no tanks under 40 MPG in a year

[rningonfumes]

Yes, 40-50 is the magical number for most cars, 45 for the Yaris. After that range, you start to battle wind resistance and the power needed after that begins to triple. So you need to accelerate (takes up power ) and then keep a constant pace, how fast the pace you want to keep the car at is how much more you will put in...

Note that the power needed to push an object through a fluid increases as the cube of the velocity. A car cruising on a highway at 50 mph (80 km/h) may require only 10 horsepower (7.5 kW) to overcome air drag, but that same car at 100 mph (160 km/h) requires 80 hp (60 kW). With a doubling of speed the drag (force) quadruples per the formula. Exerting four times the force over a fixed distance produces four times as much work. At twice the speed the work (resulting in displacement over a fixed distance) is done twice as fast. Since power is the rate of doing work, four times the work done in half the time requires eight times the power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics) (go down to where where it talks about power)

[SpaceShot]

According to the scanguage, I hit peak instaneous MPG between 40-50 on the country 2 lane from the office to the freeway. Which verifies how I `feel' the engine is doing.
With a fair amount of low rolling hills one can more easily use a light touch on the pedal in combination with the terrain to keep the vehicle moving along at a steady speed with less fuel.
If you don't have a scanguage, backing off to just under 3K RPM should be pretty equivalent. It takes some practice not to be lazy and just keep your foot down no matter how the road conditions are changing in front of you.

[stripey]

Had a good day today, doing about 43-44 mpUSg mainly along motorways staying close behind Continental lorries doing between 50 and 60 mph. But it's slowly numbing my mind!

[rningonfumes]

Originally Posted by voodoo22

I find for our sedan, it's important to keep from going over 90km/h or 55mph. I try to keep it closer to 80km/h or 50mph when possible.

For the longest time, I've been trying to figure out how you got the extra 2-3 mpgs over me!.... I do 55mph, but I spike over it according to the traffic flow (mostly when merging).

[50MPGDream]

sorry, haven't been plugged into the web much this week (crunch time on a project at work)

Thanks for all the words of encouragement and support, there were a few tanks where I was rushed or the weather was bad that I thought were going to throw me.

As to what I have done to get good MPG, keeping to speed under 55, easing into the throttle, and doing my best to time lights is all, no FASing, no P&G, no drafting, I don't always face out when I park (I would, but my garage is usually pretty full when I get there, and choices are limited as to where to park)

My current commute is 21 miles with some stop lights that are somewhat predictable and I am at off peak time for travel (read: I go into work at 3PMish against traffic, and I go home around the time the bars are closing... not a whole lot of traffic going anywhere at that time)

[firemachine69]

13K miles later, I'm still waiting for a 40mpg tank.

[andaconda]

I am amazed! Still breaking it in easy, nothing over 3k on tach, and only 800 miles on it.
First fill up - 46mpg. Topped off the tank (price of gas is going up another dime) this time 48mpg. Boy is the EPA ratings way off on this car!

[rningonfumes]

No, I would say EPA rating is "dead-on" for the average driver. If you don't really try in the slightest, you'll hit epa ratings. You don't really have to be a hypermiler to better the epa ratings at all but folks don't realize it.

[twowheels]

Got a pic of my trip ODO at 93 miles w/ a "full" tank today... 48.98 MPG on my usual 200 mile route. With the improving weather, a few extra PSI in the tires, and additional break-in on the drivetrain the mileage has been improving drastically!

So close... I was hoping for 50!!

The other day I hit 46.5, but realized I'd been driving in 4th instead of 5th out on the open road for quite some time not really paying attention. :-(

[Yaris Hilton]

Originally Posted by rningonfumes

No, I would say EPA rating is "dead-on" for the average driver. If you don't really try in the slightest, you'll hit epa ratings. You don't really have to be a hypermiler to better the epa ratings at all but folks don't realize it.

That's right. The older (pre-2008) EPA ratings were optimistic for most folks and take some effort to achieve, but aren't too hard.

As for the "mind-numbing" aspect of driving more slowly, I saw a good quote the other day:

"Don't try to make good time. Try to make time good."

[TheRealEnth]

i get like 20-30mpg... 30 if im lucky

[Yaris Hilton]

Yeah, that EPA "average driver" city rating is 29 MPG. Lots of folks will do worse. Playing the "stoplight Grand Prix" will really pull you down.

[rningonfumes]

Originally Posted by andaconda

I am amazed! Still breaking it in easy, nothing over 3k on tach, and only 800 miles on it.
First fill up - 46mpg. Topped off the tank (price of gas is going up another dime) this time 48mpg. Boy is the EPA ratings way off on this car!

In reading your post once more, I'm sorry andaconda, I didn't mean to depreciate your accomplishment at all. I meant purely to point out the EPA ratings. Even with the older EPA numbers (as pointed out by Yaris Hilton), you've blasted them out of the waters.

46 mpgs is great!...>I Had 45mpgs my first tank. Matter of fact, getting 45mpgs right off the bat was what fueled my new found thirst for mpgs which lead me to google and thus the term "hypermiler." The rest was history.

[TheRealEnth]

yeah but... average for me is like 22... sometimes i get 18 -.-.... and im not grandprix'n.... I accelerate normally. You cant take ur sweet time and have like 80 cars behind u being like WTF... Yeah i admit i drive a bit hard but it shouldnt account for so much mpg -.-...... every1 that gets 40+ is like .. either crazy or never goes past 1.5krpm which means they dont ever go past 10mph =D

[brainless twit]

I'm really surprised that more people aren't getting 40mpg and above. I drive 80 miles round trip to work, on a 2-lane road with lots of curves and hills averaging 60-65 mph (sometimes 70 if I'm running late). I make a few short trips in town every week - a couple miles to the grocery store or my parents' house. I've never tried to drive differently in this car, I just drive the way I normally do. Since my 5000-mile oil change, I've been getting 42 mpg consistently. Prior to that I was getting about 37. I always get at least 460 miles out of a full tank.

[nemelek]

Originally Posted by 50MPGDream

I just wanted to pat myself on the back for not having a tank under 40MPG in the past year

I am 10 days of owning the Yaris for a year. Only once was I over 40mpg. When people say highway driving they need to qualify their speed. The speed limit is 75 where I live. That means that I am doing 80 and only getting 37 mpg on the highway.

[Yaris Hilton]

Every time you touch the brake pedal, you're taking kinetic energy that you got by burning gasoline in the engine, and turning it into waste heat. Total loss. As my dad always said, the brake pedal should be labeled "Press Here To Drain Gas Tank." Anytime your engine is idling, you're burning gas at 0 MPG. Real stop-and-go city traffic is horribly inefficient. Nobody's going to get 40 MPG in a Yaris doing that.

[andaconda]

Almost 2 years now - and the worst I have gotten was 41mpg in Seattle traffic.