[endurance]

It hasn't been the best year for hypermiling for me. While I've managed to keep things between 36-38mpg for the most part in my 2002 Acura RSX-S (EPA 22/28), getting to 40 or above has been more elusive than in the past.

I definitely have to get the car in for service as there's definitely a low RPM miss that two back to back tanks with BG44k have failed to fix. However, I kept poking around looking for other answers and finally came up with an obvious one; my oil change shop was dropping my tire pressure from the sidewall max of 51 to 32psi hot! That meant closer to 28-29 cold. Once I figured this out I had a 39+mpg tank and this last tank, had a record setting 43.48mpg.

Of course the mpg wasn't all about tire pressure on that tank. I was hiking a section of the Colorado Trail with a friend and we had to drive into Turquoise Lake near Leadville, Colorado. I had some 5 minute-plus engine off coasts going in both directions that really helped me get the most out of the tank.

I'm just grateful the sub-38 days are over and the +40 days are back. Nothing brings a bigger smile to my face than 40+mpg out of a car rated at 24 mpg combined.