Highway question

[jjonrofl]

To get the best efficiency on the highway, do you maintain a constant throttle position (as light as possible to maintain speed), or do you take your foot off the pedal and do short little bursts of throttle (slowing to 57mph, then going back to 60 or 61, then back to 57, etc) ? I have tried both techniques but am not sure which one is better as I don't have a scangauge.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

I believe maintaining your throttle position is better. However, at your own risk, you can try P&G (pulse and glide).

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/glossary.php?do=viewglossary&term=5

[127.0.0.1]

it depends on

are you in any other vehicle draft

are you on a slope of any type

if you time it correctly to slope or draft, you can increase efficiency. however
this is a lot of mental work on a long drive and....

it is just best to put on the cruise control and leave it.

on a 100 mile drive you might be able to squeeze 1 or 2 mpg, but then again you may not,
or make it worse. there is no one answer that will work for all routes and drivers

[talnlnky]

P & G is a pita.... and considering DFCO.... I never really saw much benefit to it over just keeping the car turned on.

[McTimson]

DFCO slows you down much faster than a transmission in neutral does. When planned right, pulse and glide will give much better results than DFCO.

At highway speeds though, pulse and glide is not very effective, as the aerodynamic losses are too great. The best way to drive on the highway is going to be maintaining a constant throttle. If you can get a scangauge, maintaining a constant 'load' will be better, but constant throttle will net better results than pulse and glide on the highway.

[Loren]

The trick to making P&G really work for you is to have an EXTREMELY light touch on the throttle. When you lift and glide, you might glide for 3-5 seconds and lose 5 mph. It may take you 30 seconds to a minute to regain that speed! If you pulse with more throttle than that, you negate the benefit of your glide.

So, if your target is an average speed of 60 mph, and traffic is light enough to let you get away with it, try pulsing to 62-65 and gliding down to 55ish.

You always gain when you glide due to DFCO. Always. The trick is to hang onto as much of that gain as you can.

[1stToyota]

Holding steady seems to work well for me. One day last week I was running behind so I held it steady at 80mph, another day 70mph, all other days held steady at 65mph. Filled up this morning and averaged 42.65 mpg. :smile: