5 Bars Left and 300 miles! - Page 3 - Toyota Yaris Forums

Altitude · 07-08-2009, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daf62757

I have a few hills around my neck of the woods. I just got an ecometer and you quickly learn that you can go up hills with minimal effort. The gauge lets you go light on the pedal and still maintain speed up the hill. I just filled up today and my around town MPG was 38.1. That is up from the 31 MPG I was getting before I got the ecogauge.

I have a scanguage2 so I do watch the MPG/TPS values quite a lot. There have been *days* where I can get over 40mpg, but never averaged over a tank. I think a combination of hills and thinner atmosphere are just too much to overcome for me.

I did notice when I was visiting family in Maryland that my mileage improved quite a bit so I think MPG's in this car (and all others for that matter) are highly dependant upon where it is driven. I'm thinking people with stellar MPGS numbers must live in generally flat, low altitude areas.

Woody_Woodchuck · 07-09-2009, 07:50 AM

Yes, terrain does make a difference but not as much as I originally thought. I live in central NC, we have rolling small hills with some being fairly steep and short. Lots of ups and downs on the smaller roads and loooong gradual uphill and down hill sections on the highways. No, they aren’t Colorado Rockies but they are all we have. Remember, you might drive all uphill to get somewhere but it is all downhill back to where you started!

Using the SG2 gauges, the average uphill highway sections take 35 impg (30 to 40 impg - current miles per gallon) to climb. On the back roads it will read 25 impg to get up and over them. Not exactly horrible numbers but when you maintain them for a mile or more it really eats into the trip mpg. You can up them a little by doing the roller coaster thing. Gain momentum on the down hills and lose it going up. I was averaging tanks in the lower 40’s for mpg until I mastered this.

Being as light as possible on the gas really comes into play while using this technique. Try driving along on the flats and sloooowly let up on the gas, a fraction at a time. You will find a small ‘sweet spot’ where you can maintain speed using very little pressure and therefore gas. Accelerating has the same sweet spot. If you want to accelerate don’t just mash down on the skinny pedal, gently press a little at a time. It takes a second or two after each increment to tell if it will accelerate enough for you or not, it is not an instant burst of power. After a while your foot will automatically know how much pressure to give the gas to accelerate for the given situation.

Better mileage isn’t really just one thing, it is combining many little things that all add up to big savings.

aclark246 · 07-09-2009, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woody_Woodchuck

Better mileage isn’t really just one thing, it is combining many little things that all add up to big savings.

EXACTLY!

When I'm running late for work I can still drive 65-70 mph (as opposed to my normal 50-55 mph) and not kill my FE because of all of the other techniques.

The number one technique has to be driving with a feather-foot though. Just by letting up on the accelerator a tad saves loads of gas, and accelerating more slowly does as well I have found. (but I'm just repeating what we all know anyway... preaching to the choir I suppose haha)

Once again, I think we all deserve a round of applause for utterly destroying the EPA estimates!

07-09-2009, 07:50 AM	#38
Woody_Woodchuck Drives: 2008 Yaris LB 5M Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 64	Yes, terrain does make a difference but not as much as I originally thought. I live in central NC, we have rolling small hills with some being fairly steep and short. Lots of ups and downs on the smaller roads and loooong gradual uphill and down hill sections on the highways. No, they aren’t Colorado Rockies but they are all we have. Remember, you might drive all uphill to get somewhere but it is all downhill back to where you started! Using the SG2 gauges, the average uphill highway sections take 35 impg (30 to 40 impg - current miles per gallon) to climb. On the back roads it will read 25 impg to get up and over them. Not exactly horrible numbers but when you maintain them for a mile or more it really eats into the trip mpg. You can up them a little by doing the roller coaster thing. Gain momentum on the down hills and lose it going up. I was averaging tanks in the lower 40’s for mpg until I mastered this. Being as light as possible on the gas really comes into play while using this technique. Try driving along on the flats and sloooowly let up on the gas, a fraction at a time. You will find a small ‘sweet spot’ where you can maintain speed using very little pressure and therefore gas. Accelerating has the same sweet spot. If you want to accelerate don’t just mash down on the skinny pedal, gently press a little at a time. It takes a second or two after each increment to tell if it will accelerate enough for you or not, it is not an instant burst of power. After a while your foot will automatically know how much pressure to give the gas to accelerate for the given situation. Better mileage isn’t really just one thing, it is combining many little things that all add up to big savings. __________________ Lifetime log