The 50 mpg+ Club (automatics, non-hybrids, non-diesels) - How did you do it?

[bluejoey]

Originally Posted by Allch Chcar

The biggest problem is that this Club doesn't have any members yet. Other then those trying to gain entry no one here has hit 50 yet. And why exclude Hybrids and Diesels? Isn't it limiting enough that you made it Auto only? Why not one or the other. The only Diesels capable of 50mpg are VW or Euro market only while the current top MPG car in the US just happens to be an Auto only car, the Prius. Seems a bit too exclusive don'tcha think?

It's not easy, but at least one person on the first page has done it. And it's pretty easy to beat 50 in a hybrid that starts at 40 (such as either Insight or any Prius). I excluded diesels for similar reasons (I see several folks just casually browsing the forums who have surpassed 50 in the US on diesels). The club is supposed to be exclusive since I'm interested in hearing from folks who have done something that's quite difficult to do.

[Tygen1]

Originally Posted by Allch Chcar

The biggest problem is that this Club doesn't have any members yet. Other then those trying to gain entry no one here has hit 50 yet. Seems a bit too exclusive don'tcha think?

Don't I count?
On pure highway trips, 50 is not a problem at all, in fact I believe I can reach 60 now. However a 50mpg average commuting is my goal, and I have not reached that yet.

Your comments on Lean Burn are interesting. I run about 17:1 on my motor and it seems to work nicely, if I go up to 18:1 I can't go up hills without slowing too much, or I get pinging if I let the load go up too high. Lean burn has made it possible to reach 50mpg commuting. Although the best I've done is 54mpg on the highway without lean burn, wheel skirts or scangauge Now I have many more mods

I've been meaning to make an update post about my car, maybe it's time now.

[RobertSmalls]

I bet you could gain admission to the club on a tank average basis by throwing the high voltage disconnect on a CVT Insight. Though I bet Tygen's having more fun than that.

[Tygen1]

More fun? It's nerve racking knowing that just one rubber necker stands between you and the prize! I was able to get one tank of commuting this summer at 50.15 mpg. It's so difficult to catch a break in Philly traffic...You have to have a bunch of really good individual segments within the commute to average out the bad segments where traffic backed up. Real world results are much tougher than pure highway mpg. I've had great individual commutes with fair weather and no traffic go higher than 60mpg, but next commute will be 40 something cause someone crashed themselves up and backed up traffic for 5 miles.
To get a 90 day average better than 50mpg, I (you) will need to get a bunch of commutes much better than 50mpg, I'm figuring around 55mpg so you can drop a few 45mpg tanks and not miss the goal. Getting just one tank of 50mpg was very difficult, I've recently taken some steps to help, but I believe that it may take an MTX swap to make the goal, ie: EOC is needed. That may be a year or two away though, we'll see how long the ATX holds up

[jcp123]

I got my 57mpg tank by riding a motorcycle 70mph to Nashville, TN

[bluejoey]

My goal will need to wait for a little while; I'm only doing city driving now, and while it's good because it'll take me longer to burn through tanks, it also means it's that much harder to hit 50. I'd like to work on a few things too (cleaning the EGR system, replacing the air filter, reinstalling interior lights, and a radiator block / WAI), but these will all have to wait until it's warmer than 20F outside.

[alohaspirit]

naturally a club to hit 40mpg would have more people


but thats the goal isnt it

[bluejoey]

Okay, update to the thread. My wife and I just took a 250+ mile trip that was mostly highway, and although I didn't average 50, I did average 44+, which is 6 away. Temperatures were in the teens to 20s and all the driving took place at night, which means it was lights all the way. The most significant mod besides the Ultgragauge was a radiator block made from cardboard, which helped raise the engine temperature and possibly the air intake temperature. Driving technique was DWL instead of P&G, and I watched iMPG, MPH, and LOD. Between 58 and 62 mph and on level ground, I found 60% LOD was roughly correspondent to 40 mpg, while 50 -> 50 mpg and 40 -> 60 mpg. However, unless I was heading downhill, 40% LOD was not sustainable. At any rate, with more refinement of DWL and warmer temperatures, I have no doubt I could hit 50 mpg in full highway driving in the summer.

Anyway, for now, 44.4 mpg over 250 miles translates to 153% of combined EPA, or 123% of highway EPA.

[SentraSE-R]

Good going. As I said, I got 49+ mpg on my last two tanks in the rental AT Kia Rio with 3 adults and luggage last Spring, and averaged 43.4 mpg for 3600 miles. It's definitely doable with the right car & a long highway where you can keep speeds around 50-55 mph.

[bluejoey]

Originally Posted by SentraSE-R

Good going. As I said, I got 49+ mpg on my last two tanks in the rental AT Kia Rio with 3 adults and luggage last Spring, and averaged 43.4 mpg for 3600 miles. It's definitely doable with the right car & a long highway where you can keep speeds around 50-55 mph.

Thanks Sentra SE-R. Your post was one of those that inspired me that this is possible. I'm trying to figure out what else I could do to the car itself to increase my numbers.

For city mileage, DWL seems to yield equal or better numbers than P&G, and results in much smoother driving. The bottleneck seems to be road conditions. In the 1.5 mile route from home to school, there's one stop sign and 4 stoplights. As a result, it's hard to get more than 28 mpg city on that route, day in and out right now. In comparison, when I drive to Walmart a few miles away, even though it's still city driving, there are portions with higher speed limits (45 vs. 30) and less frequent lights, which means I can hit 32 mpg on such routes. I don't know how to make the engine more efficient right now for city driving. I'll keep thinking about it.