New trip MPG record... 91.6!

[gtmotor]

I was doing real well drafting a SUPER WIDE and low truck of some sort. It looked like a Zamboni machine on the road. He was doing 65 mph and was literally pulling me along in lean burn for my entire freeway stint. My MPG dropped from 115 mpg down to 91.6 since I had 8 miles of driving in the city after my super awesome freeway run

[Dougie]

That's awesome. I find that Target semis are the best trucks to draft behind. They seem to be limited to a reasonable speed...

If you use hypermileage techniques with the Elise, what sort of mileage do you get?

[gtmotor]

I tried to hypermile with the Elise but it's extremely frustrating in that car for several reasons:

1) It has the rolling resistance of a semi-truck (that's what you get with wide, sticky tires, downforce creating body work, transmission geared for acceleration, etc)

2) The throttle is extremely sensitive. I chose the 2005 model BECAUSE it has a throttle cable and not a DBW setup.

3) It sounds awesome... it's hard not to get into it when going underneath tunnels or passing by a semi truck.

4) When you have a car that does 0-60 in 4.4 seconds self restraint goes out the window

My best MPG with it is 37. My average hovers between 29-31 mpg (that includes a lot of full-throttle passes...) My worst is ~12 mpg on the track.

[Patrickmilburn]

Not bad mileage with the Elise, all things considered. Outstanding mileage with the Insight!

[james]

That 30 mpg or so is still a good bit above what Detroit thinks is great fuel economy.

If I could figure out how to post pictures, though, I'd blow your Insight trip mpg out of the water. Got a picture showing 150 mpg for 69 miles - and I didn't draft at all.

[02insight]

Originally Posted by james

That 30 mpg or so is still a good bit above what Detroit thinks is great fuel economy.

If I could figure out how to post pictures, though, I'd blow your Insight trip mpg out of the water. Got a picture showing 150 mpg for 69 miles - and I didn't draft at all.

how is that possible? Do you havy any mods on the car? MIMA ? Was it going down hill with a heavy tail wind?
My mpg meter rarely shows 150mpg, and that even only when decelerating.\

I wish people would explain the details of the trip when claiming such high numbers. If its a normal unmodded insight, then its amazing. The best i've done in my stock insight is 90mpg (with alot of drafting, hills and a 60 mile trip, 70* weather)

[Dougie]

There's been quite a bit of discussion about this in the past, although it might be hard to find it.

Basically you have to drive slowly--40 mph-ish--and not need to stop for intersections or traffic. No wind. Level roads. Hot weather. A longer trip cancels out the cold engine and initial acceleration at the start of a trip, so go at least 25 miles or so at a minimum... It should not be too hard with a manual transmission to break into the 100s for a round trip under these conditions.

[red1dr]

Originally Posted by Dougie

There's been quite a bit of discussion about this in the past, although it might be hard to find it.

Basically you have to drive slowly--40 mph-ish--and not need to stop for intersections or traffic. No wind. Level roads. Hot weather. A longer trip cancels out the cold engine and initial acceleration at the start of a trip, so go at least 25 miles or so at a minimum... It should not be too hard with a manual transmission to break into the 100s for a round trip under these conditions.

Exactly, though a few things to add:
- up to 50mph-ish works well for me
- hot weather (and summer fuel) definitely helps, and longer trip (40 miles or more) to amortize the low mpg during warmup
- highway with no stops needed
- tailwinds obviously help, no wind is better than side or (obviously) head winds
- gently rolling terrain is better than dead flat: you drive up the uphills (without invoking assist) and then either coast the downhills engine-off (if they are steep enough) or drive down them in lean burn while getting a touch of regen to replace losses (electric steering is a biggie)
- higher tire pressures help because the car maintains speed better while coasting
- no drafting, but wakes from passing traffic do help, especially in a headwind
- I have MIMA but use it less extensively than many: mainly just to feed in extra regen here and there. And the FAS module makes engine-off coasting safer and more convenient, but key-off gives the same fuel saving.

That is how I got my 109.5 long distance trip last summer.

Obviously if the trip is overall significantly downhill that will increase the mpg, but my trip was not.

[james]

Actually, on parts of that 150 mpg trip I was hitting 75 or more. The trick is to start at Carson Pass on California Hwy 88, which is about 8500 ft, and take the picture near Clemens, close to sea level

It's not all downhill, though: there are several steep climbs, for instance coming out of Silver Lake & Jackson, and a few traffic lights. Does give a pretty impressive picture, though. For the complete round trip - from home, near Reno, to San Jose & back - I'd typically get around 70-75 mpg unless there was snow.