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Hello Everyone,
I'm so glad this forum exists. I drive a 2001 Mazda MP3 Protege, and when I first bought it about 2 years ago, I started messing around trying to see how much MPG I could get out of it, I didn't know there was a website dedicated to this or I might have stuck with it. I got a little over 34MPG back then when I was just driving in low gears and not much else. I installed a Cold Air Intake, (which helps performance and gets better gas mileage.) But I got bored with driving so slow (which is easy with such a fun, sporty little car) and my mileage went down to 29-31 on average, that was with me driving 65-85mph constantly But now that I have found this site, I am determined to maximize my fuel efficiency. I just finished my last tank of driving regular.

Now heres what I have done so far in my 2 drives since then:

Tires inflated to sidewall max of 44PSI
Antennea pulled in.
Replaced Spare tire and Jack with a can of Fix-a-Flat.
took out heavy plastic racing mats.
Started driving an average of 58 MPH.
Yesterday I tried drafting behind a Semi. It was pretty cool, I think I could feel the air resistance lessen as I was behind it. I was worried about getting a rock chip, but it seems at 55 mph or so there is a lot less chance of rocks being thrown than at 75mph.

I drive 22 miles to work every day and it is almost pure freeway with slightly rolling hills, seems like I may be able to pull off some great milage. We will see, Im shooting for at least 40MPG eventually.

Two questions:
Where is the cheapest place to buy a scangauge II? any deals?
what other mods can a guy do to his non-hybrid car for more milage? (aerodynamics or otherwise)
Also, a forum section dedicated to non-hybrid manual cars and automatic cars would be useful for us not quite hybrid yet people.

Welcome to CleanMPG cbutters! Sounds like you are already on the right track to better FE! Many of the techniques that work for hybrids will work on non-hybrids as well. An article that you may find vey helpful is: Beating the EPA - The Why's and how to Hypermile. Sart out with the easiest stuff first before working up to the more complicated techniques. After all, it would be very counterproductive to get into an accident trying to learn too much too soon.:( Your route sonds like it would be good for some DWL; keeping a constant throttle setting and not accelerating up hills. Also, maybe some HS P&G. Good luck and again, welcome!
Larry

Welcome, cbutters! For your ScanGauge, there is a group buy going now on PriusChat, $149.95. And you don't have to own a Prius -- or even a hybrid -- to participate! See this thread. (http://priuschat.com/ScanGauge-II-Group-Buy-t29738.html)

Hi,

- Some of our good members are at www.priuschat.com (http://www.priuschat.com), where they are making a group order for ScanGage II. Instead of $169 - it's $150, shipped directly to you. :)

- Wayne (founder) gets 59mpg lifetime on a conventional Honda Accord - quite a number of members drive non-hybrids. Some techniques mentioned date back to before World War II

cbutters,

Your commute is a lot like mine - mostly freeway, mostly flat. Too much traffic for me to consider drafting, but on my long trips, I've experienced a 20-30% increase in fuel economy closely drafting a big rig (10 feet - yes I did it, but not encouraging everybody to do it like this for obvious safety concerns). As I was drafting, ScanGage indicated the coolant temperature rise about 7F.

In January 2000, a 5-speed Insight got 124mpg drafting a Ford Explorer (or Excursion) at 58mpg. On a nice spring day, I'd probably get about 80mpg not drafting.

Thought I would post an update,
Well, after implementing my changes, I am happy to report some staggering results so far.
I am currently at 160 miles traveled, and my gas gauge is still at exactly 3/4 a tank. I don't have a scangauge yet, but if my meters are fairly accurate I am getting 45-48 MPG!
I guess tailing semis at 55mph is paying off. I even tried a few ICE off pulse and glides on the freeway, but I think my ups and downs arent quite steep enough for me to coast that far. (Don't worry about me crashing, although I am new here, I have played with ICE off situations before :) )
Are there any others in here that travel I-15 in Salt Lake City, UT?

If you do a serious aerodynamic drag reduction program on your vehicle, you'll find that there are a lot more downhills on your route where you can maintain or increase your speed while coasting and a lot more downhills become worthwhile candidates for ICE-off coasting.

Hi Cbutters:

___Sorry I did not get the chance to say welcome on your first post. Oh how you are going to love the SG-II as that thing will push a serious hypermilers numbers through the roof!

___I see our great group of hypermilers starting to help where they can. From the sounds of it, you appear to be heading in the right direction without much input! Your segments and tanks will keep increasing as you learn and soon you will become razor sharp. Gas station visits will become far less frequent as well as your emissions coming down in an almost logarithmic fashion so keep up the great work. Remember there are hundreds of members silently cheering for you as you improve similar to the way we try and encourage one another in the daily grind forums. I cannot wait to see you posting there as well :)

___As for other Salt Lake City or Utah residents, they seem to be far and few between …

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Welcome cbutters

Looks like your well on your way to your next addiction. :)

Welcome cbutters.

When I saw I-15 in Salt Lake City, UT, I had to reply. No, I don't travel that road anymore. But I went to school in Logan, UT and hence made the trip to SLC by I-15 lots and lots of times in the 5.5 years that I spent there. Yeah, I can relate to what you mean by that stretch of I-15 being flat. Back then I had no clue about hypermiling. But you should be able to maintain steady speeds quite easily.

Good luck and welcome again.

Hi everyone, just to finish off my introduction I thought I should post the results of my first tank of gas while trying to hypermile. I went from 30MPG on my tank of normal driving to going 562 miles on one tank which adds up to almost 42MPG!
Thanks for your help.
Cant wait to see what I can do once I get my scangauge.
-cbutters

Wow - that's excellent - just about 42 mpg!

My car is an automatic and I've had good improvement coasting in neutral with ICE-on. Also pulse and glide - I give it some gas on the downhill to get it going, then put it in neutral. If the speed sags before I reach bottom of hill I put it back in gear and boost it up again. I have both gentle and steep hills on my commute, nearly all freeway.

Do you have a tach in the dash?
If so you can probably gain some insight as to what the engine is up to from that.
It also helps a lot when putting it back in gear - you can bring the engine up to proper rpm's so it goes back into gear smoothly.

Wow - that's excellent - just about 42 mpg!

My car is an automatic and I've had good improvement coasting in neutral with ICE-on. Also pulse and glide - I give it some gas on the downhill to get it going, then put it in neutral. If the speed sags before I reach bottom of hill I put it back in gear and boost it up again. I have both gentle and steep hills on my commute, nearly all freeway.

Do you have a tach in the dash?
If so you can probably gain some insight as to what the engine is up to from that.
It also helps a lot when putting it back in gear - you can bring the engine up to proper rpm's so it goes back into gear smoothly.

Your technique sounds very similar to what I have been doing. I do have a tach, and Yes I have been giving it a bit of gas to get the engine up to speed before I release the clutch and get it back into gear.
I am still working a few things out. My car seems to be geared pretty high. I wish it had a 6th gear so I wouldnt be wasting gas just spinning the engine to stay up to speed.

...My car seems to be geared pretty high. I wish it had a 6th gear...

Did you by any chance change from stock/original tire size to a wider profile? You seem like the kind of guy who would pay attention to such details but... changing tire sizes without being certain to keep the original overall diameter will change your net overall final gear ratio.

If you go from say a 55 profile to a 45 or 40 and keep the other size numbers the same, the oveall diameter will be smaller.

Did you by any chance change from stock/original tire size to a wider profile? You seem like the kind of guy who would pay attention to such details but... changing tire sizes without being certain to keep the original overall diameter will change your net overall final gear ratio.

If you go from say a 55 profile to a 45 or 40 and keep the other size numbers the same, the oveall diameter will be smaller.

Stock on my car is 205/45/17, but I now have 215/45/17 on there, not much of a difference, It should be 1.5% difference, or when speedometer says 60mph, im really going 60.9mph.