I'm averaging 41 mpg and have never come close to getting up to the 49 mark. Any suggestions or links that might yield better gas mileage. I drive 80 miles/day and average about 70 mph.

 

Lakedude,

LOL

 

Hi, welcome to GH. I see that this is your first post, we have an introduction thread if you would like to say hi to everybody. There is no requirement for you to do so, it is up to you.

The easiest thing you can do to help you mileage is to fill your tires up to the max recomended pressure.

The biggest thing you could do is slow down, if that is an option.

AC also kills mileage so if you can stand to drive without it......

You can do face out parking, eliminating the need to reverse and stop.

We can save the FAS and P&G for another day.......

 

The obvious first point is... slow down. At 70 mph you're fighting major headwinds and mileage drops significantly above 50 mph. One GreenHybrid member does nothing else special except to limit driving to 53 mph. He gets over 60 mpg! For me, 53 is just too slow and restricts what I need a car for... quick transportation. I used to zip around at 72 in my old SUV. When I got the HCHII, I slowed down and I'm now comfortable between 57 and 63 mph. I get 53 mpg... but I do employ many of the hypermiling techniques...

1) Light touch on the gas and brake
2) Drive with the load (slow up going up hills, speed up going down)
3) Keep more distance between you and the next car for a "buffer" zone
4) Inflate tires to 40 psi
5) Limit use of A/C
6) I also draft the occasional truck (but I do so safely).

With practice, these all become second-hand "normal" driving. I like the challenge of getting the best MPG I can... it's fun!

Note: there are some things you cannot control. Headwinds, bad weather, hilly terrain, E10 fuel, etc. can all impact mileage. You just have to live with these or make other sacrafices to offset them (drive slower or no A/C, for example).

One more thing... my mileage improved after about 5,000 miles. Seems to be engine wearing in... or maybe I just perfected my Hypermiling techniques!

Good luck, and don't give up!!! Try for a 50 mpg tank!!!

 

I just got 50.3 mpg yesterday on a highway trip to Kent Island before I hit stop and go traffic at the Bay Bridge for 6 miles. I still got 47 overall. The car only has 1000 miles on it, so it is still breaking in. I also took my wife for a driv the other day to find out what she was doing wrong. She was getting 50mpg on the way to work early in the morning and only about 28 on the way home for a 38 mpg average. It turns out that she was trying to only accelerate from lights going uphill at the 2-3 bars of assist and was basically running the SOC down to 4 bars. She had the mpg meter in the 20 mpg range for most of the time in this state. I told her not to hesitate to hit the gas and get the car up to 30-40 mph then try to pop the mpg meter back over 50 as quickly as possible. She is up to 45 mpg average now and climbing.

 

I have been steadily getting better and better FE since purchasing the HCH II. On my last tank of gas I averaged 52.8mpg over 513.1 miles. Oh what a feeling! Oops it’s a Honda not a Toyota, but it’s still a hybrid…



I obtained this by accelerating up to speed fairly quickly (2K to 3K rpm) and then trying to us a pulse and glide method to keep my instantaneous mpg high. I then drive the speed limit or a little less in the 45mph zones. A/C is on most of the time, but don’t try and freeze myself with it. This also included driving with a family of 4 in the car some of the time.

 

I just filled up today.
Best tank ever.

67.9 MPG!

 

Kenny,

Congrats!!! Are you sure you don't have an Insight hidden in there? Still hard to believe all you do to get those numbers is drive 53 mph in cruise, no A/C and light brakes. Seems I do that at 57 - 60mph and all I get is 54 mpg. Driving 6 mph faster can't possibly be costing me 13 mpg! You must have favorable winds, hills, traffic patterns, etc. to help you a bit!

 

Funny you should mention that.
Actually, I was wondering the same thing about Papaya, who averages 63.9 on our database.
I just can't imagine how (s)he gets 1.2 MPG better than me.
Like you with me, I'm curious what Papaya does and what conditions they drive under.

57 - 60 makes the MPG drop fast compared to 53.
Occasionally I'll speed up a little if I go into the carpool lane.
The MPG drops VERY fast when I go anything over 53.
Actually I'm finding myself going 51 more and more when conditions allow and that's one reason my tanks are creeping up.

For the little driving I do in the city I am frequently creeping like a snail.
I try to find side streets with no traffic so I don't get people mad.

I think that when it stops improving and I have discovered the highest MPG I can pull off I may stop all this nonsense and just drive more normally.
We'll see.

 

Greetings;
I keep saying to myself that I'm trying to find out how to get crazy numbers so that I can do a little bit of zippy driving and still maintain mid 50s mpg for the tankfuls. I just can't seem to stomach seeing the mpg drop when I feel zippy though! The money saved helps comfort my desire for speed though