My Yaris is the "Ride of the Month" on CleanMPG.com

[palsan]

Good job Bailout.

As I suspected, your commute doesn't involve much traffic. A major contributor to your awsome FE must surely be the fact that there are rarely any cars directly in front of you - this allows for coasting, FAS, etc.

I probably see more cars in the first 10 minutes (5Km) of my hour commute (40Km) than you see all day. Put another way, most of us living in large metropolitan areas just can't achieve numbers anywhere close to yours simply due to the stop-go-stop-go traffic.

I have tried to drive like an old lady, pumped up my tires, avoided using the A/C, coasted in neutral wherever possible, don't "warm up" the car in the morning, use synthetic oil (Mobil 1), use a block heater in winter, etc., etc., etc., and the best I have been able to achieve is 6.2L/100Km (38MPG).

I don't get it

The only things left to try:
a. lose 100 of my 180lbs. and/or
b. ask a few thousand commuters to stay home 7-8am and 4-5pm

[nebulight]

Congrats man, however, I would suggest a different water bottle. You can get pretty sick by reusing the same water bottle over and over again even washing it. I picked up a Nalgene bottle for piece of mind.

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by palsan

Good job Bailout.

As I suspected, your commute doesn't involve much traffic. A major contributor to your awsome FE must surely be the fact that there are rarely any cars directly in front of you - this allows for coasting, FAS, etc.

I probably see more cars in the first 10 minutes (5Km) of my hour commute (40Km) than you see all day. Put another way, most of us living in large metropolitan areas just can't achieve numbers anywhere close to yours simply due to the stop-go-stop-go traffic.:

These photos were taken on a weekend, when traffic is nearly non-existent. Don't get me wrong, it's not like LA or anything around here, but all it takes is one slow mover up front and we all get stuck in the FE-killing slinky all the way over the mountain. In the Summer it's the trucks hauling construction materials, or the roadwork (which is extensive due to the abuse the snow puts on this road), and in the Winter it's the road and weather conditions and the tourists trying to make their way to the ski area.

Let's also not forget that I'm climbing huge grades every day. Yes, I get to use DFCO and FAS on the downhill sides but I have to climb both sides to begin with.

In other words I am in far from optimal conditions. As a matter of fact, when I get to spend even just a little time on the valley floor my MPG generally boosts by 2 MPG for the tank. This means that if I weren't hill climbing every day I'd likely be above 55 MPG.

You can hypermile in any scenario. :)