Hypermiling
 

This post by Ivan (um_lunchbox) over at the Scikotics forum is very interesting. > http://www.scikotics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48640 Some of you may have already seen it, but just in case you're interested in achieving incredible gas mileage in your xD, check it out.

Last weekend I was able to get 45 MPG while drafting behind my buddies racecar trailer. I used the cruise control and hovered at 60 MPH for over one hundred miles. My tire air pressue is bumped up 4 PSI over reccomended pressure (still within the safe zone). Even without that draft I can usually get between 37 & 41 MPG using these techniques. If mileage is of no concern, then this stuff wont matter. But the results are impressive and worth checking out if you are trying to save money etc.

I guess hypermiling is nothing new, but it was an eye opener for me, hope it helps.

This is a big stickler with my xD, it really irks me - I get between 24 and 26 mpg around town and driving back roads to work, and the best I've ever gotten on the highway is 29 - but perhaps somewhat because I pretty much have to drive between 75 and 85 mph on the highways around here - If I tried to drive anywhere close to 60mph I would be road kill for sure...

45 mpg is just totally incredulous to me comparing with my results... Grrr! :emotions122:

Have you increased your tire pressure a few pounds yet? Try going 65 instead of 70. Coast when you can, it all adds up.

tru i try to coast wen i can i notice the difference

I only got 45 MPG one time drafting behind a trailer at 60 MPH. I can usually get between 36 and 40 MPG when I focus on it. I'm telling you guys, bumping up the air pressure in your tires has a dramatic effect on your mileage. Even if you do nothing else, you will see a difference of a couple of MPG. My stock tires are recomended at 44 PSI, and I put them at 47-48 PSI.

Yeah you feel a few more bumps and can sense more of the road changes, but for me saving money is just that, saving. If your tire pressure is below the maximum pressure indicated on the sidewall, you will not get as good of mileage as is possible. More air pressure equals less rolling resistance, which equals better MPG. In an 11 gallon tank, even 2 MPG improvement is 22 miles, and it only gets better when you focus on it.

When I first got the car, I would get around 320 miles before I needed to fill up. Now when I work on it that number is up to 360 or better. It can be done, but you must change the way you drive. Now I don't always drive like a slug, only when hypermiling!

Attachment 23

I noticed a change with bumping up the tire pressure too...I am averaging 38 to 40 now...and that's with a heavy foot.

I don't know what the deal is... but on the last coupld of tanks, I've gotten lower FE than I expected. I have had a hard time keeping above 40 MPG. Well, I can keep the displayed FE near 40-41, but that ends up being more like 37.5-38.5 at the pump. I have been filling up at the same BP station as always... I wonder if it is a different gas formulation... or just the warmer weather the past few weeks. I have been using the A/C a little... but not all the time.

Hey Cylon, my wife and I are driving up to York for the weekend (she still has a house there). If you see a red xD towing a trailer, that's me! Maybe we'll get to meet up at a Scion get-together one of these days... I'd be interested in riding along with you (or you in my car) and see if we drive totally differently (based on my FE vs. yours). Just one of those curiosities.

Hey, I'm going to the Scion East Coast Show of Champions at the Capital Raceway in Crofton MD on Sunday, so I'll be down YOUR way that day, haha...

I'll be home Saturday but workin on cleaning up the car for the show at least part of the day... you two ought to come over Saturday night to see a movie in the Frey Theater! :)

http://freytheater.com

I know that both the generation XB's and now the XD get great mileage while drafting. There aren't many hills here at the beach unless you are on an overpass and thats when I put the car in neutral and coast. I see my mileage jump like crazy on the ScanGauge. This is some useful info for us guys. Thanks!


Tim

Cylon, got back from PA last night. I was towing a trailer with a queen mattress, sofa-bed, and a few boxes of books and misc stuff (both on the trailer and in the car). I had about 140 miles with no trailer, 110 miles with an empty trailer, and 110 miles with a full trailer. I filled up when I got home and got 35.9 MPG (38.something on the display). My real-time MPG was showing as low as 15 MPG going up some of those hills on 83!

Ha, we might have even passed each other on 83 Sunday night - I was driving north on 83 between about 7:00 and 7:30 pm... I wasn't thinking to look for your car, though... :)

I won 1st place in the xD division - a repeat of last year's win - and SnuGG won 2nd place...!

Congrats! I was already at my friend's bonfire by 7pm. I wasn't far from Crofton, though.

I just towed the trailer back up to York to pick up more stuff from the wife's house. I filled up just after leaving home. With 100% trailer towing, I'm showing 46 MPG in the display. Of course, the trailer is going to be loaded up on the way home... but I'm going to try to keep the mileage up as best I can.

Hey well, I've been getting a good solid 12 mpg on the highway with my Dodge Ram 4x4 pickup driving to work these past two weeks, lol!! :mad:

I had to stop driving my xD to and from work for the time being, because they're repaving the highway and left 2" or 3" lips where the asphalt stops and starts at the bridges and underpasses where they're working now - hitting them at 65 mph in my lowered xD with 40 series tires, I'm bottoming out slammin' the struts so hard it makes the car hop 6 inches into the air. I'm afraid of breaking another wheel or ripping out the strut towers in the front... :mad3:

Doesn't look like they'll be finishing the paving anytime soon, since their concentrating all their work on the bridges right now, could be months till they finish the asphalt at the bridges and underpasses... so i'll be taking a painful hit at the gas pumps for a while... :boxed:

Wow, if the bumps are that bad in the xD, imagine what happens to a horse and buggy! Just got back from York with a huge load: full size mattress, box spring, frame, headboard, two tables, a work bench, etc. Got about 32-33 MPG (35 showing).

You must be running on only 3 cyliders or something, Brew, lol! My drive to work is about half highway driving and half 50 mph country roads, and I'm still only getting about 27-28 mpg... I have yet to break the magic 30 mpg barrier in my xD, even on a longer all-highway trip...

oh, and the bumps are that hard on my xD because the drop is very low in the front with the progress springs - about a half inch lower than Tanabe DF's even... so I have less than two inches of piston movement on my struts before they bottom out... doesn't take much to slam them!

What, you use all four? lol! Because I was worried about losing something out of the trailer at high speeds, I kept the cruise set at 50 MPH most of the way home.
I can believe it... I've got the TRD suspension parts, and bumpy roads are quite noticeable. I've gotta be more careful with my morning coffee than I did when I drive a Golf.

Just got another 40+ tank... 41.3 MPG to be exact. The display was showing about 44 MPG. For most of the tank, I had it up to 47-48 MPG (on the display), but I killed that with some higher-speed driving and then driving in town to avoid backup on the DC beltway.

I'm not getting 40+, but I am averaging around 34 MPG. On the highway I can get 40-41, but with a family we do a lot of around town driving and that kills the mileage.

I can't believe some are getting sub 30's. From what I can tell you really gotta be hammering the xD to push the mileage that low. :boxed:

Nope, just normal driving with manual transmission. I've gotten as low as 24 mpg on one tank, when I WAS beating the car quite a bit, but that was shortly after I got it, maybe the third or fourth tankfull, and that was before I added any mods like wide wheels and tires or intake filter or axleback exhaust or anything else to the car... I suppose the mpg's on my car are basically close to the rated values, but just a couple mpg below them... instead of 27/33, I get more like 26/29... Ah well.

Cylon, I still think there's something odd about your xD...

The lowest I've ever gotten was 30.7 MPG (calculated... was about 32 on the display)... and that was towing a pretty heavy trailer.

My lifetime average is:

http://www.fuelly.com/sig-us/15039.png

LOL, sounds like a news report waiting to happen...

Just filled up yesterday and checked the mileage, 280 miles on 10.02 gallons so that's exactly 28 mpg. This tankful was strictly driving back and forth to work, about 1/3 highway, 2/3 country roads at 35-50 mph, and one 100 mile round-trip to a remote office that was 80% highway driving at 70 mph average...

And remember, I weight about 310 pounds... :disgust:

Towed my trailer up to York again this weekend. Me (220#), my pregnant wife (won't put her weight in case she reads this post), a trailer full of stuff (about 1,000#), and the back of the car full (another 200# or so). I got 32.5 MPG actual (35.0 MPG on the display).

They must be phasing in the ethanol again... my last few tanks have been right around 37-38 MPG, and that's going pretty easy on the pedal. I might not see another 40 MPG tank until next summer.

Mine has dropped to around the same as yours, you are probably right... I couldnt understand why the drop in mpg...

Guys, they don't "phase in" ethanol. it's a federal mandate as of last year, that ALL fuel and grades must contain at least 10% ethanol. It IS NOT ILLEGAL for any gas station to advertise "ethanol free" gasoline, it's just not true per the federal mandate. I lived in the Alexandria, Va. area from JAN. 07-APR.08 and i found the levels in that area range from 15% to 20% due to the smog requirements per the EPA. I just let my parents borrow the xD for their anniversary over the weekend. My folks averaged 36.6mpg over the trip of 1457.8 miles running 80+ on the highways. My old man loves it so much, he is trying to buy it from me. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN,lol!

According to the information I have, only ten states have E10 mandates (Florida being the only one on the east coast). Ethanol blends are used elsewhere, and E10 makes up approximately 2/3 of the US gasoline supply. My info could be outdated, but I couldn't find anything more recent.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires that 4.7 billion gallons of ethanol be used in our gasoline supply. That number goes up to 36 billion in 2022 (21 billion of which cannot be derived from corn).

mpg
 

I drive my 08 xd 110 a day on 50+ country roads,a few freeway miles at 70,and the rest at 60 with stock tire pressure,standard transmission and consistantly get 42 mpg,thats 400+ per tank except in the winter when they put that crappy gas in the pumps then it dosent matter what you drive or how you drive your milage will drop by allmost 15% if you change nothing else,I dont get it,this winter gas is suppose to help reduce smog but how can that be if you have to burn 15% more to go the same distance?I have noticed this with any car I drive.

yeah, must be nice, I still have never gotten more than 320 miles per tank, on fumes, even with highway driving.

lulz my average is 26.6 and my best is 27.8.

:adminpower:Maybe its the wheels...

By the way, I've been watching all the episodes of the original BSG TV series at work on my iPad. Gotta love it.

---------- Post added at 09:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 PM ----------

All city? Lots of stop and go driving?

I just filled up a few hours ago and got 38.1 MPG calculated (40.3 displayed). Of my latest nine fill ups, only one was below 37 MPG. That was a very rainy week... Which seems to lower my MPGs no matter what I do.

My commute is mostly highway, but I have been driving a little faster than normal. I have seen speeds of 80+ MPH on certain stretches of the commute. Most of it is 55-60 MPH, though.

I'm going to try to take it easy on this tank and see if I can break 40 MPG for real.

I actually get a little better mileage now with these Katana wheels than when I had the stock wheels on...

Cool, I liked the original Battlestar Galactica series too, I was in high school when it aired on TV in the late 1970's, so I watched it pretty faithfully... but it still can't hold a candle to the new series! :)

Unfortunately, I have yet to break open my Bluray box set of the new BSG series I bought over 4 months ago; I've seen it in it's entirety on TV, and twice on DVD already... I'm waiting to find someone to watch it with me in The Frey Theater - check this thread out, McBrew:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/foru...er-every-month

Now THAT's the way to watch a bluray Scifi TV Series! :hands:



Lol, sorry for the thread-jack!

Nice theater! I live in a house that's too small and oddly shaped for a projector system... But my father has a nice setup with a 120" fixed screen and a Sanyo LCD projector. I think most ofnhis speakers are Polk in-wall units. I can't remember what the sub is. He's got a Carver amp, too... A 1,200 watt model that drives his 901s (music only).

weight ballast( including ourselves), rolling diameter of the rims, inertial weight of the rims, climate control setting, driving with the windows down on the highway etc etc. all are factors. setting the vents to the defrost setting even with the switch off still engages the A/C as well as the temp setting too far in eithe rdirection will trigger the compressor too. try playing with those settings.

here are some of my distances. Chicago to Toledo or Indy leaves me with, say, 3 bars on the gas gauge. that's with a 70-75 mph speed with mostly cruise, three people and luggage

I only got 32.1 mpg on my last tank... But I was towing my trailer for most of that tank... And 90+ degree weather doesn't help.

Yep I would say around 90% city driving.

Eh, all you hyper-milers can just bite me... LOL!! :bleh: jk!

X2 :bleh:

I don't really do anything to help save on mpg's. I drive like a bat out of hell and never park to go inside for fast food.