My Skoda fabia hatchback storry and aero suggestions

[NicholaiMD]

Hello ecomodder forum!

I just discovered this website and i am super excited about it.
Last year i started experimenting with some hypermiling techniques to achieve better milage on my way to work. I drive my parrents Skoda fabia to work and back. On a usual noncarefull drive i would get around 5.5 l/100k (43mpg) with ac on, normal speeds and using breaks when stopping. The drive is around 23km and include all types of driving. By using simple techniques i got it down to 4.4 l/100k (53mpg) I turned of ac, drove without breaks, reduced speeds on highway to max 55mph (3000 rmp at 60 mph) and some times coasted in nutral when fit.

This summer im embarking on a 1400km (900 miles) drive, and looking for some more mpg gains, to make this trip cheaper/ more environmentally friendly. Ive been playing with the idea of using tape to produce a temporally grill block, back skirts. Since this is my parrents car its only temporally. I am also planning to pump up my tiers from the recomended 30 psi to 35/36 psi. Anybody got suggestions what i can do to this litle car? I would love to see 60 mpg on this trip.

Tried uploading pictures of the car but i cant figure out how, anyways its a Skoda Fabia hatchback 2012 model. Hope for some interseting feedback!

[Sven7]

Sounds like you've got a good handle on the mods so far. I would suggest folding in the passenger mirror if you can. The possibilities are limited when you need to take them off sooner. I am doing a 700+ mile drive soon myself in my truck, and have a removable air dam and tonneau cover to help with the fuel economy. It doesn't get 50mpg like your Skoda, though.

As for photos, you may need to wait a few posts before uploading, but click "User CP" in the upper right, then go to "Pictures & Albums" on the left side, "Add Album", then open the album and "Upload Picture" Copy the link with "IMG" in the text.

[NicholaiMD]

Thank you Sven7 for the respons!

I tried uploading but it tels me i need atleast 5 posts!
Anyways, pics can be found in my folder now.
I was thinking of folding in the mirrors, however im not sure how legal this is?
How is the laws over in the US? And how big of a bennefit is this?

I've also been thinking of making smooth wheel covers using clear tape over the rims. Shell also started selling a 95 octane gas they call Shell fuel save, think i will try this as well (even though its a bit more expensive) to hit my 60 mpg target. Gas pris hitting 2 euro a liter or 8-9 dollars per gallon in Norway (due to insane taxes) everything counts on a journy like this.

I will keep posting as soon as my mods will be installed and what kind of mpg's i wil get

[NicholaiMD]

So I decided to make a litle update on my 1400 km trip last weekend. The trip was done over 2 days with 900 km the first day and 500 the seccond. I started of early saturday morning getting Okay economy 52 mpg's. However i was running short of time and had to speed up and my mpg dropped to 46 mpg. My average speed was 50 mpg and average rpm probably closer to 3000 rpms. This car would definitely bennefit from some higher gear ratio.. The seccond day i was also running short on time and had the same statistics.

About the mods.
I overinflated the tiers with 6 psi. A full upper grill block using clear tape. Taping minor aeorodynamical flaws in the front. Taped a back wheel skirt. Antenna deletion. On the seccond day i also made the rear wheels more aerodynamical using tape.

What i learned. The everything i did in the front worked great, the tape over the rear rims worked suprisingly good. Rear wheel skirts however did not work as planed. The tape was pushed in, on to the wheels by the air. I will try to post some pictures of this if you are interested when the forum allows me to add photos.

Future projects:
Using tape on the front rims to make them more aerodynamic. Creat a kammback using cardboard. Im also playing with the idea of investing in new slimmer tiers that is also taller. The tiers a relatively wide for the car, and im imagening taller tiers will lower the rpms on the engien?

Conclusion:
Im not satisfied with my fuel economy as I was aming for 60 mpg. Hopefully when im driving back at the end of september i have the necessery mods to achive my goal