[Flakbadger]

Hello all, I'm hoping you can help me figure out a way to test my aeromods.

With my retired car, a gasoline-powered Toyota Yaris, I had an Ultragauge, which would have given me very clear and precise readings on MPG (instantaneous and otherwise) to test aeromods. However, on the Nissan Leaf, I have no such equipment. Sure, it comes with its own onboard computer, but it's often referred to as a "Guess-O-Meter" or GOM by many on the Leaf forums---and for very good reason. It is quite far from consistent.

I have also had difficulty finding a back road that is

A: Not busy
B: Straight
C: Has a hill

so coastdown testing has been out of my reach. I found one likely candidate where I can come to a stop at a road line on a hill, put the car in neutral, and use gravity to coast down the road, but the road is so twisty that I feel there are far too many variables to accurately test.

Right now I'm considering driving on a straight stretch of road at some set speed, and having my wife time how long it takes to go from 55 to some arbitrary speed, like maybe 40. The difficulty with that is that is twofold.

1: The dashboard speedometer seems to have a lot of 'wiggle room' on individual speeds, and cruise control will vary speed on hills by +/- 2 MPH on its own.

2: Putting the car in neutral takes a moment, so from the time of driving 55 to coasting in neutral is imprecise and may vary wildly.


Any suggestions, or am I just chasing my tail for no good reason here? Thank you all.