Regarding MPG/KPL, my 01 CVT used to clock in over 50 most of the time with: A) careful but not pedantically so driving working for me; B) the topography of my landscape is pretty hilly which is a mixed bag; C) my IMA was weak, I had no belly pan, and didn't monitor my tire pressures carefully.
When I had 2 different people use the car for many months at a time, driving it without any significant understanding or concern for the details of how to maximize efficiency, the MPG tended to range from about 43 to 48 per tank. I personally occasionally slipped down into that range, usually when hurrying (maintaining high average speeds) on long trips that included some significant hill-climbing. This
While I understand the principle of higher tire pressure being good for MPG, my own experience has been that above some reasonable number (depends on the design of the tires and the weight of the car), the returns are diminishing. In my insight, I tended to run in the high 30s and didn't see any measureable increase when I pushed it over 40. When I might have let 1 or more tires drop down into the low 20s, I do believe I noticed.
I live in the mountains of the southern end of the Rockies (NM) where snow and ice have become fairly intermittent over the last two decades, but am still fairly aware of the need for decent traction when those conditions emerge and do find that higher pressures (over mid-30s) on that care yielded some noticeable loss of traction. I have a particularly icy, shaded, windey hill which on occasion becomes wicked-treacherous and the smallest difference can matter... I have deliberately dropped the pressure in my insight to about 20 to be able to navigate those conditions with a little more control and it the extra softness and traction area definitely helped!
My Chevy Volt is quite a bit heavier and I find the difference both in MPG and in traction to be less dependent on tire inflation, but then I am running Bridgestone Run-Flats which may not suffer is much with lower pressure given their very stiff sidewalls? The Volt has much more precise instantaneous instrumentation... especially with My Green Volt monitoring the current draw and speed (and therefore miles/kWh) and I find that under similar conditions/terrain that driving style significantly dominates mpg, including acceleration/deceleration and speeds. Some of my best efficiency actually comes from climbing a fairly steep 9 mile hill from my home at 40-50 mph, driving a few miles around a fairly flat mesa-top townscape at under 25 mph and then back home (9 more miles with a 2000 ft drop) at 40-60mph.
When I commuted the same trip in my Insight, I didn't do quite as well, probably because the downhill run was pretty much 15 minutes of "idle" without a big enough battery to return more than a little of the energy from the climb through regenerative braking. Occasionally I would "hypermile" this route, but the power-steering/brakes without engine were problematic for comfort/safety. I suspect I could have done a great deal better with an MT on these routes.
Previous to my Insight I hypermiled/coasted my 84 CRX-HF the same commute up to 70mpg per tank. I don't think I ever broke 65mpg on a tank with the insight, but beat the CRX on all other routes.
When I had 2 different people use the car for many months at a time, driving it without any significant understanding or concern for the details of how to maximize efficiency, the MPG tended to range from about 43 to 48 per tank. I personally occasionally slipped down into that range, usually when hurrying (maintaining high average speeds) on long trips that included some significant hill-climbing. This
While I understand the principle of higher tire pressure being good for MPG, my own experience has been that above some reasonable number (depends on the design of the tires and the weight of the car), the returns are diminishing. In my insight, I tended to run in the high 30s and didn't see any measureable increase when I pushed it over 40. When I might have let 1 or more tires drop down into the low 20s, I do believe I noticed.
I live in the mountains of the southern end of the Rockies (NM) where snow and ice have become fairly intermittent over the last two decades, but am still fairly aware of the need for decent traction when those conditions emerge and do find that higher pressures (over mid-30s) on that care yielded some noticeable loss of traction. I have a particularly icy, shaded, windey hill which on occasion becomes wicked-treacherous and the smallest difference can matter... I have deliberately dropped the pressure in my insight to about 20 to be able to navigate those conditions with a little more control and it the extra softness and traction area definitely helped!
My Chevy Volt is quite a bit heavier and I find the difference both in MPG and in traction to be less dependent on tire inflation, but then I am running Bridgestone Run-Flats which may not suffer is much with lower pressure given their very stiff sidewalls? The Volt has much more precise instantaneous instrumentation... especially with My Green Volt monitoring the current draw and speed (and therefore miles/kWh) and I find that under similar conditions/terrain that driving style significantly dominates mpg, including acceleration/deceleration and speeds. Some of my best efficiency actually comes from climbing a fairly steep 9 mile hill from my home at 40-50 mph, driving a few miles around a fairly flat mesa-top townscape at under 25 mph and then back home (9 more miles with a 2000 ft drop) at 40-60mph.
When I commuted the same trip in my Insight, I didn't do quite as well, probably because the downhill run was pretty much 15 minutes of "idle" without a big enough battery to return more than a little of the energy from the climb through regenerative braking. Occasionally I would "hypermile" this route, but the power-steering/brakes without engine were problematic for comfort/safety. I suspect I could have done a great deal better with an MT on these routes.
Previous to my Insight I hypermiled/coasted my 84 CRX-HF the same commute up to 70mpg per tank. I don't think I ever broke 65mpg on a tank with the insight, but beat the CRX on all other routes.