FeedBack is what I seek (driving tips for long trip)

[metroschultz]

I made mention earlier this week of a trip Barb & I will be taking shortly.
I ask you, My fellow Gas Saving Friends for tips, tricks, & advice for the trip.
I will do all the driving.
The first portion will be on secondary highways. Because, my wife does not like Interstates, so I found a route that allows us to get where we need to be without using the Highways. Time will be expanded about one hour. Six & half hours from here to Bristol on I 64 & I 81 as opposed to seven & half on US 58.
US 58 will be a more relaxed drive and have better scenery.
Then a quick overnight in a hotel somewhere.
And to the highways.
I 81 to I 40 to I 24 to a whole lotta back roads to Sis' house.
So any body want to speak up and throw in your 11.5 cents (adjusted for recession)?
All comments and replies welcome.
Thanks for all your help, (both now and in the past)
Schultz.

[MetroMPG]

Obviously you already know about keeping the speeds reasonable.

If you're cruising the highways, "target driving" or "driving with load" is your best bet. Fire up the ScanGauge, decide on an MPG figure that you want to attain (within reason), and play, play, play that throttle to achieve it.

Ideally you'll have the add-a-gauge feature set up so you'll be able to watch both instant & averaged MPG on the same screen.

Long trips are hard on the hypermiler, in my opinion. The around town short trips and medium stuff is a snap.

[AndrewJ]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Long trips are hard on the hypermiler, in my opinion.

I'm of the same opinion.

My Attitude (on a long road trip) vs. Time

Hour 1 -- 5-10 below the speed limit (you too honey!)

Hour 2 -- Seriously, not 4 below, 5.

Hour 3 -- Maybe just a few MPH more. 2 below isn't gonna kill me.

Hour 4 -- 5 below is for chumps, speed limit it is.

Hour 5+ -- Aw *#($& it. Just get me there already!


So in short.

Avoid that kind of thing. It helps to have a spouse who will voluntarily obey the self-imposed speed limit when they take their turn driving.

[Arminius]

I won't go on any trip without my pocket GPS. It has saved me time and gas, nearly every time.

[Harpo]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Obviously you already know about keeping the speeds reasonable.

If you're cruising the highways, "target driving" or "driving with load" is your best bet. Fire up the ScanGauge, decide on an MPG figure that you want to attain (within reason), and play, play, play that throttle to achieve it.

Ideally you'll have the add-a-gauge feature set up so you'll be able to watch both instant & averaged MPG on the same screen.

Speeds reasonable have largest effect. Being a retired aviator, I like to play the game of hitting my checkpoints on time using a proposed average mph. Setting the ScanGuage up w/instant & averaged MPG and Fuel Flow is really easy to drive.

I had trip yesterday back from Orlando (157 miles all Turnpike/Interstate). I set my checkpoint times (+/-5 min.), the set my "requested" mpg as frequently as I could to met my time requirements. I use maps.google.com to estimate route mileage, pre-trip. I chose 60mph as my proposed avg speed, and ended up averaging 58mph. I shot for 42.5mpg, and exceeded that with about 45% trip remaining. My Max Speed was 77mph, going downhill at .35gph behind a semi who I caught at the crest of the previous uphill. I tried to hang in the 1.5gpm range on flats which usally had me around 65mph. Ultimately, I arrived "around 3 minutes late" and at a SuperCool 45mpg FE averaging 1.268gph.

[thebrad]

Is it better to pulse and glide on the freeway or drive a constant speed?
Also, does anyone have a link to the add-a-gauge coding to have AVG and instant be displayed?

[Harpo]

Originally Posted by thebrad

Is it better to pulse and glide on the freeway or drive a constant speed?
Also, does anyone have a link to the add-a-gauge coding to have AVG and instant be displayed?

http://www.scangauge.com/support/pdfs/SGMan5_0.pdf

Page 30.

I think both for different conditions.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by thebrad

Is it better to pulse and glide on the freeway or drive a constant speed?

Better for what?

Better for fuel economy? P&G (depending on the car & driver)
For mechanical longevity? Probably constant speed.
For driver sanity? Depends on the trip length.
For sanity of other road users? Depends on the drivers.

[tasdrouille]

On long trips I usually pick a relatively good constant speed for FE (60 mph), set the CC and enjoy the ride listening to music and thinking about FE...lol.

However, past 4 hours in the car I have a tendency to start going around 75 mph and draft pretty much anything I can, else I get depressed by the SG.

[thebrad]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Better for what?

Better for fuel economy? P&G (depending on the car & driver)
For mechanical longevity? Probably constant speed.
For driver sanity? Depends on the trip length.
For sanity of other road users? Depends on the drivers.

Well I am going to Vegas this weekend, I am used to long trips but I think P&G might make my passenger go insane (I'm hoping he sleeps most of the trip since we are leaving in the morning.)

Anyway, here's the map

I had two plans of attack, pulsing to 70mph and eocing back down to 55 (rinse and repeat) or a constant 55 mph.

At the moment, only foreseeable issues are:
1) Passenger.
2) Heat (No A/C) planning to stock up on bottled water.

So yeah, tips would be great.
I guess I could try 55 there and P&G back, or better yet just use Scangauge to determine which is better based on 10 minute rounds?