|
In a rut
I joined here and started hypermiling and doing a few basic ecomods last fall. By December I had three tanks in a row over 41mpg, and while I knew it couldn't last all winter, now I'm stuck in winter mpgs. I'm now consistently around 37mpg and can't for the life of me get back over 40mpg.
There are a few things that have changed, some within my control, some less so. First, last year's summer tires were completely shot and when I had my snow tires mounted, they were binned. So this spring I had to buy new rubber, which means really deep tread. I went with a LRR Continental (can't name it off hand, but 50psi sidewall rating) that was a bit of a compromise since we still get snow into May. Also, it's still pretty cool around here with morning lows hovering in the 30s-low 40s. While the car is garaged at about 50-55F, obviously cooler temps have some impact on performance and warm up times. Finally, I've been lazy and haven't been pushing my hypermiling to the limits. While I still do my 8.5 mile gravity drop with the engine off most of the time, I am more prone to re-start when traffic comes up behind me on the flatter/slower sections. I'm also struggling to get up early enough to beat the rush, so I have more traffic to contend with. To some degree, I think I've lost some of my touch.
Any suggestions for getting back in the game? Just looking for a little inspiration. I still want to break 45mpg this summer, but I'm not sure if/how that's going to happen.
|