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Old 09-06-2012, 12:40 PM   #23 (permalink)
Maury Markowitz
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Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Canada
Posts: 6

White Whale - '06 Honda Civic Hybrid DX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drmiller100 View Post
The faster you accelerate, the more time you spend at "top speed", which means you burn more fuel simply because you are going faster.
In my case this represents perhaps 1 km over a 100 km one-way route, so the effect on overall would be perhaps 1% if this was simply a geometric effect.

Looking at the instantaneous gauge, mpg goes from about 65 cruising at hiway speed, to about 15 to 20 mph during acceleration.

Quote:
Originally Posted by drmiller100 View Post
Second, the ECU computer in the car richens the mixture drastically above a certain point. It goes "open loop" and throws gas at the engine, because extra gasoline gives more power. You REALLY want to stay out of "open loop" for mileage.
Ahhhh, now *that* sounds like we might have hit on it...

Quote:
Originally Posted by drmiller100 View Post
Third, an automatic transmission will stay in low gears longer, meaning more average RPM's, which means more gasoline burned.
Is this purely linear? IE, is 2x RPM and 1/2x the gearing to get the same end speed using twice as much fuel?

Maury
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