I agree on both your points. Sure you may save gas in the short term, but if it is going to cause extra wear on parts, there is no saving to you or the environment, as new parts take energy to make, and then more energy to ship.

Mark

 

Precisely. And the people who manage the things like 100 mpg are probably too busy paying attention to all of their hypermiling techniques instead of the road that they're just as dangerous as someone on a cell phone. Really someone that obsessed should just get a bicycle or take public transportation.

Really though, you have to take the all encompassing cost into consideration. Hypermilers focus on the cost of fuel, but don't consider the cost of tires (overinflating), starter motors (turning off and restarting the engine), and engine repair (using a non-recommended oil). Furthermore, there's the most important cost of all: Your time.

Let's say you go from 400 miles/tank on a 13 gallon fill up to 500 miles/tank on 13 gallons. That's an increase of 8.5 mpg, which you could probably expect if you followed all of those rules to the letter.

Fill up costs about $50. So you spent 12.5 cents per mile initially. Hypermiling puts that to 10 cents per mile. Difference of 2.5 cents per mile, which over the course of the additional 100 miles gained makes a savings of $2.50. Let's say you fill up 4 times a month (really puttin on those miles!) and 12 months out of the year. Your grand total savings (24,000 miles later) is.... $120.

You can calculate that out and determine if your repairs down the line are worth the savings you got from hypermiling. My big question: Is your time wasted worrying about getting every last bit out of your gasoline worth $2.50 per tank?

For me, not a chance. Hypermiling is just a status symbol, just like H2s were supposed to say something about their owners, hypermilers are just the extreme at the other end of the spectrum.

But carry on (in the right most lane please).

 

Yeah the R56 (at least the manual AC like I have) just has an on off button, then the fan. I just leave the fan on full blast to cool the cabin down quick because the draw it takes is probably sooooo minimal it does not make a difference. You're right recirc doesn't work hard, it actually blows harder because you made it easier for it by not having to draw outside air. Instead, it just sucks the air already inside, cools it (if AC is on) and pushes it right back at you. The cabin stays cooler longer after turning the AC off if you have the fan on with recirc pressed

 

I'm not sure the math works out quite that way. The proper thing to do, I would think, is to hold the number of miles traveled constant, leading to fewer fill-ups and a larger savings.

Using your example, four fill-ups per month at 400 miles per tank is 1600 miles traveled per month, or 19,200 miles per year. $50 per tank at that mileage is 12.5 cents per mile, or $2,400 for the year. An improvement to 500 miles per tank yields 10 cents per mile and, using the same 19,200 miles traveled, costs $1,920 for the year. That would be a $480 savings.

Now, whether or not $480 saved over the year is significant enough for someone to alter their driving habits is up to him or her to decide.

 

these look like some 'dangerous' things..
coast thru stop signs.. fast corners.. drafting

i think using the cruise control would hurt mileage.. uphill .. you can feather the gas where the cruise will 'kick' it up and shift running higher revs..

mini.. = good mpg

 

NOT everyone performs these techniques the same.

For example, the real hardcore guys will DRAFT super close to any car and turn off the car at the same time.

For me, I keep my distance (18 wheelers, and large SUVs cut a lot of AIR for small cars, you don't have to be on its bumper to benefit).

Rolling through reds and turns, NOPE.

I also tend to have fun in my car, but I don't do it at every light.

 

I did the hypermileing thing for 1 tank of gas, just to see...

I went from an avg. of 22 MPG to about 28 MPH... a noticeable impact, but not worth the fun that I lost by driving like a little old lady for 2 weeks!

Cruise isn't always the most efficient tool. It tries to keep your SPEED constant, which isn't what you are particulally looking for. You are looking to keep your RPMs and TORQUE LOAD low. That means that you should hope to gain a bit of speed as you go down a hill by gently applying gas in preparation for the loss of speed as you go up the next hill. If you don't want to really pay attention to your economy gauge (what the guy who got 100 MPG from his Honda did), the cruise is OK... just not the best solution.

 

such extremes are not necessary I reckon

I just took a friend's daughter up to camp, down 128 and up Rt 3, then over 101A around Nashua to 101

I filled up on the way back just out of curiosity, and put in 6.0 gallons at 227.5 miles on the trip odometer. 37.5 mpg or thereabouts.

all I did was keep it at or under 3k on the highway, and featherfoot a bit when accelerating

no drafting, normal tire pressures, none of this stuff!

now mind you I used to get 26 mpg when I had a job! being unemployed and broke is a powerful incentive to extend the life of a tank of gas!

we'll see how well I do when the new job kicks in...

but actually, give the car has 104k miles, there's another reason not to squeeze the toothpaste tube too hard, which is my intent to hang on to it and complete this racing season AND the next one before I put any serious money into it

to each their own!

 

Thanks for correcting me. I was trying to do that right after I got up and screwed the math. Thanks.

In any case, $480 is still not enough to make me want to waste 19,200 miles of FUN motoring in my MINI.

 

I wish I could be there I am missing the GP,, but I am driving a Budget rental Ford Focus I Washington State (Yakima, Moses Lake, Wenatchee, Bridgeport) I am in need of a fix of speed, after all this gas saving

 

And all this time I thought "hypermiling" was how fast you can get through one mile...

 

I just saw that keeping your car clean and waxed can contribute up to 7% additional fuel economy. Woo Hoo! Zaino just got a little bit cheaper! :D

 

Would be nice if it were true, where did you see this?

 

Both are internet lore.

1. Condensation would not build up in an underground tank unless the temperature underground would change dramatically.

2. Temperatures underground (where the tank is) does not change more than a couple degrees with even a major ambient air temp at ground level.. There is something around point out that California is getting hosed because a gallon of gas is measured at 67 degrees, but the ground temp in CA is 70, so they are getting a tad less gas by volume. I'll see if I can find that link.

 

Mark

 

Thats when I'm late for work

 

It was in a PSA run before the movie previews in my local theatre. Check your air pressure in your tires, drive the speed limit and keep your car clean/waxed.

 

Good, more excuses to wash the Mini

 

Can't do it. I sweat like a pig without A/C and I just can't be held responsible for holding up traffic.

 

I spent four hours washing and waxing my 2006 MINI, that is two years old in this pic [put the new car MINI plate on the front until I get my new personalized plates That's my story and I'm sticking with it, officer.]

Had I known what that public service announcement said, I would have felt a lot better about it, knowing I would be getting a few extra MPG.

With how aerodynamically new it looks in the pic, I gotta get at least 5 extra mpg, don't you think?

 

You have that right. I overheat easy, even though road bike about 120 miles a week. Always get hot and suffer, at about 80 degrees.

No way I'm not running the AC, to even get 10 mpg extra.

While I recycle, leave all the lights off that I am not using, and conserve water, I'll gladly pay for the privilege and comfort of using my AC. Plus others suffer if I am in a foul mood due to being overheated. And I am less productive and efficient when hot.

Last week when it was blazing hot in the Bay Area, I saw some newer cars in the slow lane, with their windows open. That used to be a sign that the car's AC was broken or the car did not get it as an option [e.g. a stripped Toyota Corolla].

Those must have been hypermilers.

 

Looking up A/C affecting mileage...

Per the Mythbusters:

A few others agree:

That falls in line with how I usually drive... around town the windows are down and AC off, on the interstate the windows are up and AC on. So guess I can't get any better on that front

 

Hypermiling is another fad popularized by local TV news features. It's right up there with running your car on old fryer grease, good for a quick news item, but completely impractical. They find some loonie who spends 23-1/2 hours a day figuring out how to get another tenth of a mile from his car, and then tout it as the new solution to high gas prices. No thanks!
If you want to get 60+ mpg, buy a Prius.
If you want to get 100+ mpg, buy a scooter.
If you want to get 50+ miles per banana, buy a bicycle.
If you want to have fun, buy a MINI!

 

I've seen this tip a lot : "to save fuel, drive the speed limit" - and it just doesn't make sense.

The old "double-nickel" notwithstanding, speed limits are not set with fuel efficiency in mind. Therefore, it doesn't necessarily follow that driving the speed limit will increase your MPG.

Not that I'm advocating driving ABOVE the speed limit

 

Well your right, in our cars particularly, its most efficient below 75. Anything over and you will see your mpg go down...and anything way over and you will see it go down even more

probably our most efficient speed before air resistance really takes into affect is around 60-70. Anywhere in this range you can start to feel the gained resistance and see the mpg drop slightly. Once it does you might as well down shift and floor it cuz theres no going back