Aero Trix's bests and goals
 

Distance update:

I just beat my longest tank! My record was 437 miles, today was 507 miles @ 11.38 gallons. With a 13.3 gallon tank I only need to work a bit harder to get 600 miles out of a tank :)

Next goal 600 miles in a tank.

MPG goal:

Get at least one tank with at 50MPG or better (min 120 miles on tank).

It is a stretch but I should be able to hit it with my new kill switch.

Weather Spotter -

Great Job! You're climbing up the MPG ladder, one rung at a time.

CarloSW2

With just 2 days of using the kill switch I can see how much help it will be!

You're doing great. The wheel covers in your avatar look very cool.

Well this tank will not set any records :(

Last night I needed to go pick up a washer for my brother's new house. I had to attach the trailer and go 30 miles each way to pick it up.

http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/z...8-18-08_72.jpg

Weather last night was bad, winds 25+ rain, dark, in short it sucked for MPG :(

My tank was at 47.2 MPG at the start of the trip. When I got home it was 39.7 :(

With about 100 miles on the tank this one is not for the record books.

Update:

My tank with the trailer turned out to just get 40 MPG. Half of the 116 miles were towing the trailer.

On my trip today it rained or were wet roads and I got 48.x MPG or my second best ever :)

I think that if it is not rainy or windy on the way home I might break 50, I hope :)

Kill switches are great. Once you install one, you'll never go back.

Congratulations on the huge mpg improvement, and I hope you break 50mpg before the mpg-deflating weather sets in too much harder.

I have liked the kill switch since day 1 :)

I look at it as another safety feature. I can kill the car when I want and the ECU cannot over rule me.

I have yet to focus on long-tanking it, as I'm just used to filling up when I have about 300 miles on it. I have noticed this is closer to half a tank lately, where before it was pretty close to empty. Perhaps it's time to readjust.

Wheel covers look great. I'd always been disappointed in the Matrix mileage, but you're proving that it's a good foundation, it just needs a heavily adjusted nut. ;)

Don't count on using all of it...
 

Don't count on the full 13.3 gallons... I have a 10.6 gallon tank, but the car sputters at anything over 10 gallons, and will die on most downhills... I now try to keep fill ups around 9 gallons (since I don't want to carry a gas tank around with me).

I get about 10 gallons of gas every 500 miles whether I need it or not and the kill switch goes a very long way to doing that.

The kill switch is moving higher in my priorities. Perhaps mostly because I don't want the mess and hassle of putting in the lower radiator hose heater.:rolleyes: However, this morning's commute in was my best ever (53.6mpg), but there's still so much I could do to make it better. I was idling at a stop light this morning, looking at my Scangauge showing .31-.34gph (lights on, heater fan on low) and thinking "what a waste". You guys are such a bad (good) influence on me.:thumbup:

Guess my next goal is two weeks on a single tank of gas (while still retaining enough in reserve to be safe during this winter driving season). Uggh, the first big winter storm is upon us, guess it's time to get out the snow tires and get them mounted up.

Go for the KiloTank!

1000 km, 622 miles!

I might just make that many miles :) I hit 50x miles with two gal left so maybe with the kill switch ....

Well I did not get a kilo tank in but I did get a record MPG tank :)

135.8 miles
2.677
for 50.728 MPG :)

comments:
All hypermiling, dry roads, no winds, little use of kill switch, did have headlights on.

Wow, impressive work there. That's my long term goal, but I'm unlikely to see it until spring. I'm unlikely to see it with these badboys going on in the next couple weeks:

http://www.discounttire.com/product/...measr1.ang.jpg
It's either that or 0.0mpg in the ditch.:rolleyes:

what type of snow tires do you run? I have all seasons on right now and they work fine for MI winters. I bet yours are just a tad worse :)

What could I get with LRR tires?

I got to change out my numbers on my car :)

90 day average is up to 45 MPG :)

http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/z...-00-19_681.jpg

Those are Nokian Hakkapaliitas. If I didn't travel into the mountains, I could easily get away with all seasons, but the new house is at 7,400' (15 minutes into the foothills west of Denver) plus I get up cross country skiing at least every other weekend. So, unless I want to drive the 1998 Chevy 4x4 pick up (14-16mpg) everytime it snows, it's best just to bite the bullet and get the aggressive snow tires. Some winters they're a blessing, others, I just wonder why I mounted them at all.

The good news is my summer tires are shot, so next spring I'll be picking up some good LRR tires. The only problem I'm facing is this is still a performance car, so I need a V rated tire that's 205/55R 16. That limits my options and isn't ideal for mileage, but I'm already exceeding expectations. If I can get it consistently in the 40mpg range, I'll be thrilled. I just need two more years out of this car and I'll be replacing it with something newer that was actually designed for economy. Ironically, what I want to replace it with (early to mid-90s civic) right now costs less than the wholesale bluebook on my current car.:rolleyes:

We'll see what comes out in the next couple years. If manufacturers start bringing over more European cars, we just might see new cars worth buying (the Toyota Yaris was one of the first, now it looks like Ford is also bringing over the Euro version of the Focus next year). Last time I was in the UK I rode in a friends 3-series BMW that had a turbo diesel that had more power than my Acura but got 51-54mpg driving like a teenager. My rental car was a Saab 9.5 wagon (estate car) TDI that got 40mpg (it was slightly larger than a Subaru Legacy wagon). Now Ford has brought the Transit van to the states, but the TDI version over there gets 45mpg and isn't available here yet. In any case, that's why I'm waiting. I'd rather buy something that has sub-150k miles on it so I can own it for a while and trust it on my mountain commute, but still want an EPA rating over 35-40mpg (without my only choice being a hybrid with a $3k+ battery that lasts 3 years or VW (which remains one option, but they're overpriced, IMHO)).

Endurance you do not NEED V rated tires on the car S,T,U,H, and V would work if you must get sports tires then you could get H they are rated for 130mph as opposed to V that are rated for 149mph.

I do not think that you will be taking the car that fast or sustaining the speed and think that S,T,or U would be fine at a rated max speed of 112, 118, and 124mph respectively.

Well, need is a tricky word. I don't 'need' to go over 100mph, but sometimes I do. I might be comfortable with something rated at 130mph, maybe 124mph, but less than that and where's the fun in life?:D

You bring up a good point. I'm trying to balance my love of speed with my desire for mileage. The Michelin Hydroedge tires are on my short list, but at a T rating, I'm torn over whether I'm willing to give up something my car is capable of, but something I very rarely use (I can count the number of times over 120 on my fingers. Ok, maybe a toe or two, too, but not all of them;)).

Sorry about the threadjack. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping my wittle-bwain focused.

apology accepted :)

regarding tires I have been running Michelin X-ice tires all year round, and getting in the 55s for MPG (I suppose I could have been in the mid 60s with proper summer tires). In the winter I drop them 10psi and get around in the Alaska ice and snow like a rock star.

The Michelin Energy Saver is available in H, V, or W in that size - I'm running the W-rated version - but they won't come cheap.
Goodyear have the EfficientGrip in V and W.

In Europe, you're not allowed to use tyres with a lower rating than fits the car's Vmax.
(Winter tyres are exempt from that rule.)

Cheap tires are worth what you pay for them (not much); the last set of cheap tires caused my last accident. Someone came into my lane, I swerved to avoid them, I ended up kissing he guardrail at 70mph, then got broadsided as I bounced back into traffic. Wasn't worth the money I saved since I totalled a three year old car and nearly lost my life. I'm always willing to pay for good rubber.:thumbup:

Trip update:
I drove to SC and back this weekend, long drive (14 hr each way). Due to the time I decided not to ecomod down and back :( I did not want a 14 hr drive to turn into 16 hr. So I drove like a normal person (with traffic or ~speed limit). I knew my MPG would suck but I thought it would be a good try of the aero mods. ABA testing predicted a 4.5 MPG gain.

Trip numbers:
1800 miles
45.99 gal
39.14 MPG
$ 127.78

I can compare this to a trip last year to a different location but before I started ecomoding and I got these numbers:

1140 miles
33.53 gal
34 MPG

With a minor trip adjustment the ABA testing was right on the money :)

So I can drive like a jerk and get 38MPG or drive like a grandma and get 45MPG.

Speed makes a huge diff. 52-55 MPH is just right for FE and it drops linearly up past 75 MPH.