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Old 09-19-2017, 04:37 PM   #8 (permalink)
twj347
EcoModding Lurker
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Canada
Posts: 46

2015 WRX - '15 Subaru WRX
90 day: 30.63 mpg (US)

2008 Suzuki SV650SA - '08 Suzuki SV650SA
90 day: 60.81 mpg (US)
Thanks: 1
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The easiest and most effective ways to get good mileage at low speed city driving speeds are, more or less in order:
1. Driving style (limiting idling & braking, accelerating properly)
2. Low-RR Tires at highish pressure (Low-RR tire design is more important than pressure.)
3. Keeping heat in the engine (block heater, insulation, grill block)
4. Aero Mods
5. Car Weight Reduction (at least as effective as low-RR tires, but achieving a meaningful reduction in weight is difficult, which is why I place it last)

As for aero mods, you can play around with the Aero Calculator floating around (I'm not allowed to link anything yet) to see how much your aero losses are at the speeds you normally drive at. For a typical car, it might be a 50/50 split of aero/rolling resistance at about 50km/h (ignoring idling, braking), so if you're hitting these speeds or higher, aero mods should help a fair bit.

If you have a way to keep track of your coolant temperatures and radiator fan use accurately, you could install a partial grill block that will help with both aero and warmup. It's the low hanging fruit of aero mods. Even in a warmer climate you probably have more cooling airflow than you need. I blocked over half of my grills and my coolant temps are just fine in 22C ambient temps (haven't tested in higher ambient temps than this yet).
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