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Hi, I'm a college student in New York. I just found out about hypermiling through that article about Wayne Gerdes, literally the same day I got my car. And it was the coolest thing I'd seen in a while. So I found myself here, reading through the articles.

Unfortunatley, I'm a college student, and I don't own a hybrid, I own a '96 Honda Civic.
Anyway, a few questions.

- When reading about things like D-FAS, you mention regen braking and other hybrid-specific things, are the same or similar techniques adaptable to non-hybrids or are we stuck with inflate your tires and change your oil?

- Just for curiosity, would it even be possible to do any kind of hypermiling in a gridlocked city like Manhattan?

- I think there was another one but its 3am so I forgot.

If there's an article or something I didn't see, then I'm sorry for my little waste of the internet.

Hi, I'm a college student in New York. I just found out about hypermiling through that article about Wayne Gerdes, literally the same day I got my car. And it was the coolest thing I'd seen in a while. So I found myself here, reading through the articles.

Unfortunatley, I'm a college student, and I don't own a hybrid, I own a '96 Honda Civic.
Anyway, a few questions.

- When reading about things like D-FAS, you mention regen braking and other hybrid-specific things, are the same or similar techniques adaptable to non-hybrids or are we stuck with inflate your tires and change your oil?

- Just for curiosity, would it even be possible to do any kind of hypermiling in a gridlocked city like Manhattan?

- I think there was another one but its 3am so I forgot.

If there's an article or something I didn't see, then I'm sorry for my little waste of the internet.

Hello Stifin

Welcome to clean mpg!

Folks were striving for better mpg long before hybrids came along. Seeing that you are in Manhatton,, I doubt a D-Fas will be of much use to you.

In a nut shell. Just about every tactic used in a hybrid can be used in a gas only car. Your Civic wont let you slip into EV mode. But you can just about do anything else with it.

Three things in grid lock I try to do are.

Throttle control: When your moving the car and making ever soooo slow head way. Be easy on the throttle.

Coast: Be it engine on or off coast. I do more engine on coasting.

Engine off at lights: Turn the engine off at lights or big long traffic snarls. This tool could be the must productive for you.

I face nothing like NYC traffic and refuse too. I get amp'ed up just getting stuck in Tulsa traffic. Heavy city driving is not good for me. Its my weakest suite.

Hopefully some of or bigger city drivers will chime in. The tools are the same. But the mindset has to be different.

psy

Hi, I'm a college student in New York. I just found out about hypermiling through that article about Wayne Gerdes, literally the same day I got my car. And it was the coolest thing I'd seen in a while. So I found myself here, reading through the articles.

Unfortunatley, I'm a college student, and I don't own a hybrid, I own a '96 Honda Civic.
Anyway, a few questions.

- When reading about things like D-FAS, you mention regen braking and other hybrid-specific things, are the same or similar techniques adaptable to non-hybrids or are we stuck with inflate your tires and change your oil?

- Just for curiosity, would it even be possible to do any kind of hypermiling in a gridlocked city like Manhattan?

- I think there was another one but its 3am so I forgot.

If there's an article or something I didn't see, then I'm sorry for my little waste of the internet.

First of all - welcome to CleanMPG!

It would be challenging indeed to drive in Manhattan, but that does not prevent you from using some hypermiling techinques and you have a fine VTEC engine to work with.

Thanks for the responses and the tips.

I don't actually drive in Manhattan, mostly in Queens which isn't like Manhattan at all, I was just wondering if it would be possible. Although I am considering driving in one day a week.

Like I said, I read the articles on different techniques and I got confused because of how many hybrid-specific things are mentioned, I wasn't sure if you had to modify it for a gas only car or something.

Anyway, thanks for the welcome!

Can you take public transportation. That is the best way to keep your mileage from getting shot.

Maybe the hypermiling article should have some kind of indication on if it is hybrid specific or not.

Hi Stifen:

___I will give it a shot … Psy has it right about a D-FAS in slow moving traffic. There is absolutely no benefit and even harm so do not bother.

___In a Manhattan style traffic nightmare, build buffers and basically crawl through it using what I would deem a micro-P&G technique. Let a 2.5 - 3 car buffer build in front of you and as soon as that car in front of you begins to move again, you pull a single gear Pulse w/ an immediate shut down and coast on up to his/her bumper. This should allow up to get a 5 car + glide vs. a 1 car inch and stop as everybody in a grid lock traffic nightmare is doing. It isn’t much but I have pulled the MDX out of downtown Chicago in the middle of rush while in an almost gridlocked traffic mess and she was still above EPA highway when exiting an hour of this non-sense. I was using a similar technique in downtown San Francisco in a rented Malibu last year, which is so pedestrian friendly you may as well not drive, and it worked to keep that pig above the EPA as well.

___At high speeds, a D-FAS can be useful for obvious reasons but there are a ton of very serious caveats that need to be completely understood before attempting to use that technique.

___As Tom alluded too, not driving at all is the best possible solution and your commute times might be shorter in that kind of scenario as well?

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Thanks alot again for the responses, but I don't think I explained myself correctly.

The manhattan question was just out of curiosity, sort of to pick the brains of the pros.
I asked because whenever I'm there I see how bad the gridlock is, and one day I wondered if you would be able to beat the EPA in the city.

I do my driving mostly on higways and open streets in Queens and Brooklyn which aren't quite like the suburbs, but nothing like Manhattan.

Has anyone written an article (or would be interested in it) on hypermiling in a non-hybrid? Or is there not enough interest?. My main concern is engine or transmission damage from switching on and off so much, but I don't know much about cars so I'm not sure.

Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for all the tips, the little bit of hypermiling I've started to try out so far has really made driving a lot more fun in itself.

Thanks alot again for the responses, but I don't think I explained myself correctly.

The manhattan question was just out of curiosity, sort of to pick the brains of the pros.
I asked because whenever I'm there I see how bad the gridlock is, and one day I wondered if you would be able to beat the EPA in the city.

I do my driving mostly on higways and open streets in Queens and Brooklyn which aren't quite like the suburbs, but nothing like Manhattan.

Has anyone written an article (or would be interested in it) on hypermiling in a non-hybrid? Or is there not enough interest?. My main concern is engine or transmission damage from switching on and off so much, but I don't know much about cars so I'm not sure.

Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for all the tips, the little bit of hypermiling I've started to try out so far has really made driving a lot more fun in itself.

I dont know of any article for non-hybrid hypermiling. Over half the members of cleanmpg own and hypermiling in non-hybrid cars and trucks. Anything writen up for hybrids almost always translates to non-hybrid cars. Except for the battery/EV mode stuff.

As for wear and abuse. There really isnt a answer that I would call a PAT answer. One of our founders xcel, drives a Honda Accord Sedan, 4 banger, automatic transmission. He does more Fas'ing in one day than I do in a week. And I feel I fas alot. His Accord has held up very well!!! My wife and I own the same Accord as excel, except ours is one trim level lower. Has the same driveline and mechanicals as his. Its fine! I dont drive her Accord as much as I use to. Only when almost forced to do so. But when I do. I hypermile it. The transmisson and starter are like new. With over 40k miles on it to date and a 05 model. I dont expect any problems at all. I think excels Accord is north of 70k miles on the clock and a 04.

I have a 06 Civic, 5MT with close to 30k miles on it. No clutch or starter problems.

History has proven a few things to me. Starter issues are most likely caused by the driver not paying attention to the car telling them " Im breaking ". A example of this would be a car over time that gets harder and harder to start and keep running. You know the cars and there drivers. The ones that set there cranking and cranking the starter to have it sputter to life and them keep cranking and cranking on it untill they get it to run. As a rule of thumb. Most starter's, start over heating at about 10 sec's of continues cranking. Do that 3 or 4 times and you will start throwing the soder out of the comutator. The result is a starter that wont work in very short order. Starter motors are not contenuies duty electric motors. :) So after the owner of said car gets the starting problem fixed. They most times then have a starter fail close there after. The two problems are linked.

Modern transmissions are over all very reliable. Sure some have teething problems. Honda's have been know to have tranny issues. Sometimes the automatics used on V6 motors are problematic. There 6 speed manuels can have issues. But the AT's and 5 MT's hooked up to the four cylinder cars seem near bullet proof. GM had issues with some of there high preformance cars years back with clutchs. Dont ask me why. They saw fit to use really small clutchs in some Camaro's, Vette's and trucks. There most demanding cars and trucks had tiny clutchs in them. They were very prone to going up in smoke and leaving a very bad smell.

As FE/MPG drivers we tend to keep up with maint. and repairs on our cars better than the ave. Joe. We know a well kept auto will always do better than a poorly kept one. Take me for instance. There is no way Im going to follow the maint. that Honda prints for my cars. I am NOT going to go every 100k miles or so to change transmission fluid or spark plugs. I change transmission fluids in all my cars every 30k miles. For me,,, thats every third oil change. I run M1 oil in my cars and can safely go 10k miles between oil changes. At 30k mile tranny service. I know there is always some new fluid in them and a new filter if there is one to change.

Certin cars over time show show there week spots. These can be found on other forms on the net. There are gathering places for almost every car sold or ever sold in North America.

I hope this helps.

Have fun

psy

Wait a minute - Wayne's Accord is not a hybrid.

A lot of hypermiling is using your acceleration frugally, then cruising as much as possible to keep that momentium.

Wait a minute - Wayne's Accord is not a hybrid.

A lot of hypermiling is using your acceleration frugally, then cruising as much as possible to keep that momentium.

I never said waynes Accord was ahybrid chuck.... lololololol

psyshack - true.

Just saying hypermiling is not a hybrid-only thing.

Ironically, a couple of forums have a few people saying "real hybrid drivers don't hypermile", yet hybrids have renewed interest in hypermiling.

Xcel, et. al.,

Do I need to be concerned with using FAS frequently? I'm wondering what starting the car dozens? of times a day (on some days) will do to the ignition, starter, etc. Do I need to be concerned? What are your experiences?

Thanks

Bob

sprucetop, FASing is an advanced technique. Unless you realy know what you are doing you should focus on the basics first.

The answer to your question is, like air in the tires, many people have done it as extreem as that and haven't seen any starters or ignition go. However, batteries are a different story. You might want to get some way to measure the battery voltage as it can only take so many discharges below a certain voltage until it goes bad. So if you drive at night and do a fas with the lights on you might wear out the battery sooner than you normally would.