My goals: they are a-changin'

[Flakbadger]

Hello everyone! Awhile back I was super excited about breaking through 20% over EPA and earning the "Hypermiler" tag. I was so excited, I started a thread about it.

Well, after a trip to my Grandparent's house in Eastern Oregon, I just broke the 30% mark.
I am totally thrilled.
I haven't had the time to do any of the aeromods I have planned, so the only adjustment has been my driving style. TONS of coasting and really paying attention to using the correct gear when climbing hills.

This means a new goal: 50 MPG!
It's probably going to be hard, but I want it, dammit.
A big THANK YOU to everyone on this site for their thought-provoking posts and discussions. I lurk a lot and learn from all of you.



Interesting side note: It appears that the chisel-shaped dividers in my upper grille serve to funnel air up and over the hood at freeway speeds. I say this because several butterflies, hornets, mosquitos and grasshoppers are dead in my lower grille, and completely absent in the upper one.

Side note 2: having a well-designed car results in fewer bug spatters on the window too. My old Ranger used to be a veritable bug graveyard by the end of this trip. Now many bugs go up and over the top without hitting anything.

Side note 3: I don't EOC at all.

[Daox]

Congrats and good luck with the next goal. I'm sure you can do it. I was able to get 59 mpg out of my Paseo before I even really started doing any mods to it (aired up the tires is all). But, P&G with EOC helped me get that high too.

[Flakbadger]

Originally Posted by Daox

I was able to get 59 mpg out of my Paseo [...] But, P&G with EOC helped me get that high too.

I think I may alienate myself from everyone on the forums, but while I maintain the utmost respect for drivers who use EOC on a regular basis, I am unwilling to do it myself. It just seems like far too much work for me to do it consistently. Plus I would need to rig an injector kill switch, and I am definitely far too busy/lazy to figure out which wires to use so I don't blow up my heavily computer'd engine (Variable Valve Timing and whatnot).
For now my entire set of Hypermiling consists of watching lights, paying attention to traffic around me, coasting in neutral, decelerating via engine braking (which I've always done to save brakes anyway ), keeping my foot out of the accelerator, and using the right lane as much as possible.
The trick for me to get more MPG's will be my aeromods and an Ultragauge, which I can't quite afford yet.

Anyway, thank you for the kind words. You're definitely one of the people on the forums I learned a lot from... Your Paseo thread was one of the first I went through.

[CigaR007]

50 MPG should be attainable in your Yaris given that it has the same engine as my Echo and a somewhat similar body style. Adding a grille block should bring you closer to the goal.

Keep up the good work ! You have done the hardest part which is adjusting and changing your driving habits. Aero mods can help squeeze a few more miles out of a gallon of gas.

50 MPG was my objective a year ago. I am now aiming for 55 MPG.

[euromodder]

YKYAEM when you get an idea of your car's frontal aerodynamics by observing the bugs missing your windshield

If you drive slow enough, they'll pass over the car, carried on the air that gets pushed over.

@ 85 kph, they stay about 1' from the hood / windshield.

[Slasher]

Speed kills... But the Yaris is a FABULOUS hypermiling vehicle!!!! 4800 miles and I only have one tank below 40mpg!!! And that is still 39.9mpg.... I did a 75mile trip, same station, same pump... 9 hrs later because i knew that school starting would kill my mpg... I went to 4 stops of the pump... Well it must be off, because the 60+ is a lil too good... But I really did work it hard...

Well today proved it... My mpg gauge was reading 51.1 mpg a mile and a half from the elementary school... a mile and a half and 18 minutes later of bumper to bumper traffic and passing the elementary school zone with all the chaos which accompanies the first day of school... I was at 44.9 mpg this a.m..... The ride home I was able to get up to 46.6 avg mpg.... I think that equates to around 44-45 real world...

Keep at it... It's like the old question, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time..."

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by Flakbadger

Interesting side note: It appears that the chisel-shaped dividers in my upper grille serve to funnel air up and over the hood at freeway speeds. I say this because several butterflies, hornets, mosquitos and grasshoppers are dead in my lower grille, and completely absent in the upper one.

Side note 2: having a well-designed car results in fewer bug spatters on the window too. My old Ranger used to be a veritable bug graveyard by the end of this trip. Now many bugs go up and over the top without hitting anything.

A fringe benefit of aeromodding is you no longer have to clean dead bugs off the front of the car and the car in general stays much cleaner since most of the road dirt/spray/brine kicked up by other cars flows past without impacting on your car.

[Flakbadger]

CigaR007: Congratulations on YOUR new goal I saw your grille blocks a long time ago and absolutely love their "stealth" quality. I was noticing that my radiator is 3-4 inches narrower on each side than the grill that leads to it is. I have been considering blocking a bit of both sides because of it.

Euromodder: Hahaha. Well most of my trip I drove around 95 KPH because I was trying to balance fuel efficiency with the fact that I was driving a bit over 400 KM in one day, and didn't want to be at it forever. Even at that speed MOST bugs went up and over. The heavy ones, like grasshoppers, still made it to the windshield. Side note: when driving on local highways I keep it around 85 KPH.

Slasher: Once I learned how to operate my Yaris' crazy clutch things improved. My first tank was 35 MPG. After I aired up the tires, I haven't gotten below 37. This car has an incredible drivetrain, I really don't understand how many people just get the EPA estimates for this car and don't exceed them massively.
EDIT: Oh and I feel you about school. The rush-hour commute/city driving SLAYS me on MPGs.

basjoos: I saw evidence of that on my car, actually. I remember that from your site, and noticed how much road grime was on the back end of my car, telling me there's definitely room for improvement back there.