How To Hypermile in neighborhoods?
 

Hey everyone!

I drive mostly on the highway but occasionally I have to drive through neighborhoods to run errands or visit family.

They have speed limits about 20-30 MPH and many speed bumps and stop signs every 500 feet. It causes me to slow down and BRAKE (ugh). There's no other route I can take...believe me, I wish there was.

My area has many rolling elevations as well.



Can anyone offer any advice as how to get he best mileage in these situations??

Sometimes you just have a crappy stretch of your route, but generally there is a way to make it an advantage in some way. In this situation you are EXPECTED to gow slowly. That can be a hypermiler's dream. I have an area that reminds me of what you describe a little. I climb a steep hill from a stop, cross three speed bumps, and end with a downhill that I can't use for a free coast because of a left hand turn I have to make at a tough to see light at the bottom of the hill that is nearly always red. I go slowly. Sometimes i cross the speedbumps at there edges so I can get away with a couple extra mph. I park on that final hill, at a safe spot where I can see the light. When it's about to go green, I coast down, bump start, make my left. This is actually the better of two choices I have in my route at this stage.

If the speed bumps are properly engineered, you should be able to maintain the posted speed limit w/o the need for constant braking. Unfortunately this doesn't always hold true, so YMMV. Can't really pulse & glide with those nasty speed bumps around :(

Most drivers around here race up to speed bumps & then over brake to compensate. (this is when the skilled hypermiler catches back up with them & gets pissed cause it screws up their better thought out strategy) I still don't understand the mentality of most drivers who just drive soley with emotion & zero common sense.

Accelerate just enough to glide to your next obstacle. That's great stuff.

Pulse and N coast, 20 mph N coast is 66 mpg with my Cobalt, 30 = 100 mpg. Your probably about the same.

Don't stop at the stop signs? ;) J/k.

My commute to work has two stop signs 360 feet apart. From the first stop sign, I accelerate to 15 MPH, then EOC to the next stop sign. The important thing is the trip mileage. I average about 35 MPG on the ScanGauge for my three mile (each way) commute to work.

But officer, I swear I was at zero rpm at the stop line!

This neighborhood has rolling "hills" through the entire area.

There are 2 stop lights at each end of it so there's no getting around that. It also has 4 stop signs and 6 speed bumps.

THEN there's a gated community within that neighborhood that I have to drive into to get to my destination. There are 3 speed bumps and 3 stop signs with a speed limit of 20 MPH but this community is relatively flat.

That's a bit fast over speed bumps. I don't want to trash my suspension and undercarriage.

I try use just enough momentum to keep me going from one bump to the next.
I usually just idle through stop signs.

My car is an automatic so I know that EOC is not good for it.

I accelerate up to 17-18mph instead of the 25mph limit, coast engine on and then DFCO where most people would start to brake and then I slam on the brake relatively hard near the actual sign. This bothers some people but hey, 48% less energy wasted than doing 25 and stopping, and braking hard instead of slowly means my average speed is still the same.

One of my friends knows a rally driver who does occasionally race on road stretches that have speed bumps.
A short tap on the brake makes the nose dive a bit, then jump up slightly.
By timing the tap right you can hit the bump while the nose rebounds, that makes a big difference.
Of course if you time it wrong you'd do worse.

By using the brake tap rally drivers hardly lose any speed on the bumps while their suspension is much stiffer than what normal road car use. Without this trick they would jump or damage the suspension.

I have to negotiate several speed bumps in my neighborhood every time I go out.
It works... but the speed limit is set so low and the bumps are relatively car friendly so I don't really need to use this trick.

I don't encourage speeding, just help conquer speed bumps that would otherwise force you to go slower than what is legal and safe for the conditions.

Sometimes, as with what you described, there is nothing that can be done. Sometimes you simply can't come out ahead, no matter what you do. Some neighborhoods literally have a stop sign on every corner. The people who live there and lobbied for it thought it would make their neighborhood "safer". (Usually this is the result of mommies who think their spoiled children have a right to play in the street.) It sure does slow things down. But forcing cars to constantly stop for stop signs or slow for speed bumps does not mean it is conducive to saving fuel. The agenda of enforced slowness is often not in synch with your goals (actually, ours).

When is the last time anyone has ever seen a stop sign or speed bump removed after it had been installed? Ain't gonna happen. It's the "more is better" mentality. It's busywork for local politicians.

Here is an interesting, unintended consequence of having too many stop signs within a limited distance: When there is a stop sign on virtually every corner, people tend to ignore them. That leads to more dangerous circumstances (read: car crashes) than if there were few or no stop signs.

I'm reading through this. I go through similar neighborhoods sometimes, minus the speed bumps. I can usually still equal the (old) EPA highway through them :D but I'd love to be better. Automatic sucks in these situations.

They're too lazy for parenting, and seem too dumb to figure it out that they should teach their kids how to walk safely in the street, and looking for the cars before they cross the street running like a raped ape, instead of trying to wrap a bubble of false safety around their little savages :mad:

You are exactly right! The people around here drive as if they are the most wonderful thing since sliced bread (NOT!)

Forgive me if this sounds needy but I would love if anyone could give me a complete hypermiling list for automatic vehicles

It would be very appreciated! I'm 24 and still new to this. I've been reading every article and watching every video online regarding this topic. I now hypermiling on my mind 24/7 lol I guess you can say I'm addicted :D

[QUOTE=XYZ;441772]When is the last time anyone has ever seen a stop sign or speed bump removed after it had been installed? Ain't gonna happen. It's the "more is better" mentality. It's busywork for local politicians.
QUOTE]

I'm sure no one has ever done this, but pouring gasoline on a speed bump softens the asphalt and the bump goes down as the cars drive over it. This is just a rumor I've heard.

I'm not sure of what you mean by a list. The only strategy that I know of that works at all is this: basically you estimate how much to accelerate to be able to coast to the next stop sign by shifting into neutral. You don't even need a scangauge or a tachometer to do it. Typically on a level road accelerating to about 25 MPH provides adequate momentum before shifting into neutral and coasting.

My local council added a raised pedestrian crossing near home. Think of it like a really savage speed hump that's 3 metres front to back.
It's halfway through what was a good coasting opportunity.

I can't change it, I just have to live with it.

I EOC up to it, clutch start on the crossing, then accelerate in 3rd off the other side for a few seconds and EOC again.

You are exactly WRONG. I don't like aholes ripping through my neighborhood. We don't have any speed bumps but I, and my neighbors, have asked for them many times. Hope to get one soon. I love it when I get into my neighborhood and start doing my coasting thing and some jacka$$ gets right on me. I just smile and keep coasting. f those guys.

+1 ^^
We've got a lot of speed bumps in the neighborhood.
The street I live on has none but the one next to it does.
Someone in the neighborhood has a fine collection of sport cars, old and new, and likes to floor his Ferrari (a.o.) through our street, taking extra corners to avoid the bump in the next street.
I'd like a speed bump, of the kind that sends spikes into the tires and undercarriage at speeds over 50 mph.
(the official speed limit for the whole block is 18 mph)

Speed bumps can be a good thing if properly implemented & allow maintaining the posted speed limit. Really hate the ones that make you almost completely stop to keep from destroying your suspension :mad:

What am I wrong about?

Be careful what you wish for.

Some years ago, the gas company dug a trench across the road outside my place to run new pipes. When it was back-filled and sealed over, it was left raised.
In effect, it was an unmarked speed hump.

For months, we had to endure the sound of cars going bump-bump over this hump outside our bedroom window every night, before it was fixed properly.

When you get yours, the guy one block over will want one. Soon you'll have at least two per stop sign.

Enjoy.

I DID IT!

I drove 504 miles this past trip cycle in mixed traffic and averaged 37.4 MPG!!!

This is the most I've ever earned and I'm very proud of myself! :D

Excuse my excitement, I'll calm down lol. I just can't believe how well I did in such a big car as the Camry. WOOHOO! My biggest changes were implementing DWL and not using air conditioning. I've listed my fuel up in my garage along with what I did differently from my last trip cycle.

My new goal is to reach 40 MPG average ;)

Maybe you should take the bump at an angle. Smaller gradient; so you can hit it at a higher speed. Especially when you are on lowered springs. You are actually reducing forward velocity when you turn.

Hitting a bump at odd angles makes the car's corners work against each other. I'd rather hit it square on.

Sorry for reposting but the best strategy is to hit it straight on, tap the brake pedal shortly before you hit it so the car dives and jumps back up in sync with the inclination.
Timing it right is all important.

It is the difference between firmly shaking the car and goin over smoothly.
You can in fact take them much faster than was intended, but I do not encourage that.

Rally drivers do it all the time.
I do to the once in a while that one comes up quicker than expected.
Give it a try!

Speed bumps can never be a good thing.

They unnecessarily wear the suspension and waste fuel from all of the idiots that brake hard and fall below the speed limit. More people have been rear-ended due to someone braking hard for a speed bump than collisions attributable to exceeding the speed limit. Besides, there is already a law concerning the safe speed to travel. If there is a problem with people not abiding to the law, then enforcement needs to be stepped up. More revenue for the city should be adequate incentive to enforce the law.

Probably if your suspension travel is big enough. Can't do it on my 2 door hatch coz its a semi-track day car, short suspension travel, hard springs, medium dampers, short track. Suspension setup was factory made to minimize dive under braking. Might work on a full sedan with standard suspension.

I learned this trick from a friend with a Subaru Impreza WRX STi. It works on that and, like I wrote, even on true rallye cars.
I think suspension travel is not very important, it is what you want to avoid actually.
The stiffer the suspension the more important it becomes to have the timing spot on.
Just try it out and you will see.

Its called bunny hopping on mountain bikes. You load the front before you jump. I get the idea. But it won't work on mine. I need to get really fast and brake hard to make it dive. Its a road legal track day car. Proton owns Lotus for goodness sake :) .I cannot and will not drive that fast in the neighborhood. My secondary intake will take care of stop and go issues.

The speed bumps that I drive over are about 500-1,000 feet spaced apart with rolling hill terrain throughout the neighborhood. Speed limit posted is 30 MPH.

Should I try to coast as much as possible to each speed bump, avoiding excessive acceleration, using engine braking to slow myself down before the bump or should I just accelerate smoothly then brake right before the speed bump?

Since its your daily route, why don't you try both, log the fuel used, and compare. Share and keep us posted.

What speed do you travel over the speed bumps?

With a skilled driver & properly engineered speed bumps, they shouldn't damage the car.

If most people didn't drive like they are on their way to get laid after a 6 month dry spell it would solve half the problem.:eek:

I generally don't like them either, but unfortunately the need for speed makes them a necessary evil.:(

I slow down and hit them at about 10-15 MPH to avoid suspension and undercarriage damage.

If your only goal is gas mileage, then:

1) Determine the maximum speed at which you want to hit the speed bump.
2) Coast so as to hit the speed bump at that speed. No brakes.
3) Accelerate "normally" after clearing the speed bump.

If speed is one of your goals, then coast so as to arrive at the speed bump at some speed faster than your speed bump speed, but slower than the speed limit. Use brakes as needed, but try to hit the speed bump at exactly the maximum speed bump speed.