Any tips for a paper deliver guy?

[Promising_Confinement]

I drive a 1990 Toyota Camry wagon with a 2.0 and an automatic transmission (unfortunately I can't tell you the average mileage I get because my odometer and speedometer doesn't work, and don't have the money to fix it right now).

I deliver papers in it, so obviously I'm doing constant stop and go over about 60 miles. I spend on average about $70.00 a week with gas prices anywhere from $3.98 to $4.05 a gallon.

I've done a few of those hypermiling tricks (things like only hitting the gas enough to move the car when it's safe to do it, throw it neutral when coming to stops. According to my handheld GPS device I've got, (which I don't know of it's accuracy, but since my speedo doesn't work it's the best I've got) this morning alone going 78.68 miles my overall average speed was 21mph, the moving average was 25.2, max speed was 48mph (would've been lower, but the speed limit on the road I was doing that on ranges from 55 to 45).

Total driving 3hrs 42 minutes, moving time was 3hrs 7 minutes and the car was stopped 35 minutes (of which, it was shut off).

Is there anything more I can do?

And a bike is unfortunately out of the question, would make it take too long and I have a bad left leg as it is.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Where can I snag a ScanGuage or equivilant that will work in my car?

[SVOboy]

You should check out the MPGuino for your car, but it's still in the DIY stages.

What's the distance between stops for you? I would look into heavy EOC.

Welcome to ecomodder!

[Promising_Confinement]

It varies from blocks to miles. There are chunks that are pretty self contained, but overall I've got maybe ...... 75 to 80 stops in a span of about 60 miles.

And EOC? heh

[MetroMPG]

This is a tough one.

First: other than the odo/speedo, is the car is otherwise in good tune, with tires properly inflated?

Driving without brakes (DWB) and engine off coasting would dramatically improve fuel economy, but (1) I don't know if it's mechanically safe for your particular automatic transmission; and, (2) how much extra time are you willing to spend on your route?

DWB (with or without EOC) will significantly increase the amount of time spent on the road in a mailbox-to-mailbox delivery scenario.

As for mods, off the top of my head, aggressive weight reduction would help in your situation.

[Promising_Confinement]

The car is mechanically sound, had the spark plugs, brakes, alternator and a little piece of the exhaust that messed up replaced.

I don't do too many mailboxes, mostly just toss them in the driveway. I've cut down on the weight as much as I can. The way I'm doing it now takes about 2 and a half hours, getting done at about 7:30, I might be able to squeeze out another half an hour, but I pride myself on two things with my route - #1) NONE of my stops know who I am and #2) I very rarely ever get complaints. :P Finishing at 8:00 might lead to complaints when my boss is fronting me the money to buy a laptop when I find one worth getting on Craigslist or somethin. :P

Too many complaints he might not do that.

Oh, and another thing I've been doing is taking as much time as I need to get up to speed since I'm usually the only person on the road. In those times I never push down on the gas more than about an inch and throw it into neutral for the downhill parts and just let it creep up to the stop sign.

There's even a few that I run all together. heh

[Promising_Confinement]

Ah found the definition for EOC, no can do. Too paranoid to do that, and I'd be turning my car on and off probably a hundred times throughout the night. From what I've read, that's not a real good idea with automatic transmissions, and I've got a lot of real sharp turns I've gotta make, and I like having power steering. :P

[Promising_Confinement]

Think it'd be worth it to take out the full size spare in favor of a few cans of Fix-a-Flat? Or is that just wishful thinking. :P

[MetroMPG]

It will make a very, very small difference. EPA says a 100 lbs reduction is worth 1-2% improvement in fuel economy (though they don't say what kind of car that's based on).

I think the very first step, if you haven't done already, is to start logging your fuel consumption. You need to know where you are now to know whether you're improving or not.

[IndyIan]

Smaller car? In my neck of the woods, your car would be worth $2-3000 if it isn't too rusty. Probably it would be tough to beat your car for reliability though, I wouldn't bet on Geo Metro over a Camry but it would use less gas although maybe your leg wouldn't like pumping a clutch?

If you can accurately keep track of your total mileage on your GPS, try accelerating abit faster for a tank of gas, your engine and torque converter might be more efficient at 1/3 throttle than 1/6 for example. Gives a shorter pulse with a longer glide.
Ian

[Promising_Confinement]

heh My car's driver side fender is rusted through and a few other smaller spots, but overall not too bad. I'm guesstimating it has around 210,000 miles on it. I had an '88 Camry sedan a few years ago, when I was forced to get rid of it, it had almost 700,000 miles on it (smacking into really big dogs at 60+ mph doesn't help a car that much, just though I'd let ya know. heh).

But if I run across another Ford Aspire or a Geo Metro or somethin, given what I do I'll jump on it. :P

And in response to IndyIan, basically hit the gas a little harder than what I've been doing then throw it in neutral until I get to my stop? (That's how I interpret it)

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted by Promising_Confinement

And in response to IndyIan, basically hit the gas a little harder than what I've been doing then throw it in neutral until I get to my stop? (That's how I interpret it)

Yep, that's what I do with my Neon. I normally accelerate faster than most traffic just to get up to speed quicker and coasting sooner. I should try accelerating slower for a tank sometime but from what I've read here, car engines are most efficient at 1/2 or 3/4 throttle at 2000rpm. It also makes up for the lower coasting speeds in my mind. I also pulse fairly hard, 1/2 throttle, but not enough to force a downshift.
I think I am doing pretty well with this methodology but I'm sure it could be improved upon.
Ian

[Gregte]

Pumping your tires up to 40 psi is a cost free way to get significantly better mileage. This is assuming you now run them at 35 psi or less.

[wagonman76]

Originally Posted by Gregte

Pumping your tires up to 40 psi is a cost free way to get significantly better mileage. This is assuming you now run them at 35 psi or less.

Yes and since it is all stop and go paper delivery, youre not going to generate the heat of long distance highway driving so youll be probably safer when pumping them up higher.

[ebacherville]

Just drive like a grandma, cost to stops when ever possable. I assume your hauling around lots of papers too adding more weight.. bad for Fuel efficiency great for carrying momentum... so coast as much as you can in neutral

look into a little 50cc or so sized scooter.. or a bike motor for a bicycle.. better than 125+ MPG they will do 30mph.. If i was doing a job like that that would be the way id do it except in the winter.. as I'm in Minnesota.. that would suck.

[rsx2002]

What about trying a combination of bike and car. Get a bike rack, park your car when you get to a cluster of houses and ride you bike around then put it up and drive to the next neighborhood. Also I dont know if anyone answered you yet about the scangauge. I know of two sites you can get one scangaugeII.com and 3in1computer.com

[Matt Herring]

I recently purchased a 50cc scooter and while I can attest the mpg is great (still on my first tank but projected at about 80-90mpg) there is almost zero room to cargo 70 stops worth of newspapers and the added weight would drastically reduce speed.

And, if you're going with a 50cc scooter and driving mostly 45-55 mph roads it will take much longer to make that route on a scooter that is 35mph tops with average weight rider. (I've gotten it up to 45mph on downhill but because of the low horsepower coasting great distances is virtually impossible). Not to mention, 50cc scooters cannot be legally driven on state rated highways.

However, if you do have parts of the route that can be driven in the range of 35mph and are are generally flat I would recommend doing those on the scooter (maybe 1/3 to half of your newspaper weight) and doing the rest of the route with the car.

Note: The cost of a scooter starts around $1000 so it would take some time to see the savings on gas when you are starting $1000 in the hole.

[Greenblazer]

I think the right scooter and a small custom made trailer might be your best bet. It might cost more in the short term, but in the long run it would be way better. 50CC is too small for normal speeds, but when I was a kid I had a three route paper route that I did with a 50cc Puch moped. Too many years ago to remember the number of papers, but it seems to me that it was not far from the number you have. The Puch moped had a step through frame and I stacked the papers in between my legs on the stepthrough part of the bike. On my Sunday route I had to make 2 trips, but I didn't have a trailer. People in 3rd world countries put crazy huge loads on mopeds, scooters and motorcycles. I have seen pics of whole familys of five or six on very small motorcycles and scooters. A 150cc or 250cc scooter could haul you and the papers most likely. Sunday might be a problem, but building a small trailer would probably solve that problem. A bigger scooter might hold the whole load of papers better than you think, but they would need to be flat and stacked. If you deliver folded papers it would be more dificult, but if you built your own trailer or modified a bicycle trailer you could probably haul all your papers even if they were folded. Another idea would be to make large saddle bags to carry the papers. Here is a link to an older style Honda that would probably do the trick. It's a 250 cc has a large trunk, a back seat, goes about 75MPH and gets about 75 MPG. If I was doing a route like yours it is the bike I would want to do it with. 2005 HONDA Helix (CN250) for sale in Avon, OH: SCOOTER - CycleTrader.com

Later,

Allan Greenblazer

Later,

Allan Greenblazer

[Promising_Confinement]

I typically have ..... probably a little 150 papers, and almost half that gets dumped within the first 20 minutes. I average a speed of about 23 to 25mph, and there are some areas that have a speed limit of 55, but I usually go down these roads at 4 or 5 in the morning, so there's hardly any cars. Hell, I just (well, according to the GPS thing that I'm going to assume is a little inaccurate. Garmin 360) go about 40 to 45mph all the way down that road.

I've been looking around for a scooter that wouldn't break the friggin bank, but I think I'm gonna have to actually break down and save about a grand or two beforehand.

I've been trying to drive my automatic as close to a manual as I can though, and that seems to help a little bit. Pretty much whenever my foot isn't on the gas I move up to Neutral .... staying in neutral on some roads until I get to about 15 to 20mph before I give it a little more gas to keep going until I either get to my turn or stop.

Since my speedo/odo/cruise doesn't work, I can only go by how much gas I use, and I've cut it down from a little over a full quarter of a tank to a little less than a quarter of a tank. heh

I'm thinking of trying some of these aerodynamic things on the site (covering up the back wheels like on an older Prius or Insight or whatever). Maybe paint some plexiglass maroon and somehow seal it to the car without anything 100% permanent.

[Promising_Confinement]

Oh, and thankfully I don't do weekends. That's something that I flat out refused when it was offered to me.

Flat out told the guy I'd be too drunk to deliver a paper on the weekend. :P

[Greenblazer]

Originally Posted by Promising_Confinement

Oh, and thankfully I don't do weekends. That's something that I flat out refused when it was offered to me.

Flat out told the guy I'd be too drunk to deliver a paper on the weekend. :P

That's funny. If you got one with a big enough floor you can stack papers on the floor all the way up to or maybe above the seat, and use the passenger pegs instead of the floor for your feet.

Later,

Allan Greenblazer