It's true that the accelerator is the most important pedal to modulate for fuel economy, but the brake pedal is extremely important as well. Every time you brake you waste kinetic energy that the engine already converted from fuel, and you must replace that energy assuming you haven't just enetered your parking spot, so depending on traffic and road conditions, the brake can be almost more important than the accelerator for fuel economy. The less you have to brake, the better. The other major factor is cruising speed. 25-35 MPH is the most efficient speed zone for manual cars, and 35-45 MPH for automatic cars. Some cars will have 2 peaks in different speed ranges, but the peak inside the aforementioned zone will always be higher (for example, a car can get it's absolute best fuel economy at 25 MPH, then get better MPG at 50 MPH than at 40 MPH, my 2020 Honda Fit was like that for example). Faster or slower than the ideal speed range (or if you have more than one, ranges) will lower mpg exponentially. Acceleration does matter, but not as much as target speed and maintaining momentum. Also, coasting in neutral vs coasting in gear is very nuanced. If you need any braking force whatsoever (slowing traffic, steep downhill) it is better to utilize the engine braking effect where the engine uses no fuel at all. However, if you are coasting on flat ground or a very slight incline and don't need any braking force at all, it is slightly more efficient to coast in neutral. Yes, coasting in neutral does use fuel, but it also reduces drag at the wheels. The drag force at the wheels is correlated with engine rpm. When you coast in neutral, the drag force is being overcome by the engine via fuel combustion, and when you coast in gear, the drag is overcome by the momentum of the car, slowing it down. When you coast in neutral, the idle rpm if 700 rpm is worth "100 drag points" which is overcome by the engine using fuel, but when you coast in gear at 2000 rpm, that's worth "286 drag points" but since the engine isn't overcoming the drag, the car is slowing down much more quickly. The increased drag is effectively the same as increased aero drag or rolling resistance or even gravitational drag like going up a slight hill, it reduces your potential fuel economy. This means if no braking force is required, coasting in neutral strategically is more efficient, but if you need braking force anyway, coasting in gear is more efficient because it shuts off the fuel injectors. I currently drive a 1994 Honda Accord and I get 37-39 MPG (US gallons, not UK gallons) because I'm very careful with the brake and I pretty much drive the conservative speed limits here in Colorado. Mainly long trips as well. I had a 2020 Toyota Tacoma that I actually have video footage of on my channel of it getting 27-28 MPG (not the purpose of the videos, but it's visible nonetheless) even though it's rated for only 18 MPG city and 23 MPG highway. Cruise control is not ideal for economy as skilled driver can always do better. Usually the difference between cruise control and a skilled driver is negligible though. It depends on road and traffic conditions as well as the engine/transmission engineering as well. If you have a manual economy car with no proper highway gear (like if your car is doing 3000 rpm at 60 mph in your top gear) and you're on hilly terrain with very little traffic, you can implement pulse and glide technique to absolutely smash the fuel economy you would get if you were just using cruise control. If you have an automatic car and driving on flat terrain with moderate to heavy traffic, cruise control is really not much worse than even the most skilled driver. Agree, drafting (slipstreaming as you called it) is never advisable. The savings are trivial and not worth the risk to life or property. Very true, short trips hurt MPG numbers but highest MPG doesn't always mean lowest fuel consumption or cost. It's always good to group short trips together and start out with the furthest destination and work your way back to your origin. Some of my favorite tips: 1. Get any unneeded weight out of the vehicle. 2. Look ahead, learn how to slow down with no braking or the least amount of braking possible. 3. When slowing down for a planned turn or stop, try doing so without brakes. 4. If you can maintain speed going down a hill in neutral, do it. If you start speeding up, shift into gear. (manual transmission only, not worth the effort in automatics) 5. Leave early, drive the speed limit. Maybe less if you have no traffic behind you. 6. Avoid traffic when you can. Plan your route and use a traffic monitoring app if possible.
You could be officially the best commenter of the year with these comments, thanks for your input and thanks for the support my friend. You inspired the eco car mods video I dropped last week.
...because he points out a lot of truth and specially about coasting. Some cars do automatic coasting ... because the engineers found it is an important saving fuel trick. Inteligent coasting in neutral, when braking is not needed, is a very important fuel saver!!
@@inacioserralheiro2604 coasting in neutral doesn't save fuel at all. in fact it just wastes it when you coast in neutral the engine isn't being turned by the wheels, so it has to power itself using, you guessed it, FUEL. when you coast in gear, though, the engine doesn't use ANY fuel because it's already being turned by the wheels
I currently don't have enough money saved up yet to get my wheel alignment corrected and as a result my brakes shudder horribly, the whole car shakes when I slow down so to offset this I engine brake my car in manual select mode. Yesterday I figured the sweet spot for slowing down all the gears and this way I can save up until I am able to pay for a proper alignment as well as possible newer, stronger rotors and brakes pads. I have '17 Taurus limited 😎 they pretty damn comfy to cruise in but can also surprisingly catch other drivers off guard when I floor it also I might start using the "pulse and glide" method
Had my Polo bluemotion 1.2 tdi from new since 2012 and love it's frugality. I've managed to get 70 - 90 mpg on most journeys, once managing 100 mpg on a 25 mile trip. I just drive sensibly with an eye on economical techniques. Will drive this car as long as it keeps going
I had 2008 1.4 tdi polo which would average 60 mpg I now have a 2015 Vauxhall Astra diesel 1.6 which to surprise gives me the same mpg but is a. Iot smooth with having the extra cylinder it has 6 gears which keeps the Revs down but it is not now screwed to getter has well has a vw
You are talking real sense, ive been driving like this for 25yrs and saved a fortune in fuel costs over that time.. the biggest problem is idiots on the road. Some must need to be changing their brake pads every year. The best hyper miling i achieved was 450miles on 3 gallons of diesel 8 yrs ago
@@brucebanksshow if you see at traffic light or stop sign ahead just let off all pedals and coast into it. And u only have to brake to stop car rolling. The more you do it you can judge and time letting off the gas to coast to the stop
@@rustyshackleford3320 Then you pass everyone that insisted on getting there first then they end up passing you even if you passed them and got up to the upper speed limit that doesn't draw attention from cops. At least you are saving money and wear and tear.
I got a '19 Fiesta, and I'm tempted to try, but here in PA, you get run off the road if you're below 70 mph. You'll even get bullied by the truckers if you're even slightly below the speed limit.
55mph is my sweet spot, anything more and wind resistance increases exponentially, anything less and the engine is doing too much work for how little it needs to fight.
I used my fuel consumption indicator decent 46 mpg at 120 kmh on my diesel e90 It probably helped that I was on full load that helped against air resistance on long road stretches so I can surf relatively lightly with my throttle
In my limited testing, my Gen4 Prius did better with 60MPH. Little bit of variability between vehicles, but that's a big reason for the 55 MPH speed limit in a lot of places where other places in USA are 70, fuel economy tests at the time.
Coasting in neutral downhill does need extra fuel to keep the engine running, but on the other hand, leaving it in gear causes significant engine braking (particularly with high-compression engines like diesels), which slows you down. Then you have to put your foot down earlier, to compensate. Coasting in neutral allows you to go further before significant power (and fuel flow) is demanded from the engine. Depending on the hill, you might want to use one, the other, or both methods. If you are approaching traffic lights, or some other reason to stop, leaving the engine in gear is better, as it shuts off the fuel completely, and provides the braking you need anyway. Another tip I think wasn't mentioned, is to ensure your brakes aren't binding. Even just a little bit makes a difference. Try driving a reasonable distance and then stopping without using your brakes at all. Then feel the disc rotors or drums. If any one of them is warm or hot, you have something to go at that would improve your mpg. I have a Smart forfour turbo diesel, which at one point would give 75 mpg imperial, with none-too-careful driving. I only do very short journeys in it now though, so only get about 50 mpg. Years ago, I had a normally aspirated Mark 1 Diesel Golf which I drove quite hard, and got over 70 mpg. That was an amazing, no-frills utility car. Despite all the high-tech of the Smart forfour, it's not really any better than my old Golf as a basic transport.
We usually need to brake to avoid over speeding downhill so that increases fuel consumption if the car is in neutral. It is better to let the engine coast in gear and maintain speed downhill and avoiding over speeding at the same time. It is usually much more expensive to get a speeding ticket and 3 points on the licence too!
Pressing clutch or putting it in Neutral keep momentum and the gas burning is bout 1000Rpm But in gear its about 3000RPM. I personally get 50 plus miles to a tank using that methed.
@@TL-xw6fhi well sounds like we have a cop problem more then putting it in neutral. Cops should only be called upon to actual help ppl, i swear were going lose all our rights in name of safety and PC and "misinfo" aka thing were not allowed to know, like the truth, like in a world of majority wants peace but we just cant pull it off and they will spend 20,000,000,000 a year on w@r on liberties or dr#gs and that could be in our pockets alone with ALOTTTTT of other bs but tobacco which kills more than all dr*gs combine, perfectly legal, ya they pass laws for our good. Sorry had to rant, cause i had to waste my breaks and gas not cause i wasnt safe but didnt want the state to punish me
It’s not the high compression ratio of a diesel that gives you engine braking, it’s the throttling effect increasing pumping losses that give engine braking. Very few diesels have a throttle, so most diesels have worse engine braking than a petrol engine.
And if you don't use the brakes enough to keep the discs clean they will corrode (they do here in the UK when you get the salt on the roads in winter), and the garage and brake disc manufacturers will love you too. But just take note of the recommendations if you get your car serviced at a main dealer, e.g "corrosion on the discs and pads 50% worn", my Golf was good for another couple of years before they needed to be replaced.
Great video. I know a lot of these tips. I'm an extreme Hypermiler. I went out on a spin today up to Glendalough. On the mountainous roads, I got between 82 to 99 MPG UK. Going back on the motorway going at 58 to 60 mph, I got an amazing 76 to 83 mpg. I do tend to read the traffic ahead, and use B mode when approaching lights, rather than having to use the hydraulic brakes. I have a 2012 Toyota Auris 1.8 Hybrid. It's a fantastic car for sure, and way cheaper to run than a normal car. I've saved €800 to €1000 per year on petrol per year.
35 yrs ago I read a book call " how to drive it forever" and says alot of what this video does. Keeping momentum, look at traffic ahead, no sudden acceleration. I also avoid starting up hills. This has also allowed me to have 3 Honda's go into mid 350,000 miles. With zero internal engine repairs. But let's not talk about Odyssey transmissions.
I’m using some of these tips in my 2008 Dodge charger R/T 5.7🤣 previous owner installed e fans, I never drive anyone but myself, keep it below 2k rpm on my commutes, and use 89 when the cost makes sense. With how I drive, I fuel up once a week, and it costs me 50 bucks. Haven’t tested the actual mpg number but honestly it could be worse for a 2 ton comfy boat with a HEMI lol
Thank you sir! My car always brings up a message in eco mode saying not to depress the clutch until I'm at 1200rpm. Now I know why. No more coasting for me
I have 2 vehicles I want to mention. First is my 2010 F150 with 4.6 liter v8 no stop/start or cylinder shutoff. When I first bought it I was getting 15 to 17 mpg. I was told this was quite normal. Now with rising prices over the last 4 years I have become very economy conscious. Now I get 21.5mpg in the summer and up to 22.4mpg in the winter. My best cruising speed in the truck seems to be when I hit overdrive at 41 mph. I also just purchased a 2024 Prius LE. Not a prime model. The expected mpg for my car is 57. At this time my average mpg is 71.3 and has been slowly increasing as I learn to drive more economically. I have not had the Prius long enough to determine a best speed for economy. I have had it 15 days and driven it just over 1400 miles.
I have a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country Touring with an automatic transmission and 3.8L V6 engine. No modifications and 200,000 miles on it. Yesterday I went 175 miles on the highway averaging 60-65 MPH, and I ended up getting 30.38 MPG. I'd say that's pretty good for a van rated at 23 highway!
I've started using these techniques as much as I can. I am in the United states driving a big boxy sedan. I was originally getting around 17 miles per gallon, which is great for such a car. Now I can just about squeeze just about 22 miles per gallon out of it on a good day. This has definitely saved me tons of money and likely a fair bit on repairs when it comes to general wear and tear.
Am elated to review your commentary. I have been an undiagnosed hyper fuel mileage economist for over 56 driving years. Your on point with each and all techniques offered. I won't brag. Its not part of my personality. But I always significantly exceed the maximum epa rating for each vehicle I own, including my motorcycles. Ex: 2017 honda fit std/1.5 /gdi/norm asp, gets 42 to 44 mpg. Have gotten 51.4 mpg cross country . Currently getting 38.8 mpg average on my 2017 chevy malibu auto 1.5 economist. Have gotten 45.4 mpg best so far. Be curios how your future commentary may continue to augment my understanding. Can't say enough,! Bravo!
Been driving my 2011 mustang v6 manual more easily now, put 2inch taller tires but same treadwidth, put a tune on it to optimize fuel and ignition timing, and accelerate below 2000rpm...with these methods i went from 18 mpg in city/rural driving combo and now im at 23-28 mpg...very happy
I've got a 2010 320d efficiencydynamics. I'm used to petrol engines and it took me a while to understand how to efficiently drive it. I was previously hovering at 1.5k revs and getting bad numbers. I now stay at 2k and change gear at 2.5k revs. Right on the power band. Gentle adjustments on the throttle are very responsive and the dial almost never goes below 50mpg. At 1.5k revs it was dipping down to ~10mpg during mild acceleration. I travel almost everywhere without using gears 5 or 6 now and I save a lot of money. It's strange and counterintuitive.
My top tips for fuel savings (without being that donkey that holds everyone up). For me, I drive a small turbocharged petrol, 1.8T B7 A4 Quattro. 1. Pressing on, up the on ramp for a motorway: Stay out of boost, but rev the engine higher. E.g. Change @ ~4000rpm 2. Pretend that 1/3 throttle is full throttle (unless your boost comes on earlier, then reduce your "full throttle" to your limit). If you find that you're slowing down at 1/3 throttle, change down a gear, try again. Soon enough you'll learn how your car handles varying road conditions with this in mind. 3. Use Waze for every journey (unless you are familiar with the area and its speed limits), Waze now has a fancy feature that shows you the next speed limit change. No use speeding up from 20mph to 50mph just to come back down to 20mph in half a mile, just gracefully raise your speed so as not to annoy your fellow drivers, then coast back down to the next speed limit. Eventually you'll figure out your cars rolling resistance and be able to time your speed to the limit change. 4. Maintain at least 3 seconds behind the car in front (you can time this with how long it takes for you to reach the road stud/reflector the car in front has just passed till you pass it) 5. Brakes are for emergencies and stopping, not for slowing down. I.e. Read the road ahead of you, if the car 1 mile ahead slows down, chances are that the car 100ft in front of you will slow down too. Anticipate this and reduce throttle OR come off it entirely. Your 3 second gap will pay dividends as you coast into the space you've left. Generally I find if you're on level ground and coming to a roundabout or an off ramp, 0.3-0.4 miles is the point to start coasting to a stop. Adjust for your conditions. 6. Go with the flow. Often I find 2 extremes on a dual carriageway in heavy traffic. The left lane with the trucks is cruising along at 60mph, the right lane is constantly yoyoing between 60mph (as cars move to the right lane) and 70-80mph (as annoyed motorists speed past the ass that moved over without speeding up). Your best bet is to just cruise with the trucks, you won't get where you're going much quicker, but you will reap the fuel savings. 7. Leave early! Got somewhere to be? Leave early, you will not be paying attention to any of the above if you have somewhere to be and little time to get there. It's just unnecessary stress and you'll pay for it. If traffic is lighter than anticipated, you can even cruise at a lower speed. 8. Maintain your car! Something as simple as incorrectly gapped spark plugs can make a big difference on fuel economy. Low tyre pressure can also have a significant effect. Everything else is preventative maintenance, after all we're doing this to save money. Maintaining your car with appropriate intervals will go a long way to save you money. A few other tips: -If you're stopped in ye olde torque converter automatic, put it in neutral. -Don't buy cheap tyres, buy premium tyres -Stop driving further to get cheaper fuel -Don't do short trips in a diesel, you can easily plan around this -Fix it now, stop procrastinating
Great tips , i would add one people don't normaly think about! easy listening music I have found it makes you much more relaxed Ie: happy to cruse at lower speeds and makes you a far more forgiving driver when other people do stupid things. With regard to breaking, I have had lots of people get out of there cars to me when stoped at the lights to tell me my break lights are not working, I point out I did not use the breaks at all as I predict when I need to stop by looking way ahead on the road and use my gears ;) (ex bus driver)
I rive a 4.4 litre twin turbo V8 diesel Range Rover, I live in France so off the highway I am restricted to a legal limit of 80 kph, I drive tactically and get over 40 mpg on my normal non autoroute driving. This I do by reading the road ahead, using only enought throttle to keep a steady speed and try tp use a minimum of braking. I was getting mid 30s fuel econony then I had the engine and gearbox remaped and now because of the added BHP and more importantly increased engine torque I find that my fuel economy has got dramatically better, the car is also way more pleasant to drive with the 8 speed auto box being less busy with down shifts and tending to upshift earlier and then to hold that gear longer. This is a nearly three tonne car returning 40 + mpg while covering the ground very rapidly but within the legal linit. It cost me less in speeding fines, less in fuel and my average journey times are slightly quicker than before. I find that even on my nomal 60 km daily drive, unless I have to come to a complete halt I hardly touch the brake because I read the road ahead and adjust my speed to the conditions I am about to encounter. I also have a highly modified Gen one Mini Cooper S which I drive in a totally different manner to the Range Rover, I enjoy the way it handles and accelerates on twisty well surface French B roads, I say it is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. But I still drive reading the road ahead and so far I have over 250 km on a set of front disc pads which even now are less that half used. I proves that you can still drive extremely rapidly and still have a good fuel consumption (high 30s) plus incurring minimal brake wear. Hence another saving in driving cost. Time will tell if the Range Rover brakes last as long as those in the lighter car.
As I have stated on other web sites I have moved my seat slightly forward, thus allowing me to place my heel at the base of the accelerator. This keeps the foot more upright on the pedal, just about where my instep is, therefore any jiggling of the foot from the road surface undulations are not transmitted to the pedal and putting tiny amounts of fuel into the engine when not required. Using this extremely light-footed approach I can see the MPG going up on the digital readout, sometimes to the tune of eight or nine miles per gallon! I run an Audi A4 S line, 180 hp and remapped, of sixteen years old, and on a longish run (100 miles of so) get up to 77 mpg!
One thing to note for hot environments, if you lose fuel economy in the summer, try going up a grade of gasoline/petrol, even if your car doesn't require it or it's a new car. On both my car (which is over 10 years old) and a friend's new hybrid we both got back are loses from the summer heat by using 89 octane (US) instead of 87.
The reason this "works" is that the ECU keeps the engine on the edge of knocking. It will advance the ignition timing if you put premium in, but the increase in fuel economy generally doesn't pay for the increased cost.
I have a 2.0 Audi A6 Ultra TDI, and on a pure motorway run, a clear run on the M25 as rare as that sounds, i completed a 70 mile journey getting 69.4mpg! Highest I’ve ever seen on a motorway run is 69.7mpg coming back from Silverstone with my friend in the car! Again driving at 70mph, 7th gear is 1400 rpm however 😅
I get the best mileage when I put it in Neutrral and coast whenever possible...you slow down MUCH faster when it's in gear when you're not depressing the gas pedal. I can even make it up a lot of hills if my speed is high enough after coasting...i really can't do that in Drive without pushing the gas pedal.
Use cruise control often. It keeps the vehicle at constant speed..keeps the engine at constant temperature. NB always cancel when you feel your getting closer to vehicles in front. Resume once in 2 second rule, or simply adjust speed to be at 2 second rule. Wallah!
I tend to use some techniques as you say would drive people mad, though I’m clever about when I use them. I know when I can drive efficiently and I know when I can really start to hypermile
Italian tune-up is periodically needed and oil changes well inside service schedules. Every time I use a courtesy car I can drive using minimum of 30% reduction of fuel but mostly about 50%; so double the economy as you advocate. Tabulated fuel economy greatly assists determining this. It is very important to warm up an engine slowly. I never ever need new brake pads(only did so when I competitively raced vehicles) . Speed should transition slowly without undue haste getting into top gear. Most auto gearboxes will be damaged by coasting in neutral. Avoiding traffic congestion and tyre pressures correct is probably the biggest saver on fuel and starter motors. Fast accelerating EVs will impose bad habits on many who may feel beholden to accelerate unnecessarily.
I have a 2023 bayon Hyundai and in eco on a 140 mile round trip with 1.2 litre engine and 40 volt battery in boot. Im getting 52mpg and if i control car as stated in comfort mode letting it engine brake i get 56mpg which is more than manufacture states. Ive refilled to double check consumption and its spot on. Best tip is 70 mph and check tyre pressure, ive done 50mph and 60mph with less mpg so at 70mph modern engines seems to be productive as long as your moving constantly.
Living in UK. My favorite cruise control speed on motorways is 56- 60 mph when I am not in hurry. I have one rule: go only as slow as trucks. Never slower. Otherwise forcing truckers to overtake very slow cars causes motorway bottle necking. I hate that when someone else bottlenecks highways, so don`t want create same problem. Results with my 2010 Ford Mondeo 2L TDCI diesel: 57-63 mpg at 56- 60 mph. Tyres properly inflated. Using top quality engine oil. Oil changed every 8000- 10 000 miles. Changing transmission fluid every 37 000 miles. Transition is automatic. At 60 mph engine runs at 1800 rpm. I always get 730- 820 miles extra urban on long journeys from 70 liters tank. Loving it!
last year i drove 36k miles on 187 gallons of gas (us). going to build a light weight lithium battery to replace my lead acid and save about 45lbs. got some gas cans and keep about 30 gal at home in my garage so its no big deal to drive around with only 2-3 gal left in the tank (-45 lbs vs full tank). driving a 2013 chevy volt, which really is in a world of its own for gas savings. a phev before the concept even existed, and theyre dirt cheap now here in the US. i think called the ampera in uk, very few imported. people dont know hypermiling until they get this car.... 100+ mpg lol its all about that 50-55 miles of ev range im getting each way to/from work. car will pay foritself soon, only paid 7k for mine and my insurance is only 21$/mo all the info in this video is very well presented in a pragmatic way. good video
i boged off hypermiling all together and bought a dirty deisel now i get 65 mpg at 70 mph and 55 mpg driving around town and i just boot it up to the speed limit and drop it into the right gear from there [ i bought a honda 1.6 deisel mk 9 the most fuel efficiant car i ever owened ]
Just bought a plug in hybrid haven't gotten it yet and coasting in neutral might be the best on big hills. I know my elanta 6 speed it was best to I found to press in the clutch as it would reduce engine drag.
Nissan Armada here -- about the worst vehicle you can buy for gas milage. No cylinder deactivation, just a big V8 and a heavy truck-like vecicle. Taking my kids to school is several miles of flat, straight roads through farmland with stop signs ever 1/2 to 1 mile. I've tried all kinds of acceleration strategies and what works best for me is accelerating rapidly to 40-45 miles per hour, then hitting the cruise control until I feel I can coast to the stopsign (in gear) with about 20 MPH or less to spare. Using this strategy gets me 16-17 MPG rather than 13-14 MPG driving normally. I think accelerating quickly keeps me in the powerband and shortens the time I'm using more fuel -- then immediately letting off to cruise at a high efficiency speed.
I have a 1.2 Zetec Ford Fiesta I use the fuel setting so l can visually see what my engine is using. I have noticed that in town get in the right gear helps you use you motor economically my cars mls per gallon is 42 . I run usually in the country side 59- 60 miles per hr
2011 Chrysler Town & Country 3.6 VVT V6 modified a 5.7 Dodge Charger air filter box with open air filter element removed the exhaust resonator (extra muffler) manually shift the 6 speed automatic and I average 27 mpg.
In wintertime, cover your grill partly, the engine heats up a lot faster and the grill of your car is a real dragmonster. And during the colder wintertime you have overcapacity so covering up doesn't harm your engine at all.
Iff i see a hill coming up, I will slightly throttle up before the hill, and try to coast up, then tap the trottle at the top. The slight uphill terrains are the constants that I didn't realize ate up so much of my mpg average until I watched the digital readings.
Clio 4 1.5dci 75hp here On 10.000km range, avrg 4.4lit/100km City drive: fast acc. to 45-50kmh and light coasting in 3rd Country: 75-95kmh in 4th goes ~3.5lit Highway: 5th 100-130kmh 5-6lit range Drive style: I use max torgue range 1700-2200 rpms, never had any issues with DPF, fuel ecc, turbo or anything. Engine breaking, planning ahead, not pushing engine to revs, for me works best. Tyre pressure checked on 2wk cadence
I found filling up my tank before it gets to half a tank rather than below gets me better mpg. My understanding is it takes less pressure to interact with the fuel system. Thank you for this informative video. I wish more people drove sensible. It seems people are driving faster and faster.
For my car, I've found a hack that if I keep the RPM needle below 2000, the average is much better. It definitely means I get a relatively slow start but the higher fuel average completely makes up for it. Please also make a video about Eco-Idle and if it actually helps. Thanks for the great content. The video has got great views and I'm sure it'll get more in the future. Great channel. Highly appreciated. 👍
@@torquecars My Toyota also has it. It is a common feature in many Kei cars as well. I read somewhere that if you keep your engine turned off for at least 13 seconds, it only saves fuel for durations longer than that. However, if the duration is lesser than that, starting the engine takes more fuel than you would have saved by turning it off.
on PSA 1.6 HDI 80kW engine, economy tuned, in city avg speed of 30km/h gives avg consumption 3,2 to 4,2 L/100km depending on how you hit traffic lights this is normal anticipating driving but never over 70 km/h in 4th gear! On open roads it's way better but will dramatically worsen if you accelerate hard or drive above 80km/h 5th gear was is good after 68km/h on level ground, for up hill downshifting was better. Without my economy tune it was averaging 5,6 to 9,2L/100km in city and never under 5 L on open roads. Remember board computer are not accurate, always measure consumption between two full tanks and calculate average your self. Be safe and don't overflow the traffic, but rather flow with it!
I drive a '11 subaru outback with the 2.5 and the cvt,and my best highway cruising speed is about 55mph (88kph) with cruise control on. I'm sure that less speed could net me more gains, but I also don't want to be a nuisance to other people on the highways xd.
I’d also like to mention slowing slightly going up a hill is just fine, especially if you know where the crest is and when you will start to roll downhill again. Why use fuel to maintain your speed when you can let gravity do it for you?
Depending on the roads, when using pulse and glide, I often try to maintain my speed or even accelerate slightly up hills so I keep the engine under an efficient load and so can coast in neutral for longer on the way down. If I let the car lose speed on the way up, I have to stay in gear longer on the way down to get my speed back up before I can coast, which brings down my average MPG. It's all about trial and error and finding out what works well for your vehicle how and where you drive it. What works for one person may or may not work for someone else.
@@averyalexander2303 that’s true. There’s not one definitive method. I didn’t mention it helps when you know the roads. In my example, I know the descent is sufficient enough to regain my speed without using throttle
My automatic Honda Civic has a torque converter lockup that kicks in at 50 mph, the most economical cruising speed is around 55mph, which is around 2200 rpm.
Having the car maintained and tuned properly, having the correct tyre pressures for the load(not always the same as the specs on the car tells one, usually higher! Also some tyres have higher rolling resistance than others, rule of thumb, the bigger the worse fuel economy. Not always the case though). Very "light" shoes!! No hard takeoffs, lift the foot long before needing to stop for traffic lights etc. Keep the revs low but smooth, keeping the cruising speed low when possible, no need to go over the speed limit,(a funny thing happens once a vehicle travels faster than 100kmh= 62mph, the wind drag multiplies exponentially = much more fuel use. I find the best speed for most is 70 to 90 kmh). Keep the car "slippery" eg no roof racks etc, keep the car as light as possible. And if possible try and find roads with less or no traffic.
I would like to say that this is a good thing to master and improve your driving but also consider if saving 6 dollars thoughout the week in gas worth your time since you will be getting to your destination much slower specially in high traffic cities where everyone will be getting in front of you thus backing you up.
Golf R Special Edition 2018 with 7 gears DSG transmission. In ECO mode, & past the 7th gear, if I take my foot off the accelerator (say) going downhill or cruising on a straight, the gearbox disengages and goes into neutral. I’m sharing this bit of info here because I was advised not to place the car into neutral when going downhill, yet VW’s engineers saw it fit to design this DSG gearbox into doing just that when in ECO mode.
On a plug in it is best to go in eco mode and in neutral but you lose the regeneration of the brakes. So on a big hill coast till it gets past the speed then back to drive to regenerate then back to neutral. When the speed limit it 120km put the car to go 125 then let go of the gas pedal to 115 then repeat. Neutral there is no gas being used. So far a car that gets advertised 6.5 liters on the highway reduced it to 5liters. Ford Escape. Sport Mode allows quicker kms to the battery. Only use that when going on a steep downhill. Still experimenting.
I used to put slick 50 in all my vehicles until I found Dura Lube... Slick 50 is Teflon based, it bonds to the metal and fills voids in the internal parts of the engine and greatly reduces friction.. But you can't put it in a new car until the engine has some miles on it... Best I can recall, it was originally designed for small airplane engines so if they lost oil pressure while in flight, the engine won't seize and they'd be able to land safely.. Dura Lube, is oil based and does the same, bonding to internals of the engine and reducing friction. But they claim it can be used in new engines, but I'll never test that as I will never have a new car, as it's far less expensive to by a good used vehicle with low miles on it, nor will I be rebuilding one anytime soon, and I hadn't learned about these the last time I rebuilt a motor.. So i now use Dura Lube instead... use just put it in with a normal oil change, and can feel a difference in the vehicle's performance immediately... I haven't tried to figure out how many more miles per gallon the car gets, I'd guess 2 or 3 miles per gallon, but even under normal driving, there's a noticeable change in fuel consumption and I make about 30% or higher, less stops to refuel during a regular week ..
I inflate my tyres 15% above advised loaded drive. Yes, it can harm the stopping distance a bit but if you are already anticipating you won't need maximum stoppingpower. In the EU you can see at a lot of websites how economical tyres are, there is a difference between all ecotyres in drag/ fuel economy and till having good grip in wet conditions. I now purchased Continental ecocontact 6, these are the best in economy and still best in wetgrip. Just a bit louder. Check if newer version is better then previous one. Use oil thats suitable for your engine, but the fueleconomy can make a lot of difference. If you can use a thinner oil thats suitable its a better choice, but also a better spec can inprove your mileage. In the 90's i saved 10% on fuel by using a top quality oil (back then mobil1 had way better mileage). (I now use Kroon Oil at the moment) Check if your car has brake energy recovery. My car uses its alterator to collect energy when i let the car slow down in gear. I don't have an electric motor or hybrid, but not needing to charge the battery during driving saves fuel too. Keep your car clean and polished, don't forget to clean out the wheelarches from mud. And lower rpm maybe better, but listen to your engine. When it sounds it strugles a bit, (mostly you feel/hear small vibrations sounds from your gearbox) you better stay in a lower gear. These vibrations can damage your gearbox drastically and ruin all the savings for years because you need an expensive repair to your gearbox.
2009 Audi TTS with cruise control set to 50km/h "road limitation", in 6th gear on a 25km trip uses 6/7L km one way and 5/6L km the other! If I drive it normally I use 7/8L km.
I stay in the right lane and try to keep it under 60. Off the highway 5mph under the limit. Slower if there is no traffic. Got 61mpg in my suv hybrid yesterday
I typically cruise at 45-50 mph for peak efficiency because it's around 1500 rpms and is at the base of 4th gear (my final gear), and i can use minimal throttle tmixed with the lowest rpms to get great economy. every car is different so each technique will be differently. suited to the car you'd driving. my 2002 toyota camry with a 2.4L i4 non-turbo, non-hybrid has at most pumped out 32 mpgs.
It's an interesting video for me, sometimes hypermiling an old 7 series auto - have had 42 on a run.. usually means getting it upto 55 and buildong it upto the high 60's then taking any downhill speed to burn-off on the next hill. Another thing, check a fuel calculator for your various routes at their mpg.. a lower mpg route can be cheaper if it's short enough.. is route B proportionally shorter than the distance route A's fuel will take me at the higher mpg of route B.
2002 camry le I use 10 percent of throttle and get pretty efficient range and power as long as you don't jump in front of someone and stay out of everyone's way it gets up to speed through ECU input and shifting
Coast into your stop signs and lights. U really dont need to break until you coast to rolllng speed. Like 5mph. The more you just let off gas you will gett very good at jugding the distance and timing so u dont have to break as much
I drive a 1997 Honda Civic sedan stick shift. I have over 350,000 miles, and I charted my fuel mileage since the car was new. It is a bad tank where I don't have at least 40mpg (or just shy of 6 liters to 100km) I tend to drive no faster than 55mph on the highway (95km/h)
Best MPG tip is to leave the car at home and take the bike/walk for all local trips! Regarding avoiding your brakes, yes will help with fuel - but your brakes actually need to be used to keep them clean and working well, look at the many EVs with corroded discs.
I'm not sure it is possible to never use your brakes but you make a good point, my rears have rust rings on them, mainly due to not using the car in lockdown, but it is an expensive repair that a bit of heavy braking could have avoided.
Apparently I grew up doing most of these, Remember the gas shortages of the 70’s and 80’s? Slowing slightly on the hills helps. Not running the engine while parked also helps. (Zero mpg when stopped). The sweet spot for my Tundra is 62 on the highway, and 45-50 on urban roads.
When I was delivery driving for dominoes I got as much as 76 MPG for 76 miles driven. That was my 2016 Prius without fancy stuff since highway accident. My 2022 Prius (same generation) bottom trim gets over 60 MPG cruising 60 MPH. There are lots of ways to improve fuel economy, but need to balance optimization with realism. If only one on the road though, you can exercise a lot better. My 2011 ford fusion and 2012 town and country also gets well above rated economy if drive consciously
I think as far as coasting in neutral vs just not accelerating it is situational. If the vehicle goes too fast in neutral, then in gear is better. There is no point idling in neutral and using the brake instead of using the engine and reducing the fuel use to zero. If being in gear robs you of more momentum than the fuel it saves - or you'd have to press the accelerator to keep going down a slight hill in gear, then go to neutral. The bottom line is something is powering that engine - whether it is fuel to keep it ticking over idling in neutral, or kinetic energy of the car being sapped to spin the unpowered and relatively high in friction and air resistance engine workings. It's no good saving fuel if you need to keep pressing the accelerator again because the silly thing is making you go slower than you want to go! I had a citroen that developed a fault and would idle at 2000 when cold and thus it was advantageous to keep it in gear at speeds below 45 mph unless I shut the engine off with the car moving! The other thing is it would draw in slightly more fuel instead of shutting off fuel until rpm in overrun exceeded about 2000. A peugeot 206 HDI would shut off fuel as soon as gravity made it go above idle.
Back when I was still in school we had to calculate the optimal speed on a flat surface for a vehicle to travel at for optimal fuel efficency. 56 Mph was the result. Obviously there are other factors and in my last car I found 57-58 was the ideal; larger engines seem to do slightly better at higher speeds.
Biggest factor is the brake pedal, learn to drive with less braking. If you do the aame journeys every day you'll soon learn just how early you can get off the acclerator. Weight, tyre compound and pressure and aerodynamics are obvious factors. On big hills I will turn my engine off but leave the igntion on, this ensures no fuel used lol. I've actually been experimenting with using a heavier foot to get up to speed and i think it has merit for saving fuel vs light throttle (as long as its not causing you to brake more). Engines are actually more efficient at full throttle. Ambient temperature is a bit factor especially when it is cold, if you have a heated garage or block heater then use it. Moderate loads and rpm when the engine is cold too to help it get up to temperate faster. I consistently get over 50mpg in my 2006 Honda Jazz doing short journeys (less than 5 miles)
The best speed for best MPG varies by vehicle... the best speed is the speed at which the car seems to want to go. On the highway, my truck wants to go 60-70 depending on the road conditions. Whatever speed you are going with minimal pressure on the throttle is the speed the vehicle wants to go.
Hypermiling my 1.9 AGR golf my personal record is 4.2L/100km in the summer and 5.2L/100km in the winter. Now with the car running on motor oil/hydraulic fluid and kerosene I usually get 6.2L/100km, but my fuel cost is cut in half!
Nissan Navara pickup. average 37mpg with a mix of town and open road. Light throttle and hovering around 2000rpm in each gear. 65mph on the motorway works best for me. Not bad for A/T tires, 2 tonne weight and the aerodynamics of a brick. 😂
about the "not using fuel when the car is in gear and coasting", while I agree that in modern cars this is true, there might be circumstances where the amount of fuel saved by not pressing the gas pedal is less than the amount of fuel you would need to bring it back up to speed. It's always a balance
I’ve got 2thousand Honda insight it’s made out of aluminum and magnesium Remove the muffler passenger seat Also took out the hybrid battery that reduced a lot of weight Discovered Potenza rE 92 tires can be inflated to over 100 psi for up to five years without any problems And I modified fuel line using copper tubing got heat from the catalytic converter which vapor rises the gas and to control how much hot gasoline goes into the injector I put an adjustable valve I can calibrate the fuel going into the motor to where top speed is 30 miles an hour or increase fuel House 70 miles an hour TopSpeed. Causes lean burn Been doing it since 2018 had no trouble I get about 100 miles per gallon when temperatures are above 75. car gets 30 miles to the gallon less when it’s below 32°
Jeg's performance parts has a throttle body adapter plate that increases mileage by 20% by mixing the fuel to air better. With shipping costs 100 dollors.
I always think of trying to find the mpg and mph matching point on a car is the most effective way to drive. Got a ŠKODA octavia 2.0tdi euro 6 a few weeks ago and driving at 65mph on the motorway is returning 67mpg but haven’t done a bigger journey of over over and hour yet as the sites I’m attending have been nice and local……ish. Will see if it can get 70mpg at 70mpg but I don’t think it will stretch to that. I think most people don’t have the concentration to use the throttle as they should but huge step forward would be using cruise control. People just accelerate and brake constantly in the motorway losing mogs using more fuel without even being conscious of it. If everyone drove at a constant speed and anticipated the road ahead to maintain it there would be less accidents as well. Humans are reactive rather than proactive though.
Damn, this could have come handy last time i went from Utah to San Diego in my 2012 Corolla 5 speed manual going a good and constant 90mph on the highway and in some bits even going 100 mph Google Maps said it was 7.5 hours, i started at arround 8pm and arrived to San Diego at 2am (wich is 3am Utah Time) and on top of that, i did two 25 minutes stops to refuel and use the restroom so i saved a good hour and a half by speeding. Next time i'll try to make the stops a bit faster, like 5-10 minutes and i will share the time. That's really good if you don't mind spending an extra buck in order to save time. Speeding over long distances can save you a LOT of time, it's risky yeah, cause you never know if there's gonna be a cop waiting to stop you but there's a lot of empty long sections where there is not even a single town on I-15 South therefore, no cops. My trick is to slow down whenever i came across a town and go the speed limit. Speeding over short distances IS NOT WORTH IT tho. You would save minutes at most, but when you increase the distance that's where it adds up logically. I will try these tips next time i do a long trip, only try, cause im a really impacient person and i get anxious when driving slow.
Get to know your car. All cars have a "sweet spot" where you notice that the speed + RPM is putting very little strain on the engine = your cruising speed. For old volvos that's usually around 90 to 110 km/h. Many manufacturers have this range for maximal fuel economy. But as always it depends on your cars engine and gear ratio.
65.4mpg is the best I've had from my 245bhp D5 Volvo S60, manual. And 50mph is defo the sweet spot. And used to drive a BMW 335i with 400bhp and got 36mpg doing the same journey.
You caught properly the safety impact of slipstreaming (tailgating). But like others, you missed stating the actual amount of savings obtained by driving behind cars, but especially large trucks, at a "safe" distance. In today's environment, when we experience high traffic volume, we are already on the edge of following too closely to the vehicle in front of us. But no one seems to have valid figures of how much fuel is saved. A mere 5% - 10% savings (if it can be proven) would be impressive compared to other motorists who insist on changing to the fast lane. As a side note, my '04 Prius with 256,000 miles has never had the brakes replaced because of anticipating the road ahead and using the "B" setting on the car.
I'd slipstream but there are at least 2 reasons against. I don't like to drive behind large vehicles because I can't evaluate traffic in front and the second reason is that people are unpredictable and most of them brake for no reason, just because they feel they have to, so driving close isn't an option for me.
@@igorpotocnik7231 I can't disagree with your concern with sliptreaming. A piece of tire on the pavement that the vehicle avoids in front of you may not be so trouble-free for you! The worst position to be in when many cars are in a line is to be in the front of the line. Let's talk about driving behind a truck in the rain. Think how hard it is to ride a bicycle in the sand. Wet pavement is like sand to your car's tires; it kills fuel economy. Following behind a truck (at a safe distance) helps prevent your car from hydroplaning and reduces some of the resistance to your tires caused by the rain. In addition, the spray and mist from the vehicle ahead you may actually cool and improve the engine's fuel consumption. Recall that in the past, both aircraft and some automobiles used vapor injection to improve fuel economy.
I have an economical fiesta 1.6tdci 2009. But with my busy traffic into a large built up town I am still getting 64mpg just by being smart. Bought the car off my brother about 6 months ago. He was doing a similar route and only doing 43mpg. His 200 kile week would use 20.93l - (current price is £30.55) Mine with 200 miles is 14.06l this costs £20.53 Thats £10pw saving and over £500 per year. Trip to Blackpool 170miles keeping it at 60mph can still achieve 75mpg and only arrived 10 mins later and saved about the same. Plus the savings on tyers and breaks your probably looking at an annual savings of around £600-700.
Make sure you don’t leave oil changes too long in that engine - they’re notorious for sludge blocking the turbo feed pipe. My brother in law has one and doesn’t look after it - I’m just waiting for the day it goes bang!
Coasting in neutral uses minimal fuel, at the benefit of no deceleration drag from the engine into the drivetrain to reduce your speed/momentum, so by coasting in neutral you can go further with the fuel you have used to accelerate which gave you momentum at the cost of idling which is usually equally to 99+mpg instant mpg calc.
And If the hill isn't steep enough so you have to use fuel to maintain, sometimes you can maintain by coasting in neutral. Not to mention you generally get more speed due to no engine having to be turned by going in neutral, so you can accelerate.for free! Even if you roll from 0 to 30kmh that's a lot of fuel saved! Scania trucks and volvos almost always coast in neutral.. Why? It's best, most of the time. And again, coasting over the crest.of the hill can save a lot of fuel
I drive 20 min to work and 5 of that is Autobahn, I go all the time full throttle there up to max speed of 230km/h(legal in Germany). I drive the speed limit and just drive normally with some corners I like to go fast in(on/off the highway). My drive style is "spirited driving" but still get 5.8L/100km average in my bmw 220d xdrive coupé. I use premium diesel but that doesn't explain why I still get such a good fuel economy with my drive style. What I do see is a lot of people tailgating others and braking/accelerating a lot just to keep tailgating... I don't do that and my guess ist that braking and accelerating in rapid succession is what kills fuel economy. My final thought on this is just don't Tailgate people, driving at 200km/h consumes less fuel than tailgating at 70km/h.
I know coastign is stated to be bad for fuel economy as it's still 'dumping fuel', but, what about 'rolling' down a hill in neutral for example? I do neutral a LOT to save on fuel. But do wear the brakes a bit more as I 'roll' into a stop relying entirely on brakes to slow down as oppose to the little help down shifting does. Thanks for the video ! :)
Hi buddy, neutral will still need to dump fuel to keep the engine spinning, so weight this up against the engine braking you get, which should be minimal in a high gear. In most cases you'll save fuel in the higher gear than you will when coasting. Of course there are exceptions, but I should also point out that in many areas coasting is illegal as it reduces control of your vehicle.
Also it depends on how steep the hill is and how much engine braking you feel. My old car barely hits 55 mph even on a fairly steep downhill, so if I want to keep with the traffic, I need to add more throttle, negating the benefits of fuel-cut-off. In which case, might as well let the engine idle a bit to speed up, slap the gear back in when i want to slow down or the bottom of the hill is approaching. As for rolling to a stop, it depends on the distance. If you need to slow down fast enough to use your brakes, keep it in gear because during engine braking, fuel is cut and you're getting infinity MPG. If you want to roll for as long as possible, neutral gives you the best distance because engine braking is sapping energy out of your momentum.
I drive @ 50 mph on A roads and 55-57 mph on motorways as to not have Lorrie’s over take me, I can get 76-80 MPG with my 2016 MINI COOPER SD 2.0 DIESEL. It works for me
At maximum torque rpm the engine is most efficient. For my 3 litre TD Toyota Granvia that is 2000 rpm...in third gear and overdrive that is 60mph and gives 42 mpg cruising on the motorway.
i've got a diesel fabia, i've been driving economically and managed 70mpg! what i do is i let go of the accelerator when approaching roundabouts, junctions, lights, to let the car coast to slow down and i can see my mpg creeps up and up. also, light acceleration helps, but sometimes you have to put ya foot down specially when you're joining the motorway or a busy junction. i drive as fuel efficiently as possible. also when driving 30mph, i put her on 4th instead of 3rd gear.
I have an Audi 2.0ltr TDI ultra 2017 and usually driving on motorways. I recently stop driving in Eco mode and only drive in Dynamic mode as when driving in Eco the engine feels very sluggish
Engine braking is more efficient than braking and often its enough in slow moving traffic, i once had a red light and because i let go of the gas the engine braking was enough to arrive at just the moment the light turned green so i slowly accelerated again
I drive at an altitude of 2000 + meters over sea level (6000 ft), lots of steep hills making it impossible to drive efficiently on 3rd or 4th gear, some are possible to go at 50 mph, slight throttle at about 2.5k rpm doing 18 mpg, downhill use is 0 fuel, and the few flat roads I get 30 + mpg in a Megane 2, 2.0 F4R. An overall mpg of 20. For the altutude, terrain and car, and pace I drive is pretty good. To get 25 or 28 mpg here you need a shitbox that weights well under 2000 pounds, 1000 cc, and being 100% obsessed with not using fuel
If your car can give you a live mpg estimate, use it. Makes such a huge difference. With it off I get about 55mpg, on I've recently passed 61.4mpg pending a reset to get a more relevent average
Checking the overall average is also helpful as I've realised that getting up to speed in a more reasonable time is actually better than accelerating too slowly as once at speed you can get back to using very little fuel. I go for about 1/2 to 2/3 throttle when changing to national speed limits depending on the incline.
For me (1.5 TSI Skoda Octavia), it’s a matter off: - Do not accelerate hard - preserve momentum People have no idea how much difference it makes if you drive smoothly and gently. You don’t have to drive at idle rpm at all! Just be gentle. Over 25% savings just for that..
![🚫10 Driving Habits That KILL Your Car 💥[Warning]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NONXE1_lE5Q/mqdefault.jpg)
![🚫10 Driving Habits That KILL Your Car 💥[Warning]](/img/tr.png)
It's true that the accelerator is the most important pedal to modulate for fuel economy, but the brake pedal is extremely important as well. Every time you brake you waste kinetic energy that the engine already converted from fuel, and you must replace that energy assuming you haven't just enetered your parking spot, so depending on traffic and road conditions, the brake can be almost more important than the accelerator for fuel economy. The less you have to brake, the better. The other major factor is cruising speed. 25-35 MPH is the most efficient speed zone for manual cars, and 35-45 MPH for automatic cars. Some cars will have 2 peaks in different speed ranges, but the peak inside the aforementioned zone will always be higher (for example, a car can get it's absolute best fuel economy at 25 MPH, then get better MPG at 50 MPH than at 40 MPH, my 2020 Honda Fit was like that for example). Faster or slower than the ideal speed range (or if you have more than one, ranges) will lower mpg exponentially. Acceleration does matter, but not as much as target speed and maintaining momentum.
Also, coasting in neutral vs coasting in gear is very nuanced. If you need any braking force whatsoever (slowing traffic, steep downhill) it is better to utilize the engine braking effect where the engine uses no fuel at all. However, if you are coasting on flat ground or a very slight incline and don't need any braking force at all, it is slightly more efficient to coast in neutral. Yes, coasting in neutral does use fuel, but it also reduces drag at the wheels. The drag force at the wheels is correlated with engine rpm. When you coast in neutral, the drag force is being overcome by the engine via fuel combustion, and when you coast in gear, the drag is overcome by the momentum of the car, slowing it down. When you coast in neutral, the idle rpm if 700 rpm is worth "100 drag points" which is overcome by the engine using fuel, but when you coast in gear at 2000 rpm, that's worth "286 drag points" but since the engine isn't overcoming the drag, the car is slowing down much more quickly. The increased drag is effectively the same as increased aero drag or rolling resistance or even gravitational drag like going up a slight hill, it reduces your potential fuel economy. This means if no braking force is required, coasting in neutral strategically is more efficient, but if you need braking force anyway, coasting in gear is more efficient because it shuts off the fuel injectors.
I currently drive a 1994 Honda Accord and I get 37-39 MPG (US gallons, not UK gallons) because I'm very careful with the brake and I pretty much drive the conservative speed limits here in Colorado. Mainly long trips as well. I had a 2020 Toyota Tacoma that I actually have video footage of on my channel of it getting 27-28 MPG (not the purpose of the videos, but it's visible nonetheless) even though it's rated for only 18 MPG city and 23 MPG highway.
Cruise control is not ideal for economy as skilled driver can always do better. Usually the difference between cruise control and a skilled driver is negligible though. It depends on road and traffic conditions as well as the engine/transmission engineering as well. If you have a manual economy car with no proper highway gear (like if your car is doing 3000 rpm at 60 mph in your top gear) and you're on hilly terrain with very little traffic, you can implement pulse and glide technique to absolutely smash the fuel economy you would get if you were just using cruise control. If you have an automatic car and driving on flat terrain with moderate to heavy traffic, cruise control is really not much worse than even the most skilled driver.
Agree, drafting (slipstreaming as you called it) is never advisable. The savings are trivial and not worth the risk to life or property.
Very true, short trips hurt MPG numbers but highest MPG doesn't always mean lowest fuel consumption or cost. It's always good to group short trips together and start out with the furthest destination and work your way back to your origin.
Some of my favorite tips:
1. Get any unneeded weight out of the vehicle.
2. Look ahead, learn how to slow down with no braking or the least amount of braking possible.
3. When slowing down for a planned turn or stop, try doing so without brakes.
4. If you can maintain speed going down a hill in neutral, do it. If you start speeding up, shift into gear. (manual transmission only, not worth the effort in automatics)
5. Leave early, drive the speed limit. Maybe less if you have no traffic behind you.
6. Avoid traffic when you can. Plan your route and use a traffic monitoring app if possible.
Not only that, unnecessary braking also wears the pads out more quickly.
You could be officially the best commenter of the year with these comments, thanks for your input and thanks for the support my friend. You inspired the eco car mods video I dropped last week.
...because he points out a lot of truth and specially about coasting. Some cars do automatic coasting ... because the engineers found it is an important saving fuel trick. Inteligent coasting in neutral, when braking is not needed, is a very important fuel saver!!
@@inacioserralheiro2604 coasting in neutral doesn't save fuel at all. in fact it just wastes it
when you coast in neutral the engine isn't being turned by the wheels, so it has to power itself using, you guessed it, FUEL. when you coast in gear, though, the engine doesn't use ANY fuel because it's already being turned by the wheels
I currently don't have enough money saved up yet to get my wheel alignment corrected and as a result my brakes shudder horribly, the whole car shakes when I slow down so to offset this I engine brake my car in manual select mode. Yesterday I figured the sweet spot for slowing down all the gears and this way I can save up until I am able to pay for a proper alignment as well as possible newer, stronger rotors and brakes pads. I have '17 Taurus limited 😎 they pretty damn comfy to cruise in but can also surprisingly catch other drivers off guard when I floor it also I might start using the "pulse and glide" method
Had my Polo bluemotion 1.2 tdi from new since 2012 and love it's frugality. I've managed to get 70 - 90 mpg on most journeys, once managing 100 mpg on a 25 mile trip. I just drive sensibly with an eye on economical techniques. Will drive this car as long as it keeps going
I had 2008 1.4 tdi polo which would average 60 mpg I now have a 2015 Vauxhall Astra diesel 1.6 which to surprise gives me the same mpg but is a. Iot smooth with having the extra cylinder it has 6 gears which keeps the Revs down but it is not now screwed to getter has well has a vw
You are talking real sense, ive been driving like this for 25yrs and saved a fortune in fuel costs over that time.. the biggest problem is idiots on the road. Some must need to be changing their brake pads every year. The best hyper miling i achieved was 450miles on 3 gallons of diesel 8 yrs ago
I'm learning that it's actually better to brake early and lengthen the time you're coasting then just coming to a stop quickly at a stop.
And water is wet!!
@@brucebanksshow if you see at traffic light or stop sign ahead just let off all pedals and coast into it. And u only have to brake to stop car rolling. The more you do it you can judge and time letting off the gas to coast to the stop
Better late than never Bruce
Agree. Ill slow down way b4 the light so the time it turned green u get the Momentum
@@rustyshackleford3320 Then you pass everyone that insisted on getting there first then they end up passing you even if you passed them and got up to the upper speed limit that doesn't draw attention from cops. At least you are saving money and wear and tear.
I have a '14 Ford Fiesta, it is automatic. I got an additional 3 MPG just by never going over 65 MPH on the freeway. Went from 35 MPG to 38 MPG.
That adds up over time doesn't it?
Sounds painful for 3mpg 😂
@@JackKing12. Here in rochester it's hard to go above 70 with how busy the highways are unless you wanna pass everyone.
I got a '19 Fiesta, and I'm tempted to try, but here in PA, you get run off the road if you're below 70 mph. You'll even get bullied by the truckers if you're even slightly below the speed limit.
55mph is my sweet spot, anything more and wind resistance increases exponentially, anything less and the engine is doing too much work for how little it needs to fight.
Poppycock!
EXACTLY! Me too, and it is a very poor tank where I get under 40mpg (5.8l/100km) in my '97 Civic
I used my fuel consumption indicator decent 46 mpg at 120 kmh on my diesel e90
It probably helped that I was on full load that helped against air resistance on long road stretches so I can surf relatively lightly with my throttle
In my limited testing, my Gen4 Prius did better with 60MPH. Little bit of variability between vehicles, but that's a big reason for the 55 MPH speed limit in a lot of places where other places in USA are 70, fuel economy tests at the time.
Can’t go that speed in most of us you’ll be ran over
Coasting in neutral downhill does need extra fuel to keep the engine running, but on the other hand, leaving it in gear causes significant engine braking (particularly with high-compression engines like diesels), which slows you down. Then you have to put your foot down earlier, to compensate. Coasting in neutral allows you to go further before significant power (and fuel flow) is demanded from the engine. Depending on the hill, you might want to use one, the other, or both methods.
If you are approaching traffic lights, or some other reason to stop, leaving the engine in gear is better, as it shuts off the fuel completely, and provides the braking you need anyway.
Another tip I think wasn't mentioned, is to ensure your brakes aren't binding. Even just a little bit makes a difference. Try driving a reasonable distance and then stopping without using your brakes at all. Then feel the disc rotors or drums. If any one of them is warm or hot, you have something to go at that would improve your mpg.
I have a Smart forfour turbo diesel, which at one point would give 75 mpg imperial, with none-too-careful driving. I only do very short journeys in it now though, so only get about 50 mpg. Years ago, I had a normally aspirated Mark 1 Diesel Golf which I drove quite hard, and got over 70 mpg. That was an amazing, no-frills utility car. Despite all the high-tech of the Smart forfour, it's not really any better than my old Golf as a basic transport.
We usually need to brake to avoid over speeding downhill so that increases fuel consumption if the car is in neutral. It is better to let the engine coast in gear and maintain speed downhill and avoiding over speeding at the same time. It is usually much more expensive to get a speeding ticket and 3 points on the licence too!
@@CrowPal I agree
Pressing clutch or putting it in Neutral keep momentum and the gas burning is bout 1000Rpm But in gear its about 3000RPM. I personally get 50 plus miles to a tank using that methed.
@@TL-xw6fhi well sounds like we have a cop problem more then putting it in neutral. Cops should only be called upon to actual help ppl, i swear were going lose all our rights in name of safety and PC and "misinfo" aka thing were not allowed to know, like the truth, like in a world of majority wants peace but we just cant pull it off and they will spend 20,000,000,000 a year on w@r on liberties or dr#gs and that could be in our pockets alone with ALOTTTTT of other bs but tobacco which kills more than all dr*gs combine, perfectly legal, ya they pass laws for our good. Sorry had to rant, cause i had to waste my breaks and gas not cause i wasnt safe but didnt want the state to punish me
It’s not the high compression ratio of a diesel that gives you engine braking, it’s the throttling effect increasing pumping losses that give engine braking.
Very few diesels have a throttle, so most diesels have worse engine braking than a petrol engine.
If you are using your brake pedal for anything other than emergency deceleration, the fuel companies send their love.
And if you don't use the brakes enough to keep the discs clean they will corrode (they do here in the UK when you get the salt on the roads in winter), and the garage and brake disc manufacturers will love you too.
But just take note of the recommendations if you get your car serviced at a main dealer, e.g "corrosion on the discs and pads 50% worn", my Golf was good for another couple of years before they needed to be replaced.
Great video. I know a lot of these tips. I'm an extreme Hypermiler. I went out on a spin today up to Glendalough. On the mountainous roads, I got between 82 to 99 MPG UK. Going back on the motorway going at 58 to 60 mph, I got an amazing 76 to 83 mpg. I do tend to read the traffic ahead, and use B mode when approaching lights, rather than having to use the hydraulic brakes. I have a 2012 Toyota Auris 1.8 Hybrid. It's a fantastic car for sure, and way cheaper to run than a normal car. I've saved €800 to €1000 per year on petrol per year.
Gosh you sound fun
@@ln5747 He's a skilled guy who really commits to saving money. How can you hate that?
35 yrs ago I read a book call " how to drive it forever" and says alot of what this video does. Keeping momentum, look at traffic ahead, no sudden acceleration. I also avoid starting up hills.
This has also allowed me to have 3 Honda's go into mid 350,000 miles. With zero internal engine repairs.
But let's not talk about Odyssey transmissions.
@@JonathanWhoever What's wrong with those transmissions?
I used to put those odysseys together b4 getting fired for using my 1stA wrong and not PC
I’m using some of these tips in my 2008 Dodge charger R/T 5.7🤣 previous owner installed e fans, I never drive anyone but myself, keep it below 2k rpm on my commutes, and use 89 when the cost makes sense. With how I drive, I fuel up once a week, and it costs me 50 bucks. Haven’t tested the actual mpg number but honestly it could be worse for a 2 ton comfy boat with a HEMI lol
Thank you sir! My car always brings up a message in eco mode saying not to depress the clutch until I'm at 1200rpm. Now I know why. No more coasting for me
I have 2 vehicles I want to mention. First is my 2010 F150 with 4.6 liter v8 no stop/start or cylinder shutoff. When I first bought it I was getting 15 to 17 mpg. I was told this was quite normal. Now with rising prices over the last 4 years I have become very economy conscious. Now I get 21.5mpg in the summer and up to 22.4mpg in the winter. My best cruising speed in the truck seems to be when I hit overdrive at 41 mph.
I also just purchased a 2024 Prius LE. Not a prime model. The expected mpg for my car is 57. At this time my average mpg is 71.3 and has been slowly increasing as I learn to drive more economically. I have not had the Prius long enough to determine a best speed for economy. I have had it 15 days and driven it just over 1400 miles.
That's incredible
I have a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country Touring with an automatic transmission and 3.8L V6 engine. No modifications and 200,000 miles on it. Yesterday I went 175 miles on the highway averaging 60-65 MPH, and I ended up getting 30.38 MPG. I'd say that's pretty good for a van rated at 23 highway!
And now the authorities want us driving around at the very inefficient speed of 20mph !
As the maximum.
I am now pushing my car with my family on the highway. This indeed works like a charm on my MPG. Thank you so much !!
I've started using these techniques as much as I can. I am in the United states driving a big boxy sedan. I was originally getting around 17 miles per gallon, which is great for such a car. Now I can just about squeeze just about 22 miles per gallon out of it on a good day. This has definitely saved me tons of money and likely a fair bit on repairs when it comes to general wear and tear.
The US gallon is about 25% smaller than the UK gallon!!
Think about buying another car, the mileage can be so much better its worth the investment.
Am elated to review your commentary. I have been an undiagnosed hyper fuel mileage economist for over 56 driving years. Your on point with each and all techniques offered. I won't brag. Its not part of my personality. But I always significantly exceed the maximum epa rating for each vehicle I own, including my motorcycles. Ex: 2017 honda fit std/1.5 /gdi/norm asp, gets 42 to 44 mpg. Have gotten 51.4 mpg cross country . Currently getting 38.8 mpg average on my 2017 chevy malibu auto 1.5 economist. Have gotten 45.4 mpg best so far. Be curios how your future commentary may continue to augment my understanding. Can't say enough,! Bravo!
Been driving my 2011 mustang v6 manual more easily now, put 2inch taller tires but same treadwidth, put a tune on it to optimize fuel and ignition timing, and accelerate below 2000rpm...with these methods i went from 18 mpg in city/rural driving combo and now im at 23-28 mpg...very happy
I've got a 2010 320d efficiencydynamics.
I'm used to petrol engines and it took me a while to understand how to efficiently drive it. I was previously hovering at 1.5k revs and getting bad numbers.
I now stay at 2k and change gear at 2.5k revs. Right on the power band. Gentle adjustments on the throttle are very responsive and the dial almost never goes below 50mpg. At 1.5k revs it was dipping down to ~10mpg during mild acceleration.
I travel almost everywhere without using gears 5 or 6 now and I save a lot of money. It's strange and counterintuitive.
My top tips for fuel savings (without being that donkey that holds everyone up). For me, I drive a small turbocharged petrol, 1.8T B7 A4 Quattro.
1. Pressing on, up the on ramp for a motorway: Stay out of boost, but rev the engine higher. E.g. Change @ ~4000rpm
2. Pretend that 1/3 throttle is full throttle (unless your boost comes on earlier, then reduce your "full throttle" to your limit). If you find that you're slowing down at 1/3 throttle, change down a gear, try again. Soon enough you'll learn how your car handles varying road conditions with this in mind.
3. Use Waze for every journey (unless you are familiar with the area and its speed limits), Waze now has a fancy feature that shows you the next speed limit change. No use speeding up from 20mph to 50mph just to come back down to 20mph in half a mile, just gracefully raise your speed so as not to annoy your fellow drivers, then coast back down to the next speed limit. Eventually you'll figure out your cars rolling resistance and be able to time your speed to the limit change.
4. Maintain at least 3 seconds behind the car in front (you can time this with how long it takes for you to reach the road stud/reflector the car in front has just passed till you pass it)
5. Brakes are for emergencies and stopping, not for slowing down. I.e. Read the road ahead of you, if the car 1 mile ahead slows down, chances are that the car 100ft in front of you will slow down too. Anticipate this and reduce throttle OR come off it entirely. Your 3 second gap will pay dividends as you coast into the space you've left. Generally I find if you're on level ground and coming to a roundabout or an off ramp, 0.3-0.4 miles is the point to start coasting to a stop. Adjust for your conditions.
6. Go with the flow. Often I find 2 extremes on a dual carriageway in heavy traffic. The left lane with the trucks is cruising along at 60mph, the right lane is constantly yoyoing between 60mph (as cars move to the right lane) and 70-80mph (as annoyed motorists speed past the ass that moved over without speeding up). Your best bet is to just cruise with the trucks, you won't get where you're going much quicker, but you will reap the fuel savings.
7. Leave early! Got somewhere to be? Leave early, you will not be paying attention to any of the above if you have somewhere to be and little time to get there. It's just unnecessary stress and you'll pay for it. If traffic is lighter than anticipated, you can even cruise at a lower speed.
8. Maintain your car! Something as simple as incorrectly gapped spark plugs can make a big difference on fuel economy. Low tyre pressure can also have a significant effect. Everything else is preventative maintenance, after all we're doing this to save money. Maintaining your car with appropriate intervals will go a long way to save you money.
A few other tips:
-If you're stopped in ye olde torque converter automatic, put it in neutral.
-Don't buy cheap tyres, buy premium tyres
-Stop driving further to get cheaper fuel
-Don't do short trips in a diesel, you can easily plan around this
-Fix it now, stop procrastinating
This video is really insightful, glad others think like me rather than just adding belly pans and taping seams.
Great tips , i would add one people don't normaly think about! easy listening music I have found it makes you much more relaxed Ie: happy to cruse at lower speeds and makes you a far more forgiving driver when other people do stupid things.
With regard to breaking, I have had lots of people get out of there cars to me when stoped at the lights to tell me my break lights are not working, I point out I did not use the breaks at all as I predict when I need to stop by looking way ahead on the road and use my gears ;) (ex bus driver)
That is a good suggestion it makes sense that music affects the driver, Dubstep certainly makes me a little heavier on the accelerator!
@@torquecars some slow beat jaz or massive attack, it works try it :)
I rive a 4.4 litre twin turbo V8 diesel Range Rover, I live in France so off the highway I am restricted to a legal limit of 80 kph, I drive tactically and get over 40 mpg on my normal non autoroute driving. This I do by reading the road ahead, using only enought throttle to keep a steady speed and try tp use a minimum of braking. I was getting mid 30s fuel econony then I had the engine and gearbox remaped and now because of the added BHP and more importantly increased engine torque I find that my fuel economy has got dramatically better, the car is also way more pleasant to drive with the 8 speed auto box being less busy with down shifts and tending to upshift earlier and then to hold that gear longer. This is a nearly three tonne car returning 40 + mpg while covering the ground very rapidly but within the legal linit. It cost me less in speeding fines, less in fuel and my average journey times are slightly quicker than before. I find that even on my nomal 60 km daily drive, unless I have to come to a complete halt I hardly touch the brake because I read the road ahead and adjust my speed to the conditions I am about to encounter. I also have a highly modified Gen one Mini Cooper S which I drive in a totally different manner to the Range Rover, I enjoy the way it handles and accelerates on twisty well surface French B roads, I say it is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. But I still drive reading the road ahead and so far I have over 250 km on a set of front disc pads which even now are less that half used. I proves that you can still drive extremely rapidly and still have a good fuel consumption (high 30s) plus incurring minimal brake wear. Hence another saving in driving cost. Time will tell if the Range Rover brakes last as long as those in the lighter car.
As I have stated on other web sites I have moved my seat slightly forward, thus allowing me to place my heel at the base of the accelerator. This keeps the foot more upright on the pedal, just about where my instep is, therefore any jiggling of the foot from the road surface undulations are not transmitted to the pedal and putting tiny amounts of fuel into the engine when not required. Using this extremely light-footed approach I can see the MPG going up on the digital readout, sometimes to the tune of eight or nine miles per gallon!
I run an Audi A4 S line, 180 hp and remapped, of sixteen years old, and on a longish run (100 miles of so) get up to 77 mpg!
what remap do you have?
One thing to note for hot environments, if you lose fuel economy in the summer, try going up a grade of gasoline/petrol, even if your car doesn't require it or it's a new car. On both my car (which is over 10 years old) and a friend's new hybrid we both got back are loses from the summer heat by using 89 octane (US) instead of 87.
I wouldn't recommend that. The ignition timing is different as the higher octane fuel burns at different temps
Literally no. If your engine is tuned for a specific octane. Using anything different will not improve anything
Not recommended
The reason this "works" is that the ECU keeps the engine on the edge of knocking. It will advance the ignition timing if you put premium in, but the increase in fuel economy generally doesn't pay for the increased cost.
I have a 2.0 Audi A6 Ultra TDI, and on a pure motorway run, a clear run on the M25 as rare as that sounds, i completed a 70 mile journey getting 69.4mpg! Highest I’ve ever seen on a motorway run is 69.7mpg coming back from Silverstone with my friend in the car! Again driving at 70mph, 7th gear is 1400 rpm however 😅
I get the best mileage when I put it in Neutrral and coast whenever possible...you slow down MUCH faster when it's in gear when you're not depressing the gas pedal. I can even make it up a lot of hills if my speed is high enough after coasting...i really can't do that in Drive without pushing the gas pedal.
Thanks for sharing
Use cruise control often. It keeps the vehicle at constant speed..keeps the engine at constant temperature. NB always cancel when you feel your getting closer to vehicles in front. Resume once in 2 second rule, or simply adjust speed to be at 2 second rule. Wallah!
Ever thought about being a driving instructor, your the only person I've listened to that knows how to drive.
I tend to use some techniques as you say would drive people mad, though I’m clever about when I use them. I know when I can drive efficiently and I know when I can really start to hypermile
Italian tune-up is periodically needed and oil changes well inside service schedules. Every time I use a courtesy car I can drive using minimum of 30% reduction of fuel but mostly about 50%; so double the economy as you advocate. Tabulated fuel economy greatly assists determining this. It is very important to warm up an engine slowly. I never ever need new brake pads(only did so when I competitively raced vehicles) . Speed should transition slowly without undue haste getting into top gear. Most auto gearboxes will be damaged by coasting in neutral. Avoiding traffic congestion and tyre pressures correct is probably the biggest saver on fuel and starter motors. Fast accelerating EVs will impose bad habits on many who may feel beholden to accelerate unnecessarily.
I don't care about horrible EVs they can wait behind me
I have a 2023 bayon Hyundai and in eco on a 140 mile round trip with 1.2 litre engine and 40 volt battery in boot. Im getting 52mpg and if i control car as stated in comfort mode letting it engine brake i get 56mpg which is more than manufacture states. Ive refilled to double check consumption and its spot on. Best tip is 70 mph and check tyre pressure, ive done 50mph and 60mph with less mpg so at 70mph modern engines seems to be productive as long as your moving constantly.
Living in UK. My favorite cruise control speed on motorways is 56- 60 mph when I am not in hurry. I have one rule: go only as slow as trucks. Never slower. Otherwise forcing truckers to overtake very slow cars causes motorway bottle necking. I hate that when someone else bottlenecks highways, so don`t want create same problem. Results with my 2010 Ford Mondeo 2L TDCI diesel: 57-63 mpg at 56- 60 mph. Tyres properly inflated. Using top quality engine oil. Oil changed every 8000- 10 000 miles. Changing transmission fluid every 37 000 miles. Transition is automatic. At 60 mph engine runs at 1800 rpm. I always get 730- 820 miles extra urban on long journeys from 70 liters tank. Loving it!
Everytime you touch the brake you convert kinetic energy to heat via brakes or engine
last year i drove 36k miles on 187 gallons of gas (us). going to build a light weight lithium battery to replace my lead acid and save about 45lbs. got some gas cans and keep about 30 gal at home in my garage so its no big deal to drive around with only 2-3 gal left in the tank (-45 lbs vs full tank). driving a 2013 chevy volt, which really is in a world of its own for gas savings. a phev before the concept even existed, and theyre dirt cheap now here in the US. i think called the ampera in uk, very few imported. people dont know hypermiling until they get this car.... 100+ mpg lol its all about that 50-55 miles of ev range im getting each way to/from work. car will pay foritself soon, only paid 7k for mine and my insurance is only 21$/mo
all the info in this video is very well presented in a pragmatic way. good video
i boged off hypermiling all together and bought a dirty deisel now i get 65 mpg at 70 mph and 55 mpg driving around town and i just boot it up to the speed limit and drop it into the right gear from there [ i bought a honda 1.6 deisel mk 9 the most fuel efficiant car i ever owened ]
Just bought a plug in hybrid haven't gotten it yet and coasting in neutral might be the best on big hills. I know my elanta 6 speed it was best to I found to press in the clutch as it would reduce engine drag.
Nissan Armada here -- about the worst vehicle you can buy for gas milage. No cylinder deactivation, just a big V8 and a heavy truck-like vecicle. Taking my kids to school is several miles of flat, straight roads through farmland with stop signs ever 1/2 to 1 mile. I've tried all kinds of acceleration strategies and what works best for me is accelerating rapidly to 40-45 miles per hour, then hitting the cruise control until I feel I can coast to the stopsign (in gear) with about 20 MPH or less to spare. Using this strategy gets me 16-17 MPG rather than 13-14 MPG driving normally. I think accelerating quickly keeps me in the powerband and shortens the time I'm using more fuel -- then immediately letting off to cruise at a high efficiency speed.
I have a 1.2 Zetec Ford Fiesta I use the fuel setting so l can visually see what my engine is using. I have noticed that in town get in the right gear helps you use you motor economically my cars mls per gallon is 42 . I run usually in the country side 59- 60 miles per hr
2011 Chrysler Town & Country 3.6 VVT V6 modified a 5.7 Dodge Charger air filter box with open air filter element removed the exhaust resonator (extra muffler) manually shift the 6 speed automatic and I average 27 mpg.
In wintertime, cover your grill partly, the engine heats up a lot faster and the grill of your car is a real dragmonster. And during the colder wintertime you have overcapacity so covering up doesn't harm your engine at all.
Iff i see a hill coming up, I will slightly throttle up before the hill, and try to coast up, then tap the trottle at the top. The slight uphill terrains are the constants that I didn't realize ate up so much of my mpg average until I watched the digital readings.
Clio 4 1.5dci 75hp here
On 10.000km range, avrg 4.4lit/100km
City drive: fast acc. to 45-50kmh and light coasting in 3rd
Country: 75-95kmh in 4th goes ~3.5lit
Highway: 5th 100-130kmh 5-6lit range
Drive style: I use max torgue range 1700-2200 rpms, never had any issues with DPF, fuel ecc, turbo or anything. Engine breaking, planning ahead, not pushing engine to revs, for me works best. Tyre pressure checked on 2wk cadence
I found filling up my tank before it gets to half a tank rather than below gets me better mpg. My understanding is it takes less pressure to interact with the fuel system. Thank you for this informative video. I wish more people drove sensible. It seems people are driving faster and faster.
Good for the fuel pump to keep plenty of gas in tank , low gas can cause fuel pump to not get enough lubrication.
Lol, 😂, are you actually serious?
Sounds like an old wife’s tale
For my car, I've found a hack that if I keep the RPM needle below 2000, the average is much better.
It definitely means I get a relatively slow start but the higher fuel average completely makes up for it.
Please also make a video about Eco-Idle and if it actually helps.
Thanks for the great content. The video has got great views and I'm sure it'll get more in the future.
Great channel. Highly appreciated.
👍
Is that the Ford Eco Idle system you refer to?
@@torquecars My Toyota also has it. It is a common feature in many Kei cars as well. I read somewhere that if you keep your engine turned off for at least 13 seconds, it only saves fuel for durations longer than that.
However, if the duration is lesser than that, starting the engine takes more fuel than you would have saved by turning it off.
on PSA 1.6 HDI 80kW engine, economy tuned, in city avg speed of 30km/h gives avg consumption 3,2 to 4,2 L/100km depending on how you hit traffic lights this is normal anticipating driving but never over 70 km/h in 4th gear! On open roads it's way better but will dramatically worsen if you accelerate hard or drive above 80km/h 5th gear was is good after 68km/h on level ground, for up hill downshifting was better. Without my economy tune it was averaging 5,6 to 9,2L/100km in city and never under 5 L on open roads. Remember board computer are not accurate, always measure consumption between two full tanks and calculate average your self. Be safe and don't overflow the traffic, but rather flow with it!
I drive a '11 subaru outback with the 2.5 and the cvt,and my best highway cruising speed is about 55mph (88kph) with cruise control on. I'm sure that less speed could net me more gains, but I also don't want to be a nuisance to other people on the highways xd.
I’d also like to mention slowing slightly going up a hill is just fine, especially if you know where the crest is and when you will start to roll downhill again. Why use fuel to maintain your speed when you can let gravity do it for you?
Depending on the roads, when using pulse and glide, I often try to maintain my speed or even accelerate slightly up hills so I keep the engine under an efficient load and so can coast in neutral for longer on the way down. If I let the car lose speed on the way up, I have to stay in gear longer on the way down to get my speed back up before I can coast, which brings down my average MPG. It's all about trial and error and finding out what works well for your vehicle how and where you drive it. What works for one person may or may not work for someone else.
@@averyalexander2303 that’s true. There’s not one definitive method. I didn’t mention it helps when you know the roads. In my example, I know the descent is sufficient enough to regain my speed without using throttle
Cruise control handles that issue very well without using excess fuel, providing your travelling fast enough to use Cruise control.
My automatic Honda Civic has a torque converter lockup that kicks in at 50 mph, the most economical cruising speed is around 55mph, which is around 2200 rpm.
Having the car maintained and tuned properly, having the correct tyre pressures for the load(not always the same as the specs on the car tells one, usually higher! Also some tyres have higher rolling resistance than others, rule of thumb, the bigger the worse fuel economy. Not always the case though). Very "light" shoes!! No hard takeoffs, lift the foot long before needing to stop for traffic lights etc. Keep the revs low but smooth, keeping the cruising speed low when possible, no need to go over the speed limit,(a funny thing happens once a vehicle travels faster than 100kmh= 62mph, the wind drag multiplies exponentially = much more fuel use. I find the best speed for most is 70 to 90 kmh). Keep the car "slippery" eg no roof racks etc, keep the car as light as possible. And if possible try and find roads with less or no traffic.
I would like to say that this is a good thing to master and improve your driving but also consider if saving 6 dollars thoughout the week in gas worth your time since you will be getting to your destination much slower specially in high traffic cities where everyone will be getting in front of you thus backing you up.
suzuki celerio, hyper miling is a must for areas with heavy traffic and high fuel costs
Golf R Special Edition 2018 with 7 gears DSG transmission. In ECO mode, & past the 7th gear, if I take my foot off the accelerator (say) going downhill or cruising on a straight, the gearbox disengages and goes into neutral. I’m sharing this bit of info here because I was advised not to place the car into neutral when going downhill, yet VW’s engineers saw it fit to design this DSG gearbox into doing just that when in ECO mode.
On a plug in it is best to go in eco mode and in neutral but you lose the regeneration of the brakes. So on a big hill coast till it gets past the speed then back to drive to regenerate then back to neutral. When the speed limit it 120km put the car to go 125 then let go of the gas pedal to 115 then repeat. Neutral there is no gas being used. So far a car that gets advertised 6.5 liters on the highway reduced it to 5liters. Ford Escape. Sport Mode allows quicker kms to the battery. Only use that when going on a steep downhill. Still experimenting.
I used to put slick 50 in all my vehicles until I found Dura Lube...
Slick 50 is Teflon based, it bonds to the metal and fills voids in the internal parts of the engine and greatly reduces friction.. But you can't put it in a new car until the engine has some miles on it...
Best I can recall, it was originally designed for small airplane engines so if they lost oil pressure while in flight, the engine won't seize and they'd be able to land safely..
Dura Lube, is oil based and does the same, bonding to internals of the engine and reducing friction. But they claim it can be used in new engines, but I'll never test that as I will never have a new car, as it's far less expensive to by a good used vehicle with low miles on it, nor will I be rebuilding one anytime soon, and I hadn't learned about these the last time I rebuilt a motor..
So i now use Dura Lube instead... use just put it in with a normal oil change, and can feel a difference in the vehicle's performance immediately... I haven't tried to figure out how many more miles per gallon the car gets, I'd guess 2 or 3 miles per gallon, but even under normal driving, there's a noticeable change in fuel consumption and I make about 30% or higher, less stops to refuel during a regular week ..
I inflate my tyres 15% above advised loaded drive. Yes, it can harm the stopping distance a bit but if you are already anticipating you won't need maximum stoppingpower.
In the EU you can see at a lot of websites how economical tyres are, there is a difference between all ecotyres in drag/ fuel economy and till having good grip in wet conditions. I now purchased Continental ecocontact 6, these are the best in economy and still best in wetgrip. Just a bit louder. Check if newer version is better then previous one.
Use oil thats suitable for your engine, but the fueleconomy can make a lot of difference. If you can use a thinner oil thats suitable its a better choice, but also a better spec can inprove your mileage. In the 90's i saved 10% on fuel by using a top quality oil (back then mobil1 had way better mileage). (I now use Kroon Oil at the moment)
Check if your car has brake energy recovery. My car uses its alterator to collect energy when i let the car slow down in gear. I don't have an electric motor or hybrid, but not needing to charge the battery during driving saves fuel too.
Keep your car clean and polished, don't forget to clean out the wheelarches from mud.
And lower rpm maybe better, but listen to your engine. When it sounds it strugles a bit, (mostly you feel/hear small vibrations sounds from your gearbox) you better stay in a lower gear. These vibrations can damage your gearbox drastically and ruin all the savings for years because you need an expensive repair to your gearbox.
2009 Audi TTS with cruise control set to 50km/h "road limitation", in 6th gear on a 25km trip uses 6/7L km one way and 5/6L km the other! If I drive it normally I use 7/8L km.
Do you prefer smiles per gallon or miles per gallon?
I stay in the right lane and try to keep it under 60. Off the highway 5mph under the limit. Slower if there is no traffic. Got 61mpg in my suv hybrid yesterday
I typically cruise at 45-50 mph for peak efficiency because it's around 1500 rpms and is at the base of 4th gear (my final gear), and i can use minimal throttle tmixed with the lowest rpms to get great economy. every car is different so each technique will be differently. suited to the car you'd driving. my 2002 toyota camry with a 2.4L i4 non-turbo, non-hybrid has at most pumped out 32 mpgs.
It's an interesting video for me, sometimes hypermiling an old 7 series auto - have had 42 on a run.. usually means getting it upto 55 and buildong it upto the high 60's then taking any downhill speed to burn-off on the next hill.
Another thing, check a fuel calculator for your various routes at their mpg.. a lower mpg route can be cheaper if it's short enough.. is route B proportionally shorter than the distance route A's fuel will take me at the higher mpg of route B.
2002 camry le I use 10 percent of throttle and get pretty efficient range and power as long as you don't jump in front of someone and stay out of everyone's way it gets up to speed through ECU input and shifting
Coast into your stop signs and lights. U really dont need to break until you coast to rolllng speed. Like 5mph. The more you just let off gas you will gett very good at jugding the distance and timing so u dont have to break as much
8:46, if your reaction time is 0.67 secs, best stay off the road. Avg reaction time for an alert driver is roughly 0.2-0.25 secs.
I drive a 1997 Honda Civic sedan stick shift. I have over 350,000 miles, and I charted my fuel mileage since the car was new. It is a bad tank where I don't have at least 40mpg (or just shy of 6 liters to 100km) I tend to drive no faster than 55mph on the highway (95km/h)
Best MPG tip is to leave the car at home and take the bike/walk for all local trips!
Regarding avoiding your brakes, yes will help with fuel - but your brakes actually need to be used to keep them clean and working well, look at the many EVs with corroded discs.
I'm not sure it is possible to never use your brakes but you make a good point, my rears have rust rings on them, mainly due to not using the car in lockdown, but it is an expensive repair that a bit of heavy braking could have avoided.
Apparently I grew up doing most of these, Remember the gas shortages of the 70’s and 80’s? Slowing slightly on the hills helps. Not running the engine while parked also helps. (Zero mpg when stopped). The sweet spot for my Tundra is 62 on the highway, and 45-50 on urban roads.
When I was delivery driving for dominoes I got as much as 76 MPG for 76 miles driven. That was my 2016 Prius without fancy stuff since highway accident.
My 2022 Prius (same generation) bottom trim gets over 60 MPG cruising 60 MPH.
There are lots of ways to improve fuel economy, but need to balance optimization with realism. If only one on the road though, you can exercise a lot better.
My 2011 ford fusion and 2012 town and country also gets well above rated economy if drive consciously
I think as far as coasting in neutral vs just not accelerating it is situational. If the vehicle goes too fast in neutral, then in gear is better. There is no point idling in neutral and using the brake instead of using the engine and reducing the fuel use to zero.
If being in gear robs you of more momentum than the fuel it saves - or you'd have to press the accelerator to keep going down a slight hill in gear, then go to neutral. The bottom line is something is powering that engine - whether it is fuel to keep it ticking over idling in neutral, or kinetic energy of the car being sapped to spin the unpowered and relatively high in friction and air resistance engine workings. It's no good saving fuel if you need to keep pressing the accelerator again because the silly thing is making you go slower than you want to go!
I had a citroen that developed a fault and would idle at 2000 when cold and thus it was advantageous to keep it in gear at speeds below 45 mph unless I shut the engine off with the car moving! The other thing is it would draw in slightly more fuel instead of shutting off fuel until rpm in overrun exceeded about 2000. A peugeot 206 HDI would shut off fuel as soon as gravity made it go above idle.
Back when I was still in school we had to calculate the optimal speed on a flat surface for a vehicle to travel at for optimal fuel efficency. 56 Mph was the result.
Obviously there are other factors and in my last car I found 57-58 was the ideal; larger engines seem to do slightly better at higher speeds.
Biggest factor is the brake pedal, learn to drive with less braking. If you do the aame journeys every day you'll soon learn just how early you can get off the acclerator. Weight, tyre compound and pressure and aerodynamics are obvious factors. On big hills I will turn my engine off but leave the igntion on, this ensures no fuel used lol. I've actually been experimenting with using a heavier foot to get up to speed and i think it has merit for saving fuel vs light throttle (as long as its not causing you to brake more). Engines are actually more efficient at full throttle. Ambient temperature is a bit factor especially when it is cold, if you have a heated garage or block heater then use it. Moderate loads and rpm when the engine is cold too to help it get up to temperate faster. I consistently get over 50mpg in my 2006 Honda Jazz doing short journeys (less than 5 miles)
Driving a 7500 lb SUV I get 30+ mpg being careful and not driving over 60 mph on US freeways, a 20% increase over EPA.
I have been doing stuff like this my whole life. I have gotten a week of riding out of a 150cc dirtbike at like 2.2 gal.
Cleaned out my vehicle’s EGR cooler, EGR valve and intake manifold ports. Saw a 2.5 mpg gain.
The best speed for best MPG varies by vehicle... the best speed is the speed at which the car seems to want to go. On the highway, my truck wants to go 60-70 depending on the road conditions. Whatever speed you are going with minimal pressure on the throttle is the speed the vehicle wants to go.
I'm using lift & coast almost all the time and look ahead while driving.
Hypermiling my 1.9 AGR golf my personal record is 4.2L/100km in the summer and 5.2L/100km in the winter. Now with the car running on motor oil/hydraulic fluid and kerosene I usually get 6.2L/100km, but my fuel cost is cut in half!
Nissan Navara pickup. average 37mpg with a mix of town and open road. Light throttle and hovering around 2000rpm in each gear. 65mph on the motorway works best for me. Not bad for A/T tires, 2 tonne weight and the aerodynamics of a brick. 😂
about the "not using fuel when the car is in gear and coasting", while I agree that in modern cars this is true, there might be circumstances where the amount of fuel saved by not pressing the gas pedal is less than the amount of fuel you would need to bring it back up to speed. It's always a balance
I’ve got 2thousand Honda insight it’s made out of aluminum and magnesium
Remove the muffler passenger seat
Also took out the hybrid battery that reduced a lot of weight
Discovered Potenza rE 92 tires can be inflated to over 100 psi for up to five years without any problems
And I modified fuel line using copper tubing got heat from the catalytic converter which vapor rises the gas and to control how much hot gasoline goes into the injector I put an adjustable valve
I can calibrate the fuel going into the motor to where top speed is 30 miles an hour or increase fuel House 70 miles an hour TopSpeed.
Causes lean burn
Been doing it since 2018 had no trouble I get about 100 miles per gallon when temperatures are above 75. car gets 30 miles to the gallon less when it’s below 32°
Jeg's performance parts has a throttle body adapter plate that increases mileage by 20% by mixing the fuel to air better. With shipping costs 100 dollors.
I always think of trying to find the mpg and mph matching point on a car is the most effective way to drive. Got a ŠKODA octavia 2.0tdi euro 6 a few weeks ago and driving at 65mph on the motorway is returning 67mpg but haven’t done a bigger journey of over over and hour yet as the sites I’m attending have been nice and local……ish. Will see if it can get 70mpg at 70mpg but I don’t think it will stretch to that.
I think most people don’t have the concentration to use the throttle as they should but huge step forward would be using cruise control. People just accelerate and brake constantly in the motorway losing mogs using more fuel without even being conscious of it. If everyone drove at a constant speed and anticipated the road ahead to maintain it there would be less accidents as well. Humans are reactive rather than proactive though.
I enjoy roughly 30mpg at 50mph on the highway with my Toyota Solara 2004 2.4l 4 cylinder, 2AZ Engine. Fully loaded with 5 passengers
Damn, this could have come handy last time i went from Utah to San Diego in my 2012 Corolla 5 speed manual going a good and constant 90mph on the highway and in some bits even going 100 mph Google Maps said it was 7.5 hours, i started at arround 8pm and arrived to San Diego at 2am (wich is 3am Utah Time) and on top of that, i did two 25 minutes stops to refuel and use the restroom so i saved a good hour and a half by speeding. Next time i'll try to make the stops a bit faster, like 5-10 minutes and i will share the time.
That's really good if you don't mind spending an extra buck in order to save time. Speeding over long distances can save you a LOT of time, it's risky yeah, cause you never know if there's gonna be a cop waiting to stop you but there's a lot of empty long sections where there is not even a single town on I-15 South therefore, no cops. My trick is to slow down whenever i came across a town and go the speed limit. Speeding over short distances IS NOT WORTH IT tho. You would save minutes at most, but when you increase the distance that's where it adds up logically.
I will try these tips next time i do a long trip, only try, cause im a really impacient person and i get anxious when driving slow.
Get to know your car. All cars have a "sweet spot" where you notice that the speed + RPM is putting very little strain on the engine = your cruising speed. For old volvos that's usually around 90 to 110 km/h. Many manufacturers have this range for maximal fuel economy. But as always it depends on your cars engine and gear ratio.
65.4mpg is the best I've had from my 245bhp D5 Volvo S60, manual. And 50mph is defo the sweet spot. And used to drive a BMW 335i with 400bhp and got 36mpg doing the same journey.
It's always nice to see people getting impressive economy figures from higher power engines. Please tell me you have fun from time to time though?
You caught properly the safety impact of slipstreaming (tailgating). But like others, you missed stating the actual amount of savings obtained by driving behind cars, but especially large trucks, at a "safe" distance. In today's environment, when we experience high traffic volume, we are already on the edge of following too closely to the vehicle in front of us. But no one seems to have valid figures of how much fuel is saved. A mere 5% - 10% savings (if it can be proven) would be impressive compared to other motorists who insist on changing to the fast lane. As a side note, my '04 Prius with 256,000 miles has never had the brakes replaced because of anticipating the road ahead and using the "B" setting on the car.
I'd slipstream but there are at least 2 reasons against. I don't like to drive behind large vehicles because I can't evaluate traffic in front and the second reason is that people are unpredictable and most of them brake for no reason, just because they feel they have to, so driving close isn't an option for me.
@@igorpotocnik7231 I can't disagree with your concern with sliptreaming. A piece of tire on the pavement that the vehicle avoids in front of you may not be so trouble-free for you! The worst position to be in when many cars are in a line is to be in the front of the line. Let's talk about driving behind a truck in the rain. Think how hard it is to ride a bicycle in the sand. Wet pavement is like sand to your car's tires; it kills fuel economy. Following behind a truck (at a safe distance) helps prevent your car from hydroplaning and reduces some of the resistance to your tires caused by the rain. In addition, the spray and mist from the vehicle ahead you may actually cool and improve the engine's fuel consumption. Recall that in the past, both aircraft and some automobiles used vapor injection to improve fuel economy.
I have an economical fiesta 1.6tdci 2009. But with my busy traffic into a large built up town I am still getting 64mpg just by being smart. Bought the car off my brother about 6 months ago. He was doing a similar route and only doing 43mpg.
His 200 kile week would use 20.93l - (current price is £30.55)
Mine with 200 miles is 14.06l this costs £20.53
Thats £10pw saving and over £500 per year.
Trip to Blackpool 170miles keeping it at 60mph can still achieve 75mpg and only arrived 10 mins later and saved about the same.
Plus the savings on tyers and breaks your probably looking at an annual savings of around £600-700.
Make sure you don’t leave oil changes too long in that engine - they’re notorious for sludge blocking the turbo feed pipe. My brother in law has one and doesn’t look after it - I’m just waiting for the day it goes bang!
Coasting in neutral uses minimal fuel, at the benefit of no deceleration drag from the engine into the drivetrain to reduce your speed/momentum, so by coasting in neutral you can go further with the fuel you have used to accelerate which gave you momentum at the cost of idling which is usually equally to 99+mpg instant mpg calc.
And If the hill isn't steep enough so you have to use fuel to maintain, sometimes you can maintain by coasting in neutral.
Not to mention you generally get more speed due to no engine having to be turned by going in neutral, so you can accelerate.for free! Even if you roll from 0 to 30kmh that's a lot of fuel saved!
Scania trucks and volvos almost always coast in neutral..
Why? It's best, most of the time.
And again, coasting over the crest.of the hill can save a lot of fuel
I drive 20 min to work and 5 of that is Autobahn, I go all the time full throttle there up to max speed of 230km/h(legal in Germany). I drive the speed limit and just drive normally with some corners I like to go fast in(on/off the highway). My drive style is "spirited driving" but still get 5.8L/100km average in my bmw 220d xdrive coupé. I use premium diesel but that doesn't explain why I still get such a good fuel economy with my drive style.
What I do see is a lot of people tailgating others and braking/accelerating a lot just to keep tailgating... I don't do that and my guess ist that braking and accelerating in rapid succession is what kills fuel economy.
My final thought on this is just don't Tailgate people, driving at 200km/h consumes less fuel than tailgating at 70km/h.
I know coastign is stated to be bad for fuel economy as it's still 'dumping fuel', but, what about 'rolling' down a hill in neutral for example? I do neutral a LOT to save on fuel.
But do wear the brakes a bit more as I 'roll' into a stop relying entirely on brakes to slow down as oppose to the little help down shifting does.
Thanks for the video ! :)
Hi buddy, neutral will still need to dump fuel to keep the engine spinning, so weight this up against the engine braking you get, which should be minimal in a high gear. In most cases you'll save fuel in the higher gear than you will when coasting. Of course there are exceptions, but I should also point out that in many areas coasting is illegal as it reduces control of your vehicle.
@@torquecars Thanks for the input :)
Also it depends on how steep the hill is and how much engine braking you feel. My old car barely hits 55 mph even on a fairly steep downhill, so if I want to keep with the traffic, I need to add more throttle, negating the benefits of fuel-cut-off. In which case, might as well let the engine idle a bit to speed up, slap the gear back in when i want to slow down or the bottom of the hill is approaching.
As for rolling to a stop, it depends on the distance. If you need to slow down fast enough to use your brakes, keep it in gear because during engine braking, fuel is cut and you're getting infinity MPG. If you want to roll for as long as possible, neutral gives you the best distance because engine braking is sapping energy out of your momentum.
I drive @ 50 mph on A roads and 55-57 mph on motorways as to not have Lorrie’s over take me, I can get 76-80 MPG with my 2016 MINI COOPER SD 2.0 DIESEL. It works for me
At maximum torque rpm the engine is most efficient.
For my 3 litre TD Toyota Granvia that is 2000 rpm...in third gear and overdrive that is 60mph and gives 42 mpg cruising on the motorway.
i've got a diesel fabia, i've been driving economically and managed 70mpg! what i do is i let go of the accelerator when approaching roundabouts, junctions, lights, to let the car coast to slow down and i can see my mpg creeps up and up. also, light acceleration helps, but sometimes you have to put ya foot down specially when you're joining the motorway or a busy junction. i drive as fuel efficiently as possible. also when driving 30mph, i put her on 4th instead of 3rd gear.
How accurate are MPG displays, can you use that to your advantage. Got Honda Civic 2.2
I have an Audi 2.0ltr TDI ultra 2017 and usually driving on motorways. I recently stop driving in Eco mode and only drive in Dynamic mode as when driving in Eco the engine feels very sluggish
Engine braking is more efficient than braking and often its enough in slow moving traffic, i once had a red light and because i let go of the gas the engine braking was enough to arrive at just the moment the light turned green so i slowly accelerated again
I drive at an altitude of 2000 + meters over sea level (6000 ft), lots of steep hills making it impossible to drive efficiently on 3rd or 4th gear, some are possible to go at 50 mph, slight throttle at about 2.5k rpm doing 18 mpg, downhill use is 0 fuel, and the few flat roads I get 30 + mpg in a Megane 2, 2.0 F4R. An overall mpg of 20. For the altutude, terrain and car, and pace I drive is pretty good. To get 25 or 28 mpg here you need a shitbox that weights well under 2000 pounds, 1000 cc, and being 100% obsessed with not using fuel
If your car can give you a live mpg estimate, use it. Makes such a huge difference. With it off I get about 55mpg, on I've recently passed 61.4mpg pending a reset to get a more relevent average
Checking the overall average is also helpful as I've realised that getting up to speed in a more reasonable time is actually better than accelerating too slowly as once at speed you can get back to using very little fuel. I go for about 1/2 to 2/3 throttle when changing to national speed limits depending on the incline.
For me (1.5 TSI Skoda Octavia), it’s a matter off:
- Do not accelerate hard
- preserve momentum
People have no idea how much difference it makes if you drive smoothly and gently. You don’t have to drive at idle rpm at all! Just be gentle. Over 25% savings just for that..
Some great tips there my friend. Thanks for sharing.