[mechman600]

Today I dropped the kids off at the inlaws like I always do. It's a 61km (38 mile) round trip, 53% country roads with a few 4-way stops and lights, 47% highway.

I usually average 7.2 L/100 km (33 mpg), trying pretty hard - 7.0 L/100 km on the way there and 7.4L/100 km on the way home (elevation change). The Matrix isn't exactly an aerodynamic car, to say the least.

However, today when I go onto the freeway on the way home I decided to stay close behind a truck just ahead of me. It was going a bit slower than speed limit, 80-90 km/h (50-56 mph). I didn't even stay that close - maybe 1-1/2 to 2 seconds behind (a cop wouldn't have noticed), and suddenly what seemed like magic occured on the Scangauge.

The result of today's experiment ended up being 7.2 L/100 km on the way there and 5.2 L/100 km (45 mpg) on the way back, for an average of 6.2 L/100 km (38 mpg)! That's a 16% improvement.

I know this isn't exactly scientific with A-B-A testing or anything, but I definitely will be using tip #38 in the future.