The Fun of Driving for Fuel Economy
 

Here's an extract from a recent AutoSpeed article I want to share with you. If only more fast driving car nuts would give hypermiling a try...

He speaks the truth. I only wish they'd crack down on aggressive drivers even more.

Nice find, Martin.

Julian's always struck me as an archetypal ecomodder: there's a large sub-set of members here who expressed their early enthusiasm for cars through speed and power mods and driving fast & hard.

Some still do it by keeping a "fun car" for weekend or track use. But more and more are keeping & modding efficient vehicles for daily use.

I've seen comments in his blog that suggests Julian is "ahead" of many of his readers in terms of viewing ecomodding & efficient driving as worthy challenges.

Can't expect everyone to come around to that viewpoint, but you only have to look at the growth of this forum to see it's really happening!

New way for fun
 

Interesting read and puts my thoughts better than I could.

Until quite recently I was interested in speed only, I modded my car for reliability in prep for an upping in power. But then I got "zappped" by a Tallivan (mobile radar camera van here in the UK) and my clean licence gained 3 points. 12 points here is Game Over.

So the power plan went and now I'm honing my techniques for max MPG just as described.

Result is that the current tank looks good, just on a 3rd left at the same mileage that the previous one would be bone dry. I'm staying at or way under any speed limits, honing my techniques and having a ball.

I'm even considering redirecting the power budget into a project car - maybe a Peugeot 106 or Citroen Saxo 1.5 Diesel for some serious lightening and aero experimentation.

Its a bit of a bug.

My "fun car" is my daily driver.

I bought my Mustang about 22 months before I found ecomodder.com. Since I first bought it, I've made a "hobby" of seeing how many MPG I can squeeze out of it by adjusting my driving style and route planning.


And I haven't made it through a tank yet without giving it full throttle and/or barking the tires (unintentionally) at least once..

Looking at the fuel logs of quite a number of 4-cylinder Camrys, Altimas, and Foci in the ecomodder garage, I don't think I've done too badly with a 4-liter performance car.:)

On edit - Today I was telling a co-worker about the fuel economy I've managed to squeeze out of my "pony". He said, "That's better than I get with my Hondas!" :D

That's a cool write up.:thumbup:

I'm one of the freaks that has to have both, performance and economy.;)

Its been a ten year dream for me to have a 1.6L 2300lb car that can make 450+whp and get over 90mpg (74mpg is my current personal best) and run 10 second 1/4 mile times (11.8@130mph is my personal best no traction on drag radials).

The 450whp part is done that was easy. The hard part is my fuel mileage goal. But I'm sure I can get there. I learned a lot this summer with this engine and I have some more in it when it comes to mileage. I hope my new aero mods will get me to the 90mpg mark. Plus it will help the top end in the 1/4 mile.

I also plan on autox the car this next year and do a 12 mile hill climb.:eek:

It would also be nice to see what it would do in the standing mile. :)

If I go through with my project idea, my fun (as in fast) car will be my daily one and my ecomodder special will be my weekend / aka "special" one. :D

I'm thinking I may have this backwards. Ahh, well - suits my wife's idea of me...:turtle:

Anybody can mash the throttle. Not anybody can eek out the best FE out of their daily driver...

Makes the commute more interesting.

Anybody can go fast, not anybody can *drive* fast. Mashing the throttle isn't even close to "performance driving", although most kids seem to think it is.

Driving for high average MPG as opposed to high average MPH brought my blood pressure down... not that that's a good thing, in my case. I now have to eat nearly twice the daily recommendation of sodium, but the money I save on fuel and tickets more than covers it.

Driving for FE is a blast. I love seeing how many lights I can get. It also makes me far more aware of the surroundings since factoring in other drivers and other induhviduals is totally necessary for getting the best FE out of my car.

It's also saved me lots of $$$ at the pump, and on maintenance.

Fascinating article! Those are the kind of mods I'm interested in installing on my cars.

This is actually my first post on ecomodder. I found this interesting because I am definitely the type of person that finds just as much enjoyment out of getting the best possible gas mileage I can even though I have always enjoy racing also.

Until recently I've owned a couple old BMW's (E30). I've always driven them for maximum gas mileage from a more average consumer viewpoint when I'm not racing, but even then their fuel economy is only mediocre when compared to cars on this forum (I got 31 mpg with a long gear ratio). With the older fuel injection, RWD, and a bad drag coefficient I was still impressed, but it wasn't anything to brag about.

Recently I bought a 99 Suzuki Swift for $500 with only 78k miles on it. Now I find myself enjoying doing things like finding ways where I can drive 40mph instead of 55mph, shutting off the engine going down hills, etc. I can't wait to start doing aero mods; I plan to use it for my senior project to finish my engineering degree. We're getting a wind tunnel at my school so maybe I can even do some testing there.

Let's be honest: even if you like driving fast, most of the days you are just commuting anyways, so why not save money for your weekend race car. Now that I have the Swift, it didn't bother me to put my 4.10:1 final drive back in my BMW (I originally was running a 3.25) because I rarely even drive it anymore.

I've always had an appreciation for modest people that don't need to drive their hobby car everyday. A couple of my friends have big jacked up Toyota pickups that get 15 mpg, but drive Corollas everyday instead.

I previously had a pickup where the power/economy balance was non-existent, both were poor. Went for best economy in a larger diesel pickup (only a Cummins for this) and found a good one besides. Since then, as mileage was so good, it has been fun to find every margin in driving where (with safety first) economy and longest life coincide.

Been driving for economy since the first oil crisis, so much is not new. But, never had a vehicle that could carry 3,000-lbs or tow above 10,000-lbs, or that could also average 19 city and (multiple times) 27 highway. And weighs over 7,000-lbs empty. Ha! Those business-deductible miles look even better, now.

Best of all: it ain't no $70,000 6.7L 2011 Ferd, but was a three year old $19,000 no-rattles, eveythings-like-new Dodge when I bought it. 40,000 miles later, a single $300 repair in 160,000 miles.

[Loudly knocking on wood, too, boys, wishin' you luck with yours hopin' you ain't as old as me when you get "the best one I ever owned".]

.

I know what you mean. I have a friend that had a 96 Dodge R250 with the Cummin's diesel and he achieved 27 mpg while driving to the beach one day with no knowledge of hypermilling, just driving slow probably.

My manager at work has a newer Dodge diesel, and says his fuel economy hardly changes when he adds his 40ft to the back end.

I love having a 51 mpg 90 day average in a car that is rated to get 29 mpg average.

If I am feeling the need to go vroom I just head over to the indoor go-kart racing track the next town over. Nothing like do 40 mph in a warehouse and taking corners at 2Gs.

The great thing about HM is competing against yourself. As a couch King Edward I assume its the same thrill athletes get from beating their own best running times or gym workout rates.

Except you don't have to wear a purple spandex leotard.

I choose to when I HM but thats just a personal thing.

Agreed, Karts are ace.:thumbup:

lol, TMI man! :)

The link in the first post appears to be broken:(

Purple spandex, you say? Gotta get one of those. At least everyone around me have something to take pictures of, not just the car all the time;)

Having the one car that can do it all - performance and economy - instantly brings to mind Porsche's 918 Spyder concept, which is quicker than a Carrera GT, but gets 94mpg (Imperial, I'm sure) when you baby it. Until they make one and I win the lottery, though, I'll just continue ecomodding my MINI.

My brother made the "How boring" comment when I told him about my hypermiling. And you may have seen my reports on how in many cases it isn't any slower to hypermile that being a myth.

Brian