So I have about 3850 miles on my 08 FEH now. I am getting great gas mileage now. Every tank except one on the car has gotten 30+ mpg with most 33+ mpg.

The one tank I only got 26 MPG on was the first tank, driving the car back from CA after I bought it. We drove around town for about 80 miles and then drove back. I set the cruise on 85 at we averaged 26 MPG total on the tank. I now know that 85 is a bit fast to try to drive the FEH and expect any sort of "good" gas mileage.

So my question is, how do I need to drive the car to average anything above 30 MPG on I-15 between Vegas and LA? We have to head back down to Orange County from my wife's high school reunion and i cancelled a corvette rental for the weekend so we are going to drive the FEH and try to get decent gas mileage.

I just don't drive on the freeway in Vegas often enough to have any sort of feeling about MPGs and when I do get on the freeway here it is only for about 2-3 miles and I just set the cruise on 55 in the right lane. So I don't know what to expect for a longer drive.

For more info the speed limit on I-15 to LA is 70, with most traffic doing 80-85ish. So the answer of setting the cruise on 60 isn't going to fly - we would get run over. I don't mind setting the cruise at 72-74, but what I am most curious about is how to best navigate the hills and constant (often times 6% grade) elevation changes. I could hop in the "truck/slow lane" on the hills. How do I best go up the hills and what speed? How to best go down the hills (N?)?

Thanks in advance.

 

Don't use the cruise. Maintain the lowest speed you are comfortable with manually. The problem with cruise is that it maintains speed at all costs and will "floor it" on uphills. The better method is to try to maintain rpms as opposed to speed. I usually let the speed drop a few on the uphill and make it up on the downhill. With the CVT sometimes the computer settles in at a higher RPM than is necessary. If you notice your RPM's are hanging up a little high, take your foot off the accelerator for a split second and the RPMs will settle down to a lower, more fuel efficient level.

 

80-85ish?!?!?!? Besides the obvious, I'd try to keep the tach under 3000 going up hills. I've been on that road a number of times and I would NOT see a problem keeping the speed at 70, even 65 at times. It may not sound like a good idea in theory, but in practice you can stay out of the way and get good mpg at the same time... My Escape will average about 36 @ 64 mph on the I-5 and the 15. I use the cruise until we hit a steep grade and the revs hit over 3k.

 

I have found that the using neutral is more effective on hilly interstates than anywhere else. I have been able to gain 2-3 mpg over long stretches by carefully using N while coasting downhill. I find that I don't lose any speed going downhill, while reducing my RPMs from upper 2000s to 1500. Cruise control absolutely destroyed my efficiency on hilly stretches of interstate.

 

Yeah 80-85ish is a "minimum" at times it seems like. Keep in mind I am "flowing" the oppsite way of all the traffic. Out of Vegas on Friday and back in on Monday means about 1/4 the traffic of the opposite direction. In my 06 325i I often have driven the route at 100+ for extended periods of time in the early morning hours (leaving OC at 430am Monday morning) to make it into work by 8.

I would hate to not use the cruise for extended periods of time, so I think the best would be to set the cruise at whatever speed is nessicarry and then on the hills go "manual" (if you will). That said, I saw the torque curve of the FEH. It flattens pretty much from 2400-3900 RPMs. Does anyone think it would be better to take the hills at 4K RPMs and then backdown to 2400 RPMs?

Another thing I was thinking about this morning was that I did have about 600-800 lbs of Cargo in the car on the drive home (plus the wife) so that brought it down a bit (I think I read somewhere every 300 lbs loses 1 MPG or so). We'll see what happens.

Thanks everyone for the replys. I just did the drive back from San Luis Obispo to Vegas on Sunday (one-way rental) and 78 was what I had the cruise set on in our rental Caddy STS. At 78 I wasn't quite getting run over, but I still wasn't passing a lot of cars (including trucks, except on hills).

 

Constant speed highway/freeway driving is most definitely not the FEH's forte, nor for any hybrid for that matter. In that circumstance there is very little opportunity for recovering "free" energy via regenerative braking. And since the FEH's CVT must constantly rely on electric power for operation the hybrid battery will always be depleted and the only method available for recharging will be the ICE.

Burn Gasoline to recharge the battery and then use the hybrid battery to power the drivetrain, kind of a "lossy" path, that.

If you're not doing a reasonable percentage of city stop and go driving then you might be better off with a non-hybrid of equivalent size/weight capability. Say an FEH with an I4 and a manual transaxle.

 

It's my understanding the atkison rengine loves to be at the same rpm for extended periods, I thought this is where it shined. Did I read that wrong somewhere?

 

Willard did not mention the foot on the gas pedal can play a mighty role with improving gas mileage during steady state driving. One simply has to remember GaryG's fake shifting-letting off the gas pedal to reduce RPM's and to provide a temporary shot of regenerative charge. It is possible to hold speed while reducing RPM's. Yes, one may need to repress the gas pedal to "later-up the speed". This pattern can be repeated during "flat-land" driving and enhance milage. One can add shifting to neutral as previously mentioned.

 

Yes and no... Since the engine is downsized because you don't need to have as much power for low end torque (the electric motors are providing that in start and stop) you are carrying less weight around so you still do better than the v6 (which is more similiar in acceleration and such). ALSO with the CVT allowing you to have the optimum RPM at ALL speeds rather than at only the speeds optimum for each gear you STILL do better than the standard I4 Escape. Check the Highwar ratings! Its not as huge an improvement but its still an improvement. You aren't going to get 29MPG that the hybrid gets on the freeway in an I4 Escape even with a manual because you will only be at the optimum and most efficent RPM for the ICE for each speed 5 times (assuming its a 5 speed tranny of course)

 

The FEH is over 300 LBS heavier then either of the other versions, so we are not carrying less weight.
The FEH weight distribution might be a better ratio (front/rear) , but it's not light.