Hey Insighters;
I have about a 10 mile stretch of road where I drive 35-50mph with lots of little hills and a 35mph zone to slow down in.
I find that when I stay in 4th gear, don't go to 5th gear (at 35-50mph speeds) and ignore the "upshift diamond", that I can achieve better mpg on the bargraph and better overall car response. That is, I drive the stretch of road never going to 5th gear "as instructed" by the car, and I can do way better on mileage at 35-50mph, often reaching up into the 80-100mpg range for that stretch of road.
On a downward incline, I can still hit 150mpg if I upshift into 5th gear, but that works only for a long, gradual incline, and if I'm not up to a reasonable road speed (and have cars behind me) it's a bad move because you can't accelerate at all in 5th gear from down around 35-40mph. But if I stay in 4th, I can get to 100mpg or better and still be able to accelerate if I need to.
Just thought I would float the idea of denying the diamond. I don't recall seeing this discussion anywhere. I was a little surprised by this, because I've always trusted the diamond to get me best gas mileage, but here I am finding out otherwise. Anyone else seeing this?
Thanks;
JKB
I have about a 10 mile stretch of road where I drive 35-50mph with lots of little hills and a 35mph zone to slow down in.
I find that when I stay in 4th gear, don't go to 5th gear (at 35-50mph speeds) and ignore the "upshift diamond", that I can achieve better mpg on the bargraph and better overall car response. That is, I drive the stretch of road never going to 5th gear "as instructed" by the car, and I can do way better on mileage at 35-50mph, often reaching up into the 80-100mpg range for that stretch of road.
On a downward incline, I can still hit 150mpg if I upshift into 5th gear, but that works only for a long, gradual incline, and if I'm not up to a reasonable road speed (and have cars behind me) it's a bad move because you can't accelerate at all in 5th gear from down around 35-40mph. But if I stay in 4th, I can get to 100mpg or better and still be able to accelerate if I need to.
Just thought I would float the idea of denying the diamond. I don't recall seeing this discussion anywhere. I was a little surprised by this, because I've always trusted the diamond to get me best gas mileage, but here I am finding out otherwise. Anyone else seeing this?
Thanks;
JKB