Maximizing MPG on highway

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: nleksan
Actually, with an automatic you will still burn gas, it's a manual where the engine cuts fuel. The torque converter is not able to function as a clutch in this regar. YYou will still get better fuel economy by not being on the gas, but the engine is still essentially idling.
Unless this has changed, I don't drive or own any automatic cars...


Varies wildly by mfgr and even varies within a model due to options.

The only manual I have has a very large Holley on it, no fuel cutoff there!

 

[blackman777]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: rslifkin
Hills can help, usually in vehicles with big engines or not enough gearing. If it's downshifting on the hills, they're not helping.
I drove from Albany NY to Syracuse NY and back on the Thru Way. Averaged 37MPG on the thruway. Non stop, highway, 65MPH. Took the trip a few months later but decided to take US 20. That is CONSTANT hills. Not small hills, either. Car got 43MPG.

I think the "hill economy" mostly comes from driving more slowly (~55) than interstate speed. In other words: Less air resistance. I recently took a mountainous path which gave me high MPG, but I was also driving a lot slower (climbing). It took almost 2 hours rather than the interstate speed of 1.2 hours.

 

[Peted]

Originally Posted By: nleksan
... and always drive with traffic (if you are holding people up, and know it, but don't stop then you deserve to be run over).


First, absolutely no one deserves to be ran over. That's a horrible way to go.

Second, If someone wants to drive slow on the road. Let them. Maybe they're ill? Maybe they're cautious? Maybe they're new to driving.. List can go on. You never know the circumstance.

I am almost certain you are the type of person who speeds to a red light then slams on their brakes. Then speeds to the next red light just to slam on their brakes. The same person on the highway that tails people at 80mph and merges without blinkers. When you see these cars closely, you notice their front wheels are covered in brown filth due to excessive hard use of brakes.

I laugh at people like that. They have no idea how to drive.

 

[Peted]

Originally Posted By: blackman777


Another technique is to simply avoid using the brake. Every time you do, you waste energy. I find the best way is to set the cruise control at a speed of 60, so that people do not get angry at me. However they are still passing me, so that means I don't need to use the brake.

And I release the throttle early so I can just coast to a stop (when coasting the engine burns no fuel). In a Prius this will give you a braking score of 100/100 because it saves a lot of gasoline.


Amen! Smart driver up above ^^

Exactly what I do. I love coasting in my truck. It has a good weight to it that gets it to my destination without the gas. And because it's decently heavy and not very aero-dynamic, coasting off the highway exit makes it so I barely have to use the brakes.

 

[blackman777]

Originally Posted By: Peted
Originally Posted By: nleksan
... and always drive with traffic (if you are holding people up, and know it, but don't stop then you deserve to be run over).
First, absolutely no one deserves to be ran over. That's a horrible way to go. Second, If someone wants to drive slow on the road. Let them. Maybe they're ill? Maybe they're cautious? Maybe they're new to driving.. List can go on. You never know the circumstance.


The speed limit sign on my interstate specifically specifies that freight trucks, or cars towing trailers, sould go no faster than 55. If the government thinks 55 is an acceptable speed, then it is not "too slow"

BTW this morning I was stuck in stop-and-go traffic, and some guy laid on his horn, because I didn't immediately "gun it" when the car in front started to move.

Well I'm sorry buddy but I drive stick, and I'm not tearing-up my clutch just to move a mere 10 feet, and then slam the brakes. He kept beeping his horn, so I gave him the finger. He then next to me and called me "childish". Really??? The man who is so impatient he has to Blare his horn..... that's the childish one (impatient like a 5-year-old).

Southern California drivers... rudest drivers I've ever met in any of the 50 states.

 

[simple_gifts]

Perhaps the legal speed someone is driving is the speed that they feel they can safely operate the vehicle; I'm sure if they drove faster and were unable to mitigate the situation happening in front of them they would have been an "idiot" for driving beyond their capabilities.

 

[blackman777]

Precisely

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Keep it at 55 or below.



Uh, maybe in Fl, but here you will be run over at that speed on the highway. Unfortunately

But he'll get great MPG up until the point where he gets run over.

Thats true! Hahaha

 

[zerosoma]

Speed up quick to pass, coast when you can. Keep it between 50-60 mph.