Wow! Highway miles!

[stimpsonjcat]

My normal commute is about 17 miles. None of it on restricted highway.

So I have 13 lights by my count best case to go through in that distance.

There is a fair amount of up and down also.

So my numbers have been right around 33-35mpg.

Over the weekend I did a 2-hour out and 2-hour back trip on restricted access interstate. P&G and some conservative drafting yielded 38mpg. And this was at 70mph.

[wyatt]

NICE!
I don't have very many lights to contend with daily (6 plus a gate going in, 7 on the way home), and I find that I average the same MPG on that commute (13 miles each way) as I do on the interstate at about 65mph. It's a good feeling to see the numbers stay constant (or go UP) instead of down when going fast... especially when the trip we routinely make on the interstate is over 800 miles!
With a few easy aero-mods and a few less MPH, you will be breaking 40MPG (interstate) before you know it!

[Diesel_Dave]

I much prefer to stay off the interstate myself. I have a 25 mi commute and for about 15 mi I have the choice of I-65 which is interstate (speed limit of 70mph) or US-31, which is 4-lane divided (but with stop lights), speed limit of 55-60 mph.

The 4-lane divided with the lower speed limit is ideal. I can keep my speed down and the herds can easily fly by me when I'm P&G without anybody being held up much at all. With a little work, you can generally time most of the lights so they don't matter very much.

[brucepick]

I've seen much the same.

My commute is about 55 miles by interstate. I can take 2-lane state roads that are mostly posted for 50 mph. If I take the interstate I averaged about 50 mpg over the last four tanks, as long as bad weather didn't interfere. I could up that to about 55 mpg by taking the smaller roads with lots more EOC.

My MPGuino tracks EOC. Using the interstate I usually end up with about 20% of the distance was EOC for the tank. Using local roads that went up to about 35%.

[stimpsonjcat]

Not sure what else to do aero-wise. I may tinker with taking some air out of the front radiator box area and dumping it out a vertical slit on the wheel wells, if I can figure out a way to get around the washer tank on the right side. The undercarriage only had one bad spot and I have flattened it already. Already did grill blocks. The mirror mod probably made a big difference, but as they are epoxied on I can really A-B-A them to the originals. It is certainly quieter in there now at speed.

I EOC where possible, but the car is an auto and so this isn't as simple as it was when I had a stick.

Still, 35mpg was my goal...so it is all gravy from here.

[Rick Rae]

Originally Posted by stimpsonjcat

Not sure what else to do aero-wise.

How about aero hubcaps (e.g. moon disks)? The Versa seems well laid out for rear wheel skirts/kilts, too. And I can't tell from the head-on shot if yours is a sedan or hatch, but if the latter you might experiment with a partial Kammback. (I don't yet see an easy/nondestructive/reversible "permanent" attachment method, though.)

... 35mpg was my goal...so it is all gravy from here.

Time to set a new goal! 40 MPG? 50% over EPA?

Cheers,
Rick

[sszewczuk]

wow 40 mpg!

[stimpsonjcat]

I should have said mods I approve of.

I think moondisks are fugly...as are most of the homebrew kammbacks.

I am simply unwilling to ugly up the car to make it do better. What I can hide I will try.

40mpg? OK team-mate...I'll get right on that!