Hyper Miling?

English keeps getting messed up. Imagine a Roman soldier Hyper Marching!

Anyway, I guess this new terminology is coined to help save fuel (which matters if you make your own for free, or you want to see if it is optimized to run technically efficiently).

http://www.hypermiling.com/

Anyway, an opinon piece this morning says to forget about points, get the cheapest gas you can find (undiluted with water, of course.)

 

This is not the web site that advocates shutting of the engine while driving to save fuel. But there are some that do and I will not post them here. This web site advocates proper driving techniques.

Real hypermiling does advocate shutting off the engine when coasting. Here's my comments on that:

I think this is a very dangerous game to play just to save fuel. One had better have optimised brakes and no power steering. In my opinion this is not a "environmental" saving issue but only used to save money. I consider human life much more valuable than a few dollars. Most people cannot operate a fully functional car safely let alone one with the engine shut down whilst their 3,000 lb car is careening around corners as braking wastes energy and going down a 5% grade without brakes.

This idea will get people killed.

 

It seemed a bit too much to me too. I was looking up info on "MPG Meter", then I changed to circuit "MPG Meter" in google. The Bimmers and rice-rockets are having nothing but trouble or complaints because the display is inconvenient or a useless distraction - too much info. Well, the side-bar to that is that when they see their SUV getting 70 MPG, coasting, they cause accidents!

Dump gadget dependence to excuse commonsense.

 

This is a bit of an old thread, But hey - Discussion is welcome.

Yes, Some websites mention EOCing (Engine-Off-Coasting) as a possible fuel-saving thing to do. The one I frequent, Ecomodder, Does talk about it but at the same time mentions on their Hypermiling Tips list that you should put safety first and quite frankly, I was trying to hypermile dangerously in some instances but now I get higher MPG averages without doing that but while employing other methods such as going 55 on highways as opposed to 65.

 

It only takes one big V8 at WOT to to guzzle down a lot more gas than you just saved by hypermiling. I know someone who does this thinking its his environmental duty to burn as little fuel as possible.

This kind of behavior probably explains some of the morons I get stuck behind who can't seem to exceed 40 MPH on the freeway onramp.


I only track my MPG to monitor when my car needs some mechanical attention. Aside from that, I'm not worried about it. I mash the gas and go from 0 to the speed limit as fast as it will go. SPGs (Smiles Per Gallon) are more important to me. I'd rather have fun and enjoy driving than obsessively worry that I burned a few too many milliliters of fuel pulling away from the last stop sign.

Monthly cost of ownership on an old V8 is way cheep compared to payments and insurance on a new fuel efficient car.

 

I just look at the digital thingie that shows the MPG I'm getting, cuss, mash the gas, and get on down the road.:banghead3:
Constantly looking for the next filling station!

 

They have competitions every year for high school students to build vehicles for hyper-miling. They hold them on closed tracks. That's the place to do it.

People who do it on public highways are just flat weird.

 

i drove my RMW to decatur illinois to deliver a casket last week through the night and got 28.7 MPG.
my speed most of the time was 58-62 mph.
i could have gotten better milage is i would have driven 10 MPH slower but i was on a time schedule and needed to drive around 60.

on the way back to KC i set the cruise on 68-69 and got 23.7

 

I'm not one for gas mileage but I have checked mine in my DD V-6 Tundra and it is 18 mpg and I am fine with that.

My dad and I built him a Malibu with a 502 under the hood that I consider a Hybrid...It burns gas and rubber!

I drove it to work one day, it is a 60 something mile round trip, it cost me $30 that day...never drove it to work again!

 

I'll be going thru Decatur,Ill sometime Tuesday if I remember the way and right now my mileage is down to 13MPG. With true duals and modified CATs I am getting less!!!!!! :confused: May have to stop and get a job as greeter at WallyWorld just to afford gas. Or sleep in that casket to save a motel bill.

 

I was a selfish (And at time ignorant) hypermiler.

A person is supposed to hypermile *without* making things too different for other drivers - In other words, Hypermile as much as the traffic allows.

I wasn't doing that very much for a while; I didn't get into waving cars on when safe until in the last few months.

In short, To get higher MPG modify your car and driving habits. Make it possible to coast your car more so you won't need to hold the pedal down as much, So much as you're comfortable with and is safe to do which does not disrupt traffic flow.

Though I might be missing something here, Lowering the rolling resistance of a car within a safe amount will help raise MPG. Low-Rolling Resistance Tires are a big help in that regard, Though I only recommend using them in the summer and even then, Learn how to use them; Take it slowly if you do try them out.

 

101Volts: The best tire, for mileage, I ever had on a big car were a set of BFGoodrich Comp T/A HR-4s, size 225/70R15, run at their maximum pressure of 45 psi. They were also the most grippy tire I've ever had. I've never tried hyper-miling, but I know there are those around here who do not believe the fuel economy numbers I have quoted getting on my big cars. To me, the biggest part of the economy equation is torque, as in having enough, low enough in the revs, to allow gearing for economy not performance. My 89 Grand Marquis with the 351 and tow package was running a 2.73:1 limited slip, and it was out of this world good on gas, simply because it did not have to labour, no matter what I asked of it.

 

Doing so only saves you fuel on older, carbureted vehicles which don't have that valve on the throttle body which cuts off the fuel supply during engine braking. Fuel injected vehicles also do not need to have their ignitions turned off.
If the vehicle doesn't have a catalytic converter, the way to check if the valve is working or even mounted is by shifting to a lower gear. Then, put your foot to the metal, to fill the exhaust system with fumes. When you turn the key back on and there is no backfire, then you have a functioning fuel cut-off valve.
Never use a cheap tireguage to meaasure pressure. Get a calibrated one. They are alot more expensive. But, the fuel saving will pay for the guage. The safety factor alone is worth the price

 

Thanks for the info.