I have read many threads on hypermiling the FWD verison but not too many with the AWD version. Want to briefly share this story which occurred on the 25th. I'm in a rural setting in Northern Wisconsin with not too much traffic even on the two lane state highways and the terrain is flat to gentle rolling hills. I travled 53.6 miles, used 1.3 gallons of fuel, averaged 39.8 mpg and had a maximum rpm of 2587 all via the scan gauge II.
I'm not using extreme hybrid driving techniques other than attempting to keep the rpms at or under 2000. On the county roads around here, I'm able to drive in electric up to about 30mph on flat terrain.

I'm no threat to the experienced posters in hypermiling. My guess is these well known hypermilers could achieve 20% or better gains over my performance with the combination of light traffic, favorible terrain and weather. Has anyone ever hit 50 mpg or better (say for a 40 mile trip or longer) in an AWD version?

 

I'm getting close.

At the MPG Competition at Hybridfest, I got 46.8 MPG. Coming back from Chicago, I got 47.6 MPG on the 358 mile trip back. My personal best to Greenfield Village with two passengers this summer has been 48.8 MPG; it's about a 25 mile trip. Personally, I don't put too much weight into short segments, since with a charged battery and a nice slight downhill road you can get fantastic numbers with minimal effort; I tend to look more at entire tanks.

Tankwise, this summer I've had 4 tanks averaging over 40 MPG for the tank.

Personally, I don't drive that extreme, I don't draft, I don't FAS, etc. I just know the roads, know the vehicle, and drive as best I can.

 

Rich, let us know if or when you crack the 50mpg barrier. Your trip from the Hyberfest took you thru Gary, Indiana where trucks and traffic can be a nightmare. That section might of cost you a shot at 50mpg.

Most "experts" state the mechanical drag from AWD equipment decreases fuel economy by 1.5mpg? That means the AWD version can crack the 50mpg barrier if FWD version have cracked 60mpg--if not 70 mpg?

 

60 or 70 MPG is not too hard for 12-20 mile trips.
Shorter than this, and you can't recoup the loss from engine warm-up.
Longer than this, and the battery gets too hot ( with hypermiler driving ).
On my "best" list below, I was over 70 MPG at 18 miles, but I was still 2 miles from home to complete the round trip, so I had to write down 68.3 to be fair.

My best tank (FWD) was 53 MPG and that with darn near ideal conditions.
And I've only been past 50 MPG one time I think.
I've held onto 55.8 MPG for an 87 mile round trip, and well, you can see the shorter trips below. Always report results for round-trips if possible on less-than whole tank trips. That way, there are no issues regarding changing elevations, or prevailing winds, that can either help, or hurt your results.
Good luck and Good Fuel Economy!
-John

 

Unfortunately, I'm probably only going to have one more good tank this year, historically speaking, before temperature dives and weather conditions worsen for Fall and Winter, until late April/Early May.

Also keep in mind, that I've been seeing a steady summer improvement, my best tank last summer ('06) was 38+, and my goal for this summer was to break 40, which I did multiple times and even surpassed 43 MPG. Should my vehicle not have a plug by next summer, my goal will be to achieve greater than 45 MPG.

LOL, playing with my spreadsheet, I took out all the tanks from November to May out, and ended up watching the lifetime MPG jump up to 36.1 MPG.

 

Rich, I forgot to ask if you have the hybrid/navigational display headunit in your vehicle? Your results are impressive, even more if you do not have this hardware installed. Reinforces the old saying "experience counts".

 

Yes, I've got the A/N system.

Well, I have tried to share most of my experience with others, such as when Nitramjr (Ray) and I started playing around and talking about L (Before the Low Gear Advantage Thread), as well as writing the FEH FAQ for new people to get up to speed quickly on how we were beating the EPA as well as addressing most of the "newbie" style questions. Since I always thought that if everyone who has a FEH and comes here does this, we can certainly go a long way to bursting the Hybrid myths about it not delivering it's fuel economy promises and not being worth the "premium". But, what do I know?

Lastly, thanks for the kind words.