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Hello! I'm another newbie to the site so I figured I'd introduce myself.

I first heard the term hypermiler shortly after I bought my new car, a 2004 Aveo, that replaced my '94 Dodge Dakota (after 396,000 miles, it finally developed a bad transmission and I had to let it go. A real shame it didn't make it to 400k; I was going to take a pictures of the odometer!).

I bought the Aveo as a good compromise between fuel efficiency and cargo room. I don't move enough stuff to need a truck, but I'm often moving boxes of computer hardware and other stuff around, not to mention I need space for my dog to hang out when I take him somewhere, so the hatchback with foldable rear seats is great! I really considered the Echo, but it just didn't have the room I needed.

But anyway, I was driving along with a friend in the new wheels, and was trying out tricks I'd come up with for saving gas. I'd already figured out that coasting in to lights and stop signs made a lot of sense, so I'd just started trying NICE-on coasting (though I didn't know it was called that!). When I did it with him in the car he suggested it might be bad on the transmission, and that I must be trying to become some kind of hypermiler.

Now, I'd never heard the word, but a quick Google search brought me to *all kinds* of interesting information on the subject. When something gets my interest, I absort all the theory I can get my hands on, so I've read all the news articles out there, the articles on this site, and I've poked through the forums. I now know that NICE-on coasting is not bad for my car (and I'm doing a lot of it on my current tank), but that FAS is a no-no for me (the Aveo is not flat-towable). And I'm saving up for a scangauge to help modulate my driving even more. My best tank so far has been 36mpg (all highway at 55mph driving from the Michigan UP down to Southeast Wisconsin), but I wasn't doing things like pulse and glide. I'm hoping there's a chance of getting 40mpg out of the Aveo if I have a scangauge and drive reallllly carefully. Well, we'll see.

Anyway, I have a 30 mile one way trip to work from Kenosha, Wisconsin down to Libertyville, Illinois. I stay off the tollways 'cause they're worse then useless in the mornings with all the congestion. My commute is probably about two-thirds small highways with rolling hills (and a couple of stop signs unfortunately) and a third city. I'm still getting the hang of timing my coasts and the stop lights I have to deal with and learning which ones I can turn the engine off at. With any luck, the MPGs will keep on climbing.

So that's me. I look forward to contributing to the boards and reading what everyone has to say!

welcome ! -your numbers are awesome ! - post your number on the logs

Try pumping up tires to max sidewall -

and look to the lower left for a group buy on a scanguage.

Thanks for the compliment! The main reason I've been able to do as well as I have is standing on the shoulders of giants like the members of this board! When I first got the car, I was 28 to 29, but after reading up on the tricks, I'm averaging around 32 to 33.

I posted all my tanks from my little glove-compartment log book; is there more I need to do to get them to show up? I'm kind of new to forums with cool back-end functions behind them.

I always used to run at 35psi in my tires. I'm not sure why that seems to be the number that everyone uses; just folk wisdom I suppose. I just pushed mine up to 45 a few days ago, so we'll see how that comes across in the numbers next time I fill up!

Thanks!

StormDog-

Welcome!

The Aveo is a good car. I rented one once and loved it. Now if only they'd get a better engine. Oh well.

Speaking from experience, a car like that should easily get 40 mpg on that stretch.

Pump up the tires, anticipate the lights, shutdown at reds, and you'll hit 40.

If you don't hit 40mpg after a month or two, PM me. I'll come drive with you.

-Marc

PS- here's the How to for the mileage logs http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11357&highlight=mileage+log

Welcome StormDog!
Like you, I learned and practiced hypermiling techniques long before I knew there was a term to describe them. It all started back in 1973-74 during the first oil crunch, when you could only buy 5 gallons of gas at a time, and could only buy on odd or even days, depending on your license plate number.

I was just a kid at the time, but my father knew how to get the most MPG out of the old '71 Ford wagon we had at that time. He idled the old barge down to 400rpm in drive, which drove my mother crazy because she'd stall it by not being gentle enough with the accelerator to allow the engine to transition from idle to open throttle. He even adjusted the timing and mixture so it'd run lean&hot, with just a little ping on acceleration. I remember him getting almost to the speed limit and bumping the lever to neutral and coasting. At railroad crossings or other longer-than-a-minute stops, he'd cut the engine. And he had more than 32psi in the tires, too. Remember that 28-32 was the max for the bias ply rubber at the time. For him, it was a matter of necessity. We had only one car, so he couldn't switch to the 'other car' that had gas in it. And those 5 gallons had to take him a long distance to work for two days, since he could only fuel up on "even days". So by my calculations, he had to wring out over 22mpg with the old 390-V8. And he did better than that, so he wouldn't always be on "E".

Today, those 35 year old techniques still work. Our fuel mixture, spark timing and idle speed are all set by computer now, but NICE-on coasting, FAS when stopped for more than ten seconds, high pressure tires, and lower road speeds all combine to make a "Hypermiling Lite" suite of minor modifications to our daily driving that combine to make immediate and significant decreases in our fuel consumption.

And you don't save money on gas alone. Your tires will last longer. And for those of you with a GM car that has the "Oil Life Monitor", you will find you can go much farther between oil changes than you thought possible, because hypermiling techniques are very gentle on your engine. Eliminating one oil change per year saves an additional $20-$40 annually.

Thanks for joining and sharing, and spread the word. We need more hypermilers out there on the road.
Chris

welcome. it sounds like you have done a lot of research, and that has already helped you get started. i am sure you can pick up tips here, and probably will have a lot to contribute, also........there are several hypermilers in your area, and you might want to consider one of the get togethers in madison and/or milwaukee. also, check out the link to hyperfest 2008, since it will be close for a weekend trip for you. :)

Thanks for the welcomes and good words! MaxxMPG, it was neat to read about all the tricks your dad used. I wonder how uncommon that was at the time. Were other people doing it too, or did he get a lot of weird looks?

Laurieaw, thanks for the mention of the get-togethers. I might look into going to one of them!

Warthog, thanks for the tips and offer. I love internet communities. Before yesterday I didn't know anybody on the board, and now I have an offer for a driving clinic! That's pretty cool. I'll have to see if I can get up 40 once I have that Scangauge in my hot little hands (or, actually, on my hot little dashboard). If not, I'll get back to you on that! :D

Welcome Stormdog :)

Please consider coming to a Milwaukee Hybrid Group meeting :) :) We meet at the Oak Creek Public Library on Howell Ave. (Hwy. 38), gathering in the parking lot starting about 9:30AM & going inside when the library opens at 10AM. We have speakers, special topics, *spectacular* door-prizes, & a great pot-luck lunch. Despite our name, we have many non-hybrid drivers, all looking to max out those mpg's :) You can go out in your Aveo with a more experienced hypermiler & learn new techniques & fine-tune old ones - & then come to the next meeting & tell us how you did. And perhaps pass your experiences on to another new hypermiler :)

Our next meeting is on June 21 - some of us won't be there :o, but there will still be plenty of members to meet & trade experiences with :) :) :)

("I wonder how uncommon that was at the time. Were other people doing it too, or did he get a lot of weird looks?")

During both oil shortages in the '70s, people changed their driving styles, so it was fairly easy to blend in while using DWB, DWL and the lower road speed. There were a lot more people heading to the bus or the train, too, as they couldn't buy enough gas to keep their car running. I noticed the same effect back in late 2005, post-Katrina, when gas prices increased 50%. But as the price and availability drops, people go back to their old habits.

Even in the days of cheap gas in the 90's (cost was 33% of what it is today), I still practiced lower speeds, driving a bit farther to take an empty highway, DWB and DWL. I guess I'm a chip off the old block, but I couldn't see burning more gas than I had to, even if it was a financial decision more than an environmental or geo-political one. One of the easiest cars to hypermile back then was my '95 GrandAm (3.1 V6, 4sp auto). I drove that car for 165k with no problems whatsoever. The EPA said 20/29, but I was averaging 31-34, depending on weather, traffic, etc. They're not extreme numbers, but considering those are old EPA numbers and most other owners of these cars got closer to 22 in the same environment, I figure my MPG is 50% beyond that of the other drivers. And it never took me much longer to get to work, either. I was able to go 7000 miles between oil changes. I traded the car at 165k miles with the original rear tires (that's why you want to air up to 40+psi), while the fronts lasted 80k miles without any rotation, and even the rear brake shoes were original. The fronts had one set of pads installed. If you won't hypermile to save gas, at least do it to save on maintenance. It works!
-Chris

My son has an Aveo and I love that car. I took it to Salt Lake City late last year and got over 40 MPG for the trip.

Thanks for the welcomes and good words! MaxxMPG, it was neat to read about all the tricks your dad used. I wonder how uncommon that was at the time. Were other people doing it too, or did he get a lot of weird looks?


I grew up in the 50's and both my mom and dad knew a lot of the tricks from the WWII rationing.

Larry

StormDog, welcome. I, too, have an Aveo. It's been a great car. Never had any problems in 3 years, just hums away.

You will get your 40 MPG, pretty soon too, because you've already got a start. Still, re-read Wayne's article on beating the EPA, there's always more to learn.

There is a lot of rich debate on this site, so cruise around and please participate. Not only do we all want to help you succeed, but we figure you've got some knowledge or suggestions to help us.

MaxxMPG and Inmcmahan, you can go back a few more years to the depression. The WW2 rationing built on those techniques. 1973 got them juiced up again, and here we are in 2008, with even more building and great ideas.

My parents were similar to yours, they knew how to get good MPGs, and they bought cars that could do well - it was always part of their decision making process. Now we can pass that on to others, isn't it great!

I'd have never thought of Ridge Riding on my own, or pumping my tires up, or blocking my radiator, or driving barefoot, or buying a scangauge, etc., all to eak out more MPGs.

I'm glad to see a couple other people with Aveo experience saying that 40MPG is a possibility. Gives me something to shoot for!

Thanks for all the welcomes, comments, and stories. They've been really fun to read. I look forward to being around here and participating, and maybe even going to an in-person get-together or two.