One tank on the Paseo - no P&G, no EOC - place your MPG bets
 

I've been thinking about doing this for a while now, and I am finally doing it. I'm going to drive one tank (maybe half a tank, we'll see) without using P&G (pulse and glide) or EOC (engine off coasting). I'm very interested in seeing how much my mileage drops due to abandoning these driving techniques. I'll still be using all other techniques, just getting rid of these more advanced ones.

The alternator disable won't be used since its still winter and that has killed the battery's capacity. But, everything else will be in use.

Winter has already hit the Paseo's mileage very hard, so I'm very unsure of what I'll get. Anyone want to take a guess at what kind of mileage I'll see?

Here is my mileage log:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/fe-graphs/graph39.gif



One of the other reasons for doing this is that the EGR mod will be pretty useless if I still P&G. It was aimed at trying to find a solution to improve steady state driving mileage. This will give me a very rough idea of where I'd be starting from.

Well, your EPA highway rating is 34 mpg (US), and I definitely think you'll still beat that, since your commute is mostly highway. (And it's not high-speed, right?)

Plus you'll still be using your brain, and the car still has some efficiency boosting mods on it that raise its highway MPG above stock.

In which case I'm guessing 41 even.

My commute is mostly 55 mph highway. I will be doing 50-55. I'll also be doing the speed limit on normal streets.

I'm guessing 44mpg. Or maybe more, but 44 is my bet. Like Darin noticed, you'll be using your brain. Unless that also counts as a "more advanced technique"?

Thankfully, using my brain isn't an advanced technique. :) IMO this kind of driving is something ANYONE can do, even your grandma. I wouldn't tell her to go try and P&G or EOC haha.

40 smooth.

51. It looks like the difference between two tanks between February and March '08 was about 6 mpg, I would expect that again if you were using the same techniques. Since you are not, the techniques will offset the gains from weather.

Yup, low 40s.

It looks like your winter mpg average is ~42-44 mpg. HS P&G doesn't raise mpg much - maybe 10%. So I'll guess 38-40 mpg sans P&G and EOC.

x2

I've been only using EOC / p&G in city conditions and exceptionally long highway coasts recently (mainly because I want the heater on!)....And partly because I'm trying to manipulate my car's lean burn mode on the highway.
I'll bet 39 mpg as long as temps don't come up. If you EOC in your city driving and just leave it running on the highway, I bet you'd top 42.

Not sure whether I'm being conservative or optimistic but my money's on 46.

According to my scangauge (which is not calibrated), Piwoslaw is the closest so far. This mornings commute showed me 44.4 mpg. Although, I admit I did find myself a very nice semi going 50 mph. I followed him at a safe distance for a fair amount of the trip.

As a side note, I am finding it hard to resist the urge to P&G haha. It just so natural to do now. I am coasting down hills where I can maintain or just slowly loose speed.

Doax, Thanks ! I've often wanted to see some of the best MPG cars on this site driven 'normally'.
By this I mean driven the exact posted speed limit, no tricks like EOC, or P&G.
This gives me a better idea of what certain mods to a particular car can do for FE for the average driver out there that is not willing to P&G with the engine off.

Yes, I'm also curious to just see what I'd get if I didn't feel like trying. P&G is work. You do get used to it, but its still way more involved than steady state cruising.

The trip home was a bit worse. I rolled into the drive way at about 40.3 mpg. Again, this is on an uncalibrated scangauge, so it could be a fair amount off.

What percentage of your drive would you normaly EOC? How many miles is your commute? What's your average speed? Just asking cause I made spread sheet and am hoping to predict the results from EOC.

My commute is 21 miles one way. I probably have the engine off close to half the time. I'd have to double check the average speed, but I'd guess low 40s.

crunching the numbers........

My guess is 45!

I'm going 41.5 MPG

Well, my calculations are predicting a 25% difference between EOC and and Non EOC in your case. That would mean around 38 if we compare it to a 51 mpg tank and 42.5 if we compare it to your 57 mpg tank. There's sooo many variables though, you just can't use math to predict this, or at least I can't :)

My guess, 42.5!

Well, I had a bit of a nasty beginning to my commute. I scraped the windows and took off. However, after about a block or so of driving I couldn't see out my windshield anymore. So, I had to pull into a parking lot and wait for some heat to defrost. I got back on my way to work after a minute or two and did find a semi going the speed limit to follow. The result was 40.8 mpg on the SG.

So how far are you into the tank?

Was your frost on the inside or the outside of the glass?

Inside, I recommend parking the car in a garage with the windows down for a few days to dry it out. Outside, I recommend fresh wiper blades and Prestone Windshield DeIcer, with a freezing point of -34°F. It's potent stuff. :)

I had a pervasive issue with frost on the inside of the Insight this winter, which killed my fuel economy on more than a few commutes.

I'm at about 3/4 tank right now. Plenty to go. The drive home showed 43.5 if I recall correctly.

The ice was on the outside of the glass I think. I didn't try scraping it off after I got going. I scraped it fairly well before starting up, but it just fogged right back up. It was quite odd.

44.8 on the drive in today.

Another side note, coolant temps are much higher now. I can use the heater a ton more which is kind of nice. I haven't had the radiator fan turn on yet, but its just a matter of time until theres a warm day.

That shows just how much energy is being wasted in a normal car, with a normal driver.
I once read that the 3L version of the VW Lupo was so efficient that engine waste heat wasn't enough to keep the passengers warm, requiring an extra electric heating system.
I'd think this is also the case in certain hybrids.

Just completed a semi long trip in my stock 96 paseo. Went aproximately 55-60 and used half a tank. I averaged 46mpg.

42.5 on the way home yesterday. Not too bad considering there was an accident and traffic was backed up fairly well.

...I find variations in daily "traffic" flow have a HUGE effect on MPG goint to/from work, ie: at 0600 traffic is very light and widely spread apart, but at 1730 the traffic is bunched and "rubber-banding" with every little distraction (police car, car on shoulder, merging traffic, exiting traffic, idjiots "weaving" from lane-to-lane, etc.)

Here is what a few degrees does for you. Lately, its been about 15F in the morning. I've been averaging low to mid 40s. Today it was 35F out and I got 47.4 mpg on the way in. Can't wait for even higher temps!

my guess is about 42mpg...

i've been getting around 40 all winter long...its getting nicer out, so i'd say a tad higher :)..plus your the "master jedi" compared to me being your 'apprentice' :)

How's it going Mr Tim?

You still thinking of re-filling around the half tank mark?

Nah, I'm going all the way. I ended up using the Paseo a lot last week. I'm now down to just under 1/4 tank. The trip in today showed me 46.5 mpg on the scangauge. I didn't reset when I filled up, so I have no idea what the tank mileage is at.

Well, I decided to fill up on the way home today. It was a warm afternoon and this no EOC stuff is making the coolant fan run more than I'd like. It probably turned on about 6 times on the way home today. Ambient temp is around 57F.

Anyway, the fillup:
421.8 miles
8.9 gallons
47.4 mpg

Not too shabby. I honestly was expecting lower. The scangauge was definitely reading low.