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Old 07-28-2014, 08:20 AM   #12 (permalink)
MetroMPG
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 22,530

Blackfly - '98 Geo Metro
Team Metro
Last 3: 70.09 mpg (US)

MPGiata - '90 Mazda Miata
90 day: 54.46 mpg (US)

Even Fancier Metro - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage top spec
90 day: 70.75 mpg (US)

Appliance car Mirage - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (base)
90 day: 62.14 mpg (US)
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My parents got an '09 Civic Hybrid this summer:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...nst-28842.html

One driving technique that will help a lot is learning how to glide the car with the engine off. When you release the accelerator while moving, two things happen:

1) Fuel injection stops, which you can see by the "instant" gauge going to "zero" L/100 km (on the L/100 scale... not sure what it does on the MPG scale -- probably spikes to the highest value).

2) Coasting regen kicks in.

Now if you very gently press the accelerator pedal down, you can cancel regen to extend your glide.

Push a little further still and you can add a small bit of electric assist (up to 3 or 4 bars), if that's useful for the specific glide situation you're in. If I ask for more than 3 or 4 bars of assist with the engine off, the engine kicks back on (you can feel it, and the instant MPG gauge will drop a lot).

It's not as efficient to glide the Civic as a Toyota hybrid because the Honda's engine is always turning over when it's "off". That plus the belt-driven CVT remaining "in gear" means there's considerably more mechanical drag slowing you down.

Avoid the temptation to use electric assist to extend your glides all the time or you'll use up battery charge which will have to be replaced by forced charging later (and lower fuel economy).

Maximize the amount of engine-off gliding (un-assisted), and you should see your fuel economy go up even more.
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Project MPGiata! Mods for getting 50+ MPG from a 1990 Miata
Honda mods: Ecomodding my $800 Honda Fit 5-speed beater
Mitsu mods: 70 MPG in my ecomodded, dirt cheap, 3-cylinder Mirage.
Ecodriving test: Manual vs. automatic transmission MPG showdown



EcoModder
has launched a forum for the efficient new Mitsubishi Mirage
www.MetroMPG.com - fuel efficiency info for Geo Metro owners
www.ForkenSwift.com - electric car conversion on a beer budget
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