Ok, I've let this go on long enough. If you guys want to argue about crash tests make a new thread. This one is so derailed, I'm locking it up. Feel free to repost it if you want but it will not get a sticky.
Anandtech Moderator
Gillbot
I have decided to create this thread for a number of reasons. To make a long story short, a lot of people ask about how to improve their fuel economy, plus gas isn't getting any cheaper. So, here is what I have so far, and please keep in mind that I am not responsible for anything bad that may come out of these tips and techniques:
1. Inflate your tires to the 'reccomended' rating. If you're brave, over inflate them a bit. *Warning* This can be dangerous, particularly if you do not know the condition of your tires. It is akin to overclocking your CPU! Do it slowly in very small increments and NEVER go more than a few PSI over! Thank-you Ronstang for the information! *further edit* PhoKingGuy has made an excellent point in the sense that if you overinflate your tires, you will have less surface contact with the road, which will put your life in danger in an emergency. I am tempted to remove this entire part of the guide. This is extremely dangerous - please do this at your own risk with the utmost caution. Further to that, if you have really "fat" tires (racing tires), then over-inflating them is not really going to do anything because it will remove a smaller percentage of surface area (plus the car is probably already an animal to begin with). Thanks Yoxxy for a different perspective. My suggestion would be to never exceed the sidewall so that your car is driving around on "skates". :light:
2. Hypermiling. Never use your brakes unless you absolutely have to. Accelerate slowly. Use your cruise. Accelerate with your cruise control (the little +/- buttons near it). Watch the traffic lights ahead of you carefully and take your foot off the gas for stale green lights, yellow lights, and red lights. If you google this, there is a wealth of information.
3. Change your air filter every 20,000kms (12,400 miles). It's $20 at Wal Mart and will take 2 minutes to install yourself.
4. Maintain your car (oil changes especially).
5. Use good gas with good additives. Some say Shell is the best; I find here in Canada that Petro Canada and Ultramar are the best based on the 'feel' of my car.
6. Clean your fuel injectors periodically with a good tactrol additive. Gas has fuel injector cleaner in it by regulation, however it does not meet the recommended level. Essentially the gas companies cheaped out. My uncle is a mechanic and it is the one additive he recommended on a regular basis (every 2 months would probably be ideal). *note* Volkswagon does not recommend you do this. There may be other manufacturers as well, so please read your manual to make sure this is good for your car. I feel that many of these manufacturers have banned injector cleaner in error due to tighter fuel regulations in Europe (they add it to the fuel by default - that's how important this stuff is!). Thanks PhoKingGuy for the additional insight.
7. Put your windows up and close your sunroof if it's not too hot out and you don't need the fresh air. Having the windows down creates drag and makes your car less aerodynamic. *edit* This is not entirely necessary while travelling at low speeds. Thanks Turin39789 for the additional information.
8. Purchase low rolling resistance tires, especially if you do mostly city driving. Note that this may reduce your handling depending on the tires you had before, plus, they will not handle as well as an equivalently priced set of "regular" tires, particularly at highway speeds, in general. Technology may overcome this shortly. Yoxxy has subconsciously encouraged me to note that low rolling resistant tires are practically worthless if you have fat tires to begin with (racing tires).
9. Reduce the weight of your car. If you're brave enough, take out the spare tire and equipment from your trunk. Remove your air conditioner if you live in a cold enough climate. Beyond that, weight reduction tends to involve radical alterations, especially if the above options made you wary. Removing the AC and the tire will make your car weigh at least 100lbs less, though.
10. Pulse-and-glide. Accelerate around 10mph above your desired speed. Put the car in neutral and coast to 10mph below your desired speed. Repeat the cycle. Use your car's "resume" feature on the cruise if you can. I find that this works best going down a slight decline, especially if you are familiar with the road. *note* This may not be legal in your jurisdiction, so be careful.
11. Put the car in neutral at all red lights if you have an older automatic transmission. This will not only save you money on gas, but will save you wear on your transmission, engine, and brakes as well. Older autotragic cars try to "go" at the idle speed even if you have the brakes on. I have been made aware that modern cars have gotten around this with technology, however I cannot guarantee that all manufacturers have this technology. Thanks PhoKingGuy for some extra details.
12. Use neutral as much as possible. Coast to stop signs. Coast down hills. Again, be careful, this may not be legal in your area.
13. Use engine brakes to slow down. When your car is slowing down while in gear (manual transmission), there is no fuel in the motor at all, only air.
14. Use aerodynamic undersiding and install a "taller" transmission. The undersiding sounds reasonably simple. I guess if you need a new tranny you could ask about getting a taller one. *edit* Thanks fleabag for some new ideas and significant insight into tire pressure.
15. Aerodynamic mods. Thanks fleabag for the inspiration. As an aside, washing your car will make it marginally more aerodynamic.
16. This entire guide may be relatively useless to you, depending on the type of car you drive. Thanks DVad3r for pointing out that a 2001 Lexus ES 300 does not show much difference if any under hypermiling (driving style only I would assume).
Beyond that, I am open to suggestions.
I have managed to get 750 kilometers (466 miles) on a city tank of gas consistently in a very congested part of downtown Toronto using many of these techniques. This is in a regular 2006 Honda Civic; no hybrid at all.
You get used to your route to and from work along with the tricks you can use in different places.
Zenmervolt, I would appreciate a sticky. :beer:
Thanks for your efforts, but the mods have discussed this and we don't feel the information warrants a sticky. Some of your suggestions are controversial, to say the least.
Rio Rebel
Senior Moderator
Fair enough. I have updated the OP somewhat. Perhaps one day.
Anandtech Moderator
Gillbot
I have decided to create this thread for a number of reasons. To make a long story short, a lot of people ask about how to improve their fuel economy, plus gas isn't getting any cheaper. So, here is what I have so far, and please keep in mind that I am not responsible for anything bad that may come out of these tips and techniques:
1. Inflate your tires to the 'reccomended' rating. If you're brave, over inflate them a bit. *Warning* This can be dangerous, particularly if you do not know the condition of your tires. It is akin to overclocking your CPU! Do it slowly in very small increments and NEVER go more than a few PSI over! Thank-you Ronstang for the information! *further edit* PhoKingGuy has made an excellent point in the sense that if you overinflate your tires, you will have less surface contact with the road, which will put your life in danger in an emergency. I am tempted to remove this entire part of the guide. This is extremely dangerous - please do this at your own risk with the utmost caution. Further to that, if you have really "fat" tires (racing tires), then over-inflating them is not really going to do anything because it will remove a smaller percentage of surface area (plus the car is probably already an animal to begin with). Thanks Yoxxy for a different perspective. My suggestion would be to never exceed the sidewall so that your car is driving around on "skates". :light:
2. Hypermiling. Never use your brakes unless you absolutely have to. Accelerate slowly. Use your cruise. Accelerate with your cruise control (the little +/- buttons near it). Watch the traffic lights ahead of you carefully and take your foot off the gas for stale green lights, yellow lights, and red lights. If you google this, there is a wealth of information.
3. Change your air filter every 20,000kms (12,400 miles). It's $20 at Wal Mart and will take 2 minutes to install yourself.
4. Maintain your car (oil changes especially).
5. Use good gas with good additives. Some say Shell is the best; I find here in Canada that Petro Canada and Ultramar are the best based on the 'feel' of my car.
6. Clean your fuel injectors periodically with a good tactrol additive. Gas has fuel injector cleaner in it by regulation, however it does not meet the recommended level. Essentially the gas companies cheaped out. My uncle is a mechanic and it is the one additive he recommended on a regular basis (every 2 months would probably be ideal). *note* Volkswagon does not recommend you do this. There may be other manufacturers as well, so please read your manual to make sure this is good for your car. I feel that many of these manufacturers have banned injector cleaner in error due to tighter fuel regulations in Europe (they add it to the fuel by default - that's how important this stuff is!). Thanks PhoKingGuy for the additional insight.
7. Put your windows up and close your sunroof if it's not too hot out and you don't need the fresh air. Having the windows down creates drag and makes your car less aerodynamic. *edit* This is not entirely necessary while travelling at low speeds. Thanks Turin39789 for the additional information.
8. Purchase low rolling resistance tires, especially if you do mostly city driving. Note that this may reduce your handling depending on the tires you had before, plus, they will not handle as well as an equivalently priced set of "regular" tires, particularly at highway speeds, in general. Technology may overcome this shortly. Yoxxy has subconsciously encouraged me to note that low rolling resistant tires are practically worthless if you have fat tires to begin with (racing tires).
9. Reduce the weight of your car. If you're brave enough, take out the spare tire and equipment from your trunk. Remove your air conditioner if you live in a cold enough climate. Beyond that, weight reduction tends to involve radical alterations, especially if the above options made you wary. Removing the AC and the tire will make your car weigh at least 100lbs less, though.
10. Pulse-and-glide. Accelerate around 10mph above your desired speed. Put the car in neutral and coast to 10mph below your desired speed. Repeat the cycle. Use your car's "resume" feature on the cruise if you can. I find that this works best going down a slight decline, especially if you are familiar with the road. *note* This may not be legal in your jurisdiction, so be careful.
11. Put the car in neutral at all red lights if you have an older automatic transmission. This will not only save you money on gas, but will save you wear on your transmission, engine, and brakes as well. Older autotragic cars try to "go" at the idle speed even if you have the brakes on. I have been made aware that modern cars have gotten around this with technology, however I cannot guarantee that all manufacturers have this technology. Thanks PhoKingGuy for some extra details.
12. Use neutral as much as possible. Coast to stop signs. Coast down hills. Again, be careful, this may not be legal in your area.
13. Use engine brakes to slow down. When your car is slowing down while in gear (manual transmission), there is no fuel in the motor at all, only air.
14. Use aerodynamic undersiding and install a "taller" transmission. The undersiding sounds reasonably simple. I guess if you need a new tranny you could ask about getting a taller one. *edit* Thanks fleabag for some new ideas and significant insight into tire pressure.
15. Aerodynamic mods. Thanks fleabag for the inspiration. As an aside, washing your car will make it marginally more aerodynamic.
16. This entire guide may be relatively useless to you, depending on the type of car you drive. Thanks DVad3r for pointing out that a 2001 Lexus ES 300 does not show much difference if any under hypermiling (driving style only I would assume).
Beyond that, I am open to suggestions.
I have managed to get 750 kilometers (466 miles) on a city tank of gas consistently in a very congested part of downtown Toronto using many of these techniques. This is in a regular 2006 Honda Civic; no hybrid at all.
You get used to your route to and from work along with the tricks you can use in different places.
Zenmervolt, I would appreciate a sticky. :beer:
Thanks for your efforts, but the mods have discussed this and we don't feel the information warrants a sticky. Some of your suggestions are controversial, to say the least.
Rio Rebel
Senior Moderator
Fair enough. I have updated the OP somewhat. Perhaps one day.
Last edited by a moderator: