking, I've gotten pretty good at it, but I'm not putting it in neutral, its just not using any power, if I step on the gas it's right there.

I've got a half tank now. I'll see what mileage I've got on the next fillup (I have not been driving as conscienciously as usual) and will start playing after that (probably another week)

[Gewehr43]

I have been doing this myself, but I'll play too.  I have a '95 Saab 9000 2.3 Turbo with the Automatic tranny.  I got 29 with it on the last tank.  2mg better than normal.   

[Lady Di]

read an article like that.  They park on hills, etc. so they can get rolling starts, shut the car off on coasts, coast a lot longer than they really should, obsessively time lights,  I think they're called hypermilagers or something?

I actually did this recently.  I'm used to driving on the freeway at about 75 or so, and usually get 17-18 in my f250.  This last tank, I did 65, and wound up with 22mpg

yeah, I think that was the name. Hypermilers. really OC! Finding parking spaces they didn't have to back out of was another.

here's an article on Mother Jones that thinks its a good idea to be a on the road 
This is the same article I read in Readers Digest and thought they were total idiots.

News: Drafting 18-wheelers with the engine off, taking death turns at 52 miles an hour, and other lessons learned while riding shotgun with the king of the hypermilers

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/01/king_of_the_hypermilers.html

[Mistaken]

i applaud everyone for trying to save gas/money, but don't do it to the point of getting in other peoples way on the road. it's called the passing lane for a reason, get your 45mph gas saving butt out of it and let me by.

on the plus side, i don't deal with as many tailgater's lately.

[Lady Di]

i applaud everyone for trying to save gas/money, but don't do it to the point of getting in other peoples way on the road. it's called the passing lane for a reason, get your 45mph gas saving butt out of it and let me by.

on the plus side, i don't deal with as many tailgater's lately.

and stay safe for gawds sake! These 'tips' from the hypermilers are just dang dangerous! Drafting a semi is never a good idea no matter how much better mileage you get.

[BLACKDOG]

i applaud everyone for trying to save gas/money, but don't do it to the point of getting in other peoples way on the road. it's called the passing lane for a reason, get your 45mph gas saving butt out of it and let me by.

on the plus side, i don't deal with as many tailgater's lately.

[MiniSimp]

I won't be doing anything drastic.
Maybe instead of driving 85mph on the way to work I'll slow down to 70mph.

[DTB]

I have about 500 stopsigns to go thru every day to go to work and back....

I used to do the infamous "Rolling Stop"


but now I have a challenge! 

[BLACKDOG]

I have about 500 stopsigns to go thru every day to go to work and back....

I used to do the infamous "Rolling Stop"


but now I have a challenge! 

Just go cut them all down, in your direction

[Lady Di]

Just go cut them all down, in your direction

   


 LOL! I got a ticket for a 'rolling stop' once so I don't do that anymore, but the Prius also has an engine brake, so I use that to slow down instead of braking, I don't know if it saves on fuel, but I figure it'll save on brake pads so that's got to be a good thing.

[blackdiamond]

I'd play, but riding the bus to work really puts a damper on how much driving I do.  Right now gas prices have gone up $0.30 since I filled up last.  I'm working on setting the timing to get better mpg and power.

[CTENG in KS [OP]]

Sweet, I'm glad people are interested.  Again, all about saving a buck or two, please, nothing dangerous or stupid.  Better to drive smart, slow down a little and live to wheel another day.

[DTB]

Better to drive smart, slow down a little and live to wheel another day.

Thats sig worthy material right there!  u are truly a wise wise man cteng

[TIMS89CRAWLER]

I always try doing this but for some reason I just cant keep my foot out of it... I drive a 240sx every day (rear wheel drive) and I just cant seem to go easy on it....I am gonna try and see what I can get out of it... I will post my results

[red]

I actually did this recently.  I'm used to driving on the freeway at about 75 or so, and usually get 17-18 in my f250.  This last tank, I did 65, and wound up with 22mpg

sounds like your lovin that f250

97 yamaha yzf1000 (sportbike)-65mpg is my best cruisin on the highway, normal is 45-50mpg.
1979 k5 blazer-16mpg mixed, no overdrive with a 327 gasser.
1995 gmc yukon turbo-diesel (used to be my dads, mine as of july 3rd) 25mpg at 70mph, air intake upgrade.

[topar]

98 1/2 ton ram 4.56 gears 38" tires daily driver gets 6 1/2 mpg.  I live 1.3 miles from work.  So I started walking to work about a month ago.  However heat index is around 101 give or take this week so I am driving this week.    However I can tell you my shoes get much better mpg than my truck 

[BLACKDOG]

sounds like your lovin that f250

97 yamaha yzf1000 (sportbike)-65mpg is my best cruisin on the highway, normal is 45-50mpg.
1979 k5 blazer-16mpg mixed, no overdrive with a 327 gasser.
1995 gmc yukon turbo-diesel (used to be my dads, mine as of july 3rd) 25mpg at 70mph, air intake upgrade.

 

Gonna start driving the toy to work though I think.  I get about 18mpg mixed with it, and seeing as diesel is about .70 more, Its more economical at the moment

[ajordan1975]

i get 35 mpg's out of my 94 Tercel w/ a 4 spd. that's w/ out the a/c. doing 70-75 
i'm geting about 28-30 using the a/c. doing 65ish.   

[BLACKDOG]

I always try doing this but for some reason I just cant keep my foot out of it... I drive a 240sx every day (rear wheel drive) and I just cant seem to go easy on it....I am gonna try and see what I can get out of it... I will post my results

Thats why I like cruise control.  If I'm controlling the speed, the speedo seems to keep going up, if I set it, and take my foot off, I do so much better

[Toymin8r]

I've tried everything.  My diesel gets the same MPG no matter how I drive it.  18MPG.  Unless I'm towing then it goes down to about 14MPG.

Interestingly enough though my 99 4Runner's mpg increased from 16-17 to 19-20mpg just by increasing the tire diameter from 29" to 31".  It had some G-ride 20" bling wheels on at and I changed back to the factory ones.  It has the 4.30:1 gears though.

[TIMS89CRAWLER]

Thats why I like cruise control.  If I'm controlling the speed, the speedo seems to keep going up, if I set it, and take my foot off, I do so much better

ya thats what I try to do on the highway.... but I can trrow a rock from my house and hit the shop I work in so I dont get going fast enough to use cruise control going to work and back.... I have been using OD and getting way better MPG in town...not as much get-up-and-go but much cheaper