Technique for 10% mileage increase with CVT
After driving my CVT for about 20k miles and observing how it responds to varying road conditions, I started practicing the following technique to obtain a 10% or better increase in mileage.
Following a change in the road grade, a minor movement of the throttle position causes the instantaneous mileage to increase by a significant amount. The increase in particularly noticeable when the road grade changes from level to slight downhill, or slight incline to level. As an example of actual results obtained, the mileage for a 500 mile run of combined city and highway driving increases from 48 to 53 mpg with this technique.
To use the technique, pump the accelerator pedal twice with very small movements, about 2mm each time. It seems that doing this in combination with a road grade change causes the system to re-calculate certain parameters related to fuel economy. The effect is a sudden jump in mileage, consistent with the lean-burn increase as reported by manual transmission owners.