the "Daily Drive" thread - January 2008
 

On the way to work this morning (around 8 miles in the city) -- 44.4mpg via the on-board computer. Surprisingly good, actually, usually I get around 40 for the commute--must have hit all the green lights.

I'm not an "ecodriver" by any stretch of the imagination; I drive somewhat aggressively, accellerating up to top gear (5-speed stick) as quickly as possible to maximize time in that gear (useful from 35-40mph and up).

Nice to be beating the EPA by such a margin without even trying!

I usually mash it in the lower gears to get up to speed quickly...a test I ran with my car a while back should a few % improvement using that method!

Thanks for moving me to a new thread -- I didn't notice the subject on the old one.

I think that the EPA rating procedure fails to reveal the strengths of the diesel engine design. While ratings of 30/37 (the "unrevised" ratings were 36/41 for the 5-speed and 36/42 for the DSG automatic) are on the upper end of the scale for the current crop of vehicles, the car has far more potential even in bone stock form (which mine is). I've found that on highway trips of an hour or two or more at 65 mph, I can easily *average* (including some city driving at each end) over 50mpg with no special technique other than just using the cruise control. Drivers of other diesel VW vehicles, especially the lighter New Beetle and Golf even report fuel economy of 55mpg and up (see www.tdiclub.com). "Javier" is the last of the "dirty diesel" VWs with the 100hp 1.9L motor; it will be interesting to see how the new 140hp 2.0L "clean diesel" competes in regards to FE.

My car is running real bad right now. 1) It has trouble starting/idling once warmed up. 2) It has an very loud exaust leak. 3)Some slipping in the tranny.

It may be the end for the Saturn. Oh, and I believe I am getting slightly better then 20mpg on this tank.

"Filled up" the ForkenSwift last night.

This charge cycle saw me doing several foot-to-the-floor 1st gear hill climbs (with not particularly memorable glides down the back side - ie. forced to brake on some of them). I usually avoid these hills.

Add to that some less than turtle style acceleration, and I'm left scratching my head, because this one turned out to practically tie my best drive/charge cycle to date @ 107 mpg (US) equivalent.

(Note: moved the questions/answers about monitoring the ForkenSwift's batteries - like a fuel gauge - and about regen ability to the ForkenSwift thread.)

So I read that Ottawa just passed its statistically coldest week of the winter last week. As if to mark the occasion, it actually was the coldest I've seen so far when I got back to the car at the Ottawa airport after midnight on Monday morning.

- 22 C / -7.6 F

(This is where Peakster chimes in to tell us that's downright tropical compared to the temps they've been seeing on the prairies this winter!)

Getting into the icy cold Blackfly (no EBH) saw the worst segment numbers I've had in recent memory (though not as bad as the 26 mpg on the day I had my e-test). At least I could blame that one on the test procedure.

5.7 miles: 42.7 mpg (US). Yikes.

It was cold enough that the (manual) steering was noticeably stiffer. Even with much, much less EOC, the engine didn't even reach full operating temps in those 5.7 miles.

Oh how you tease. We had freezing temps for 2 whole days. Even had snow on 1. Snows gone now. Did brakes on one of my re-sales yesterday, temp was 45f, skies clear and sunny. I wore two layers of thermals and was still freezing my butt off. I would like to live in the Great White North, but my wife hates snow. She won't even go to work if you can see it on the ground. So i am as north as i can get. She wants to go farther south.
Just popping in to say HI.
S.

We skipped Feb, apparently...