Best Investments per MPG

[Spidermandud]

Just wondering on what your thoughts are the best investments you could make for your Yaris would be, in the order of most likely to benefit MPG, to least likely to benefit MPG.

Just to throw some out there; Garm hooked me up with a set of ultralight wheels which seem to have helped at least 2-3mpg; I've also read that possibly the underpanel would help through aerodynamics, and that CAI's/SRI's could possibly as well (if you weren't overstimulated to change your driving habits.) Even the NST lightweight pulleys which would increase efficiency, or better headers.

...and GO!

[caineroad]

to be honest, putting good oil (synthetic) is your best investment. drive slower, keep it in the efficient rpm. Remove your spare tires, jack etc if you have roadside assistance. back seats remove them. Everything else like CAI, pulleys and especially wheels are too costly to benefit MPG, you will never get the return. they are mainly for performance purposes.

[SpaceShot]

For me the best investment was the ScanGauge II. It makes 3-5Mpg difference while everything else I have tried is only 1Mpg. (this goes along with monitoring and practicing your commuting route, and takes 3 months or more for maximum effect)

The other thing is tires. Keep the pressure as high as you are comfortable with, and keep them rotated and balanced.

The installation of an after market cruise control did not pay off.
(I can do better on my own.)
Racing disk wheel covers and a shark fin antenna look much better, but are only about 1Mpg in combination, and the amount of reception loss is noticeable.

A grille block for the winter helps offset the change in fuel somewhat and is only $50 or less in materials.

[fj40dave]

Change in the pressure application to the pedal on the right makes a huge difference for me.....keeping highway speeds closer to 60 than 70 :-)

[why?]

Originally Posted by caineroad

to be honest, putting good oil (synthetic) is your best investment. drive slower, keep it in the efficient rpm. Remove your spare tires, jack etc if you have roadside assistance. back seats remove them. Everything else like CAI, pulleys and especially wheels are too costly to benefit MPG, you will never get the return. they are mainly for performance purposes.

i disagree that everything else costs more than you would get in return. Two mpg is 6% of 36 mpg. Now I usually spend over $40 in gas when I fill up. If you can save 6% of your fuel cost every single time you fill up, for $40 that is $2.40. That is $124.80 a year if you fill up once a week.

But you should first start with wear items, and tires first. Low traction low friction tires are best for mpg's, but are really expensive right now. Cheaper options that do the same type of thing would be better. Of course if you don't have to worry about bad weather bald tires would be best, but I wouldn't recommend that. Especially in rain.

And then it matters why you want better gas mileage. Some people do it just for fun. Some people for political reasons. If its for money, then you have other considerations.

Modifying a car is never a simple thing with simple reasons. People do it for many different reasons.

[malibuguy]

Mod wise switching to mobil 1 0w-20 eco oil netted me about 4mpg. Next is when im not running my snow tires...i run my regular tires at 54psi...that was close to 4mpg there. Next was driving habits

During the summer i get low to mid 50s using the a/c. Right now with my snow tires and winter fuel im 42-46 and i cannot drive the same as the tires dont let me coast like i could.

[brg88tx]

Originally Posted by malibuguy

Mod wise switching to mobil 1 0w-20 eco oil netted me about 4mpg. Next is when im not running my snow tires...i run my regular tires at 54psi...that was close to 4mpg there. Next was driving habits

During the summer i get low to mid 50s using the a/c. Right now with my snow tires and winter fuel im 42-46 and i cannot drive the same as the tires dont let me coast like i could.

wow, i did not realize the ligher weight oil made that much difference. i might give it a try next oil change.

[Spidermandud]

Yea. . I get great gas mileage, imo. BUT. I wanna do some mods to the yaris to possibly see 60mpg just so I can go to the gas station, and look confused, and say, "HEY. CAN SOMEONE HELP ME PUT GAS IN? IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I FILLED UP I DON'T REMEMBER HOW."

I've always gone with whatever oil jiffy-lube recommends; occasionally putting in the lucas oil stabilizer with it. That made a ride-quality difference in the Blazer I used to drive. I despised the Blazer though, so I never wanted to take the time to do anything with it.

Also; I'll try to find it, but someone somewhere on Yarisworld had posted where they'd done some math to find out how much you could spend improving your gas mileage per how long you planned to be driving the car. . it was kinda neat. I'd never thought of it like that before, so that's more or less what prompted me to start this thread.

[Spidermandud]

Originally Posted by SpaceShot

The installation of an after market cruise control did not pay off.
(I can do better on my own.)

Meant to address this earlier; I was really wondering if it would pay off. Perhaps only in the flat states. . . I know when I went to Florida over break i was breaking 50 which was most excellent. I drive like a grannie.

I had high hopes for cruise though :O

[SpaceShot]

Spidermandud,

just to be clear, comfort wise the cruise control is nice to have on a long drive to skiing or a vacation destination. (and worth the money to reduce the wear & tear on yourself)
But it did not improve Mpg over what I was able to do on my own for the same trips across state.

[marcus]

for me light rims, ntd throttle controller ( for leaded foot ), was suggested to go with lightened crank pulley but still contemplating on that mod due to harmonic balancer.:)

i dont believed on synthetic oil giving better mpg .. based on my track record there were no difference.. might just protect your engine better than regular oil

[BEEF]

not always but ususally guys that are getting really killer MPG are the ones that are EOCing (engine off coasting). they get up to speed and usually a little higher, pop it in neutral, glide a ways, clutch it, slap it in gear, kick start the car while still rolling....and repeat.

I asked a guy once about his car since he had a cavalier like mine and was getting almost 70mpg about how he was doing it. he said his car was off about 60% of his commute.

I am not a big fan of this at all. it just seems to me it would be really hard on the clutch and transmission. several people have said that if your car can be flat towed, it is alright but I can't bring myself to do it. not sure if the yaris can be flat towed or not. it is probably in the manual.

other than that, I would say by far the best thing I have gotten would be the scangauge 2 or the ultragauge (scangauge in the cavalier, ultragauge in the yaris)

[jengajoh]

The mileage that you're all getting is amazing to me. I have been averaging 27-29 mpg (AT) for a while now. If I do a lot of highway driving in a week I'll get 30...
I don't get it.
I use synthetic oil. I don't have any modifications or anything, everything is stock. Does anyone notice better mpg using a certain gas company? What about fuel injector cleaner? I'm not very car savvy (as I'm sure you can tell.)
I want to get the best out of my Yaris and make it last as long as I can.

[Spidermandud]

Originally Posted by SpaceShot

Spidermandud,

just to be clear, comfort wise the cruise control is nice to have on a long drive to skiing or a vacation destination. (and worth the money to reduce the wear & tear on yourself)
But it did not improve Mpg over what I was able to do on my own for the same trips across state.

I figured that was what you meant, no worries. :).

@jengajoh; Man I've been to Maryland. .. yall have some pretty intense traffic. I'd say you're doing pretty damn good for up there haha.

@BEEF; popping it into neutral in a Yaris equipped with DFCO works worse for you if this thread is correct: http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4248

@marcus; Throttle controller is your #1 eh? ANOTHER ONE TO TACK ONTO MY LIST OF THINGS I WANT!

[BEEF]

spidermandud,

you are correct but popping it into neutral and killing the engine yields you even higher. you get the infinite MPGs but you also don't get the engine breaking that you do with DFCO.

the idea is that you coast with the car off (engine not running) until you want to start again and you put it in gear and use the clutch to start the motor again and go from there.

realize that I really dislike this idea. the idea of kick starting a car is a bad one in my book. good if you have a bad starter and just need to get it to the house but bad if you are doing it dozens of times a day.

here is the guy I was referring to http://www.gassavers.org/garage/viewgaslog/649? notice that he has several tanks in the 60s and 70s.



***edit*** in my first post I left off killing the engine. sorry, didn't mean to leave that out. re-read it and now I understand how it may have looked like neutral coasting. my bad.

[why?]

biggest problem I have with turning the engine off is it is dangerous. Now for most hyper milers that is no big deal because they are nowhere near cars in front of them, and they make it obvious everyone needs to go bye them, but turning off the power brakes and the like is far too much of a risk for me.

The best mpg I've had is 44, but I am usually between 38-42 or so. A lot of different things go into gas mileage, but mid 40's seems to be the best people around here can get without getting insane with the hypermiling.

Of course, no one has really modded a yaris for gas mileage. The stuff that could really help is really expensive.

[malibuguy]

I deal with marylands retarded traffic everday...you just got to change how you use the car in traffic to save gas. Im beating the car around now and still getting low 40s...on the snow tires

[RETRO]

Originally Posted by jengajoh

The mileage that you're all getting is amazing to me. I have been averaging 27-29 mpg (AT) for a while now. If I do a lot of highway driving in a week I'll get 30...
I don't get it.
I use synthetic oil. I don't have any modifications or anything, everything is stock. Does anyone notice better mpg using a certain gas company? What about fuel injector cleaner? I'm not very car savvy (as I'm sure you can tell.)
I want to get the best out of my Yaris and make it last as long as I can.

I have a stock yaris only mod is cruise control.I am getting 41-42 mpg out of mine. Ive had it for 2 years and put 50k miles on it..Learning to drive it the biggest key for ME is the take offs nice smooth and easy .I was getting 37 mpg in winter and 39 in summer.Now I am getting 40 mpg winter and 42 in the summer..Winter gas in my Yaris will decrease my mpg.Driving under 70 helps.A/C has zero affect and my commute is 85 miles roundtrip with 30% being city.I run 32 lbs of air. I have removed nothing from my car.I just started using synthetic oil and did not see any gains other then not having to change the oil as often.I get gas at the same station.Just be consistent with your driving and driving habits.