If you can not maintain speed in top gear then you are better off to downshift than go into full load enrichment with throttle at 100%, but it is close either way.So close that it would depend on your priority, higher average speed or higher mileage. A good rule is the opportunity for vastly better mileage is what you do on the downhill portion, not the uphill climb.
If you can coast downhill and your terminal speed will not exceed your safety or legality threshold, then you objective should be principally based on your speed at the BOTTOM of the hill. It's like thinking ahead in a Chess game. You want you speed at the top to be at the exact point where your speed at the bottom is the highest practical speed (legal and safe) and you have coasted dowhilll to reach that speed, while your mileage jumps to way over 100 MPG, in some cases over 300 MPG, or infinite MPG if you use engine off coasting, which I do not do in my driving.
Then you have more speed to help with climbing the next hill (assuming there is one). Maintaining the best top gear load will cause your speed to gradually drop as you climb hill #2 in order to again reach your terminal velocity at the bottom of hill 2. Rinse and repeat for additional hills.
regards
Mech
|