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Help me drive my diesel car more efficiently
I own a Renault Clio IV dci which I am sure none American is familiar with. It is a small diesel hatchback (smaller than a Golf) with a 1.500cc engine (91.5 cubic inches) putting out a whopping 90hp and 220Nm of torque (162 lbft). Claimed FE on the NEDC cycle is 3.6 L/100km (78MPG). Best I have seen so far is 3.7 L/100km (country roads) but a more realistic FC is about 4.2-5 L/100km (67-56MPG). Cruising at the speed limit (130 kmh or 80 mph) the engine is spinning at a fraction higher of 2600 rpm and gets the worse FE of around 5L/100km (56MPG). I don't do a lot of city driving.
My problem is that I don't know what engine rpm is best to shift at when accelerating. I usually accelerate with quite a lot of load in all gears except for first gear (that would spin the wheels believe it or not) and shift at 2000 rpm. But it being a diesel car it is supposed to not have lots of throttling losses so one would assume it is more efficient to rev the engine up till the torque peak (2600 rpm). Also, after I shift, the engine rpm drop to about 1300 to 1500 depending on the gear. I am afraid that I am not driving as efficiently as I could because I am not shifting at the optimal rpm.
What is your opinion? Should I shift at higher or lower rpm? Also, should I accelerate with a lot of load or with minimal load?
I want to post a dyno run but I do not have the required post count of 5.
Gear ratios:
1st: 3.73
2nd: 1.96
3rd: 1.23
4th: 0.9
5th: 0.66
Final drive ratio: 3.55
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