Let's hear your opinion on how you achieve your MPG numbers.

I voted for driving it to get the most MPG as possible but I think I am some where in between. I am driving way slower than I used to drive (lead foot) but can not always go as slow as I would want to maximize my MPG because I do have to live by the clock at certain times and have to drive faster FE would like. However, the fastest I go is still 10 miles per hour slower than what used to be my average.

It is getting warmer and I do only use my AC on a limited basis for a limited amount of time and that is not what I used to do.

I think what I'm trying to say is that my driving habits have changed and probably for the better out of me trying to improve my FE however they needed improvement and it's nothing to send me to the institution for

Kinda limited answer options aren't they? I tend to drive for high mpg, but within reason and never at the impediment of normal traffic flow.

Evan E. Fusco, MD
'04 Prius/BC moded to the T
'06 Highlander Hybrid Limited AWD w/NAV

I'm of a different philosophy on the "impediment of other traffic" angle....

I feel that I'm not responsible for the progress of other vehicles. If they are travelling at what a reasonable person would consider "unreasonably fast" speed, then I feel no mercy for them. Let them go around or get behind me, but I'm not taking any action to help them achieve their illegal speeds. Sorry, I'm just not.

I do have an advantage in that almost my entire commute and most of my non-commute city driving is located on "three lanes each way" city streets, which allows me to pretty well stay out of people's way while driving for hypermilism ( a new word?)

I constantly scan my rearview mirror for people I need to get out of the way for, and if I can see them in time and judge their speed well enough, I get out of their lane. In what I consider my greatest concession to faster drivers, when I can do so safely, even when I am in the "slow lane" and there are two lanes open to go around me, I move myself to the middle lane to let a faster driver pass me so they do not have to change lanes themselves.

But if I am driving within 5 miles per hour of the posted limit, I do not feel like it's my job to worry about speeding up merely to "go with the flow." Lucky for me, this decision does not come up often, but when it does, I do not feel overly bad about it.

The speed limit is an "upper limit" in my mind, and in SO MANY CASES it is not necessary for people to always drive AT that limit. If a driver stuck behind me is "forced" to drive 40 in a 45, who is it killing? Certainly not them, because they are probably saving gas and putting themselves at a lower risk of injury by driving 5 mpg slower.

So I feel a smidgeon of mercy for them, but it has limits, just as speeds do !!

i agree - when i'm driving the speed limit or 5mph under on the highway, i dont change lanes, because there are 4-5 more lanes on the left for other people to drive in. i never understand people who try to speed in the slow lane, and end up getting annoyed at me for driving the speed limit in the slow lane and causing them to brake. or those who tailgate me incessantly and seem to not understand the idea of changing lanes.

i mean, i understand when people are in a rush, because i've been in a rush too several times. that's why i don't react when people cut me off, because i understand what they're going through.

all i'm saying is, when i am driving fast, i move to the left where traffic flow is faster. that's only logical.

Well, I have recently been driving for mileage and have done better than I anticipated. I used to get around forty, now I get well over fifty ('03 HCH)

I think the major difference for me is the way I drive up and down the steep hill that I live on--things like coasting more, leaning on the brake just enough to capitalize on recharging, running the AC hard when going downhill (I'm trying to control speed, may as well use the momentum to drive the compressor) and easing off the rest of the time. I also do the "take advantage of gravity" trick where I pick up a bit of speed going down, then use it to coast part of the way going back up. Finally, going up the hill to my house I've found just the right balance of how much "electric boost" so that I use as much as I can by the time I get to the top without getting too low.

I also drive slower on average (65 instead of 75) As for the speed limit thing, it's kind of weird. Where I am, the "maximum speed limit" is 65, but I'd say about half the time I'm literally the slowest driver in my field of vision at 65-- I have had semis go around me at that speed.

Spending slightly more time in the car isn't too bad, either. I like to listen to music and audiobooks in the car (just got a nice new radio system installed) so driving a bit slower isn't a problem -- I'm being productive in the car, and I'm saving a lot of money in gas for a few minutes of my time.

This tank of gas, I'm averaging 49.2mpg. My 8500 mile average is 43.9. Last week I ran it flat out at 4am between Anapolis and the DC beltway. Topped 118mph. It was over 5000rpm almost the whole time.
I have tried to run a consistant 85mph, but it drops to around 28mpg average.
To get my best fuel mileage, I do basically what double trinity does. I use the downhills to my advantage. I do my best to keep the bar at 60mpg. Sometimes I can get over 80mph and still keep it at 60mpg. When I hit the uphill, I try to keep it over 40 on the bar. I cost a bunch in traffic to keep my battery plump. Sometimes I draft off semis to my left. I get in real tight to get as much dead air as possible. I've seen 75mph and over 100mpg on the flats. I would never draft like that in any sort of traffic. Its dangerous as it is.

I don't have a bunch of distracting real-time 'fuel economy' indicators on my dashboard, and don't miss them. I don't have to pay attention to the battery because my little car isn't a hybrid, but it is an ultra-low emission vehicle (ULEV) and I get 46MPG (so far) driving in the mountains. I listen to and feel the engine vibrations, and downshift when it's bogging, and upshift when it's humming, and that's about the extent of my technical monitoring of engine status.

When I initially accelerate, I shift to get into the highest gear rapidly, and seek to spend as little time as possible doing the acceleration without 'flooring it'.

Most of my driving is on a road that's one lane each way, with (safe, legal) passing opportunities few and far between, and many times the other slower cars 'floor it' when a passing lane appears because it's straight. I take these opportunities to dump as many tailgaters as is convenient, just so they can tailgate someone else.

I don't feel compelled to speed (at least not on HWY 41 or other one-lane roads) just because other people feel like they have to speed. On a one-laner like 41, I'll just catch up to the next group of cars that are all tailgating each other, going at or well below the posted 55MPH 'Maximum Speed' that much sooner. I almost always catch up to the people who pass me, and take a perverse pleasure in it. If I'm already going at or above the speed limit, anyone behind me literally "doesn't exist", and the only accomodation I'll make is to go the speed limit, even if it means slowing down when people tailgate me. On larger freeways, I do pick up the pace a bit so I won't be run over, but there are usually trucks and other cars to drive behind that seldom catch up to anything.

Once at speed. I take my time speeding up and slowing down for new speed limits or other cars, and use the buffer my following distance provides to make these transitions trivial.

Downhill or flat, I set the 'cruise control' at the speed I want to go and ignore all else except for what's in front of me. Uphill, when it's more than a gentle roll, there are usually slower cars and trucks, and I tend to 'forget' to downshift if I leave cruise control on, so I usually leave it off the first time I take notice and downshift.

I spend a lot more time than I technically ought to with the car out of gear. There are certain downhills that (if there isn't anyone else in the way or riding my butt) can get me a few miles without the car in gear, though my car seems to provide very little resistance in 5th. Leaving it in gear may mean the engine is not consuming fuel at all, since gravity and momentum are turning the engine over for me.

I leave generous following distances because I don't have to react to the other people braking/accelerating constantly to keep one inch off each other's bumpers. It's safer. It's saner. If they do wreck, I can be well out of it.

I try to predict traffic signals to make sure they will be green when I reach them, or at least so I won't have to completely stop. If I have to stop, it doesn't really matter how slowly I approach it. I've done this for so long it's practically an unconscious reaction to lights.

My tires are inflated a couple of PSI over what the car manual says (and what it says in the manual is still a couple PSI more than most people who inflate your tires for you will put in). I get a little more road noise, but that's what a radio is for. I have a little $20 electric tire pump, and I use it.

I don't creep up and down parking lots competing to get the spot five feet in front of the door. Even 100 feet from the door is a small walk compared to the walking done inside a supermarket or mall. I pull into the first open spot that will be easy to get out of. Period. If there are two or more stores I'm going to in the same strip mall, I park between the destinations and walk.

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Drafting???
That's a false economy if I've ever heard one. The first time a truck driver brakes suddenly and hard for something you can't see, you're probably going to eat it! At least you probably won't go completely under the trailer and get decapitated (they added those steel bars under the back just for you!)

I use many of the same driving techniques outlined by lessevildave to improve MPG's when driving my 92 Honda Civic CX hatch (with 375,000 miles on it). I don't have any fuel consumption gauges (or even a tach) on my dashboard, so I use the number of miles traveled when the fuel gauge needle hits the half full and empty marks on the gauge to get an idea of my mileage before I calculate it when fill up. Since I don't have an ICE capable of lean burn, I try to do as much of my acceleration and hillclimbing as possible at about 75% throttle where my ICE runs most efficiently, following by freewheeling on the downhills or when I know that I am going to have to slow down for traffic, lights, etc. I also shift gears to keep my RPM's below 2000 when accelerating and don't go over 3000rpm except when climbing a steep hill. On some long downhills that aren't steep enough to require friction or engine braking, I will shut the engine off until I reach the bottom. I get my best mileage on rolling terrain where the downhills aren't steep enough to require braking.

Some additional MPG tips: When the roads are so wet that vehicles leave tracks behind on the wet road, try to drive with your wheels following the tracks of the preceeding vehicles to reduce the MPG robbing drag of the road water.

If you are driving into a strong headwind, drop your speed 10 miles per hour or so to get yourself out of the steeper part of the aerodynamic drag curve. When you drive at 65mph into a 35mph headwind, your car is getting the drag it would normally see when driving at 100mph. If you can reduce your speed by 10 or 20 miles per hour, then you are only driving at the equivalent of 90 or 80 miles per hour, aerodynamically speaking.

It has been getting more difficult to find tires in my OEM size (165/70/13), so I've had to go up to the next larger size (175/70/13) and do some experimenting to try to avoid the MPG drop caused by the larger, draggier tire. I 've found that if I raise the tire pressure about 10psi above the maximum listed on the sidewall, I get the same rolling resistance (and MPG's) that I did with the narrower tire and yet I am still getting much improved cornering and braking performance than I got with the narrower tire. I suspect the tire is riding up on the center somewhat, reducing its footprint to about that of the narrower tire when driving straight ahead, but when I put a lateral force on the tread (when cornering, braking, or accelerating) the tread flattens out out its full width. I got 70,000 miles from my last set of tires run at these air pressures with better handling performance than I did with the OEM size tires.

1. Spend more time with the instant over the average with as large a margin as possible and don't use more fuel than is neccessary for the segment.
2. Experiment finding routes that favor better MPG.
3. Drive with the load.
4. Accellerate as slowly as practical.
5. Keep plenty of traffic buffer.
6. Keep momentum.
7. If there's no one behind you and you're not in a hurry then there's no reason not to take a little more time and get your numbers higher.
8. Pump some life into those soggy, spongy tires.
9. Manually cycle the AC compressor as needed.
10. Above all be safe, always side with caution and possess good judgement.

Have fun in your drive, don't get too comfortable in your current habits and push yourself to do better. Tell others about what you and your automobile accomplished today and feel good about it.

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