Hi ecomodder

[Walbum]

Hi everyone at ecomodder.

As I'm from Denmark English is not my native language so I'll do my best.

2 years ago in November I bought a lupo 3l. Without knowing any hypermiling techniques I got it to run 73.5 mpg(us) but after half I year I got a bit reckless with the throttle and I was going 65-66 mpg(us).
It's near impossible to go lower than 65mpg(us) without the car being broke or you drive with full throttle all the time.

But last month it became a hobby to get it as low as I could get it again. Over tha last 2 fill ups I'm back to 73.5 mpg(us).

My driving pattern is as follow.

I daily commute 56 miles to work and home again. About half is 15% city and 35% country road and the other half is freeway. The first half have about 8 turns and 6 roundabouts ( we love roundabouts in Denmark ) I drive 49 mph on the country roads and speed down to 31 when I'm with in city limit. My driving stile is that I hit almost full throttle until I'm a few mph above posted speed and then I easy the throttle until I hit the desired speed and I settle the throttle there. I try to anticipate an approach to turns and roundabout ideling in neutral gear for about 1/4 mile before the turn if traffic allows it and when I get close I break with the engine and last hit the breaks if needed. I try to pass turns and roundabout with as high speed as possible within safety of myself and other traffic as I don't have to use all the energy getting to posted speed afterwards.
*
On the freeway my speed is 68 mph. Half of the freeway only has 2 lanes so I have to over take trucks that are only allowed to drive 56 mph in Denmark. Speed in the outer lane usually 80 mph so I usually have to get to that speed in order to blend into the traffic. Also about 6 miles of the freeway is under construction going from 3 to 4 lanes and that makes traffic jams morning and afternoon doing rubberband driving as we call it.

Mods on the car:

I just got myself a scangauge II. I have done the basic calibration of it and waiting to adjust it with a few fill ups. ( I am really exited to see better numbers as i work on the car with the scangauge )

I got my self some smooth hub caps and a nice grill block that works for both winter and summer.

The car has also been lowered with new shocks and springs all over.

Mods in the planning:

The car have 45hp in Eco mode and 61 out of Eco mode
I plan to give it 90hp and 200 nm out if Eco to be able to hit posted speed faster in order to drive it at low revs at posted speed.

I think I will make some *rear wheel well blocks of polycarbonate as vekke has done on he's lupo 2l

I need new tires soon and will change them to a 7% taller one

Beside that I need some input on what mods I should get myself into. Which ones is the best price/performance to do first ??

A note is that I do not have acces to coroplast here in Denmark and absplast is really expensive here and hard to get.
So if I have to do belly pan it is going to be done in aluminum sheet.

How can I improve on the driving style in order to get better mileage ?? ( I'm not able to go p&g because of traffic.

Hope to get some great supply's from you all

David walbum




*

[California98Civic]

Welcome! This site has quite a few folks from outside the English-speaking countries, I believe. Welcome. I love your car and your results are amazing. I wish that little car was sold in these United States.

Almost everything you need to know about radical cool mods on your car is covered in this thread: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-2l-18235.html

That was one of the coolest project I have ever seen on this site. I gather it cost him some cash, but it sure was fun to watch and I think you could learn a lot from it, if you are not already studying it.

[Walbum]

I have studied vekkes 2l project wery closely. I got the smooth wheel caps and grill block from him

A lot of he's projects is a inspiration.. To bad a lot of them will not be street legal in my country ;( like the boat tail and the stripping of the cabin.
Most of the modification I will make will have to be taken off for car inspection every 2 years

Just an example of the price and legality issued I have.

I could do something about the headlight They use about 130 w I think and xenon headlight is about 35w if I'm not mistaken. The only problem is the headlight have to come I off a used lupo gti that is rare and if I install them I have to make headlight washers and mount a gyro on the rear wheel bridge that will outo level the light for it to be street legal. And the total cost in materials is close to 1700 $ for used headlight


I have also seen the other posts about how hard it is to get the lupo 3l registered in the USA a real shame

[mcrews]

Welcome! You seem to be off to a great start!! Raise the psi in the new tires!

[RedDevil]

Hi Walbum, check out the rules for aftermarket HIDs (Xenon) lights, they may differ from HID sets sold with new cars.
In Holland the washers and leveling stuff is only mandatory on cars sold as new. Aftermarket HID sets are legal as long as the color temperature does not exceed 8000K (blueish white), no washers etc. needed; even if you install it the same day you bought the car. So 50 Euros gets you a cheap HID set for almost all makes.
I'm very happy with my cheap HID kit.

This might well be an EU law; in that case I'd be surprised if it did not apply in Denmark as well. Worth having a look for, imho.

[Walbum]

Hi reddevil

I'm afraid that's a no go in Denmark

If you wanna install after market xenon you need to make sure the headlight case is xenon E approved and you still need the headlight washers and auto level sensor
It will be a 180$ fine if you get stopped by the Danish police

[RedDevil]

Hmmm, wonder if that applies to foreign owned cars visiting Denmark too.
My wife and kids want to visit Legoland someday. Good thing I haven't binned the halogen wax candles yet.

Over here at night over half the cars run HIDs, including many that never had HIDs as an option. In the rush hour it is one long row of HIDs; halogen is the exception to the rule. Bet that will be quite different in Denmark then.

[euromodder]

Welcome to ecomodder's ever increasing EU gang !

Originally Posted by Walbum

My driving stile is that I hit almost full throttle until I'm a few mph above posted speed and then I easy the throttle until I hit the desired speed and I settle the throttle there.

Don't overdo the almost full throttle - that is, don't floor it.
High-Load / low rpm accelerations are good.

I've been using the same trick with my previous diesel, but most often merely decreasing speed by 1 click (was 1 km/h) on the CC.

With the new CNG car, I let it settle down @ constant throttle when not on CC.
One click is now over 2 km/h, which is a lot.

On the freeway my speed is 68 mph.

Slow down.
If you can bear going only 56mph, stay with the trucks.

Unless the distance on the freeway is quite long, driving that slow won't have very much effect on your driving time when commuting.

I need new tires soon and will change them to a 7% taller one

Get the narrowest tyres you can fit, and best EU label
(get AA labeled tyres if available in your preferred size)

Beside that I need some input on what mods I should get myself into. Which ones is the best price/performance to do first ??

Expensive mods often never pay off in fuel saved

Driving style.
Not using CC for best fuel efficiency.
Coasting in neutral - or even with the engine off.

A note is that I do not have acces to coroplast here in Denmark and absplast is really expensive here and hard to get.

Are these prices more affordable ?
It's a shop in Holland that does small orders.

webshop for plastic sheets, foil and rod

Look for "polypropene multi wall sheet"

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by euromodder

It's a shop in Holland that does small orders.

webshop for plastic sheets, foil and rod

Look for "polypropene multi wall sheet"

That's what I've been looking for for a long time... Wow!
Been scavenging the DIY shops for too long with little success.

Grill blocks, hub caps, wheel well covers, diffusers and leading/trailing wheel 'skirt' spoilers; can build them from that! (watery eyes )

[Walbum]

That was an awesome site you linked to there. And they ship to Denmark aswell

Thank you wery much euromodder