Best around town mileage to date

[mavinwy]

I finally cleared the 30mpg range around town with the auto. The only real changes have been shifting to neutral at stoplights, not running AC (it cooled off enough to not need it) and working more on keeping the Neon below 2500rpm on accel.

Most of the other mods I have done have been aero, and around town it just does not help that much....

So off for the next quest....31MPG

always in small steps....

Jim

[ankit]

Did you try turning your vehicle off if you are the first to the red light? You just have to look around for when the other direction's light turns yellow as an indicator to when you turn your car on. I think you should be able to surpass the 31 mark with that change.

[mavinwy]

Nope, as I have said before...I am more into making the vehicle efficient than the whole hypermiling thing. I am still unconvinced about turning off a hot car (water pump stops as well, temp goes up) especially on a car known for head gasket issues. Additionally there is the wear an tear on the starter, flywheel, keyswitch etc. The ability to shift it into drive and move quickly if needed....which I have had to do in the past...is not really different than having to shift a manual and let off the clutch...so I am comfortable with that. Additionally, my Dodge truck manual actually suggests putting the auto trans in neutral at stoplights (for cooling when towing) so I can see that what I am doing is withing the design parameters of these vehicles.

25mpg is what fueleconomy.gov lists as the combined mpg for this vehicle. If I am getting 5mpg better just around town...I am happy with that.

Over the winter, I'll likely be switching the trans to a manual (already have a donor car) and driving the cherokee in the snow...so next spring the mileage will be better still....

Jim