Holy cow, I made a top-10 list? Awesome!
For mods, look here:
Details: Red 2.0 - 1998 Dodge Neon Fuel Economy - EcoModder.com
(mods summery: lots of weight redux, eco tires, lots of front end blocking, extended front bumper, rear wheel skirts, temp wheel covers, higher compression engine, solar sunroof battery charger, block heater)
So, here's my techniques I use every day (kind of in order of daily route):
-(pre-driving) block heater on timer, so warmed car up for an hour before I leave each day.
-Start car and drive! No time to idle. I don't care how cold it is!
-Throttle is ~50% most of the time. Higher RPM + Highway is usually closed to 70-80%.
-Shifting at 2-2.5k on a cooler engine or in city, highway is 2.5-3.2k shift points.
-Accelerate as needed, then immediately go into neutral and hit the engine kill switch. (P&G+Eoff everywhere, city or highway, unless traffic is too tight)
-Coast until you come to your stop, or need to accelerate again. Daily route usually lands me 10-15MPH at the stop and then I bump to start again, hit the brakes to make the legal requirement of stopping, then go!
-Highway speeds are optimal around 40-55mph and using 4th gear for that. 45-60mph isn't much worse, but only used when necessary. 50-60mph when really needing to go!
-Up hill, drop 5-10 mph off of the above, pending steepness and traffic. Try to hit a decent speed before hitting the start of the hill and coast as much as possible.
-Down hill, neutral coast until towards bottom, where acceleration goes on before hitting the coming uphill.
-Steep downhill where speeds get out of control, use 4th gear. Computer cuts fuel injectors and free alternator to battery charging.
-Always take the side roads with less traffic and stop lights. Much more consistent and easier to find a routine.
Pic is of my recent trip with all the current and latest mods. Trip to and from Oregon coast was over 1000 miles, vast majority of it highway. Used all techniques mentioned above and got 57.75 + 59.14 MPG.
