New CR-V AWD mods - Page 2 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Joggernot · 06-29-2022, 11:33 AM

I'm old and handicapped so I have to concentrate on driving. With this info I changed my driving style. I accelerate to speed using 2000 rpm. The CVT will get me to 55 on 2000 rpm alone. Then I drop to 1500 rpm (max torque) and it will hold speed up to 45 mph. A couple more rpm and I can hold the 55 mph. I still don't get great mpg, but I do average 34 around town and more on the highway (seldom done anymore).

serialk11r · 06-30-2022, 05:51 AM

The 37% island starts closer to 2500 than 2000. I think the strategy should be take off with lighter throttle, try to hold it at 2500 when accelerating, then drive as slow as possible since the top gear ratio is pretty tall.

serialk11r · 07-16-2022, 10:43 AM

I picked up the car today! Didn't take any pictures because...it's just yet another silver CR-V that you'll see 100 of every time you go on the road.

Despite some people online complaining about the automatic braking and whatever, I found the safety features unintrusive and I found the lane keep to work more than well enough. It has a start-stop system which seems to work really well, as the engine will stay stopped for a very long time as long as the air conditioning isn't set on LO.

Speaking of A/C, the front window is raked pretty steep (aero?) and lets in a lot of sunlight, while the A/C could be a little colder...I think I'm going to get some light window film for the windshield.

The CVT takes a bit of time to rev the engine up and get the boost going, so it's actually extremely easy to keep it operating efficiently, and you have to be trying pretty hard to rev the engine out and get maximum power and boost. No wonder the car magazines got such high mpg testing it. I don't have my OBD scanner on me so I can't verify the AFRs but seat of the pants feeling is the CVT is keeping the engine out of enrichment as the car feels really slow. Alas, it is the slowest car I've ever owned so...

I haven't driven it very far but the mpg seems pretty good. Seems like it'll easily do over 30mpg without trying which is pretty good for a car this size. The gearing is basically as tall as it can possibly be, as a slight incline will have it running at very high load and over 2500rpm, while it typically sits at around 2000rpm which is ridiculously low for a 1.5L engine. I noticed the CVT doesn't drop the revs much below 1200rpm so sometimes coasting in neutral may help a little bit.

I'll probably drive it to California and back to Nevada in 3 weeks ish. I'm hoping for 40mpg just going the speed limit and mostly letting cruise control and lane keep do its thing. Then I'll try the cardboard box tail.

Piotrsko · 07-16-2022, 10:48 AM

Which speed limit: freeway or secondary roads? Guessing 80 posted is going to suck fuel

serialk11r · 07-16-2022, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Which speed limit: freeway or secondary roads? Guessing 80 posted is going to suck fuel

I was on I-80 around Reno, I think that stretch is 65mph? There was some traffic so I was only going 50-55 ish, and getting over 40mpg. With the tiny engine, I would expect gas mileage to plummet quickly as the speed increases.

Yes 80mph is probably going to guzzle fuel pretty fast. Similar sized modern crossovers like a Tiguan or RAV4 seem to go down to about 27-30mpg at 80mph. With the lane keep assist doing most of the driving for me, I don't really mind sitting in the car a bit longer going 60mph while listening to podcasts or something.

Driving the V8 Vantage is different, since the 6th gear is short, there is little downside to driving faster, and it has no driver aids so going faster is less fatiguing.

Piotrsko · 07-16-2022, 11:13 AM

Dunno wasn't paying attention but I do recall being in the right lane CC'd to 73 which is the sweet spot for the Golf and pissing off everybody including truckers. Westbound is up hill and terminal forever construction so you're going to be lane changing no matter what

serialk11r · 07-27-2022, 06:48 AM

I went on a bit of a road trip this past weekend and split a rental car with other people. It turned out to be...a CRV. Despite the driver having little concept of efficient driving, she managed 38mpg (a lot of 45-50mph small back roads but with quite a lot of unnecessary braking), and it was a very hot day with the AC running.

Planning to drive to the Bay Area from Reno next week. I'm hoping I can break 40 round trip doing 65mph and coasting in neutral down hills. If the cruising mpg on flat ground isn't good enough for that, strapping that box to the back might do the trick.

Piotrsko · 07-27-2022, 10:01 AM

Couple of downhills that coasting gets scary on: exceeding 80 mph with a decent turn at the end for both. Sometimes there is a patrol car at the bottom.

Wave as you drive by.

serialk11r · 07-27-2022, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Couple of downhills that coasting gets scary on: exceeding 80 mph with a decent turn at the end for both. Sometimes there is a patrol car at the bottom.

Wave as you drive by.

In this car, I think I'll be okay. Other times I've driven through there in coupes (low drag), I hit 87-90mph max. This car has 30% more drag/weight ratio so I am assuming it won't get over 80.

serialk11r · 07-28-2022, 08:08 PM

So I noticed that the headlights are halogen instead of LED...so potentially 150W or so can be recovered at the crank by switching to LED. 540kJ/hour at 35% efficiency is a little under 0.05gph. Should I switch them to LEDs? The payoff time is going to be around 200-400 hours of night time operation depending on which set I buy.

Going to try the cardboard box tail next week.