"Hypermiling Is Awful And I Sort Of Hate It" (Jalopnik in Audi MPG competition)
 

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Jalopnik is right now doing an Audi-sponsored fuel economy PR stunt, where they're trying to squeeze something like 62 mpg US from an A3 diesel that's EPA-rated for 43 mpg on the highway.

I wouldn't exactly say they're enjoying themselves: :D

Despite the whining, they're currently in 3rd place.

If anyone runs out of fuel, they're forced to complete the drive in...

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I love Jalopnik ... even though it often trashes fuel saving! It's an entertaining gearhead site with good writers who seem to have a lot of fun. Much of the fun happens in the comments beneath each post.

Part 1: I'm Trying To Go 834 Miles On One Tank Of Diesel And It's Gonna Suck

Part 1.5: [Jason decided to modify his Audi A3 TDI to get maximum fuel mileage. Nobody else stands a chance.] (In which I was pleased to see a pic of the Firefly with cardboard tail cone show up in the comments.)

Part 2: Hypermiling Is Awful And I Sort Of Hate It

Part 2.5: They won!

Part 3: How To Squeeze 830 Miles Out Of One Tank Of Fuel And Remain Sane...ish

More to come, obviously!

Thanks for posting, they are very comical. *Cant get part 1.5 link to work tho!*

It seems like every hypermiling blog post the comments are always a debate about DFCO.

Yeah, a lot of bandwidth goes to that topic, everywhere!

I fixed the link, Insight for life.

I imagined going carless and only having a moped; would going 40 mph on long trips drive me insane or not? I didn't have to get a moped to test my theory; I merely took the trips in the car at low speeds. Also tried P&G, and whatnot.

I can handle slow cruising just fine. As a flatlander, though, P&G out on the open road was a bit too much. I'd do it if there were hills to coast down.

I've done it. And we managed to get the required 63 mpg, not in an Audi TDI, but in a Fiesta hatchback. Coast to coast.

Woah boy was it tedious, though. Rough estimate 2500 miles, ~4 P&G cycles per mile = 10,000 P&G cycles, and 20,000 clutch applications (not counting normal shifting).

Mostly 40-60 mph p&g cycles.

...and calves the size of cantaloupes.

Did you do that trip without a kill switch?

Yes indeed. It was a loaner car from Ford, tagging along with cmpg's F150 ecobbost (32 mpg coast to coast).

I like driving; I like challenges; and I like punishment, both physical and mental. Seems I should have been a hypermiling endurance driver.

Update!

Despite hating every minute of the drive, it appears the kvetching Jalopnik team "Circumiserz" won the challenge, cardboard wheel skirts and all.

So ecomodding + hypermiling > hypermiling? :D

"Story coming next week," says their site.

I'm pretty sure it will be along the lines of: hooning > ecomodding + hypermiling.

It always cracks me up that pushing the limits of a vehicle one way (driving fast..rock crawling) is macho and pleasurable...but pushing the limits of a vehicle another way (hypermiling) is lame and boring.

Fixed that for you! :)

Fat heads do not cancel fat calves.

I like Commandment #6 in Part 1. "Thou shall not let Wayne Gerdes drive for you." :D

Endurance racing of any kind is a pain in the ass.

Amazing they made it... was pretty sure the motor was capable of it, was thinking, though, they'd need some more mods to seal the win.

I agree, Jalopnik does have it's funny moments. Having been firmly on the hoon side of the fence at one point, though, I know how easy it is to roll one's eyes at fuel economy.

I hope I never have to take a drive like that in my Echo. It'll go toe to toe with just about anything in terms of FE. But...those seats. Ugh. Heck I did just shy of 180 miles yesterday and started to hate myself for it about halfway through. And got crappy FE while I was at it. Maybe Jalopnik can refresh me? Lol

Post-victory wrap-up
 

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How To Squeeze 830 Miles Out Of One Tank Of Fuel And Remain Sane...ish

Probably about the last team that the Audi PR people wanted to win. :)

Hey, that was an awesome read.

I must confess, I do love Jalopnik, but they tend to the exotic, and expensive, so while they will swoon over how great a Tesla is, they regard a car like a Camry as the most boring thing on the earth. They adore performance so long as that means MO POWWA, FE rarely appears on their radar and while the Teslas are indeed beautiful cars with amazing range for EV's they are not for the average person, at least not in the world I live in. unless I sell my house to live in a tent and off the land then I could afford the mortga...car payment for the $90,000 Tesla.

And so off I go in my daily attempt to squeeze out 30+ MPG from my 11 year old Taurus. LOL

True, they do swoon over the hyper-mobiles (like almost everyone).

But the thing I like about Jalopnik is they also have a healthy respect for cars that are interesting and unusual, while not necessarily powerful speed machines. (Like their perpetual almost-joke that the perfect car is a "brown, diesel, manual, RWD station wagon".)

The same writer who just won this very hypermiling contest also mounted a vigorous defense of the Mitsubishi Mirage against a scathing NY Times review. Actually, it's not so much a defense of the car itself (they only gave it 50/100 in their own review), so much as a critique of the way entry level cars are written about by spoiled car writers who lack perspective.

This Brutal NYT Mirage Review Is What's Wrong With Cheap Car Reviews

They're also not afraid of the future the way so many gearhead writers seem to be. The highest review score they've given to any car so far was to the BMW i8 -- a 3-cylinder, turbocharged, plug-in hybrid.

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In a car? Luxury! We had to do our endurance racing in sneakers!

The problem (over which I took many slaps in my last model-specific forum) is that most Murricans see performance as something the car does on its own and the driver then gets manliness credit for. If they want more performance (and more manliness points) they write a check to have something bolted on to get more performance.

I really enjoy driving, but I'm not so much a fan of being a passenger on a roller coaster- driving is something I do, not something that the car does to me. At the end of a drive the "how was it?" needs a more coherent answer than "I had fun." Trip mpg is honest. It doesn't care about your mood, it doesn't care about your feelings. If I get worse than usual and there weren't any weather or traffic problems, then I have a computer that says "Fat Charlie, you did not drive well this morning. Fix it." If you can't take being told when you don't do well, then you aren't a good driver. No store bought 1/4 or 0-60 time can ever change that.

I feel like this bit should actually be in the "retort" thread.

The part of their story where the cops bullied them into speeding up is jaw-droppingly jaw-dropping:

If I have to take a long trip I would consider taking my bike on the train. There is not enough thought given to wheelbase and suspension travel by some companies. Even after owning a massive Cadillac hearse I was impressed with the ride of my Corollas.

That.Was.Epic.

Major kudos to them for hitting 62.9 even AFTER spending that much time at 60.

Still... that's 20 minutes at 60, that's 20 miles out of 830... so the law of averages means they come out ahead, eventually. :D

So, a question for the pros here: On the flat areas, even with the diesel not having part throttle efficiency loss, do you think they could've done even better with pulse and glide, or pulse and engine-off cruise?

Also, they took their time getting to 45 mph, could that also have been improved by getting up there quickly or is that part of hypermiling related to gas engines only? (because of throttle losses)

EOC is best... but if that variant has a push-button starter, it would be a pain.

I'm still disappointed they didn't do any serious aero-mods. I think the wheel skirts were more to catch people's attention on the blog than they were to win. Still, it's good to get a little press on this, negative or not.

(If I can do a grille block on a weekend rental car, they can do a grille block on a fuel economy challenge car)

I was a little disappointed too.

But Audi forbade mods. First with a friendly reminder of a poorly worded "commandment".

Then by actually removing tape from the grilles of cars that had been taped up!

It was a smart move on Audi's part to remove all mods. It protects the integrity of the test of the vehicles ability to achieve extremely good fuel economy. If Audi had allowed modifications, people unfamiliar with the affect they have on fuel economy might assume mods are required to get high MPGs instead of attributing the achievement to the vehicle.

The test wasn't a challenge to get the best fuel economy possible, it was a marketing campaign to sell cars.

1. Take a picture of the grille.

2. Print the picture and put it on your grille block.

3. Profit!!!

Probably what I will do for my smooth wheel covers.