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Old 12-20-2013, 12:47 PM   #12 (permalink)
elhigh
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: SE USA - East Tennessee
Posts: 2,314

Josie - '87 Toyota Pickup
90 day: 40.02 mpg (US)

Felicia - '09 Toyota Prius Base
90 day: 49.62 mpg (US)
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Welcome!

I didn't read the second page so someone may have said it before me, but it bears repeating: Adjust the nut behind the wheel.

Driving style has a huge, immediate effect on your fuel economy and costs nothing but a change in your habits. Look around on these pages for this very topic for lots of good pointers.

If you have a dyno chart on your engine, you may also have a BSFC - Brake Specific Fuel Consumption - chart, which shows exactly where and under what kind of load your engine is at its most effiicient. Spend as much of your time in that zone under that load, and as much of the rest of the time as possible coasting, preferably with the engine off. How achievable that is is dependent on your conditions, I see you're in NoVa which might also be Baja Washington or some similarly dense suburb. I grew up there, I know the traffic. Engine-off coasting might not be advisable.

Start a garage page to keep track of how you're improving.
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