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It's not just what you drive, but how you drive. (http://www.boston.com/cars/news/articles/2008/03/02/saving_fuel_no_hybrid_required/)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Hummer_H2_Filling_up.jpgJoe Weisenfelder - Cars.com - Mar. 5, 2008

Kind of what we have been saying... - Ed

If you're not ready to buy a more fuel-efficient car, you can still save money in a number of ways in whatever vehicle you drive. Cars.com provides the tips and dispels the myths.

Revive the Classics

The biggest fuel savings comes not from hybrid technology but from the old standards: car pooling and public transportation. If you and just one friend or neighbor trade off commuting to and from work, you cut your fuel usage by about 50 percent. No other step will save you as much money. Also, if you have two vehicles in the family motor pool, leave the thirstier one in the garage as often as possible.

Public transportation saves fuel and possibly money. It also decreases congestion, which saves everyone fuel.

Get the lead out…http://www.boston.com/cars/news/articles/2008/03/02/saving_fuel_no_hybrid_required/

"Light acceleration saves more than moderate acceleration."

"Light acceleration saves more than moderate acceleration."

I thought the idea was to hit maximum torque?

It is, but the majority of cars out there are automatic. You can't just mash the pedal in an automatic without spinning the engine up to real high rpms (which also is less efficient).


Descent article with the usual flaws and lack of technical data that most people don't want or can't understand.

I think he might be correct that light acceleration(the old way to drive for FE) is better than medium/brisk acceleration for the usual gas/brake/gas/brake driving style of most folks.Now, if you gas,then fully lift off the gas and coast, more brisk acceleration is the way to go.
P&Ging is just about perfect for most city driving.Most folks know their routes,and they can time the pulse for max glide time/distance between stops and slowdowns.
P&G is worth a good 20%(maybe more) with my Suburban(12-13 mpg vs 15-17 mpg) in city driving.It doesn't cost me any time either.The savings might be about the same with the Prius-20%.
Charlie

I tried light acceleration on my last tank of gas and my gas mileage went down slightly from my old routine of accelerating briskly to a somewhat lower than average cruising speed. I drive a manual transmission though.
I guess that with automatics, opening the throttle makes the engine more efficient but the extra torque converter slip from the high torque makes for lower overall efficiency of the whole system.

Lower engine speed, higher forward velocity. think of it this way, the closer your car's speed gets to your engine speed, the better ;)

I think he might be correct that light acceleration(the old way to drive for FE) is better than medium/brisk acceleration for the usual gas/brake/gas/brake driving style of most folks.

He said light vs moderate (def: being within reasonable limits; not excessive or extreme).

Imagine a 10 minute drive at around 50 MPH. It is actually conceivable that you can actually accelerate so lightly that you would in fact consume more gas than if you had floored it until you were up to 50 MPH. Staying any longer than necessary in the lower gears like 1st, 2nd or 3rd wastes gas.

The writer is misinformed and we should worry that people reading that part could easily misconstrue that to mean that when it comes to optimizing fuel efficiency while accelerating, the lighter the better. As we all know it's an envelope with optimal efficiency being at neither end of the gas pedal's range of motion.

He said light vs moderate (def: being within reasonable limits; not excessive or extreme).

Imagine a 10 minute drive at around 50 MPH. It is actually conceivable that you can actually accelerate so lightly that you would in fact consume more gas than if you had floored it until you were up to 50 MPH. Staying any longer than necessary in the lower gears like 1st, 2nd or 3rd wastes gas.



Better yet, imagine taking the entire 10 minutes to accelerate to 50 mph. This gives you a trip moving average of 25 mph. You could have averaged 25 mph by capping your top speed at 30 mph and accelerating more rapidly to make up for the lower top speed. I call it accelerating so that I don't have to drive fast in order to achieve a target average speed.

this is the way it works, if you are in all but your final gear, and your rpm is stationary or approaching such, you are using more gas than is needed. '

As long as your car changes to the next gear at the lowest speed it possibly can with a constant acceleration, you will achieve maximum efficiency. unless Im going downhill, i cannot go into fourth gear under 2k rpm, (40 mph) so i usually max at 2.5k rpm..

Hi JusBringtIt:

___Sort of but it depends on the vehicle (hybrid, diesel and non-hybrid with sticks or autos), terrain and traffic mostly. All are driven differently for max FE and even under P&G, a fast accel is wasteful. Strong Accel to a glide good. Up to steady state, light accel is usually best.

___Chuck, as for the article, another one of those that reads some info on the internet and all of a sudden he or she is an expert. Show me the money is what really needs to be asked about the author here ;)

___Finally, hybrid not required… What non-hybrid can we purchase today that will pull what a Prius or HCH-II will while driving like either an “@$$” or a hypermiler? A fuel saving hybrid should be at the top of everyone’s list if they are looking for a new car, period.

___Good Luck

___Wayne