There are a number of things that you can do to beat the EPA numbers for your car first and foremost being driving style. All the rest are secondary. Things that affect mileage:

1 Driving style/speed
2 Maintenance
3 Weather
4 Modifications

Please note that the car does not matter if we are trying to beat the EPA numbers because they are already adjusted to the car. Of course overall the diesels and hybrids are going to do better but you can still beat your EPA numbers in any car.

I'll start in reverse order noteing that modifications are beyond the scope of this post.

You can't really do much about the weather so even though rain, driving into the wind and cold all lower your mileage, there is not much you can do about it.

As far as maintenance goes you increase mileage slightly by keeping proper (or more perhaps extra) pressure in your tires and by using synthetic oil of the lowest weight for your climate. While proper maintenance will help nothing does more than driving style.

Within the driving style catagory nothing helps as much as slowing down. Air drag increased with the square of the speed so it takes twice as much force to go 70 as it does to go 50. While it is not always practical to slow down most cars get their best mileage around 40mph. Slow down and save gas.

There are lots of other tricks to squeak out all you can from a gallon of gas. Planning ahead is another biggie. Keeping your car in the highest gear possible saves gas. I plan ahead for uphills by increasing speed slowly before the hill so that the car can remain in the highest gear all the way up the hill. Note that if done correctly the car is losing speed as you go up the hill but is still going a reasonable crusing speed at the top. Long hills may require downshifting.

Planning ahead for downhills is another great trick. If the hill is shallow you give a little less gas going down and let the hill do most of the work getting you up to speed. If the hill is of medium grade you can let the hill do all the work putting your car in neutral. I turn my car all the way off on medium grade hills which is safe because the Civic Hybrid has electric power steering and the power brake vaccum lasts till the car is back on. NOTE: This my not be safe to do in a non-hybrid. If in doubt please do not attempt! On steep hills I leave my car in gear and use the motor/generator to slow the car down and charge up the batteries. In a non-hybrid car it is best (for mileage) to leave the car in neutral and use friction brakes. For really long grades you should leave the car in gear to get engine braking so you brakes don't get too hot.

Planning ahead for stops helps a lot. If you can time a light so you don't stop you save a lot of energy. If you know a stop sign is comming you can coast and slow down, using the friction brakes as little as possible. My car has auto-stop which automatically turns the car off when stopped. You can do this manually in a non-hybrid but it is not worth it unless you will be stopped for a while. If you are stopped at a rail-road crossing for 10 minutes you might as well kill the engine.

Planning ahead for parking is just a small thing but every little bit helps. I cut my car completely off and coast into a spot with a as straight an exit path as possible, one where you don't need to backup. I plan ahead getting ready to leave as well. Got the belt on, car in gear, lights on (at night), and as soon as the car starts I'm rolling.

Knowing your path helps as well as traveling when others are not. There is not much you can do if you need to be at work at a givin time but you can plan shopping for non-peak times.

There are a number of tricks other people use that I do not. Drafting seems dangerous to me so I don't do it. Many accelerate as slow as possible, never using their batteries. I say what is the point of a hybrid if you don't use the hybrid part? Medium acceleration seems reasonable to me. Jackrabbit starts suck gas and on hybrids stress out the pack too much. Super slow starts are fine for those with nothing but time on their hands but I find a medium slow start does not burn that much more gas than a super slow start and save time. Go too slow and you will get run off the road.

I'll post more as I remember them.

 

If you draft something big enough you don't have to get too close to get a bit of a tug. I find that if I go with the traffic speed and stay about 2 seconds behind a transport my milage is about the same as if I just go the speed limit. The effect is even stronger when heading into the wind.

 

Pretty nice article. I had a nice read. Thanks sir!

 

Yes. Try the 0W-20 engine oil to increase fuel economy & provide better cold start performance.

Toyota and Honda dealerships should have it in quarts and some now stock the 0W-20 in bulk.