View Poll Results: Higher mpg from Interstate or backroads?
Backroads
4
28.57%
Interstates
10
71.43%
Voters: 14. You may not vote on this poll
Mpg challange updates?
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Mpg challange updates?
I can't help but notice the relationship between the price of fuel, and activity in this forum.
So Saturday I'm road tripping from here to Largo, in the diesel. There a couple places I could skip the Interstate for a few hundred miles and cruise some nasty 2 lane highways through the state. Which type of driving do you think will give me the highest mpg, 70 on the relatively straight interstates, or 55-60ish on these bent ass backroads with a little city mileage being the downside?
So Saturday I'm road tripping from here to Largo, in the diesel. There a couple places I could skip the Interstate for a few hundred miles and cruise some nasty 2 lane highways through the state. Which type of driving do you think will give me the highest mpg, 70 on the relatively straight interstates, or 55-60ish on these bent ass backroads with a little city mileage being the downside?
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it is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press,
it is the soldier, not the poet who has given us the freedom of speech,
it is the soldier, not the campus organizer who gives us the freedom to demonstrate,
it is the soldier, who saluted the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag,who allows the protester to burn the flag.
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Interstate
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Yeah, cheap gas makes people complacent.
It really depends on the car and how you drive. For a lot of cars, particularly heavy cars, and particularly with "typical" drivers, cruising the interstate w/ the cruise set at 70 mph would probably be better because acceleration is minimized and the cruise control keeps them from varying their speed too much.
For lighter cars, especially if you adopt some of those "hypermiling" techniques (mainly gentle acceleration, and coasting wherever possible), keeping speed below 60 on the back roads would be better.
Example: My Yaris will get 40-44 mpg cruising at 70 mph. (usually about 43 if it's a constant speed, no headwinds, etc) If I keep the speed below 60, I can get 48-50. That's 20% difference in MPG just for slowing down 10 mph.
Try taking US-19 from N. FL instead of I-75. That's a great road for MPG until you get to about Crystal River. Not a lot of traffic, easy cruising at 60 if you want to, and you can spot most of the rural traffic lights and time them so that you avoid stopping and just coast down to maybe 35-40. If you're really light on the throttle getting back up to speed, you can actually GAIN mpg for every light you catch that way.
It really depends on the car and how you drive. For a lot of cars, particularly heavy cars, and particularly with "typical" drivers, cruising the interstate w/ the cruise set at 70 mph would probably be better because acceleration is minimized and the cruise control keeps them from varying their speed too much.
For lighter cars, especially if you adopt some of those "hypermiling" techniques (mainly gentle acceleration, and coasting wherever possible), keeping speed below 60 on the back roads would be better.
Example: My Yaris will get 40-44 mpg cruising at 70 mph. (usually about 43 if it's a constant speed, no headwinds, etc) If I keep the speed below 60, I can get 48-50. That's 20% difference in MPG just for slowing down 10 mph.
Try taking US-19 from N. FL instead of I-75. That's a great road for MPG until you get to about Crystal River. Not a lot of traffic, easy cruising at 60 if you want to, and you can spot most of the rural traffic lights and time them so that you avoid stopping and just coast down to maybe 35-40. If you're really light on the throttle getting back up to speed, you can actually GAIN mpg for every light you catch that way.
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I'm taking the Jetta. It can't be taken as a direct comparison because of the obvious difference in shapes but in the Colorado I do a few miles a gallon better on the backroads. For instance here to ft. smith (interstate@70)is never better than 20/g, even losing 1200ft in elevation, but on a conservative trip out to Harrison (backroad@60)i can get 22/g same elevation. That Jetta did go 598 on 12 gallons before on I-75 on the last trip down, I think she did some drafting though.
Yes I should have taken better notes last time.
Yes I should have taken better notes last time.
__________________
it is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press,
it is the soldier, not the poet who has given us the freedom of speech,
it is the soldier, not the campus organizer who gives us the freedom to demonstrate,
it is the soldier, who saluted the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag,who allows the protester to burn the flag.
-author uncertian
it is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press,
it is the soldier, not the poet who has given us the freedom of speech,
it is the soldier, not the campus organizer who gives us the freedom to demonstrate,
it is the soldier, who saluted the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag,who allows the protester to burn the flag.
-author uncertian
Last edited by redinjuns; Dec 14, 2009 at 12:28 AM.
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We drafted the Yaris behind a friend's race car trailer once and were averaging 53 mpg at 70 while doing it. Drafting can pay huge dividends, but is generally a dumb thing to do the way most people want to try to do it. You never know what the big truck you're behind is going to do, and the little bit you save on fuel won't pay for the new windshield or hood paint from the rocks you'll catch or the tire shrapnel when he pops a tire!
Try to do at least a 200 mile stretch on secondary roads that don't take you through big cities and get good numbers for that section of your trip. Keep the speed under 60 and a light foot and I bet you'll see something close to 60 mpg out of the Jetta.
Try to do at least a 200 mile stretch on secondary roads that don't take you through big cities and get good numbers for that section of your trip. Keep the speed under 60 and a light foot and I bet you'll see something close to 60 mpg out of the Jetta.
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Drafting can pay huge dividends, but is generally a dumb thing to do the way most people want to try to do it. You never know what the big truck you're behind is going to do, and the little bit you save on fuel won't pay for the new windshield or hood paint from the rocks you'll catch or the tire shrapnel when he pops a tire!
Try to do at least a 200 mile stretch on secondary roads that don't take you through big cities and get good numbers for that section of your trip. Keep the speed under 60 and a light foot and I bet you'll see something close to 60 mpg out of the Jetta.
Try to do at least a 200 mile stretch on secondary roads that don't take you through big cities and get good numbers for that section of your trip. Keep the speed under 60 and a light foot and I bet you'll see something close to 60 mpg out of the Jetta.
Well it is my future ex-wife's car...
__________________
it is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press,
it is the soldier, not the poet who has given us the freedom of speech,
it is the soldier, not the campus organizer who gives us the freedom to demonstrate,
it is the soldier, who saluted the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag,who allows the protester to burn the flag.
-author uncertian
it is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press,
it is the soldier, not the poet who has given us the freedom of speech,
it is the soldier, not the campus organizer who gives us the freedom to demonstrate,
it is the soldier, who saluted the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag,who allows the protester to burn the flag.
-author uncertian
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I've yet to see better than 28MPG with my car. Rather sad when i was granny shiftin (not double clutching like I should be) lol and I still only got 28MPG I was expecting atleast 30. I would accelerate so slow and short shift but I guess it didnt help much.
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Gentle acceleration is only half the battle. Keeping the speed down and (this is the biggie) not using the brakes unless you have to also make a huge difference.
On the highway, make use of the natural terrain. Even in FL, there are hills. Accelerate (gently) a little after the crest of a hill and get some coast time the rest of the way down and partially up the next hill. Resist the urge to force the car to maintain speed going up the hill, let it scrub off a few MPH.
In the city, it's all about looking ahead and managing traffic. I usually get better mileage in the city than I do on the highway unless I'm stuck in traffic that just plain isn't moving. As long as it's moving, you can do a lot of in-gear coasting and time yourself to the lights and the traffic flow so that you rarely need to use the brakes. Remember that in most modern cars, coasting down in-gear uses no fuel as long as the revs are above 1200-1500. Use that to your advantage. Rather than neutral-coasting up to the light and stopping for 30 seconds, coast-down in gear and use most (or quite often all) of that 30 seconds decelerating using no fuel rather than sitting at the light idling. And, if you're lucky, you'll manage to not come to a complete stop before the light changes and traffic moves, so you often won't have to start from a complete stop, thus saving more fuel.
Of course, some cars respond better than others. My wife's MINI Cooper is rated at 31 highway, and it's all I can do to get 34 out of it. I find that frustrating, but part of it is probably due to the automatic transmission.
I'm back to "playing the game" again lately. My last tank was 42 mpg average and included about 8 autocross runs. Just filled up today, no competition this month, so I'll try for... maybe 46-48. So far I'm at 48+. And lest you think that's just the car... it's EPA rated at 29 city and 36 highway.
It's definitely "gas mileage season" for me... no AC makes a significant difference in my car.
On the highway, make use of the natural terrain. Even in FL, there are hills. Accelerate (gently) a little after the crest of a hill and get some coast time the rest of the way down and partially up the next hill. Resist the urge to force the car to maintain speed going up the hill, let it scrub off a few MPH.
In the city, it's all about looking ahead and managing traffic. I usually get better mileage in the city than I do on the highway unless I'm stuck in traffic that just plain isn't moving. As long as it's moving, you can do a lot of in-gear coasting and time yourself to the lights and the traffic flow so that you rarely need to use the brakes. Remember that in most modern cars, coasting down in-gear uses no fuel as long as the revs are above 1200-1500. Use that to your advantage. Rather than neutral-coasting up to the light and stopping for 30 seconds, coast-down in gear and use most (or quite often all) of that 30 seconds decelerating using no fuel rather than sitting at the light idling. And, if you're lucky, you'll manage to not come to a complete stop before the light changes and traffic moves, so you often won't have to start from a complete stop, thus saving more fuel.
Of course, some cars respond better than others. My wife's MINI Cooper is rated at 31 highway, and it's all I can do to get 34 out of it. I find that frustrating, but part of it is probably due to the automatic transmission.
I'm back to "playing the game" again lately. My last tank was 42 mpg average and included about 8 autocross runs. Just filled up today, no competition this month, so I'll try for... maybe 46-48. So far I'm at 48+. And lest you think that's just the car... it's EPA rated at 29 city and 36 highway.
It's definitely "gas mileage season" for me... no AC makes a significant difference in my car.
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Gentle acceleration is only half the battle. Keeping the speed down and (this is the biggie) not using the brakes unless you have to also make a huge difference.
On the highway, make use of the natural terrain. Even in FL, there are hills. Accelerate (gently) a little after the crest of a hill and get some coast time the rest of the way down and partially up the next hill. Resist the urge to force the car to maintain speed going up the hill, let it scrub off a few MPH.
On the highway, make use of the natural terrain. Even in FL, there are hills. Accelerate (gently) a little after the crest of a hill and get some coast time the rest of the way down and partially up the next hill. Resist the urge to force the car to maintain speed going up the hill, let it scrub off a few MPH.
