Mileage Tricks

[smh0101]

So I havent been able to get more that 20.3 mpg out of my 93 SS that is stock. My dad has been getting about 23 mpg.

So I decided to try some tips that were found here...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18923454/

Here are the highlights...


Hypermilers say many of their techniques can help even drivers of conventional cars boost their gas mileage:

— Avoid jackrabbit starts.
— Slightly overinflate tires.
— Shift into neutral when going downhill.
— Drive 5 mph below the speed limit, but stay in the right lane.
— Coast to a stop at red lights.
— Shut off the air conditioner.
— Monitor your mileage on a real-time gauge and adjust as you go.
— Draft sensibly behind tractor-trailers.
— Know alternate routes to avoid stop-and-go traffic.
— Park at the highest point in parking lot and let gravity get the car moving.




My first tank of trying these I got 23.6 mpg

My last tank... I got 25.1 mpg Yep It is true... And I didnt add an ounce of gas.

I tried all but the Mileage Monitor and Drafting because I dont have the first and am to inexperienced to try the second ( Call me a chicken if ya want to )

So the only down side to these are that you rarely if ever here the whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh of the turbo and it aint no fun!

Do what you will with it!

[AWD_addict]

— Draft sensibly behind tractor-trailers.

This could easily end up being much more costly than a few gallons of gas. Truckers probably hate it, and they drive like they're pissed in the first place.

[smh0101]

Why do you think I said I dont and wont do it. lol

[AWD_addict]

Because you're a chicken.




j/k I'm too "chicken" for that too!

[dscoobydoo]

I normally get about 20-21 on a tank of gas.

She can get between 23-25 on a tank due to:

only going 50-75% on the throttle
Shifting before 3500
Keeping it under 70mph
Not downshifting and mashing the gas when passing another car.

Basically she keeps it out of boost way more than I do.

That is the only way to keep the MPG up;
Keep the boost off and keep the RPM's low.

[ericem]

Would probably help to replace certain items every so often like spark plugs, air filter, clean out the engine (seafoam in the tank) and replacing your oxygen sensor every so often.

[BSOD2600]

Mythbusters did a show about drifting behind a semi and it was quite impressive how much they improved their fuel efficiency.

To test this myth, the build team procured a car, a big rig, and a device that could measure a car's fuel efficiency. They then drove the car behind a moving big rig at various distances ranging from 100 to 2 feet and measured the amount of fuel the car consumed. The Build Team discovered that the closer the car was to the big rig, the less drag is produced, thus the more fuel saved. At just ten feet, the car managed to increase its fuel efficiency by 40%. Drafting at two feet was slightly lower than the ten foot distance, mainly because Grant had to keep working the car pedal to maintain distance from the truck. However, that did not dispute the fact that drafting actually can increase your car's fuel efficiency. However, the Build Team has warned that drafting is incredibly dangerous because the truck driver may not able to see you and you may not be able to react in time if the truck were to make a sudden stop.

Controlled road test: fuel consumption
decrease from baseline at 55 mph:
100 ft | 50 ft | 20 ft | 10 ft | 2 ft
11% | 20% | 27% | 39% | 28%

[evolutionmovement]

Rather than neutral, just coast. The car idles in neutral, but shuts off fuel in a coast. Tires are also expensive, so I wouldn't overinflate them much, just keep the pressures on the high side of the recommendations.

I get between 27 and 30 mpg out of my 3 between 70-80 on the highway, A/C on and full throttle accelerations and downshifts for every ramp. But it isn't as fun a car.

[SubaruNation]

[smh0101]

When you dont have a catylitic can you still pass emmissions?

I live in WA if that makes a difference...

[SubaruNation]

[evolutionmovement]

Yeah, they should worry about putting something to catalyze the cow emissions first.

[tahiti350]

My N/A 4EAT '90 wagon gets 23 around town and 28 hiway, driving like I normally do, gonna try some of these and see if I can get it a little higher

[SubaruNation]

[Dynamic Entry]

— Park at the highest point in parking lot and let gravity get the car moving.

Am I the only one that thinks this is crazy? You might as well list choosing to walk to work instead of driving as a way to increase MPG.........

My best plan to save gas is to buy a Mazda Autozam AZ-1
http://www.auto.vl.ru/catalog_photos/ma ... _12290.jpg

[SubaruNation]

[ericem]

Nope shouldn't matter with the auto's.

[tris91ricer]

I had someone (my grandpa) try to tell me that you could just pop the auto into neutral while going downhill and coast that way, too. I'm not sure how it would have worked on the Jetta we were looking at, but I guarantee your Subaru AT will leave you for doing so.

My mileage is. . . I dunno. I get about 200 or so miles per tank. Sometimes more if I'm actually attempting to pull more miles out.
Coasting helps. (neutral when possible) Coasting up to lights works just fine, even if you have to rev-match when the light turns before you get there.
Traveling uphill ALWAYS makes your gas gauge go up. Downhill is bad. Sometimes you can lose gas this way.
Accelerating hard also makes my gas needles float upward. For some reason, I get better miles at higher rpms.

[tahiti350]

Am I the only one that thinks this is crazy? You might as well list choosing to walk to work instead of driving as a way to increase MPG.........

With fuel getting up over $3 a gallon now I'm looking for ways to strech my driving a little farther BEFORE I really do have to start walking (or biking) to work. If I could baby it and get even 25 mpg around town, and 30+ hiway, I'd be happy. That would be like getting 1 -2 gallons free each tank.

My best 2 tanks were 24.23 in town, and 29.4 hiway. Worst 2 were 22 in town (beating the snot out of it), 25 hiway (pushed a 30-40 mph headwind for 250 miles).

The thing I can't understand is people who buy a new car "for the fuel milage". The car payment and insurance increase more than negate any fuel savings they will ever get, unless they get and electric or prisus, but then they will eventaully have to deal with battery replacement. I've heard that can be well into the $300+ range with hazmat disposal fees included....

[evolutionmovement]

Prius batteries are recycleable. NiMH. Actually, pretty much any battery except for alkalines are recycled. NiMH are actually worth money since the nickle isn't cheap and is used in stainless steel mfg. There's also a release of hydrogen during the recycling process, which is captured, though I don't know what they do with it.

I bought a new car partly for gas mileage. I save $100/month on gas, so the car only costs me a little over $200/mo. and the insurance is only about $200 more a year. I don't have to work on it and I don't think the 260k+ wagon would like the 35-50k miles/year I'd be putting on it at this point.

[206er]

start riding a bicycle when your trip is under 5 miles and you can carry your stuff in your backpack or on a rack. there's no excuse for not riding a bike short distances. I'm being totally serious here. I commute 3 miles each way with 20-40lbs of shit on my back every day, 7:30 in the morning, all winter, unless there is more than 1" of snow on the ground. rainy? get some rain gear. my pops rides to work in pouring rain in his suit. biking to work is at least 5 minutes faster for me due to parking time. the benefits of riding a bike are obviously not limited to fuel related cost savings. it's funny to me that people drive their 15mpg SUV's to the gym where they pay $100/month to ride the exercycle.
if youre that fat and/or lazy that you can't handle riding a bike short distances, get a cheap scooter or >500cc motorcycle. mine gets 65mpg riding it like its stolen and is way more fun than any car ive driven.

A/C actually will get you better mileage than running with the windows down on the highway due to drag.
you can skip gears when shifting too, like 1st to 3rd or second to 4th.

[SubaruNation]

[Legacy777]

Some of the new cars out there really don't get that great of mileage. If you look at the small cars of the 80's, they really got great mileage compared to now. Yes they were econoboxes, but got great mileage.

[tahiti350]

Even though the Prisus batteries are rechargable (duh) they have a limitied lifespan, even under the best circumstances. Every battery eventually depletes it's internal materials and fails. I've heard that the Prisus batteries are good to around 60K miles, depending on usage, so at 60K your going to have a significant expense to cover, or buy a new one and pass your 50k+ miler on to someone else to deal with. The dealer isn't going to give you credit for "recycling" the old batteries... hell, they're gonna stick you a couple of hundred for hazmat disposal, then recycle the batteries and pocket the money.

All I'm saying is that the expenses of operating vehicles never go away. Not to mention the cost to produce the new car.... My subie is paid for, nd even cheaper now after parting out the parts car (paid $250, gross income $670, so $520 off the total invested so far). Yes I'll have to maintain it, but it still passes emissions testing (very clean actually), and gets good milage, so I'll keep driving the snot out of it intil it dies, then figure out what to do with it next.

[evolutionmovement]

That's bull about the hazmat. You can find people who will pay you for lead acid car/marine batteries if you call around. Anyone who pays for disposal is an idiot. Nickel is a valuable metal, more valuable than lead, but I said this several posts ago. It's also a concern for the EPA to make sure these get recycled, like many toxic chemicals you can turn in for free (like oil, batteries, etc.). All the press I've read states the NiMH battery packs as being good for 100k+. I've also seen new Prius packs on ebay for $900. No dealer is going to charge someone for disposal of an old battery pack - they could do that with every $500-1000 'tow it in trade' since the cars that get are mostly unsaleable (and even then, are just dumped into an auction). Trade in goes on resale value and sales negotiation. Charging someone for hazmat would guarantee a walk out.

I used to be able to deal with an old car since I worked half a mile from home, but not anymore. With some people, their jobs require a working car. If I lose a day of work because of a car that's a problem, and I can lose more than the cost of a car payment in that missing day. Also, mileage is a large expense and a few mpg makes a difference with what I put on. Not only that, but as a contractor, I get to write off all my mileage. My car got me $5k last year on my tax return, which is about 25% more than a year's payments.