A sigh of relief as I hand-calc-ed the tank I filled tonight. It was #9, and through all the hard work and mounds of help I've received from GH and particularly my fellow HCHers, I managed to set my personal bests in mileage and FE, and topped 50 MPG for the first time ever. It feels great hitting landmarks, but even better is knowing this is just the beginning of what's to come. Thanks for the help everyone.

Hi Helterskelter683:

___Nice job!

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

Thanks so much! I know if it weren't for this community, I'd be nowhere near the very small peak I've reached.

Congratulations!!!

Billy

Uh-oh folks, we've hooked another one!

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

Can't believe you got there before me. I'm showing 50.7 MPG on my current tank but will only know for sure when I fill up. Thus far, I've only changed driving habits from tank to tank and nothing else. One thing I'm considering is raising tire pressure to 32 PSI on my next tank.

Great job
By the way, are you able you to coast w/o IMA recharge????

Yeah, I cross a 2+ mile bridge every day into work and coast the whole way down, among other spots. I generally like to ball the jack to neutral which cuts IMA recharge completely and decreases RPM from around 1.5 pure coast to about 0.7 revs. This is only my ideal spot; I've started using neutral quite a bit actually, as it's safer and easier to transition from than a reboot, if not quite as dramatic a difference in mileage. I personally think it's applicable more often than a shutdown. Only thing is I have to try to make a conscious effort to allow a steady IMA recharge once in drive again, or the battery depletes rather quickly. The bad side of a bridge takes its toll, after all. Give those tires a shot at 40 PSI...that's where I started experimenting and it's perfectly safe and will show a marked improvement in FE.

I'm experimenting with the exact same technique in my CVT. I'll see how it goes. Raised the tire pressure to 45 (up from 40) to see if that helps too. I also like using neutral over a reboot to coast, and I'm finding new places to use it. I've found places to use pulse and glide - I speed up to what traffic will allow, drop it in neutral and see how far I can coast before having to repeat (also without becoming a traffic hazard - so I really only pull this off when I'm alone). I'm amazed at how far a civic will coast like that on 45 psi. :-) Good luck with your efforts!

*** Retired after 65,000 outstanding miles ***

Good luck to you, too! I've found 45 PSI is my optimal pressure; much more and I feel a little suspect with the roads I obligatorily drive every day, but it's done quite a bit for my MPGs so I think I'll stick there. I'm glad to see someone else taking the neutral route. I'm only 4k miles into my HCH but through the experimenting I've done, it has paid off the most in terms of bang for the buck. It's an easy method to higher FE that can be taken in practically any traffic situation, unlike some of the more strenuous strategies that require specific conditions to execute successfully. Honda has built us a more than capable machine to use some of the FE techniques, but whether or not we can apply them in real world driving is very much dependent on location. Thanks to all for the constant advice! I LOVE the fact that I'm constantly updating my driving strategies as I learn more from you guys!

I'm trying to find that balance between the fascination over milking a tank for all it's worth and obsessing to the point where I'm paying more attention to the car than the road. I expect ones MPG would drop dramatically if you hit a tree or went driving through someone's front yard.

*** Retired after 65,000 outstanding miles ***