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heres my method:
i have a slightly louder exhaust (and a decent sized motor), so i can "hear/feel" the motor pretty well. while my truck is an automatic, it has 5 gears that are actually pretty close in ratio (not much rpm drop in between gears).
its kinda hard to explain in words, but i'll try my best. there are 2 main "feelings" i get from my engine.
-when i accelerate really slowly, the engine "feels" like it wants to go faster, but i'm holding it back. makes it stay in lower gears, and the shifts aren't "crisp". it shifts like i get out of bed in the morning; slow, tired, and sluggish. small variations in accelerator pressure don't seem to make any difference (in speed).
-when i give it more (like 3000 rpms+ ), i get excessive noise, the engine "feels" like its doing way too much work for the speed i'm traveling.
so my "sweet spot" is around 2000-2300 rpms. when it shifts, rpms only drop a couple hundred, and are short and crisp. i reach higher gears in moderate time. the engine just "feels" happy. that seems to get me the best mileage.
yeah i know, i haven't updated my fuel log in awhile. i do have it saved (in excel) at home. my "mpg tracking" process is always filling up from almost empty, at the same time of day, at the same gas station. my excel program corrects my mileage from bigger tires automatically.
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