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Hey all. I drive a 2.4L Manual Lancer and I'm frankly sick of gas prices and our dependence on oil. Many time's I've thought of getting a hybrid or a Honda Fit but seeing as my car's almost paid off, I wanted to get the most out of what I have. More specifically, I'm becoming aware of how drastic of a change I can make in fuel consumption with some basic driving habits.

My stance: I would like to save gas on my 62 mile daily commute. I'm a fan of alternative fuels and if I could afford to go all solar I would. I hate being a slave to regulated fuels. I'm not an environmentalist, its just common sense. I previously really liked to leverage my engine's extra HP to zip my way to work but I'm realizing just how much gas I'm throwing away and how little time I'm saving. I've just started this week using some Hypermiling techniques and I'm hoping to blow away the EPA rating.

I won't:

Do anything thats dangerous

Drive slow enough to piss other drivers off

Do anything that will increase wear or abuse parts of my car.



Would love some advice. I have some questions to ask.

Just introducing myself!

Welcome!

Anything can be construed as dangerous but as a group, hypermilers are much more aware of their surrounds and pay much closer attention to developing situations. We always place safety first anyway -- if you ever feel a technique would be dangerous for a certain situation, by all means avoid using.

If you drive at or below the speed limit, I'm sorry to say that you will indeed anger people. The best you can do is keep an eye out for developing situations and adjust your driving to make it easy to pass you. Stay in the right lane and as long as people have the option to pass, let them do what they are going to do. If it is a single lane road, just drive the speed limit if you have someone following closely. You can't please everyone, but you can stay courteous and be sure to arrange things (if possible) so that any driver who might want to travel faster knows early on that you are driving slower and has plenty of opportunity to pass. We do this by hanging to the right of the far right lane and do use the hazard flashers in brief spurts to help alert drivers if they seem not to notice that they are approaching you quickly.

Most anything we recommend will actually improve the life of components of your vehicle. The single exception is use of the starter motor, but these last quite a long time anyway.

Ask away with those questions!

Thanks for the tips and the warm welcome. I usually drive at or slightly above the speed limit but I'm trying to find a happy balance between gas milage, getting places on time, and being socially friendly. As far as cutting off your engine at stop lights, is the 10 second set in stone or does it change depending on your engine size?

:)

The number will vary by vehicle. I worked it out to about 4s for my Elantra. It is much closer to the 7s for my wife's 4x4 Escape. I'm not even sure what the Insight is as I've never driven with the SG in it to calibrate. It takes a rather big and thirsty vehicle to hit the 10s mark these days.

Is that so, well I guess I'll just stick with 10 to be on the safe side. Usually I wont unless i know I'll be sitting there for a minute. Don't want a ton of wear and tear on my starter. I was mad at myself today because I barely missed the yellow on a long light and forgot to kill the ignition. I guess it just takes time to get used to.

I sent some hypermiling info to one of my coworkers and he got really into it. He's getting 36.5 MPG in his 2.5L altima. Spreadin the word.


BTW, congrats on your baby girl. When's she due? My daughter is due to come out next month.

Glad you came inspite of that Baltimore Sun article.

We are not that edgy.

Thank you!! She's due October 15th -- our first and we are very excited. :D

Thank you!! She's due October 15th -- our first and we are very excited. :DNo "October Suprize?" :D

Haha, I rarely read the Sun. That's not how I found the site. I did think that article wasn't too objective. They definitely wrote it in a negative tone.

Right Lane Cruiser, Congrats. Just a few more months to go. This weekend we're packing our hospital gear and installing the baby seat. I know the feeling, its very exciting.


I'm doing my first week long hypermiling test. Unfortunately we had a lot of rain on Monday which made me sit through 3+ miles of bumper to bumper traffic. Bad way to start the week. I'm trying to make up for it. I guess I'll post my results when I get them.

Hi Shiroboi, what's your 62 mile commute like? If it's full of traffic, is there an alternate route for you?

My commute to the office (now I have a "home office - and didn't shave today), was 46 miles round trip. I found a route that included more traffic lights, but also included about 3miles of coasting each way, slower speeds, and was nearly 5 miles shorter to boot. It would take me about 10 minutes longer than the mess out on I-70, but I arrived at both ends in much higher spirits.

So, what Hypermiling tips have you learned so far?

Hey there, my commute starts off with 4 miles of a tight road with about 7 lights. Two lanes in each direction. Then its almost all significantly downhill on my way to work and the highway posted speeds range from 55-65 mph. Then its back on another 5 miles of Boulevard with 2 lanes in each direction. Pretty cut and dry. During the summer, once school lets out, traffic is pretty good. This week was a bit frustrating because we had alot of rain one day which caused a traffic mess and today some guy on a motorcycle got creamed on my exit so I had to take another extremely congested route.

I've tried experimenting with different routes. The only other one I have is technically a few miles shorter but its got too many cars taking the back roads so there is a bit of traffic and its hilly and windy. I only go that way if I know theres something majorly screwed up on the highway. Unfortunately being that far away from work, its hard to avoid the highways.


My hypermiling techniques
*I've dramatically reduced my speeds to the speed limit. Its really hard to do in a performance car but I've been controlling it.
*I've slowed way down on accelerating from stops. Maybe not as slow as I can go but just fast enough to avoid causing road rage.
*I'm braking alot sooner for Red Lights and as a result, I coast through alot more of them. This works awesome.
*I park so I can pull through when I can but its not that often.
*During the hills I use Nice-On coasting. I can go for over a mile on my way to work without loosing speed in one section.
*I avoid breaking while possible, trying not to waste inertia and coasting wherever I can
*If I'm going to sit at a long redlight, I'll shut off the engine. I did this a lot today.
*For the regular sections of highway, I've been trying to maintain constant load.
*Made sure my tires weren't under inflated. I don't have a tire pressure gauge.

Tomorrow, I'll top the tank off and we'll see what my milage is. Wasn't a great week, but I think I'm still on target to hit around 33 mpg which i will be very happy with considering the traffic I went through this week.

A fairly trustworthy tire gauge can be had for cheap. Consider buying an inexpensive tire pump that comes with a gauge.

Also, consider pumping your tires up to the maximum printed on the tire sidewall. Your car will roll better, increasing the benefits from coasting.

Everyone seems to be overly worried about accelerating at a speed that won't upset drivers behind you. But, it seems more and more people are now understanding of a slower acceleration. They are onto us.

I read that a 57 year old man died on 795, after being tossed off his cycle by a pickup truck that rammed his rear tire. Instead of taking 795, I often take a back route that passes McDounagh (sp?) and brings me out on Reisterstown Rd. I take that to 695. My reason? The speeds and agressiveness of the 795 crowd aren't something to which I want to contrubute.

Good luck on this tank. You've worked hard for it.

I do want to get a tiregauge. They are cheap. In Columbia where i work, theres a gas station right by my job that has free air so I usually fill up there. I've also been considering filling up with helium.

There are however a few reasons why I'm not going to fill up my tires to the maximum sidewall limit. My car is a performance oriented car and I've put performance tires on it. In the rain and snow its a pain to drive because it has a lot of torque. Now that I'm driving slower, it probably wont be that much of a problem but over inflating tires is great for gas milage but worse for traction, braking and acceleration. I need all the grip I can get, even if it comes at the expense of a little gas milage. Also, I don't want my tires prematurely bald in the middle. If you've ever ridden in a car with a tight suspension, which I'm sure you have, you know it can be a jarring ride. Enough where my wife complains. Jacking up tire pressure would take a rough ride and make it a bit more unbearable. For my situation, the tires aren't much of an option.

Its cool that you're local, i'm surprised to see someone from Caroll County here. I know some people in your area. I avoid Reisterstown Road like the plague. Too many traffic lights and traffic. I'd think, for hypermiling you'd want to hit the highway. I have no problem dealing with or matching the speed or aggressiveness of people on 795. I didn't like it so much when I had my underpowered Del Sol S and would nearly get run over. The Lancer has more than enough power to pass anybody if I want to. I could see why you avoid it in an Aveo. Now though, I'm driving slower. I usually hug the right lane and drive about 60 mph which is the speed limit. I use NICE-On coasting on my way to 695 since its downhill almost the whole way. I have some people pass me, but the rush hour crowd isn't always overly agressive. Its much worse on weekends. My goal for this week's tank is 35 MPG. I think I can hit it.

Hey, nice to meet you. What color is your aveo? I'll keep an eye out for it.

Shiroboi, some of your concerns are discussed in the thread "Re: Fuel Economy vs. Tire Pressure" in the "Fuel Economy" section.

Another good find is a Police video: http://www.officer.com/web/online/Editorial-and-Features/Driving-Under-Pressure/19$27281.

Please note that if yours are radial tires, increasing the pressure a bit will not cause the center tread to wear out, but will cause the sidewalls to flex less which will minimize wear on the tire edges. I've only had tires wear out on one or both edges while maintaining "normal" pressure.

I currently have my tires above sidewall max, and I'm not noticing any abnormal wear (and I do check often).

The Aveo is red. It also has enough power to get out of people's way on 795, but I don't challenge anyone. Yes, it is a long downhill going towards 695 (but a bear on the way back). The problem with 795 is the people are all trying to get around everyone else, all the way to the split. Where is there room for me to get in the left or middle lane to catch the 695 north split? I'm only in everyone's way, no matter which lane I select. That is just madness. Since the mad drivers are on 795, it fairly well frees up Reisterstown Road for the short bit I'm on it.

Next time we have a Central Maryland get together, I'll be sure to let you know.

Wow, thats really an eye opening article. I'm really going to have to chew on it although, you may have changed my mind about tire pressure.


If you're going north on 695, I could see why you might consider Reisterstown Rd.

I'm going south so its definitely no shortcut for me. Also, that means i stay can stay in the slow lane for the merge on 695. If you ever see a Silver Lancer with "AnimeArtLessons.com" on the top of the rear window, thats me. Just honk, I'll be sure to wave back.

Welcome shiroboi! I'm glad that there is another local person here. Perhaps our next balto-wash get-together (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10902)will have more subscribers.

Hey, great to meet you, I'm not far from Laurel right now. As for get togethers, I used to do Lancer Club Meets but we had enough blow outs over them where I agreed not to come to more car functions. I got a baby due next month as well so I'll most likely be busy. I'll be there in spirit though. thanks, and nice to meet you.

I also had a Del Sol. Clutch was going up so I traded it in. That was a great car.