How could I lose 10 mpg in a week of BETTER driving?!

[Diesel_Dave]

Originally Posted by XYZ

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by XYZ

I answered your question, and then you got your panties in a twist. It's obvious you are young. And also immature.

This thread is veering toward personal insults.

Please try to stay on topic, be civil (constructive), or don't post at all.

[Atheria]

You are agreeing with my boss who still swears he got better mpg when he was careless with a Corolla than when he was overly cautious. I don't have a clear understanding of pulse and glide though. When I coast in neutral I do speed up a bit at first before coasting as I know I'll usually lose speed gradually if not on a hill.

Atheria

[MetroMPG]

You're essentially describing pulse and engine-on gliding. Albeit with gentle pulses.

I wouldn't worry about trying to adopt that technique any more than you already are.

my boss who still swears he got better mpg when he was careless with a Corolla than when he was overly cautious

If that's the case, the most likely reason is because he didn't know how to drive for good MPG when he was trying to be "overly cautious". Or he wasn't measuring things well.

[razor02097]

hypermiling is like playing an arcade game. You put money in to play. If you are trying to be super careful and never try new techniques you won't get any better at the game.

Sophia is trying to talk to you, it's up to you to listen to her. The more you drive the vehicle the better you will be at predicting what gear is best to be in at what time in what scenario and when to clutch in coast or let off and engine brake.

Just remember the brake pedal is a control to a system that converts fuel to heat and brake dust. Yes its primary function is to stop the vehicle but if you think about it no matter how you got to the speed at which you start to use the brake there was energy input used to get you there.

The key is to use friction and other unavoidable factors to slow your vehicle for the best fuel economy. Coasting achieves just that. Knowing how much power to give before coasting without having to use brakes is very tricky but is the best way to improve your fuel economy.


Trying to explain in layman's terms pulse and glide the best I can...

Say you had a skinny small man and an athlete on bicycles that must complete a lap around a track. Both the small man and athlete could constantly pedal to obtain the goal at a certain average speed but since the athlete's muscles are big the athlete has to hold back. He will consume more energy than the small man to obtain the same goal.

Now if the athlete uses his muscles in a strong pulse of furious pedaling he can glide a long way before he has to do another pulse to get back up to speed. While it takes more energy to to the strong leg pushes he is going to do less of them and in the end will average less energy consumption as a result.

[Atheria]

Sophia in Placitas experiencing nature today. on Twitpic
This is my Sophia. :-) I guess I need to be one with my car...rather Zen. :-) I am getting better at feeling the engine. I do try to get into as high a gear as possible as quickly as possible.

My boss who was temporarily driving a Corolla was probably just in car shock. He normally drove a Hummer H2. ;-)

It's just odd to me that with this manual tranny my rpm's don't go down coasting in gear where my automatic Scion had them drop when coasting in gear.

[XYZ]

Originally Posted by Atheria

It's just odd to me that with this manual tranny my rpm's don't go down coasting in gear where my automatic Scion had them drop when coasting in gear.

That's because this is not a Scion with an automatic tranny.

All manual transmissions work the same way. RPM is maintained while in gear and it decreases to idle speed when in neutral, including when you are coasting in neutral.

[ciderbarrel]

Originally Posted by Atheria

Sophia in Placitas experiencing nature today. on Twitpic
This is my Sophia. :-) I guess I need to be one with my car...rather Zen. :-) I am getting better at feeling the engine. I do try to get into as high a gear as possible as quickly as possible.

Nice. I sat in a Fiat Abarth at this year and last years DC car show. I love the look but I HATE that there is no trunk space. My motorcycle's saddlebags have more cargo space, lol.

I love that engine and if I had to get a new car it would Fiat's new Dodge Dart. Abarth engine with a 6 speed and more cargo space.

[Atheria]

Yeah, the trunk space is a bit small unless you fold down the back seats. My friend with a BMW Z4 (not exactly a huge car) chuckled at how tiny the trunk area is. But, 99% of the time it's just me in the car commuting to work, etc. and it's totally enough space for me.

The Abarths are pretty cool but do get lower mpg. The Charlie Sheen commercial is amusing. It's on YouTube if you've not seen it.

I am looking at some people's mpg numbers and gasping! I am clearly doing something wrong (even with the Scion) to not get WAY better mpg than I'm getting. :-/ Of course, then again, I'm not willing to ride a foot from the backend of an 18-wheeler to let it break the air pressure for me. :-)

Atheria

[XYZ]

Originally Posted by Atheria

I am looking at some people's mpg numbers and gasping! I am clearly doing something wrong (even with the Scion) to not get WAY better mpg than I'm getting. :-/ Of course, then again, I'm not willing to ride a foot from the backend of an 18-wheeler to let it break the air pressure for me. :-)

Atheria

Not necessarily. Don't believe everything you read. It's a human tendency for people to brag about their best numbers, but not mention those that are less complimentary.

You mentioned in your first post:

Anyway, the car is rated at 31/40 but the salesman swore on his mother's grave that some of his customers were getting 45 mpg. I was totally excited when after my first 117 miles, I got 48.5 mpg! And that wasn't even with perfect driving...some heavy traffic. Since then, I've been extra diligent about throwing the car into neutral and coasting as much as possible, etc. I was expecting to get 50 mpg on this fill-up, but nooooo....I averaged only 38.2 mpg! How can that be?! I've done the same percentage of highway vs. city driving I think, or at least approximately. I've not been gunning the car or anything. I can't figure it out and am really upset. I would have kept my 35 mpg 2008 Scion xD and saved $10,000. Although I love this Fiat for other reasons....money is money.

Never believe anything a car salesman says. Car salesmen will say anything, literally anything, to sell you the car.

What's the fuel tank capacity? Are you sure the tank was filled completely when it was refilled? Maybe you made an error in calculating? Anything is possible.

On the brighter side, I don't think you are doing anything wrong - other than your persistent belief that somehow you must be doing something wrong. The fuel economy EPA ratings are usually roughly accurate, or more commonly, actual MPG will be somewhat less. The actual MPG is rarely higher than the EPA estimate unless the car has been modified or extraordinary driving techniques are being used.

BTW, just because I'm critical of FIATs doesn't mean I'm your personal enemy. I'll try to help you as much as anyone else might.