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Feeling lately like I have P&G down fairly good, and so I was looking back on my Hypermiling learning curve.

I started by airing up my tires and DWB. In just one trip I could tell it was working.
After a month or 2 of that I ordered and installed a Scangauge.

With the Scangauge it was easy to push Hang Time up to some great numbers. (around 47mpg or around 145% epa)
With the Scangauge I also fine tuned my DWL for hills.

And if anyone asks I tell them to start like that. Saving P&G for later when they are hitting over ~125% epa.


I know there are people that jump in and have had good luck picking up P&G quick and early, seeing great results. If your successful starting that way your likely going to be hooked on Hypermiling. Problem is many are not successful starting with P&G and get turned off to Hypermiling. Then there are times and situations that just don’t allow for adequate P&G, without a solid foundation of DWL and Hang-Time people get turned off to Hypermiling.

With P&G alone I know great things are possible. With a good foundation of DWB, DWL, and Hang-Time and THEN adding P&G great things are not only possible but easier, more repeatable, and at higher average speeds.

anyway.... that's what's on my mind tonight.

Feeling lately like I have P&G down fairly good, and so I was looking back on my Hypermiling learning curve.

I started by airing up my tires and DWB. In just one trip I could tell it was working.
After a month or 2 of that I ordered and installed a Scangauge.

With the Scangauge it was easy to push Hang Time up to some great numbers. (around 47mpg or around 145% epa)
With the Scangauge I also fine tuned my DWL for hills.

And if anyone asks I tell them to start like that. Saving P&G for later when they are hitting over ~125% epa.

Hey, good thread. I couldn't agree with you more. I am getting 130% lifetime mpg without using P & G mainly because I don't fully understand it yet. I am just getting better and better at DWL and then maybe I'll start Pulse and Glide.

Once again, good post

I am getting 130% lifetime mpg without using P & G mainly because I don't fully understand it yet. I am just getting better and better at DWL and then maybe I'll start Pulse and Glide.



Using a ScanGauge or some other Instant fuel display?

I found that, as a former speeder (and still occasional lunatic driver!) the concept of P&G was much more comfortable for me than most other Hypermiling techniques. At least one other person here (I forget his name, he drives a turbo Scooby and is getting pretty good results!) commented that he got into it that way as well.

I agree that it is likely to turn someone off of HM if they get poor results when trying P&G as their first technique, though. Still, it is a lot easier to convince a speed freak that they can still use "quite a bit" of throttle as long as they shift at lower RPMs, than it is to convince them to baby the "loud pedal".

-soD

Great posts. I think it will be very interesting to see more posts about how others progressed through HM, what came easy to them and what they had a tough time "getting their hands around."

For me, since I'm a newbie I have not much history to speak of. I am currently getting 16% above city EPA; and though that may not sound like much, for me just being above EPA is an achievement. I don't (can't) P&G, but I do use Hang-Time (such a simple thing, such a great result). Tires are still at the mfgr's recommended psi and I do not yet have an SGII, however I do constantly monitor the car's iFD.

My first response, in general, to anyone who may ask me about HM is not that I'm saving gas, though that'd be true. Rather, it is that it has made me a far safer driver and a more relaxed one to boot.

Thanks for your posts...

Using a ScanGauge or some other Instant fuel display?

Yes, I do have a SGII but whenever I have tried to do P & G I haven't had any success with it. I get the same numbers that I would if I just DWL.

When you are on a road with no traffic behind you, try extending your glides further and see what happens. When you start seeing big numbers on your sg it will build confidence. like everything else, you get better with practice!

Hi Michael

as you know one of the big things holding my P&G numbers down was due to my ECU not responding quick enought to Scangauge. hardwiring in a MPGuino took care of that.
How is your MPGuino working out?

For hypermiling newbies: don't start out in traffic!

For hypermiling newbies: don't start out in traffic!Maybe that was too broad a statement, but it's still better to start in no traffic.

Delta Flyer...
I live and work in the suburbs of Chicago mainly commuting to work and back. Flatland, no highways, construction everywhere, plenty of stoplights, top speeds of ~40mph, average speeds ~20-21mph.

It is somewhat hard to practice some of the HM techniques in the above environment, hence why I'm still working on Hang-Time and DWB. As always, safety first.

Dallas can be like that, too.

Attempting to say a six-lane freeway during rush hour is not the best time to learn.

Just use your judgement is what I was trying to say.

I understood, thanks. We've all got to deal with what we have.

Delta Flyer...
I live and work in the suburbs of Chicago mainly commuting to work and back. Flatland, no highways, construction everywhere, plenty of stoplights, top speeds of ~40mph, average speeds ~20-21mph.

It is somewhat hard to practice some of the HM techniques in the above environment, hence why I'm still working on Hang-Time and DWB. As always, safety first.

You’re at the right place to pick up tips.
If you don’t have an instant fuel display with a trip display, pick up a Scanguage.
I now look for conditions like your describing. It gives you lots of opportunity to Glide.

Keep a buffer space in front of you and use it avoid slowing. Time the red lights using glides to keep maxim speed as you hit the intersection as the light turns green. Same with any other stops and slows in traffic time, use glides to avoid throwing away momentum with brakes.

I think your on the right track! DWB is the place to start. :woot: and it fits perfect into your last statement "safety first"

When I started hypermiling, I simply slowed down. Slowing down got my mpg average to 35.4 mpg, 147% of my original EPA combined mileage of 24 mpg. P&G and other techniques just raised that another 2 mpg, about 7%.

I live in the city as well, what i did to learn was when i was going out of town to visit family or go fishing, instead of just flying up the interstate, i would get up earlier and plan a route that would involve lots of lightly traveled rural roads. i couldnt use a scangauge on my older car, but i am pretty good at reading the gas gauge to tell my aproximate mileage. Once you get more confidence in your techniques you can work on intergrating it into your city driving. That is what I am doing this year and I have had 10-15 mpg improvments so far, and still have plenty to learn.

Hi Michael

as you know one of the big things holding my P&G numbers down was due to my ECU not responding quick enought to Scangauge. hardwiring in a MPGuino took care of that.
How is your MPGuino working out?

Hello Allen
It is working much better now that I superglued the thing into the box. the tape thing didnt work so good, I kept resetting the tank by accident pushing it back into place!grrrr
So now hopefully I can get my calibration tank done without interuptions!
I am now at 172 miles on the tank, 53 mpg, but i know it is way under reporting. going by my gas guage, I would guess around 60 so far. also logged 72 miles with the ice off. thats a neat feature on the uino! :)

You guys are great. Everyone's response has elements that I have picked up at one time or another through this forum and have been trying to incorporate.

Slowing down, yes, why didn't I think of it before... But, I didn't. Why ride the accelerator pedal until it's time to brake? Seems pretty silly now, but I used to. In fact, I am getting better mileage now with the CVT 2.5 Altima than I did when I was driving my wive's 1995 5-sp Saturn SW2 over the same route. It's true, but that is how life works... Live and learn.

My biggest dillema is whether to accelerate slow or fast from a stop. There have been many threads in this forum covering this issue and I keep toying back and forth among various methods. Currently, I give it just enough gas to get up to 2000-2100 rpms, hold it there for a brief moment, and then back off a bit. The car upshifts to about 4th gear while the rpms drop to ~1500. From there I accelerate while making sure I don't exceed 1900rpms at any other time. Since the car has less than 5000 miles I hope that, as further break-in occurs, the mileage may pick up a bit. Eventually, too, I will experiment with pumping up the tires closer to the sidewall max, but not just yet.