Altering driving route for economy

[Jesse]

I am somewhat confused as to the meaning of city vs highway miles. My normal commute to work is 52 miles one direction. I drive on the highway for 49 of those miles. Here is where my question comes in.

For the first part of my commute I drive 3 miles pure "city". It involves 5 stops and speeds under 35mph. The next 12 miles is 60-65mph speed limits with 5-6 stops(depending on lights). From my understanding those twelve miles aren't exactly city or highway. I am going highway speeds, but stopping at stoplights fairly frequently. Would those still be defined as city or highway miles?

Would altering my route to roads with less stops help my mileage much?
If I encounter NO rush hour traffic, no engine warm up, I can achieve 40mpg for the duration of the tank even while cruising at speeds over 65mph. Depending on congestion I drop to 38, sometimes 36mpg. Thanks!

[abell75]

I don't think there is a black and white line that defines which you are doing, but the principles are the same either way. Braking in a non-hybrid equates to wasting energy in the form of heat. Driving fast increases wind resistance.

To answer your route question as best I can (I'm new here too), compare the fuel economy (FE) you get on the short route to what you get on the long route. 30 mpg on a 30 mile route costs you the same (in $$$) as 20 mpg on a 20 mile route. For most people the real goal is $$$ savings.

Can you see the stoplights at 60 mph far enough in advance to adjust your driving? If you can maintain 50 mph without having to stop, that beats 60 then stop then 60 then stop for FE. I've started doing that on my route and it's helping. I am starting to shake my heads at those who accelerate up to the red and then hit the brakes hard....

[TheMarkofPolo]

Reminds me of the drive on HWY 71 going near Bella Vista, AR.

Like the above post, I recommend anticipating the stop lights as much as possible. Keep a look out for 1) stale green 2) traffic stopped at the intersection 3) amount of traffic on your side of road to keep the sensor tripped 4) if you can see the crosswalk sign flashing red or "don't walk" (some even have numbers).

If you can find a suitable alternative route, test it out.

[wdb]

Mileage in my Fit actually drops at freeway speeds, when compared to secondary road speeds. I had a hard time hitting 40MPG when I had a lot of highway miles in my commute, but now that it is on secondary roads I top 40MPG regularly.

[Jesse]

These are fairly busy intersections, I do attempt to anticipate and adjust accordingly, but that doesn't work out when there is heavy traffic, which is usually when I drive. Often times I will drop to 40mph before the stop(little to no traffic), if there is no one in the turn lane(going toward me) then it works out, but if there is traffic even doing so will require stopping.

I might go to Moorhead here in MN soon. It is a 208 mile drive one way.
TinyURL.com - shorten that long URL into a tiny URL


I might try filling up just before hitting the stretch of highway with no stops for about fifty miles, then stopping at the next gas station to calculate hwy numbers, never done that before.

I greatly appreciate the input guys.

[bestclimb]

When I drive to the big village. I get 45mpg at 55mph In town My average starts climbing. I can average 55mpg while driving around in the city. Lots of EOC, Pulse n glide, and anticipating stop lights. Try to time your stops so you can coast down if more braking is necessary make your goal that engine braking can take care of most of your non emergency deceleration.

[sid]

One thing that bothers me about many discussions on this forum: Is the ultimate goal to maximize fuel economy or to minimize fuel use? These are not the same. By modifying my lifestyle and choosing my routes, I could consistently get 35 mpg with my truck. But I would use a lot more gas per year because I would be driving much greater distances.

I chose to live in a fairly urban setting because it puts me close to most of the things I need. Consequently, I can live very comfortably while driving an average of about 7,000 miles a year. But most of my trips are short and on fairly congested roads, making it a struggle to consistently get even 27 mpg.

I could choose, like many of my friends, to live further away from everything out in the country. That would get me away from the congestion and allow me to significantly up my fuel economy. But like my friends, I would then be driving 15,000 to 20,000 miles a year. This would result in my using a lot more gas a year.

To me, total fuel use per year is what is really important. In the past 10 years, I've been able to reduce that from about 1100 gallon/year to about 300 gallons/year.

[abell75]

Originally Posted by sid

Post about how minimizing consumption is more important than FE

Originally Posted by abell75

For most people the real goal is $$$ savings.

sid, I agree with your approach, and I think most others here do as well. Some signatures have comparisons between bike miles and car miles. While we are doing what we can to improve FE, it's under the assumption that we've done what we can to minimize the external factors we can control (running all errands at once, taking the shorter route when we can, etc).

I recently started driving through STL metro on a 4 lane stop&go road instead of I-55 because it shaves my commute distance from 28 to 21 miles. My FE might not be quite as good (too early to tell), but my total consumption is very likely to go down.

[wdb]

If only I could talk my wife into moving!

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by sid

Is the ultimate goal to maximize fuel economy or to minimize fuel use?

To me, total fuel use per year is what is really important. In the past 10 years, I've been able to reduce that from about 1100 gallon/year to about 300 gallons/year.

Aim for both: high MPG and low number of miles to reduce the gallons of fuel being used.

Picking the right vehicle, with good fuel efficiency, remains important regardless of how many miles you put on.


Let's see how that works out.

Though I've done about 2.5 times as many miles as you, I've only used 1/3 more fuel.
On as many gallons of fuel, I'd have covered twice the distance.
Or the other way around, for 7000 miles, I'd only have used half your amount of fuel.