Tip on being a bigger gas miser - anyone do this?

[dirty hippie]

I often lurk in cleanMPG, mainly reading the news section. The other day a post caught my attention. It's a write-up on hypermiling in a Honda Cvic Hybrid. The author mentioned something I hadn't really considered but nonetheless have done a number of times in my regular ICE cars. One way to use even less fuel is to not gas it upon start up on a cold engine.

Basically, after, say, a car has been sitting over night, the engine will rev a bit higher as it is trying to heat up the cat and coolant. Gas is already being dumped into the engine and most cars can propel forward when put into DRIVE. The author simply "drives" off upon start-up by letting the car move forward without stepping on the gas. He does this untl he reaches the first stop sign on his block, by then the engine is warming up and he has moved foward by utilizing the engine's warm-up process.

Now I'm starting to do that on the I1. I start the car and let it roll off my driveway and down the block to the first stop sign without trying to step on the gas. Of course, if there is a car comong up behind me, then I have to step on the pedal. Usually it's a fairly quiet street. Great way to make use of the ICE during start-up.

Before, I tried a 15-30 second rule before I step on the gas and move from park. I come from a family that likes to warm up a car for up to 5 minutes. That's 5 minutes of 0mpg! I see people do that a lot. Then I see people who start a car cold and drive off with pedal to the metal. I always take it easy on cold starts on the I1, but now knowing this tip, I'll immediately let it roll to the first stop before I touch the pedal.

[Cobb]

On the i2 forum people say driving in sport mode for a few works to get the car to operating temp faster is more efficient.

Another forum I read about use of an aftermarket block heater to bring the coolant to temp.

[MN Driver]

I don't wait for my car to warm up before driving it since the car warms up faster under load, I just keep the RPMs low until things are warm. Idling the car is going to keep the load lower than where I can the best MPG out of it so I don't do that because it doesn't fit my commute. It would fit someones commute if they don't FAS or if they hit 30 and then are at the stop sign in a short period.