Do you hypermile

[vwmark]

I got low 60mpg in my volvo d5 estate. 1500kg 210k miles on a 200 mile trip with 4 in the car plus luggage - never use the brakes is my tip which you already know.

 

[Crater Creator]

I would love to be able to beat 88mpg but on a good day I'm getting 19mpg, and when being less careful it's nearer 13. (Range Rover).

 

[zx9]

if I do callouts up to 75 miles I hoof It all the way I get home half an hour earlier can book an extra hour to the job and get an extra 30quid . probably costs me an extra 6 quid in fuel in doing so . which is tax deductible

What Brighsparks says above except 75 miles for a call out is nothing, wish I only did local jobs
This last couple of years I have done very little install work, now it is a lot more programming and trouble shooting so I am thinking about swapping the Vito for somthing not limited to 50 / 60mph on single / dual carrage ways, should get me home even quicker.

 

[Rig Pig]

I would love to be able to beat 88mpg but on a good day I'm getting 19mpg, and when being less careful it's nearer 13. (Range Rover).

22mpg is the best I've ever had cruising.

 

[dazza]

I can get 33mpg in the golf but it's boring. I average about 16mpg lots of small journeys and heavy right foot. I need to be careful now as I've exchanged my British licence for a spanish one.

 

[the snooper]

in a modern, ECU controlled car, it shuts off the fuel as it doesn't need it to idle whilst in motion.

I don't think this is the case at all, I think its myth started on the internet, it will go down to an idle fuel feed, lets say you take your foot off the accelerator and let the car drive the engine, dip the clutch suddenly and the engine should cut out if no fuel is being delivered nothing tells the ecu that the engine is being driven nor does anything tell it the clutch has suddenly been depressed to start fueling again, if anyone wants to test the theory, drive down a road let the car drive the engine and notice the feel of the car and speed of deceleration then do exactly the same again but turn off the ignition there will be a big difference, most of us know what a car feels like when the engine breaks down and stops firing, modern cars don't feel like that when we let the car drive the engine, no fuel would be a total loss of power

 

[wookie]

88mpg! That must be so mind numbingly boring. Good effort, you are a better man than I.

I enjoy driving way too much to attempt that, if I borrow the wife's 306 it gets 53mpg on a run even with my heavy right foot. Now if I'm driving any of my vehicles getting 30mpg would be a great result, sod it life's too short.

 

[CornishPete]

I'm definitely in the why bother camp. If I went from 15 mpg to 60 then I might consider it but from 50 mpg to 60 who could be ar5ed as it takes some concentration and planning.

 

[Gareth J]

I don't think this is the case at all, I think its myth started on the internet, it will go down to an idle fuel feed, lets say you take your foot off the accelerator and let the car drive the engine, dip the clutch suddenly and the engine should cut out if no fuel is being delivered nothing tells the ecu that the engine is being driven nor does anything tell it the clutch has suddenly been depressed to start fueling again, if anyone wants to test the theory, drive down a road let the car drive the engine and notice the feel of the car and speed of deceleration then do exactly the same again but turn off the ignition there will be a big difference, most of us know what a car feels like when the engine breaks down and stops firing, modern cars don't feel like that when we let the car drive the engine, no fuel would be a total loss of power

I'm not sure, I think it should be quite doable now. I've had a few "drive by wire" cars now and you can kind of tell that the throttle is governed by more than where your foot is planted. Maybe there's some logic built in that tries to keep the engine rpm at a minimum idle speed or other such rules.

I've not done your test which might show some differences but anyone with an OBD widget that lets you watch engine parameters and a willing assistant should be able to check if the injectors ever shut off entirely.

 

[the snooper]

I'm not sure, I think it should be quite doable now. I've had a few "drive by wire" cars now and you can kind of tell that the throttle is governed by more than where your foot is planted. Maybe there's some logic built in that tries to keep the engine rpm at a minimum idle speed or other such rules.

I've not done your test which might show some differences but anyone with an OBD widget that lets you watch engine parameters and a willing assistant should be able to check if the injectors ever shut off entirely.

I've used live data and never seen anything g to indicate they shut off fully

 

[Gareth J]

I've used live data and never seen anything g to indicate they shut off fully

Fair enough, depending on what you car is and the software you have it could be easy to see. I think mine has read outs for "injector percentage" for each cylinder or something similar.

 

[8ob]

I've tried those tricks but never keep it up for long, but one of the OPs methods worries me.

I see a line of truckers slipstreaming on motorways, or car drivers following close behind trucks or coaches and wonder how much they're shortening their lives.

Either by lung damage from concentrated diesel particles or just not knowing what's going on in front of the truck.

No amount of fuel saving makes up for being dead!

Better to be going along with the trucks than cruising alongside in the middle lane, its illegal and a dangerous. The inside lane of any motorway is where everyone should be driving unless overtaking irrespective of speed. I cant convince my mum though, she believes that there is a slow medium and fast lane

Bob

 

[slim_boy_fat]

OBCs are notoriously inaccurate [wel, most are - they reckon BMWs are c. 10% out] , but this is from my 3ltr manual 5 series [about 117,000 miles on the clock], taken after I'd refuelled and reset the journey computer. On a slow dawdle in traffic, but moving all the time

 

[Justme]

On a trip I get 73mpg without having to mess about with any of the things mentioned.

I can do the speed limit on all roads & drive with a bit of spirit.

One thing I do is plan well ahead so hardly have to stop at roundabouts or junctions unless light controlled or no view.

Local driving in a hill area returns up to 65mpg again without trying.

Even learners are getting 50-58mpg on lessons.

 

[Gritineye]

Better to be going along with the trucks than cruising alongside in the middle lane, its illegal and a dangerous. The inside lane of any motorway is where everyone should be driving unless overtaking irrespective of speed. I cant convince my mum though, she believes that there is a slow medium and fast lane

Bob

Maybe so but they don't have to be a couple of foot behind each other do they, I don't go inside lane unless there's a very big gap between trucks.

The law can't have it both ways, don't hog middle lane, don't forget the two second rule, I'll make my own choices.

 

[daleyd]

I've used live data and never seen anything g to indicate they shut off fully

There was some discussion about this on another forum and the consensus from people who seemed to be in the know (They worked for fuel injection companies or car manufacturers) was that it was absolutely real. It's called "Decel Fuel Cut Off" and a google of the terms brings up plenty of hits. I'm not saying it's definitely right or wrong, but the people who explained it used pretty technical terms so my money is currently on it being right. I'd say it would depend what car you have (i.e it probably wouldn't be on anything more than 10 years old) and whether the type of engine is suitable, but it certainly seems at least some cars have it.

It'd be interesting to know if anyone's brave enough to do a real world test?? (I won't if that's OK as my car has an electric handbrake and I don't fancy that coming on when I switch the ignition off at 50 mph !!)

 

[keithski122]

I think that older range rovers cut fuel on the overrun, years ago had a non starting range rover to fix, turned out a relay or something was faulty and the ecu thought it was always on overrun.
Back to fuel saving, I couldn't be bothered for the low cost saving for myself, like searching for fuel thats a couple of pence per litre cheaper.I'd end up saving only 60p per tank.

 

[the snooper]

There was some discussion about this on another forum and the consensus from people who seemed to be in the know (They worked for fuel injection companies or car manufacturers) was that it was absolutely real. It's called "Decel Fuel Cut Off" and a google of the terms brings up plenty of hits. I'm not saying it's definitely right or wrong, but the people who explained it used pretty technical terms so my money is currently on it being right. I'd say it would depend what car you have (i.e it probably wouldn't be on anything more than 10 years old) and whether the type of engine is suitable, but it certainly seems at least some cars have it.

It'd be interesting to know if anyone's brave enough to do a real world test?? (I won't if that's OK as my car has an electric handbrake and I don't fancy that coming on when I switch the ignition off at 50 mph !!)

Does this theory apply to diesels ?

 

[doubleboost]

HDI Citroen Berlingo 115 HP driven fairly hard 41.5 MPG over last 1500 miles
No complaints at all

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

pass on hypermiling, my time is worth more to me.

On a sidenote - those "live" mpg displays should be banned....the amount of people watching them rather than the road is terrifying

Hopefully its not a diesel or bye bye Dual Mass Flywheel....low rpm shifts are a fast way to kill them....

All my gear changes are silky smooth though.