Went from 32mpg combined to 37mpg (changed from "normal" driving to mild hypermiling)

[rick996]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

I should also mention that all of my trips are short and less than 15 minutes, which notoriously lowers overall gas mileage - compared to ideal long highway trips. And unfortunately, I live in the city with lots of traffic.

So while 37 may seem unimpressive on the surface, for my conditions it's quite a feat.

I just got my Ultra-Gauge in and set it up yesterday for this new tank.
I look forward to seeing continued improvements.

That's great gas mileage for the conditions. What you call mild hypermiling I would call moderate, and those are great techniques you are using and you explained them very well.

I use all the techniques you do except the slow starts (I am getting better ) and the pulse and glide. I have my tires at 40 lbs and do draft behind trucks, at 2 seconds behind, at the end of the low pressure cone. Learning to use DCFO was the biggest gainer for me. Now I am always over 40 mpg. But my conditions are better. All my trips are more than 15 minutes and is more varied city/country/highway.

Enjoy your Ultra-Gauge. Be care not to watch it too much. I have had a Scanguage for about 5 years and still tend to find myself looking at it instead to the road

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by rick996

That's great gas mileage for the conditions. What you call mild hypermiling I would call moderate, and those are great techniques you are using and you explained them very well.

You are probably right considering it "moderate". I'm at least close to moderate. There is indeed a wide range of hypermiling levels.

I would consider "extreme" once you begin shutting your engine off at every stop or even to coast powerless to a stop. Some people do some pretty crazy things like rolling starts (perhaps on a downhill). Or how about stripping their cars to the bone (taking rear seats and the spare tire out)? Or pumping their tires to 60psi.

Originally Posted by rick996

I use all the techniques you do except the slow starts (I am getting better ) and the pulse and glide. I have my tires at 40 lbs and do draft behind trucks, at 2 seconds behind, at the end of the low pressure cone. Learning to use DCFO was the biggest gainer for me. Now I am always over 40 mpg. But my conditions are better. All my trips are more than 15 minutes and is more varied city/country/highway.

My car was a long distance commuter for a while, hence the 122,000 miles. Amazing the difference it makes. 40+mpg was easy with no hypermiling. Even on a 1200 mile road trip last year with my car packed full and driving 80 mph, I averaged 39mpg.

I'm already noticing from the Ultra-Gauge how much idling at stops kills overall MPG. It's actually quite depressing and almost makes me want to shut the engine off as I watch my average mpg indicator ease down. Damn city driving.

Originally Posted by rick996

Enjoy your Ultra-Gauge. Be care not to watch it too much. I have had a Scanguage for about 5 years and still tend to find myself looking at it instead to the road

Tell me about it. I need to make a conscious effort to look at the road primarily, not the gauge. Especially the instant mpg gauge constantly moving up and down so dramatically. That's the first big thing you notice is how such little things effect MPG so greatly. Under very soft acceleration, for example, you're really only getting about 10-15mpg on average under the acceleration moment, even in a Yaris. In the end, the Yaris ends up at least in the mid 30's from all the times you coasted or maintained steady speeds. Acceleration and idling are the huge killers (obviously). Just didn't realize how low it really was to get up to speed.