[euromodder]

Welcome to ecomodder, Paul.

Originally Posted by uksoundz

I only wish the UK had such a busy hypermiling scene !

LOL, the UK is where I started hypermiling
Well, at least its where the drive slower part showed considerable benefit. So I kept driving slower.

Those 70 mph/112kph were certainly beneficial compared to our 75 mph /120 kph.
Driving slower will improve things further. Try 100 kph / 62 mph.

I needed a bigger car so have now bought a Ford Focus C-Max 1.6 TDCi, it's a quite big SUV

Which means slowing down on the motorway will help a lot, as it has a lot of frontal area and not-so-good drag coefficient (Cd).

If you do lots of city / variable speed driving, reducing weight will help - while it hardly helps on the motorway.
Ditch all car equipment you don't really need, and all assorted junk in the trunk (and anywhere else in the car).
MPVs often have a gazillion of storage spaces - clean 'm out.

What year is it ?

now it doesn't have an instant MPG trip computer, so have ordered the Ultra-Gauge, so hopefully when that arrives it should help somewhat.

It's a good indicator, but if its anything like the ScanGauge, you'll probably find it gets calibrated to your driving style
So when your driving style is altered, the gauge will also be off a bit.

Many of us diesel dorks have the SG calibrated to 3/4 the displacement, i.e. only 1.2L instead of 1.6L - I had to dial in far too much compensating bias @ 1.6L .
When calibrating, correct by only half the difference in total fuel used.
(when the total fuel consumption is 2 L off, correct using +/- only 1 liter)

I'm being put off slightly about buying a diesel, as it seems that the big gains can be had with petrol, and that a lot of techniques don't work so well on diesels.

That's mainly because diesels are already more efficient.

I understand P&G is more suited to petrols, and as my car is fitted with a DPF, I don't like this idea as it would most probably clog it up

Idling tends to produce more soot, and so does a heavy load.

At the moment I'm just taking things steady, switching the engine off when I go down big hills etc.

That's already pretty hardcore hypermiling.

What do you call big hills ?

If they're long shallow slopes, you can control speed with the aerodynamic drag and even shut the engine off (though I idle in neutral).
My V50 needs about 5% gradient to keep around 62mph.

If the grade is too steep for aero drag, keep the engine running and stay in (top) gear - the fuel flow will be cut off anyway in these conditions
(engine braking or DFCO as it's called here) .

I always keep the engine running though - steering is too hard w/o power steering, and power braking is reduced too much / too quickly to be safe for my liking.

Coasting in Neutral has become my main way of slowing down.
Engine braking is next, brakes are only used when the situation is unpredictable, or to come to a full stop
(coasting engine-on becomes a lot less efficient the last 5-10 mph)

Also my recommended tyre pressure is 33PSI all round, and the max on the tyre wall is 44PSI, what would you go to and consider to be safe still, baring in mind the car with have a full family in it at times !

@ 33psi you're running on flat tyres.

I'm running 51 psi (max. sidewall pressure on my Michelin Energy Savers) which is on the edge of being bouncy when running near-empty.
I won't go above sidewall max. pressure.

33 psi is what Volvo (then part of Ford) recommended on my lighter V50.
44 psi is only 3 bar, and the Cmax is a heavy creature, so you can probably run 44 psi without issue.
The ride will get noticeably harder, but it shouldn't get harsh & bouncy.
Back off the pressure if it does bounce, that means the suspension can't cope.

Fully loaded, the car will behave better with less negative effect due to the higher tyre pressure.

My book average figures are 57MPG, when the Ultra-Gauge arrives I hope to beat this.

That's 47 mpg US, or 5 L/100km - exactly what my V50 with the same engine is rated for, so you'll likely have better gearing / mapping.

I can get 65 mpg Imp though


The grille lets in too much air - far more than the 1.6D needs - so you can close off at least the top grille, and likely part of the lower grille.
The intercooler and A/C cooler will need some air though.
It speeds up engine warm-up a bit when hypermiling (using less fuel means it takes longer to warm up) and improves the aerodynamics (air going through the engine bay is a drag).