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Old 06-05-2008, 04:26 AM   #9 (permalink)
Twerp
Modified Driver
 
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: South Western middle of nowhereish New Hampshire
Posts: 104

Frozen Tundra - '03 Toyota Tundra 4WD SR5 Access Cab
90 day: 26.51 mpg (US)

Red Skateboard - '91 Honda Civic DX
90 day: 45.49 mpg (US)
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I've been struggling with the same question about p&g vs. hills. My commute has quite a few of them. I don't have the definitive answer due to a lack of testing instrumentation, but I've been experimenting with the technique. I approach each hill a little differently based on it's steepness. If it's shallow I just pulse up the hill and glide down, initiating my pulse well before the hill so I can gain most of my momentum before I get to it. There are a couple areas where I shorten my glides and initiate my pulse early on the downhill to make the most of gravity and cheaply grab some extra momentum. For steeper hills, I will initiate my pulse early, grab momentum and let it bleed off as I climb the hill. I maintain the same throttle pressure for the pulse throughout the climb, gearing down if necessary. When I crest the hill, I continue the pulse, using gravity help regain my momentum and initiate a coast once I'm up to speed. It makes for a longer pulse and sometimes a shorter glide, but usually I can make up for it later in the trip. My favorite sections involve long downhill runs where I can kill my engine and coast for a little over a mile.

This is all seat of my pants type of stuff, so I can't really tell you if I'm on the right track with this technique, especially because I'm very new to the concept of p&g driving and I definitely need some more practice to get it right. On the other hand, I did get about 25mpg out of the last tank. Given that the updated EPA combined rating on my truck is 16mpg, I must be doing something right.
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