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A few months ago I decided to dump my Ford Extinction…oops! I mean Expedition SUV and purchased my first Japanese compact car. I got tired of crying/complaining about the high price of gas and decided to do something about it. I'm not only impress with the MPG but with the quality of my 2007 Toyota Corolla CE; I don't think I can go back to domestic car ever again after owning this car. I chose this vehicle because it was affordable and it got the best MPG that wasn't a hybrid or a diesel. For a month I've been reading the articles about how to hypermile and applied the techniques to the Corolla. I went from 38 MPG to 47-51 MPG on average now. What else can I learn?

You made a very wise decision. Thank you!

...and welcome to CleanMPG!

wow, great effort. congrats and welcome. i am sure the corolla owners who post here will be posting when they see you are here :)

Hi Corolla07:

___Welcome to CleanMPG and it is great that you have placed into practice what we preach around these parts :D

___Nice intro and those are some great numbers to put it lightly. Now tell us what you are doing and we will see if we can squeeze a little more out of her. If you want ;)

___It brings a great smile to me seeing a new member accomplish what you have in such a short time and I want to thank you for it!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Woot! A UAV driver saw the light and actually acted on it! Congratulations, and thank you.

Corolla07,

Welcome to CleanMPG and truly being cool! :cool:

Woot! A UAV driver saw the light and actually acted on it! Congratulations, and thank you.

Brian, you keep using the designation "UAV" but the only definition I know that fits is "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle." What do you mean it to represent?

Corolla07, we are excellently pleased to have you join us! Keep up the great work and as Wayne mentioned, let us know some of what you deal with on your routes. That corolla is worth even more than you've managed so far!

Brian, you keep using the designation "UAV" but the only definition I know that fits is "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle." What do you mean it to represent?

Urban Assault Vehicle

Ah. Appropriate. :p

Nice driving. And with the upfront cost of the Corolla being so low, you can be happy knowing that your total cost per mile will be lower than almost every other person in America, including 99% of prius owners.

Yowza that's a big change in the right direction, congratulations!

Thank you for all the warm welcomes.

Hopefully this info can help:

To the car I've only made some slight modifications to it. I pump all the tires a little past recommended max wall pressure. I carefully applied clear tape around the headlights, the hood and between any gaps to help reduce drag.
The terrain is mostly flat and my commutes start at 4:00AM.I've changed my route to the back roads where the speed limit is 50MPH and set my Cruise Control to 40-45 MPH. Also I like this route because there is almost no traffic in the morning. The only down side is it takes 20-30 minutes longer to get to work. But the car gets exceptional MPG though. Also my corolla is a strip down version—it's slightly lighter too. Only option that was added was cruise control.


Thanks!

Do you have the manual transmission version?

Oh LOL. I left out the most important thing! Yes it's a Manual.:o

oops, forgot one more thing my commute is 65-70 miles round trip from home to work.

well done - you'll be laughing all the way to the bank next summer whem gas is $5 !

Wonderful! You'll be able to squeeze at least another 10mpg out of your car with the right techniques with that manual transmission! You also have a long enough commute to allow plenty of time to build those numbers.

Do you have a ScanGauge yet? If not, that should be a top of the list item for Christmas or your birthday -- whichever occurs first!

What part of the country are you located in? With some luck you live reasonably close to a good non-hybrid hypermiler -- seeing the techniques in action is definitely the fastest way to pick them up. Let's just say that you'll wonder why you have cruise control when we show you what can be done with a stick on terrain like yours. :D

Glad to see another Corolla driver. Great numbers! I truly envy your manual transmission. ;)

I'm hoping to get as much MPG as possible. I may have to wait awhile though because temperatures now are dropping faster by the week and I can see it in my MPG too. I did some research on the scan gauge and it's certainly the honest way to go! Even Amazon.com carriers it! W00t!

Glad to see another Corolla driver. Great numbers! I truly envy your manual transmission. ;)


I do like the 5 speed. I test drove the automatic before the Manual and I was disappointed. Then they stuck me in a corolla with the standard transmission. Completely different car hands down and fun to drive.

Funny thing happen right before I test-drove the corolla with the auto. The car salesmen and I got into car. We buckle up and he hands me the keys. It's my first time ever driving a Japanese car. I started the car and pulled (what I thought was) column gear selector down to put into drive. LOL instead it was the bloody windshield wipers! Everything in the car was backwards. I felt lucky to get thing off the lot. I think I made the Salesmen loose-jointed too LOL. I bought the car in Impulse Red for my own safety and for other motorist.:p

Corolla07, I hope you have ordered the SG -- you will actually wonder how you drove without one after you've had a chance to experience the feedback it can give you. :)

My car is not nearly as efficient as yours but the 5spd and some elbow grease have resulted in a personal best of 59.9mpg over 11.0mi. Wayne (xcel) has managed a whopping 85mpg over 25mi in his 5spd Ranger!!! I'm quite sure that with some study and practice (and that SG for direction) you'll have it up over 60mpg in short order. ;)

Have you done any coasting in your car yet?

Oops. Corolla, welcome! Also. I understand how you feel about the domestic to foreign switch. I put 102 000 miles on my Escort before it was dead. I have 231 000 on my Honda, and now that I hypermile and put much less stress on the engine, I expect to keep it for a very long time. Just warning you that a gently driven Corolla may last forever. Get comfy!

I noticed the same when changing the oil on the insight for the first time... driving calmly and smoothly = Much less wear and tear on an engine....

After 3-5k miles on the STi the oil was black as black could be... (notice, black oil is not always an indication of BAD oil...)

but the oil in the insight is looking clean as the day I put it in.... not really comparing apple's to apple's but the principle is the same :D