Max % over EPA by driving changes?

[bestclimb]

Originally Posted by Gealii

is your escort a 2 door or 4 door?

4 door.

[PaleMelanesian]

Some cars are relatively underrated by the EPA test and can do more, some not so much. Take one of those underrated cars, an experienced hypermiler, ideal routes and conditions, and ...

3.5x epa best commute (3.2x round trip)
2.9x epa best tank
2.4x epa year-round average

For an example of how much the specific car matters, my best ever in the Odyssey was only 1.8x epa in ideal conditions. 1.5x is more common for me.

[k-vette]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Almost all your gains will be from driving. Any gains from mods, on the other hand, are always there even when you're not paying attention. Paying attention to things like tire pressure only takes a few minutes every once in a while and pay off all the time- there's no sense letting your hardware work against you. You did get LRRs a few months ago when you needed tires, right?

I was looking at the ecopia tires, but ended up going with the best deal at Costco at the time. Free rotations, balance, etc. I felt that the price difference would be the most cost effective thing to do, albeit maybe not best for FE.

Interesting comments. I think what I've pulled out of this is that with my driving style (several miles of freeway at 60mph, 45mph commute the rest of 20 miles, try not to hang people up, etc) I'm nearing what I'm "willing" to do with a stock car. Time to start modding and seeing more increases. If I can get a consistent 50mpg+ commute I'll be happy.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

Some cars are relatively underrated by the EPA test and can do more, some not so much. Take one of those underrated cars, an experienced hypermiler, ideal routes and conditions, and ...

3.5x epa best commute (3.2x round trip)
2.9x epa best tank
2.4x epa year-round average

Yup this is really the biggest thing. One obvious example that comes to mind is the 2ZZ Lotus Exige. The Celica GTS has a longer 6th gear and slightly less drag but smaller tires/wheels for 3 more highway mpg, giving it a 23 overall rating. The Exige is at 20/22/26. However, these cars have an 8500rpm redline so the EPA test pretty much wastes a crapton of gas chugging along at unnecessarily high engine speeds. With a 2000lb curb weight or so and a relatively modest 1.8L displacement (it's not low for economy car standards but it's pretty low) and 6 speed gearbox, I think most of its leadfoot owners get 30mpg not paying attention to fuel economy at all, shifting at high rpms, driving 80mph down the freeway (reportedly this gets 30 mpg and having an MR2 spyder with similar rpms and displacement, I think it's actually about right).

Careful driving around the city should be able to pull high 30s to 40s, depending on what you call "city", and going slower on the highway should get 40mpg with no pulse and glide. Pulse and glide with a relatively low average speed will give absolutely scary fuel economy numbers.

This rule pretty much applies quite well to any high rev low displacement engine equipped car. The AP1 Honda S2000 is rated at 20mpg average. Again most owners are leadfoots that have no idea about fuel economy driving, and they get 25-30mpg average.

[redneck]

Originally Posted by Flakbadger

Well my friend, I do next to no EOC (Maybe once per tank, just for ****s and giggles), lots and lots of coasting, and only drive as slow as I think I can without inconveniencing other drivers, and I don't think I can do very much better.
I would love to buy an Ultraguage but I lack the income to drop 60 bucks on something so frivolous, and don't know that I could really get much above what I'm getting now.
As far as aero goes, it depends on what you want. I have been itching to make a grille block and rear wheel well covers, but I am unwilling to have something that looks slapdash in execution... So I haven't done anything yet for lack of time to make it look "good."
I am not disappointed with my results with those restrictions. As others have mentioned it depends on your car.

Frivolous...???

I don't think so...

The instant feedback it provides tells you whether or not what you are doing is for the better or worse and is worth every penny.

The money saved will more than pay for itself in short time.

Buy one and try it. The worst that can happen if you don't like it would be selling it for a few bucks less than you payed for it to someone else.

However, I doubt you'll sell it...

>

[bestclimb]

Originally Posted by Flakbadger

Well my friend, I do next to no EOC (Maybe once per tank, just for ****s and giggles), lots and lots of coasting, and only drive as slow as I think I can without inconveniencing other drivers, and I don't think I can do very much better.
I would love to buy an Ultraguage but I lack the income to drop 60 bucks on something so frivolous, and don't know that I could really get much above what I'm getting now.
As far as aero goes, it depends on what you want. I have been itching to make a grille block and rear wheel well covers, but I am unwilling to have something that looks slapdash in execution... So I haven't done anything yet for lack of time to make it look "good."
I am not disappointed with my results with those restrictions. As others have mentioned it depends on your car.

after selling my civic where I learned a bunch of good habits with an MPGuino I started driving the escort. our best tank prior was 38mpg with no instantaneous fuel consumption data. I drove it around like that for a couple months. 35-38 was pretty normal. Dropped an Ultraguage in it. I am up over 41mpg. That is an extra 7-17% increase (closer to 17 as 35 was far more common tan 38mpg) so pessimistically...

In about a week I go 400 miles at 38 mpg (which is optimistic) and $4.00 per gallon that equals $42.10

400 miles at 41 mpg(its closer to 42 now) and 4.00 per gallon is 39.02.

Ultra Gauge saves me $3.07 per week which means it pays off in 5.7 months.

If you do more than 400 miles a week, or your mileage is not as good as mine your pay off could be quicker.

Also, it was very valuable in trouble shooting some sensor issues I was having. as I could see the raw data from the sensor that was acting up. so it saved me a couple hours of troubleshooting or paying a shop to do it. so in that regard it has already paid for it self.

Another benefit is it tells you where going slower won't help and where going faster won't hurt.

[Daox]

Instrumentation is TOTALLY worth it. Even the scangauge II with its price premium is completely worth the price. You simply can not maximize technique without the feedback that instrumentation provides.

[Mustang Dave]

Best I've been able to get over EPA (combined) with driving technique and no mods (that made any noticeable difference) is about 55-60%. Honestly, none of my subtle mods have made any noticeable difference in FE. YMMV.
As Daox said, Instrumentation (ScanGauge or UltraGauge) will help you fine-tune your technique more than anything else.
I bought a ScanGauge II about a year before I found ecomodder.com, so I was getting about 50% over EPA(combined) (on Summer fuel) when I got here.

And I noticed today that I get about 10 MPG idling in 1st gear toward a red light versus 0 MPG stopped at the same red light at idle. Works for me!

[Flakbadger]

Alright you've convinced me. I had not thought about it in those terms. Looks like an Ultragauge is now on its way to my house!

[Mustang Dave]

You won't regret it.