49.7mpg in an xB on a 190-mile fillup!
 

Hey all, (repost from Introductions, but I thought it would be of interest here)
I've owned the car since 2004 when they first came out and my previous best mpg for a long trip was about 35mpg. It had a previous life as a mild tuner with a cold air intake with oil-impregnated paper filter and larger exhaust and bigger low-profile, wider wheels, lowered 1.75". Now I'm back to stock tires on OEM wheels, cold air intake and exhaust, lowered 1.75". On my first hypermiling long distance trip yesterday I got 49.7! That's like $3.15 gas at the old mpg! Did the following:

1. Inflated tires to max psi of 44 at about 65 degrees F
2. Left early for Bay Area to Santa Barbara trip, about 4:30am to miss traffic
3. Drafted larger trucks where applicable, but not excessively
4. Did P+G, often pulsing up to trucks and gliding back. Max speed probably 75, min speed 40 for the entire trip, usually 50-70mph.
5. Did some EOC on some of the longer hills.
6. Shoes and socks off of right foot for better pedal feel.
7. Measured with a full tank with no topping off before and after trip, and the gas gauge looked to be at the same point both times.

I have to say that it makes driving a lot more fun and engaging! Better than driving a little too fast or boring old keeping constant pedal pressure, the P+G/drafting is fun!

I'll see what I get on the way back! Leaving in a few minutes!

That's a little small for a fillup, so there's likely to be a bit of an error, but likely not TOO much.

Congrats!

That is a great point about the envolved driving...

I helps keeping you awake, because you monitoring the car, and environment, then react accordingly.

I like keeping my right shoe off for distance drives... I prefer to top off the tanks before the get below half a tank, but don't always get to. Its less painful that way, but also gives less data. OR, is easy to skew data one way or the other (up or down)... Having said that, I still have decided whether to throw out fill data after offroading or not.

And I'm happy to see my best tank ever out of my Neon (34 MPG!!!), but dream of what you got...

Congrats!

Garage! Fuel Log!!!

what is an xb?

There are so many cars that have names that sound like a biochemical compound or part of the dna chain.

geo metro MPG in a xb.. thats awsome!!

this is a XB..
http://tijil.org/vanilla24_640.jpg

39.1 mpg second long distance fillup
 

I think the wind may have been with me on the way south. Going north takes more pedal pressure and only getting 39.1 - same techniques only midday and hotter. I am stopped and getting a breeze from the N so I am fighting
that. Still, above EPA and having fun! Especially bc I stopped at a wine tasting! :D:thumbup:

The early fillup last time and this time is because I'm
excited to get feedback and no scanguage yet!

Greetings,

You might want to try a grill blocking aero modification similar to what I'm trying on my xA:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...mods-2969.html
This added ~2-3mpg for the grill mod alone.

x2.

I'm going to look into a grill block (for the lower grill-- the top one is actually a solid piece of plastic with no slots, and blocking the middle would probably not do the engine cooling any favors for the summer) and partial front undertray/air dam (it makes sense in my head, I swear), as soon as I have the cash for a sheet of coroplast or the equivalent. At this point, I get better mileage in town than on the interstate, which is sort of messed up.

Maybe some day, a full pan on the underside-- I think I can do it in steps, front to rear. The part that has me flummoxed is the rear axle. I would really hate to have it interfere with a pan, if say, I jacked my car up.

Hello,

Since the upper grill is already blocked -- it might help to make it smooth? I can't think that all those grooves would be anything but drag inducing?

What about fashioning a wedge, that would slope from the top edge of the bumper back to the leading edge of the hood? That would certainly reduce drag!

Neil,

So exciting huh? great work!

quick questions as I need tires, what ones do you have and what size?

I've thought about smoothing out the grille, and smoothing out the entire front end.

Today, I conceived of a one-piece front end (like a semi) that in no way resembles the original, shaped roughly like the CRX that there's a thread about. It would be a beast of project, though, but potentially quite effective. It would even be reasonable to make the hood a deeper angle, and form something of a cowl over the bottom edge of the windshield.

However, I'm still making payments, so not just yet. ;)

Hello,

I bought Yokohama Avid TRZ 185 60 15's (from TireRack.com). Their selection has greatly expanded since I got them. They were the same mileage rating (~80K?) as the Michelin's, and they were about $36 less per tire.

[Edit: the Tire Rack link should take you to all the 185/60/15's they carry...the 2nd page showing the tires I got. Check the previous page, too.]

thanks, I have 185/60 15s also and have been going crazy trying to get the best tire:confused:

Hello,

I am reasonably happy with the Yokohama Avid TRZ's. They are pretty quiet, they ride well, they are very good in wet conditions -- very good indeed, and traction is plenty good; even if things get a little spirited. I have not had them long enough to judge their longevity, on my car. My in-laws have them on their Sienna -- that van chews through tires, and I don't think these are going to fair much better than the stock run-flats...

[Edit: They shipped my xA with Goodyear's OEM's: they had decent RR, but they were onion skins! They wore out quickly, and they were pretty awful in the wet -- I could spin them at will, and they slipped in turns and aquaplaned on damp pavement; or it sure seemed like it...]

Does that thing have a 1NZ-FE? It's amazing something so boxy can get mileage like that.. almost disheartening for me with the more "aero friendly" yaris coming in in the mid 40s (hopefully when I can skip using the AC I'll be back up near 50 where it was on my first few tanks)

Two things,

1. If you buy a new civic replace the stock tires around 18-20k miles if you live in snowy climate or 22-24k if you're in a dry climate. These tires caused me to get in an accident in inclement weather due to the TERRIBLE tread life (dealer is replacing them between 19k and 30k).

2. I also have the Yoko Avid TRZ's on the website it doesn't show them made for my car but the dealer was able to get them, great tire, reasonable traction and tons of tread. I am at around 2500 miles on them and they seem to be performing nicely.

Hello,

So, the approximate two-way average was 44mpg? Still very good, but the wind was giving you an aero push -- maybe the boxy shape was actually helping?

@JJW

the Xa and Xb should have identical drive-train as our Yaris' but the Yaris has less drag and a higher final drive (should be better freeway MPG)

I have gotten almost the same mileage as you with my sedan. I think things have a allot to do with your specific commute and what part of the country you are in. I am in SoCal so 10% ethanol, hot climate(A/C on), lots of traffic and San Diego for me which has lots of hills.

signed quest for 50:)

Yeah, the xA and xB are geared for city driving. The 1NZ-FE is positively peppy with the xB's gear ratios, but like I've said in other posts, it's fairly goofy at highway speeds.

The xB can get into the upper 40s, I imagine, with a mild climate, low speeds, and very aggressive hypermiling. I'll be happy if I can get mine into the upper 30s (90% of my commute is on roads with a speed limit of 40-50mph, so aero mods will help me more). On the upside, I am working on maximizing my coasting, since I have rural roads to take advantage of.

Fredonia!! I just noticed that! I have been out that way (erie and chautauqua cty's) quite a bit the last few months. It's beautiful out there, granted not a lot there but that's my kinda place anyway!

It's a nice place to visit...

However, living here sucks if you don't consider binge drinking a hobby (i.e., you're over the age of 22).

Needless to say, I've been looking for a new job so I can move.

Haha, I didn't want to say anything off color if you happened to love it there but yeah I don't mind rural but having some sort of city within 50 miles is nice. :-)

Actually, Buffalo being 50 miles away is kind of a hassle. It's not so far you can't go for an afternoon, but it's just far enough that there had better be a good reason to use three or four gallons of gas (depends which car we take) to go there, you know?

It's not the rural thing that bothers, so much as the fact that there are four clashing groups of people, three of which irritate me: ghetto thugs, backwoods rednecks who were born here and intend to die here, college kids, and the Amish. Not being part of any of those makes living here awkward.

Threadjacking rules :p

just did my final fillup two days after the trip. This was with some faster driving against the wind - had to get home at a reasonable time and left late - so ashamed to say there were some 80mph against the wind stretches there. And some traffic. Less P+G opportunities. I wasn't a very good hypermiler on the way back.

300.4 miles
8.02 gal
37.45mpg

So in total 668 miles, 16.387gal equals 40.76mpg or 16% over EPA. If I was more strict on the way back it would be even better!

That's still really good. I've yet to crack 35mpg in my box, but I know it's within reach. I just have to fine-tune my driving.

whokilledthe jams, all I have to say on that subject is that my MPG included leaving thug country, driving through redneck country, (yeah, we got 'em in Cali too!) and ending up in rich, white, and self-satisfied Santa Barbara. None of which affected my mileage, but there you go. ;-)

I think the thing that gets me better mileage, if it is true that cold air kit and bigger exhaust give me worse mileage, (which I have to really look into) is that the car has been lowered 1 3/4". So my roof is that much lower and I have that much less air going under the bottom of my car. I am not really doing anything beyond P+G, drafting semis, max tire inflation, and going slower (50-70 avg) and very rarely EOC, and I'm just starting at this. Lower the car! Just be careful with curbs and parallel parking. :thumbup:

Mine's lowered about 1-1.5" (on the TRD springs), but it has the obnoxious dealer-installed AEM cold air intake. I do desperately need to clean my air filter, too, and I'm going to modify the intake slightly, to place the air filter in the engine compartment, so that it's out of harm's way (my fender liners are all hacked up). My exhaust is mostly unmolested, save for the TRD "sport" muffler/fartcan, which I don't think makes much difference save for the noise.

My next major expenditure on the car will likely be a scangauge, as that will help me get a better handle on what exactly I'm doing, too.