You may choose to disagree but as far as I'm concerned none of us have hit 80mpg in our civics. My best tank was 79.5 calculated 82.8 displayed. I use calculated figures so 79.5 is entered into the database.

HCH03 your best tank is 83.6 calculated (a fine accomplishment) but the same tank showed "only" (still a great tank BTW) 78.3 displayed. Your display is frequently very different from you calculated figures, leading me to believe that the 83.6 calculated was achieved in part from tank fill issues. What is your lifetime displayed? My lifetime displayed value is 3.3% higher than my lifetime calculated.

RJ your record tank has the same problem HCH03's does. While you calculated 80.1 at the pump your display was only showing 76.

Because my display is 3.3% high I will consider the 80 mpg barrier to be broken when the calculated figure is 80 or higher and at the same time the displayed figure is 82.64 (80 + 3.3%) or higher.

I'll leave it to each of you to calculate the error margin of your own display. We have all come very close but I'm not handing out any cigars till one of us does it right!

 

i'm surprised no one gave you a congrats.... WHAT"S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE CMON HE GOT 80 MPG ON A TANK MAN!!!!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU JEALOUS OR SOMETHING???!?!?!?!


congrats! guys like you make me try harder for 60 mpg tanks! ok i admit i'm jealous to the max because you got the car I have but got FOUR DOORS, a HYBRID POWERTRAIN and a 5 SPEED TO ABUSE FAS! oh my oh my how i wish i can have one of those ~~

beat those records in sake of quietting those nay sayers.

 

lakedude, congrats man, maybe you share your techniques... My best tank was 60...

 

Thanks, be happy to.

Before I get started you must know that I have several advantages (and one big disadvantage) that affect my mileage. I work evenings when traffic is light, a huge advantage. I can travel most of the way to work at 40-45 mph another huge advantage. My one big disadvantage is that work is into the wind during the day when the wind tends to be strong but going home is with the wind at night when the wind tends to die down.

So you may already be doing the best you can in your own situation.

Here are some tips anyway:

1) Drive slow 35-45 mph is ideal.
2) Over inflate your tires, safety is an issue so how much air you put in is up to you. I run mine at around 42psi.
3) Do not use AC or heat, both kill mileage.
4) If forced to drive in rain avoid water on the road as much as possible.
5) Try and time stop lights.
6) If no one is looking and it is safe I might run a stop sign every once in a while......(don't do this)!!!
7) Use brakes as little as possible, plan ahead for stops and use regen instead of brakes.
8) Avoid accessive acceleration, be smooth.
9) When driving in hills, drive with the load.
10) One of the best techniques is also very dangerous so you shouldn't do it unless you completely understand how your steering and brakes work. The technique is call FAS or Force Auto Stop. A FAS means you turn your car off completely and coast, therby using zero gas for as long as the engine is off. To FAS you click the key backward until the engine stops and after one second you click the key back into the run position. Power steering and brakes are affected by doing this so be careful and read up on FAS before you attempt one.
11) Carry as much speed as you can through turns.
12) In general try to save as much momentum as you can.
13) If the weather is bad "cheat" and drive another car that day.
14) Know your route, it is impossible to get record results on an unknown road. Pay attention and try new ideas.
15) Stay off the pack as much as you can.


That is about it.

16) Some hypermilers draft, I don't cause it think it is unsafe.

 

oh yeah....... the only thing from stopping me from getting insane mileage as lakedude pointed out is GASP! Other drivers!

now you know why i go all **** trying to convince others to drive like hypermilers do, if people DID then traffic conditions will be very predictable and all of us would have cleaner air to boot .

 

I used to do a lot of those techniques to get awesome mileage. But, it became too much of a distraction and decided to just drive the dang thing. I live at the top of a mountain on Hwy. 17. I used to get to the highway (headed down), get up to 30 mph or so, then brake, wait until about 20 mph, put in the clutch, auto-stop shuts off the engine, hold in the clutch, shift to neutral, let off the brake, and the engine stays off no matter how fast I go. No worries that go along with FAS. The interesting thing is that after several uses of the brakes, the engine restarts, runs for about 1 second, then shuts back down. It's pulling a vacuum for the brake booster. I'd have 100-120MPG by the time I got to work with traffic lights to deal with. I'd also be cold because the heater never worked. That was lame. So, I think trying for an awesome tank or two is neato but after that, drive it! Use the A/C, use the heater, peel out every once in a while! I usually always have it floored until the speed I want, I live in the mountains, and I still get 44-46MPG.

 

I understand AC, as that is a direct parasitic load on the engine, but I don't see how running the heater could significantly affect mileage at all. Won't the wate heat in the radiator is going to be thrown away as waste heat regardless. The only time it could even affect mileage is if the weather is cold enough that the thermostat is completely closed on the radiator, at which point the cabin wuold be absolutely freezing cold to save probably 1/10th of a percent on fuel economy.

 

AC is certainly easier to understand. All cars run rich during warmup. Running the heater increases the time it takes to warm up the car. Also if you are doing the FAS thing a car can completely cool down during the time the car is off if you run the heater.

BTW Yes it is more comfortable to run the AC/heater when it is hot/cold. The sacrifice is part of the "fun" of hypermiling. A light colored car helps with the heat of summer and bundling up helps in the winter.

 

Regarding keeping cabin heat off during warmup:
The engine and components will warm up faster if it is the only thing that is requred to do so. Add the cabin and it takes longer.

Kind of like heating a small room in your home with a space heater.
The room will heat up faster if the door that separates the two rooms is kept closed.
Once room #1 is completely heated then one can open the door to room #2 for heating as well.

Note that even in the mild Georgia (30-40 degree) winters I've noticed the temp gauge shows normal (half) after about 1-1/2 mile with a slight increase in MPG at that time.
However it is only coolant temp and the rest of the drivetrain is completely warmed up only after around 12 miles on the freeway. That's with cabin heat off.

 

I agree drafting is dangerous. Leave it to the NASCAR guys & other racers who know what they're doing.

I would amend #3 to read "Use A/C as little as possible." Down here it is definitely not an option on summer days. To minimize its effect on FE, use the "recirculate" feature and raise the thermostat to 75-78 degrees (max temp on the '05 is 82). And tint the windows as dark as the law allows (which also saves the upholstery).

Since both our cars are hybrids, the only way to invoke #13 would be to steal a car. Put that in the same category as #6 and #16.