[Mountain driver]

A compilation of ideas put together for a discussion during the international insightfest in Indy in August 2016:

***** CONDITIONS PERMITTING: traffic, weather, and road

**** Slow down, try 5 mph less, then try more. Single biggest effect. A link to ol'rowdy's mpg vs mph chart

**** Tires: Bridgestone Potenza RE92 P165/65 R14

*** Air up the tires

*** Don't use A/C

*** Establish a good "baseline" mpg early in the trip. Perhaps an alternate route for the first part of the trip.

** Aero-panels under the car.

** Constant throttle rather than constant speed. The opposite of what cruise control does. Lose some speed going up grades, and regain it going down.

** Accelerate slowly.

* Conserve momentum, look & plan ahead

***** WATCH BEHIND for inattentive approaching drivers. Stay to extreme right. Flash the emergency flashers a few times to alert them.


G1 MT epa rated for 61 city / 70 highway
G1 CVT epa rated for 57 city / 56 highway

The above epa ratings can easily be exceeded by employing even just a couple hypermiling methods.

For more detail and methods, here's a link to an article by Wayne Gerdes , a big name on cleanmpg.com. Very thorough.

Here's what I did with my 1st mt (silver) when I drove it back from Green Bay, WI.

 

[jime]

Great post!

If you can stand to make just a small modification to your MT G1, the addition of a FAS switch will make a huge difference also

 

[skleasia]

I have Natalya's EFAS - makes a big difference.

Add staying in LEAN BURN to the mix. I am using a Scangauge II and sometimes Torque Pro to monitor lean burn.

 

[Natalya]

Good indexed NGK spark plugs and a clean EGR plate also help. The plugs last 100k miles, so it's worth it to buy the right ones.

Watch the road ahead, if you have to stop be willing to coast to the stop. Other aggressive drivers will tailgate or pass you all angry, but then they'll slam on their brakes at the red light. It's useful to see this in advance and get off the accelerator.

Even better is if, when you see a light turn red, you hit brakes immediately long before you get to it. If you can be rolling at 10mph when you get to the light and it turns green again, that's 10 miles per hour of gas you don't need to burn again.

 

[Hugh-Falls]

Common decency

Hypermiling in traffic is thoughtless and dumb. There are enough frustrations and annoyances in traffic without intentionally creating more. There are a lot of crazies out there and making your Insight a target for venting road rage by antagonizing them and by impeding the flow of traffic is selfish, inconsiderate and stupid. So you gained a tenth of a mile per gallon at the other guy's expense.

Be a thoughtful citizen and go with the flow.

 

[JulianEdgar]

Hypermiling in traffic is thoughtless and dumb. There are enough frustrations and annoyances in traffic without intentionally creating more. There are a lot of crazies out there and making your Insight a target for venting road rage by antagonizing them and by impeding the flow of traffic is selfish, inconsiderate and stupid. So you gained a tenth of a mile per gallon at the other guy's expense.

Be a thoughtful citizen and go with the flow.

100 per cent agree.

It's also a reason why (see other thread) so many other drivers don't like the Insight. If you want to continue to ruin the perception other drivers have of cars as advanced as the Insight, hypermile everywhere.

 

[Willie Williford]

I met an INSIGHTER at Scotts this past Sunday while working on the aero-panel stock. He has a good idea for people who are devoted to driving slow. He has the vinyl letters (like my Miles and MPG statement on the LRR) that says CAUTION SLOW DRIVER on the rear hatch area.
Safety is a concern for all.

HTH
Willie

 

[skleasia]

REAL hypermilers know how to hypermile without pissing people off.

But. I am NOT going to drive 60 in a 35 mph construction zone again like I did last week just to "keep up with traffic". My pockets aren't that deep.

I can see the problem with hypermiling in the big cities, crowded traffic, angry commuters. I don't see a problem hypermiling out rural where there is just me and the deer and nobody else. Each his own.

 

[Mountain driver]

Lots of varying opinion on hypermiling, and always an interesting discussion. I bear in mind the 4 star item on the list above: " **** Conditions Permitting "

 

[AbCaRed00]

" **** Conditions Permitting "

^+1
________

An 'oldie but goody' post on hypermiling's linked below, it's one from the vaults c.2008:

http://www.insightcentral.net/forums/mpg-issues/13866-105-hypermiling-tips.html#post131971

^A few more good points to take here no doubt.

Realistically I can't hypermile as much in the city with the short trips these days, but the 'winter modifications' will help offset the loss of economy somewhat due to the cold, and assist markedly in creature comfort/visibility.

Heated seats are the most recent addition, so not as much heat will be drawn off of the engine for the cabin. Heated cabin air flow rate can be lessened and then concentrated on the windows. The seats do definitely run up the ELD, decrease 12v bat voltage readings, and likely hurt economy, but the engine heats faster.

I run the A/C cranked up full hot for the first few miles after a cold start during winter nowadays mostly to defrost the windows. Wishfully, I hope this helps the engine develop more load to heat-up a bit faster. Not sure how warmup using a/c to increase load and heat actually affects economy, but the ECT warmup's faster and the windows definitely clear sooner. [dry air].

fwiw: I find I use Mima assist too hard off the line just for the fun of it to consider myself a consistent hypermiler anymore.
I do take it out on the highway to blow out the carbon periodically* and usually can hypermile on the way back into town. If I don't '*drive it like I stole it' for a brief period to get it heated up to full operating temp, then with the chronic cold operation around town, in the dead of winter the exhaust gas recirculation ports just get all slobbered up and the rough herky-jerky sets in [again] lessening the economy.

Around springtime, I will likely get the hypermiling bug all over again.

 

[Mountain driver]

^ +2, Good stuff Bill. I was surprised to see how many of the 105 occur out of sub-conscious habit.

Interesting idea on the a/c-hot for winter warm-up. Don't know why I never thought of it.