pissed

[Raysp30]

I've tweaked my Saturn SL1 about as far as it can go. With good driving, I can easily and consistently hit 46-50 on highway trips. When my wife drives it, which is all the time except for trips we take, she has averages of 34 mpg or so. She's got a light foot, but doesn't really care to do anything "different" with how she drives.

Point is, that is a 25% difference between driving styles with the same car.

[wagonman76]

Originally Posted by Concrete

this is an excellent point (and encouraging)
when you get up there in MPG little things mean a lot
(one trip thru the drive thru at McDonnell's can really set you back)

I agree. Instant feedback is the best thing you can have. You can see where youre losing mpg and where youre gaining it, instead of blindly waiting till the next fillup. Youll really be surprised. The mpguino is an excellent alternative to the scangauge if youre willing to do a little tweaking. Plus some of the other things mentioned would help, like a grille block and block heater.

1 mpg is still pretty good. Its certainly better than nothing (or a loss), and it means youre headed in the right direction. It takes awhile to get to where you are just in the ecomodding mindset, then you get more in tune with the car and start saving more. Used to be the best I could get back and forth to work was a steady 29 mpg, and that was with easy driving. Now lately Ive been getting 32-34. 50 miles a day round trip to work, saves me a dollar a day, $20 a month, after 2 months my mpguino is paid for. Actually sooner than that, since Im not factoring in my downstate trips where Ive gained some as well.

[Clev]

If my commute was 16-18 miles round trip, I'd be looking at building a Forkenswift. :-)


Tim

[badaz907]

thanks everyone that has been the best post I have ever read your encouragement and support have helped me a great deal,even the brad made a good point thatnks all and the best quote ever "no one noticed a difference in just one tank"

[chilimac02]

This thread can help lots of people who think change happens fast. For me, I started "trying to" hypermile and went from 28mpg to 34-35. Then after continued trying, I was still averaging 35ish, but noticed others in my same car were getting 48. I chose to get in on a group buy for the SgII and 3weeks later my best commute is up to 45.6mpg over 28.5mi. I've been able to bump my tank up 5mpg after just 3 tanks with the SgII.

Like the old NBC saturday morning "the more you know" commercials:
"now you know, and knowing is half the battle"

PS after adjusting my driving habits I can now achieve better mpg in my Ford Explorer than I was getting in my Honda Accord (pre-hypermiling). I just aero-modded my accord tonight and we'll see what the payoff is.

-Justin