How i get 52mpg avg (constantly)

[richietwong]

Hey guys, my name is Richie im from Socal and im a college student that commutes to university and home A lot.


I just wanted to make a post to talk about how i achieve 50+mpg, not to brag or anything but its amazing to me how doable it really is.

So as a back story-

Since i've gotten a 2007 hatch back, 2nd hand w/ 130k miles There have been some minor mods that have helped me achieve 50+ mpg constantly (lowest ive ever gotten is 47 city driving, 40mpg on very spirited driving (not me driving someone else.)

https://38.media.tumblr.com/1f764fcc03399185d697a179a921dcd0/tumblr_ngvkr4Xohw1qzqpv4o1_1280.jpg
https://38.media.tumblr.com/87edc5b608318685eb95626a401b7c92/tumblr_ngvkr4Xohw1qzqpv4o2_1280.jpg
https://31.media.tumblr.com/64ab43e24529233cc251fa5751907052/tumblr_ngvkr4Xohw1qzqpv4o3_1280.jpg

EXTERNAL
-coilovers to lower car (megan coil overs)
-alloy wheels that are flush with body line
-Stretched tires to also accommodate aero benefits
-camber bolts to accommodate wheel
-rear spoiler

ENGINE
-trd sport axle back exhaust
-DC cold air intake (ironic but i can explain the rationale)
-As many new OEM parts as possible (all maintenance stuff essentially)
-Cruise control

COMPUTING
-New Yaris cluster with tach (just to make sure im in comfortable power band)
-Scan gauge
-Valentine 1 police band scanner (this is important because when it is quite out i drive 60mph, and if there are any highway patrol or trying to cause trouble i can bring my speed up to 65/70 where average traffic is driving, and i wont have any unneeded attention.)



so lets explain my commute first off, its 20 miles one way with constant inclines going towards school, and 1 downhill coming home.

everyday i do an average of 52.5MPH
I climb the hill at 40mph, cruise on the highway at 62mph and try to drive as smoothly and lightly on the throttle as possible between home and highway.

Thats pretty much it. The only hyper mileaging technique i do is monitor and record my data and learn new habits. I Side draft semis as i feel side drafting is more beneficial then rear drafting because the low pressure zone of a semi trailer at 60mph literally sucks your car towards them.

TIPS
-I focus on accelerating to 60mph at an average of 1.00 Gallon/hour
-Long pauses between gear changes
-always stay in power band
-drive efficiantly, never slow down unless traffic forces you too, never speed up unless traffic permits you too

I find it really easy to get 50+ mpg in the yaris. I havent made any air dams, or removed my wipers, ive actually added weight to the car with brace bars and tower struts and under chasis braces, and i carry a down hill MTB in my trunk everyday.

-The highest MPG on start i've ever gotten is 65.2mpg Average 55.2mph

-The best life time average ive ever gotten is 54.5 mpg

-most miles i've gotten on a tank is 505 (but i had enough gas to get 534)


Some myths i'd like to debunk real quick
-Driving window up or down? AC on or off?
These are all personal questions that will affect MPG, but it only really impacts your gas consumption because of how you feel as a driver. An annoyed driver might not be the best fuel saver right?

I've experimented, with AC i get the same MPG as long as im rolling, when i come to a red light i turn off the a/c. (because your timing advances more dramatically and your idle speed is higher with the AC)

-what psi?
again personal, because comfort is key for saving gas. Some people say 36

I say 55... but again i have stretched tires, and i have wider tires then you would expect a hypermileager to have (195)

But, i have 55 fronts 47 rears. I also check these frequently especially in the rain, or when its hot out as pressure changes like crazy inside tires.

-Hot side intake vs cold air intake
yes hot air mixes better with gas, Yes cold air allows more dense particles into each cylinder. But the reason why i have a CAI in the car and sacrifice the little bit of efficiency i do gain with a short ram or hot side intake is because the little bit of throttle response you do gain, and the little bit of low rpm torque you get is big part in constant gasing.

Again i don not pulse and glide, I cruise control everywhere i go. The longer the drive the more constant my mpg is.

For example I drive to Santa barbara from Pomona quite often. its about 134 miles. I take the route with least traffic everytime. and when its quiet hours i can get 54mph from start and lifetime average of 52 going for 134 miles.


I welcome everyone to hypermileage on the yaris, because its an extremely efficiant car. I have a prius C at home, and i can out mileage it if the conditions where right. (granted i have an 11 galloon tank and the yaris is bare bones car)

But i've been getting 500mi to the tank since the 1st month ive driven the car. There are no silly external aero mods, I even have my mudflaps on, and my donut in the car. I've gotten the same mpg with passengers on a full tank.

Feel free to ask an questions as can try and assist in any way possible, im trying to learn more techniques on getting 55+mpg ave and trying to make the ride quality of the car better. But i dont think i can considering coilovers, tower struts, H brace, Rear under tower braces, top tunnel braces. and more to come :p

[IllusionX]

Your avg should take into account when you get 99.9mpg. So you are not really doing the consumption it is showing.

55pis very high pressure. Anyways, if you can live with that, keep going that way. But I'd be always worried it explodes. Usually manufactures max psi is 44psi...

Still impressive! There is no way I get this kind of mileage here.

[bronsin]

When I drove in 2011 from NJ to AK and back (10,400 miles in 16 days) I went 60 mph in Canada and got 42-46 mpg so I agree 60 mph is the way to go.

Just curious did you arrive at the 52 mpg figure from the aftermarket device or from noting the gallons when filling the tank using a consistent procedure from the last time you filled it?

I just love this MPG stuff! :headbang:

[bronsin]

55pis very high pressure. Anyways, if you can live with that, keep going that way. But I'd be always worried it explodes. Usually manufactures max psi is 44psi...


Don't worry about this! I saw a demonstration were a tire was hooked up to an aircompressor with a large digital readout of the PSI. This was in front of thousands of people at the Cobleskill Sunshine Fair. The compressor ran 30...40...50...60...70 psi. When it approached 100 women started screaming and when it passed that they fainted and strong men quailed. 110....120...130...140...150! Utter shock from the audience as the PSI passed 200... 210...220...230...240...250...

Then at 300.......


KABOOM!!! :w00t:


So based on that I wouldn't be worried at almost anything you put in the tires.

But at high pressures it might make for rough riding and damage something!

[roxy1]

i averaged 51.2 for a whole tank during my weekly commute when I had my tires as 42 psi. that's just with a stock 5 speed. it wasn't worth it to me. im much more comfortable at 34 psi and still get 45 mpg's on the same commute.

[nookandcrannycar]

or from noting the gallons when filling the tank using a consistent procedure from the last time you filled it?

:thumbsup: As I do, filling to the same 'just able to see gas' point in the neck each time (I know, an insane overfill to some people).

[nookandcrannycar]

Don't worry about this! I saw a demonstration were a tire was hooked up to an aircompressor with a large digital readout of the PSI. This was in front of thousands of people at the Cobleskill Sunshine Fair. The compressor ran 30...40...50...60...70 psi. When it approached 100 women started screaming and when it passed that they fainted and strong men quailed. 110....120...130...140...150! Utter shock from the audience as the PSI passed 200... 210...220...230...240...250...

Then at 300.......


KABOOM!!! :w00t:


So based on that I wouldn't be worried at almost anything you put in the tires.

But at high pressures it might make for rough riding and damage something!

:laugh::laugh:....The 'kaboom point' would likely be at a reduced PSI point rolling on an axle in a real world example...still quite impressive though :thumbsup:!

[nookandcrannycar]

it wasn't worth it to me.

I agree.....not worth it :thumbsup:.

[IllusionX]

:laugh::laugh:....The 'kaboom point' would likely be at a reduced PSI point rolling on an axle in a real world example...still quite impressive though :thumbsup:!


Yes, there is a reason why there is always a max pressure on every tire that take into account rolling.

[spookybathtub]

Those results are phenomenal, I'm envious.

-Long pauses between gear changes

Why do you do this?

[Yaristeve]

I agree.....not worth it :thumbsup:.

Ditto.

I keep my tires at 32PSI and no way in hell could I stay sane driving at 62MPH; it's hard enough to stay under 70.

"Side drafting" a semi is not really a good idea; if you ever get a chance to see a semi lose a tire tread, you'll stop that practice ASAP.

[nookandcrannycar]

no way in hell could I stay sane driving at 62MPH; it's hard enough to stay under 70.

:laugh: I do it, but I admit it would be much harder in LA. Some of the freeway mileage around here = a speed limit of 60. However, we also have the other and of the spectrum with much of I-45 between Huntsville and Dallas with a 75 limit and much of I-10 between San Antonio and El Paso at a limit of 80.

[BennyLava]

Yes, there is a reason why there is always a max pressure on every tire that take into account rolling.

They did a test on a ford crown victoria with factory wheels and some junky goodyear tires. They couldn't get the tires to come off the rims at 100 PSI, no matter how hard they tried. They put those tires though all kinds of hell trying to get them to pop. After that I'm sure you're probably safe up to 100psi.

Also to the OP, the AC is indeed a power drain of sorts, just like a power steering pump, an alternator, or anything else you have on the belt drive. Now how much that AC is sucking down on a modern car like the yaris with a tiny compressor, who knows. My guess would be that you still lose at least half a mpg, just knowing how much electricity those wall units will drink. That energy requirement won't change just because its running off an internal combustion engine instead of an outlet.

[Jcp123]

Ac will kill in town, but highway it's not as big a drain as you'd think. By 50+ mph, the drag penalty for open windows has basically caught up to the penalty for running most compressors (my Echo seems to have a particularly inefficient compressor, so using a/c penalizes me no matter what).

Re: tires, I run 50psi out front and stick to 44psi out back as I have one aging tire back there. When I get a new set on the car, I'll probably move to 50psi. I have been running at/ beyond sidewall max for about two years with no problems. The ride is more harsh, but the Echo is very softly sprung and absorbs a lot of the impact. Yaris' are stiffer to begin with and I can imagine high pressures are unpleasant.

I would bet that ditching the cold air intake or perhaps routing it to warm air around the exhaust manifold will dramatically increase your fuel economy.

Keep the car light! Ditch extra tools or clothes, floor mats, anything you can part with. Losing 50lbs makes a difference in these.

Pick your routes carefully. Look for places with fewer lights/stop signs and concrete road surfaces are your friend. I nailed a 45+mpg tank this last time because the roads where I go to school are mostly concrete. Very low rolling resistance!

Unless you only use it on flat terrain...cruise control isn't that great. It tends to over correct when you begin to climb, because it can't anticipate hills. You can. On the way back down, you can coast, engine on or off, or use DFCO. The cruise doesn't really have all those options. I tend to use constant throttle for hill driving rather than constant speed or trying to maintain any particular MPG or load setting. Put your TPS reading on the UG screen! It's basically the most valuable fuel economy tool that a UG or SG owner can use, aside possibly from the load calculation (load might work better on your stick shift; it's nearly useless on a slush box like I have).

Lastly...don't fuel past the first click. Yes, it helps you get more consistent readings tank-to-tank by quitting the fuel-up at a visually verified point. But it will destroy your vapor canister eventually. I quit overfilling after about a year and a half of doing it and luckily no damage, but canisters are expensive to replace. Don't chance it. I'll admit to liking the .8 extra gallons if fuel it gave me, though.

[nookandcrannycar]

Ac will kill in town, but highway it's not as big a drain as you'd think. By 50+ mph, the drag penalty for open windows has basically caught up to the penalty for running most compressors (my Echo seems to have a particularly inefficient compressor, so using a/c penalizes me no matter what).

Re: tires, I run 50psi out front and stick to 44psi out back as I have one aging tire back there. When I get a new set on the car, I'll probably move to 50psi. I have been running at/ beyond sidewall max for about two years with no problems. The ride is more harsh, but the Echo is very softly sprung and absorbs a lot of the impact. Yaris' are stiffer to begin with and I can imagine high pressures are unpleasant.

I would bet that ditching the cold air intake or perhaps routing it to warm air around the exhaust manifold will dramatically increase your fuel economy.

Keep the car light! Ditch extra tools or clothes, floor mats, anything you can part with. Losing 50lbs makes a difference in these.

Pick your routes carefully. Look for places with fewer lights/stop signs and concrete road surfaces are your friend. I nailed a 45+mpg tank this last time because the roads where I go to school are mostly concrete. Very low rolling resistance!

Unless you only use it on flat terrain...cruise control isn't that great. It tends to over correct when you begin to climb, because it can't anticipate hills. You can. On the way back down, you can coast, engine on or off, or use DFCO. The cruise doesn't really have all those options. I tend to use constant throttle for hill driving rather than constant speed or trying to maintain any particular MPG or load setting. Put your TPS reading on the UG screen! It's basically the most valuable fuel economy tool that a UG or SG owner can use, aside possibly from the load calculation (load might work better on your stick shift; it's nearly useless on a slush box like I have).

^^^^^ :clap::clap: Lots of valuable suggestions. Do you know if your ECHO has the original shocks ?

Lastly...don't fuel past the first click. Yes, it helps you get more consistent readings tank-to-tank by quitting the fuel-up at a visually verified point. But it will destroy your vapor canister eventually. I quit overfilling after about a year and a half of doing it and luckily no damage, but canisters are expensive to replace. Don't chance it. I'll admit to liking the .8 extra gallons if fuel it gave me, though.

I must be one of the luckiest drivers around and am living on borrowed time. I've driven over 1.2 million miles in mostly passenger cars (a few pickups and vans). I've filled to a visually verified point on nearly every fill up, and I've never had a vapor cannister go bad.

[nookandcrannycar]

They did a test on a ford crown victoria with factory wheels and some junky goodyear tires. They couldn't get the tires to come off the rims at 100 PSI, no matter how hard they tried. They put those tires though all kinds of hell trying to get them to pop. After that I'm sure you're probably safe up to 100psi.

Also to the OP, the AC is indeed a power drain of sorts, just like a power steering pump, an alternator, or anything else you have on the belt drive. Now how much that AC is sucking down on a modern car like the yaris with a tiny compressor, who knows. My guess would be that you still lose at least half a mpg, just knowing how much electricity those wall units will drink. That energy requirement won't change just because its running off an internal combustion engine instead of an outlet.

Last year a car dropped a part on the freeway at night and then came to a stop in the fast lane. I ran over the part in my blue Yaris...impossible to see. It bent my rim and gave me an immediate flat. I was at the recommended PSI. I think the situation would have been worse/more dangerous at a hyper inflated PSI.

[Jcp123]

^^^^^ :clap::clap: Lots of valuable suggestions. Do you know if your ECHO has the original shocks ?



I must be one of the luckiest drivers around and am living on borrowed time. I've driven over 1.2 million miles in mostly passenger cars (a few pickups and vans). I've filled to a visually verified point on nearly every fill up, and I've never had a vapor cannister go bad.

Thanks. I really have no clue if they are original shocks, my guess is that they are. The ride is very compliant even with the firmer treads.

As I said, I miss the extra fuel, gives a nice boost to your range, and it's great to have the consistency of a stuffed tank. But when they say do not top off, this is the reason they say it. For $300, I simply won't risk it anymore. I make up for that by filling up at the same pump at the same Texaco station every time. If for any reason I can't reach that pump before empty, I partial fill enough to get me home, adding up the numbers later on after I can complete a fill at my "home" pump. The idea being, same calibration and vehicle stance should breed better consistency.

[nookandcrannycar]

I make up for that by filling up at the same pump at the same Texaco station every time. If for any reason I can't reach that pump before empty, I partial fill enough to get me home, adding up the numbers later on after I can complete a fill at my "home" pump. The idea being, same calibration and vehicle stance should breed better consistency.

:thumbsup: good idea. Yeah, the click would more likely be at the same point each tank.

I'm guess just to 'addicted to/wedded to' finding the cheapest gas within a reasonable distance via GasBuddy.com to do that.

[Jcp123]

I used to do that, but the prices where I live are so homogenous that it's not worth it. Besides which, I've grown partial to the Techron-laden stuff.

[4MPG]

52.5 MPH and high tire pressure is the only thing (other than obviously very controlled driving habits) really effecting anything here.

Step it up to 75-80 MPH, change nothing else, and see it drop to 34-36 MPG.

[gearbox]

52.5 MPH and high tire pressure is the only thing (other than obviously very controlled driving habits) really effecting anything here.

Step it up to 75-80 MPH, change nothing else, and see it drop to 34-36 MPG.

Driving style makes a huge difference on overall mpg. Basically every little thing we can do to get better mileage adds up to a lot in the end of each tank. But I will agree that staying close to 55 mph on freeway is biggest factor I have seen.

[bairjo]

Keeping the exterior of the car clean and waxed also should help improve your MPG.