OMG Hypermilling rocks

[Sukhoi]

GTFO of the left lane plz.

And what are you milling? Flour?

 

[Auric]

Pray, let us not discourage the dude. Their revelation means one less assclown on the roads.

I'm not one prone to rage but agree that such driving can be less stressful and even be amusing. Rather than continually jockeying in the fast lane with impatient, dangerous fools when there is no clear road ahead anyway, one can instead opt for the slow lane; hang back a safe distance and watch the show (the conga line of impending doom).

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: Connoisseur
Yeah i believe hypermiling involves several, more "extreme", methods to make your car sip fuel. Some examples:
1) Shifting to neutral during downhills to minimize rpms
2) Tailgating trucks to get the drafting effect (although this is a bit extreme)
3) Turning the engine off at long stop lights
4) Accelerating slowly

I follow 1, 3 and 4 now on my car. My average mpg on 70/30 (hwy/city) driving used to be around 25 or 26 mpg. Now i'm getting around 27 to 28 for the same type of trip. In addition, I get around 30-31 mpg on straight highway driving as opposed to 28-29. Not much but every bit helps. Like the OP, I realized i really don't need to go the extra 10-15mph. It's only gonna save me about 5-10 min on an average trip and it isn't worth it.

I, as well as some other people, would disagree with you on 1) and 4).

1) when you are going downhill and put the engine in neutral it is still using gas to idle. If you keep it in gear, the wheels will keep the engine turning which essentially burns no fuel, aka engine braking.

4) The less amount of time you have to spend accelerating, the better. For people with manual cars, the most efficient way of accelerating is about 3/4 throttle position while short shifting at 2-3k RPMs. For people with automatics, accelerating slowly is generally better. Although you can force the transmission to upshift early by letting off the throttle and reapplying it once it shifts to a higher gear.

 

[Uhtrinity]

Hypermiling is using a combination of many things, here are some things I do:

1. Slow down (usually the speed limit), if you don't want to drive at highway speeds take frontage or back roads.
2. Don't over accelerate or accelerate unnecessarily. There are so many times someone will race past me just to end up side by side at the next light. Or they will race past and have to stop at the next light, while I timed the light and avoided the stop and went past anyways. I am by no means saying run red or yellow lights. That is illegal and just stupid.
3. Turn off your engine at long lights. If your city is anything like mine the lights are all setup the same, learn the patterns, it doesn't make you any slower than if you didn't turn off your engine. My car has autostop, but on occasion if my batteries are low it won't engage automatically. By not shutting off the engine at long lights my city mileage will plummet from 85 mpg down to the 60mpg range, or roughly 20 - 30%. Think about it, you are parked getting 0mpg.
4. Just relax and try to give your self a few more minutes, you will find that the road rage goes away due to you only competing with yourself and not all the other drivers on the road. Is it really worth the $$ to jockey for a position that will get you to the next light 3 seconds faster than than another driver?

Some of the more 'advanced' methods are just stupid IMHO and could be / are illegal. Just use common sense and put those physics lessons to use. That alone saves me, as it can for you, another 25 - 35% in gas savings.

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: Connoisseur
Yeah i believe hypermiling involves several, more "extreme", methods to make your car sip fuel. Some examples:
1) Shifting to neutral during downhills to minimize rpms

That's illegal in some places, btw...engine has to stay in gear while driving.

 

[Uhtrinity]

Originally posted by: mariok2006

1) when you are going downhill and put the engine in neutral it is still using gas to idle. If you keep it in gear, the wheels will keep the engine turning which essentially burns no fuel, aka engine braking.

It depends a little on the situation, on a long hill neutral may be better (for a standard shift) as you might lose too much speed to fast if you stay in fuel cut with the engine load. On a short hill staying in gear might work best as you will be stopping anyhow. At the very least stay in your highest gear. I wouldn't suggest neutral for an automatic though.

Usually I stay in gear, but only because I am using the downhill runs to recharge my batteries, 2kW/hrs if fully empty, which also provided me with regenerative braking. I will turn around and dump that energy back into acceleration and for going up other hills.

 

[Uhtrinity]

dp

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: JLee

Originally posted by: Connoisseur
Yeah i believe hypermiling involves several, more "extreme", methods to make your car sip fuel. Some examples:
1) Shifting to neutral during downhills to minimize rpms

That's illegal in some places, btw...engine has to stay in gear while driving.

I don't care, I put my car in neutral when I'm going down hills just as long as I can maintain speed and no one is close to me.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: amdskip

Originally posted by: JLee

Originally posted by: Connoisseur
Yeah i believe hypermiling involves several, more "extreme", methods to make your car sip fuel. Some examples:
1) Shifting to neutral during downhills to minimize rpms

That's illegal in some places, btw...engine has to stay in gear while driving.

I don't care, I put my car in neutral when I'm going down hills just as long as I can maintain speed and no one is close to me.

and this is what i'm afraid people will do more and more... they think they're ok in neutral, and then can't react fast enough when an emergency does happen.

 

[MaxDepth]

LOL! Stupid people trying to be "that person" to come up with a new catch phrase when all they are really doing is... I dunno...obeying the speed limit?


Hypermilling should be exactly what it says: using a sonic transducer to pulverize grains.

 

[ObiDon]

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity
Some of the more 'advanced' methods are just stupid IMHO and could be / are illegal.

if turning your engine off while coasting down a hill isn't, it should be. what happens to your power steering and power brakes?

 

[Uhtrinity]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: amdskip

Originally posted by: JLee

Originally posted by: Connoisseur
Yeah i believe hypermiling involves several, more "extreme", methods to make your car sip fuel. Some examples:
1) Shifting to neutral during downhills to minimize rpms

That's illegal in some places, btw...engine has to stay in gear while driving.

I don't care, I put my car in neutral when I'm going down hills just as long as I can maintain speed and no one is close to me.

and this is what i'm afraid people will do more and more... they think they're ok in neutral, and then can't react fast enough when an emergency does happen.

Just like people who tailgate and drive 10 mph over the speed limit, but in this society that is considered ok.

 

[Uhtrinity]

Originally posted by: ObiDon

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity
Some of the more 'advanced' methods are just stupid IMHO and could be / are illegal.

if turning your engine off while coasting down a hill isn't, it should be. what happens to your power steering and power brakes?

Did I say anything about shutting off the engine at speed? that imho is stupid, unless the car is built for it. My car auto shutoffs below 21 mph, if I press the clutch in a gear higher than 2nd. I still have electric power steering and brakes, and it autostarts if I release the clutch, hit the brakes too hard, or touch the gas pedal. From what I have read the Prius can do something similar.

 

[Uhtrinity]

Originally posted by: MaxDepth
LOL! Stupid people trying to be "that person" to come up with a new catch phrase when all they are really doing is... I dunno...obeying the speed limit?


Hypermilling should be exactly what it says: using a sonic transducer to pulverize grains.

One L

 

[Journer]

i drive my granny car like a granny on the interstate. even my owners manual states a 10-20% fuel efficiency decrease when going from 60 to 70 mph

i agree with the OP about people who cant maintain a constant speed, nothing pisses me off more. if you have cruise control, hit the fucking button, if not, learn how to drive

 

[IEC]

Um, OP is driving like a normal person now?

I've tried a few things like shutting off the engine at long stop lights, but other than that I already appear to be a decent driver... get just as good gas mileage as my parents.

 

[ObiDon]

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity

Originally posted by: ObiDon

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity
Some of the more 'advanced' methods are just stupid IMHO and could be / are illegal.

if turning your engine off while coasting down a hill isn't, it should be. what happens to your power steering and power brakes?

Did I say anything about shutting off the engine at speed? that imho is stupid, unless the car is built for it. My car auto shutoffs below 21 mph, if I press the clutch in a gear higher than 2nd. I still have electric power steering and brakes, and it autostarts if I release the clutch, hit the brakes too hard, or touch the gas pedal. From what I have read the Prius can do something similar.

i never said you do it. i was providing an example to support the quoted statement

 

[MaxDepth]

Oh! Well, nevermind!

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity

Originally posted by: MaxDepth
LOL! Stupid people trying to be "that person" to come up with a new catch phrase when all they are really doing is... I dunno...obeying the speed limit?


Hypermilling should be exactly what it says: using a sonic transducer to pulverize grains.

One L

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: MaxDepth
Hypermilling should be exactly what it says: using a sonic transducer to pulverize grains.

I would have thought the mill they run at my old shop with the 100K rpm spindle speed was pretty hyper too.

That thing was scary.

 

[Uhtrinity]

There have been some negative articles recently on this subject that only mention he bad and almost none of the good. The best thing imo is to be informed. Right now all Americans should be considering how to safely save money at the pump.

Hypermilers want to kill you



APB out for illegal hypermiling


A few posters on Insightcentral.net have reported they have recently been followed / tailgated by police looking for illegal driving behavior.

 

[nerp]

It is nice cruising at 65 and letting everyone else go nuts in the left lane. You can actually listen to NPR and register what people are saying.

 

[silverpig]

Coasting downhill in neutral is illegal in a lot of places and is dangerous.

 

[ObiDon]

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity
A few posters on Insightcentral.net have reported they have recently been followed / tailgated by police looking for illegal driving behavior.

damn all you non-racers!!!

 

[antyler]

I enjoyed this from the hypermilling website

"
Make sure you always keep one thing in mind though: A cruise control does hot have the ability to apply brakes! So never, ever let your feet become relaxed, because you'll always need to hit the brakes during your trips."

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner
Um, OP is driving like a normal person now?

I've tried a few things like shutting off the engine at long stop lights, but other than that I already appear to be a decent driver... get just as good gas mileage as my parents.

What happened to that thread where someone said there should be a governor at 65mph? Everyone was flaming. What happened to the "OMG this guy was driving 79 in the left lane so I had to cut him off to let him know he was too damn slow."

Originally posted by: Journer
i drive my granny car like a granny on the interstate. even my owners manual states a 10-20% fuel efficiency decrease when going from 60 to 70 mph

i agree with the OP about people who cant maintain a constant speed, nothing pisses me off more. if you have cruise control, hit the fucking button, if not, learn how to drive

Well even if you don't cruise control, I appreciate it when people MAINTAIN. I hate people who drive in the left to pass me because my 75mph isn't fast enough but they end up slowing down on curves or overpasses or whatever. I can tell because with my cruise control I pass them up eventually because they spend less time above 75 than they do under. If you feel like I drive too slow (and usually while I aim for 75, I end up being between 75-80) then at least tell me you can handle curves at 75+ on 8 lane interstates please. I expect people in the left lane to be more skilled or daring drivers so if you're going to speed, speed all the way. I hate people who slow down to 70 and then realize they're going too slow and hit it up to 80. I ended up having to pass on the rightmost lane once and after intense weaving I saw them exit. Grrr.