Originally Posted by
Loren
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.
Oh I'm the downshift king lol people complain at my downshifting because obviously it makes noise and most arent used to it. At my rate, I will get 100k miles out of my pads lol I downshift like I'm in a road race and sometimes heel toe. I've heard all sorts of dumb comments on my downshifting like "downshifting kills your valves", "downshifting ruins your clutch", "thats not good for the motor", and "why dont you just ride the clutch of put it in neutral". Theres times I have put it in neutral and braked and its like WTF am I going to stop? The engine braking by downhiftingrequires so much less of actual braking to slow down. I thought this could also be my problem with MPG. And thats exactly what I do with using natural terrain. I will accelerate downhill to carry more speed over the next and maintain my speed rather than pushing the gas more to maintain the speed on the hill.