Hypermiling?

Question

Hypermiling w/o realtime data added 4.65mi to my average for a total of 28.65mpg. That is average over all not just highway, I'd have to say with real time data I would have seen 30-31 on the highway.

Believe it or not this is in a '99 Chevrolet Camaro on 87octane.

I am now testing with premium to end all doubt.

What kind of milage can you squeez out of your car and what do you drive? Tell me what techniques you're using.

Answer 1

Forget hypermiling.  Some of the technique are just plain dangerous (not brake during turns, etc.)

Forget all those crazy "SAVE GAS" scams and ideas.  This was on NBC morning TV show.   The difference is as much as 38% (their claim).  There are very simple rules to save gas:

(1) drive slow - not too much past 55

(2) accelerate slowly

(3) don't brake unnecessarily

(4) use cruise control - whenever it is safe to do so.

Don't coast - it is NOT safe (to coast in Nuetral) and it does NOT save gas.  It only saves gas, if you are planning to slow down (exiting, tolls, traffic).  Coasting then accelerating again is LESS efficient than just cruising.

The above really works. Using those simple rules I was able to drive from Boston to NYC (210.5 miles) on just 5.112 gallon (94 Civic).  That's 41 MPG (94 Civic 187K miles).  Actually I was speeding at 72 MPH so I could do even better at 55.

WOW !!

Good Luck...

Answer 2

Since the term 'hypermiling' simply refers to the act of achieving greater than the EPA rating for your vehicle, I wouldn't say we should 'fuhgetaboutit'.

But, to answer the question, I drive a 2001 volvo V70.   The EPA rating on the highway is 27, but I typically get about 32. On a long trip I made from the mountains to my home  - about 400 miles - I made about 36 mpg with the car loaded with 4 people and our stuff for a 4 day trip.  But that was all downhill with a west wind (tailwind).  This is 'real time' data as Volvo has a rather elaborate on board 'data center'. It was re-enforced by computing distance over consumption at my next fill-up.

I found that slowing down to 60 on the highway and using cruise control had the largest effect. I tried drafting trucks, but that didn't seem to help much, though I didn't get as close as they say you need to in order to maximize the benefit. In real life driving, (in traffic, corners, hills) you need to do so much manipulation of the throttle and brake in order to maintain the position, that it's actually more effective just to slow down and use cruise control.

Answer 3

I use a 86 BMW 528e with onboard computer and get 31 mpg on the hwy  and I find CC cost me gas in the hills, so I use the fixed accelerator position method.

Here they talk about a scangauge that gives MPG, availible on ebay.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiling