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How is everyone getting such high MPG? I don't know if it's just my car, but it mainly stays in the 30s, and barely gets to 40. One time, I got to 48 MPG (my personal best). I turn the A/C off sometimes to see the effect, but the MPG increases very little.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bernadine
It's all about how you drive, and no driving like an old person is not all you need to do to get great fuel economy.
What's your technique? I try to keep the RPMs as low as possible. Is that helpful?Quote:
Originally Posted by 91cavgt
The simplest goal would be to coast as much as possible. If you have the manual, put it in neutral whenever you can get away with it safely. If you have the CVT, try rolling up to a little over your target speed and coasting down to a little below it; say +5/10 to -5/10. This generally gets better mileage than holding it right at your target speed, though I make you no promises.
my advice for the CVT is to use cruise control like you never have before. it looooves cruise control.
Right!? I easily get >35 mpg in the city by using the cruise intermittently.Quote:
Originally Posted by El Kapitan
before i bought this car, i had never driven a CVT and hardly ever used CC, even on the highway. now, it's part of almost every trip i take.
When I wast testing the 2015 CVT I specifically tried different techniques to see what got the best fuel economy. Cruise control really seemed to be the best bet. It seemed to hold lower rpms than if I was manually in control.
For a manual trans, coasting is great. Basically anything that helps you avoid using your brakes is good. Anticipating lights, watching traffic patterns way ahead of you, etc.
On any automatic, including my CVT, I'll always use cruise at any speed over 25mph! I cannot control the throttle for economy as good as the computer.
Also I've noticed that speeds over 65 mph on the highway really kills fuel economy. So I set the cruise for 65 and let them pass me!
It doesn't really save much time when speeding , but it sure eats fuel.
I sometimes kick the CVT into Neutral when approaching a downhill grade to take some energy from gravity. I'm not sure what overall effect this has, but the CVT will slow the car somewhat going downhill with cruise on.
If I understand correctly, putting the manual in neutral may not be better. Letting off the gas completely and engine braking (even without downshifting) allows the fuel injectors to shut off and the forward momentum of wheels through gearbox to engine keeps the engine spinning. If it's in neutral, it has to keep using fuel to keep the engine spinning. Obviously coasting in gear will slow you down faster than neutral, but I don't know if it's a fair trade off. That's where keeping your eyes far down the road and anticipating slowing down really helps mileage.Quote:
Originally Posted by GrnBn
Please correct me if I'm wrong!
Neutral is almost always best for coasting. The fuel use is pretty minimal, and the distance you can coast is MUCH greater than if you're in gear.
I only ever use DFCO (deceleration fuel cut off) if I need to slow faster than coasting, or I know I'm going to need to stop (ex: stop signs).
I just came back from a trip to florida and while in florida I was getting mid to high 40's with 4 people in the car with a cvt transmission. Coming from minnesota the biggest thing I have noticed for fuel economy killers are...Quote:
Originally Posted by Bernadine
Cold vehicle, anything below 20 degrees F I saw a slight decrease... The cvt does not like the cold
Winter gas blend, when we switched over to the winter blend, I saw a slight decrease
Driving like I stole it ��
Stop and go traffic
Short distance driving
Driving in "B" instead of "D" which is engine braking... It was nice to use "B" in the mountains instead of constantly braking like everyone else
... Even with that the worst I saw was around 35mpg
The best I have seen is 59 mpg when i first got it and my best winter is 54mpg both travelling around 55-60mph with only a few stops for around 50 miles
I bought last it september and have put 21,000 miles on it and have seen an average of 44.8mpg, based of my personal log of fuel consumed vs miles driven.
I drive it to drive it, I do not baby it... I am not a fuel economy guru like some people on the site... It is my daily driver and I have fun with it. With that said there are times I baby step it, try to travel with as few full stop starts as possible with a light foot, 40-60 is an ideal constant speed, but my best is between 55-60. Hope this helps ��
interesting that you mentioned the "B" setting because i was going to ask the CVT people in this thread about whether they use "B", how often, and under what conditions.
i find that i rarely use it except every once in a while at low speeds while coasting to a stop. i always have the fear that it bags on the transmission and that i am better off just using more regular braking. that could be entirely untrue, but there is just not that much info out there regarding "B". maybe some of you with more knowledge could share some insight into the "B" setting.
I've tried the B setting, but it felt unnatural. I know it wasn't hurting the car, or they wouldn't have made it an option, but the way the engine brakes made the car feel like it was having difficulties. I just stick with drive for the most part.
B is best if you are at an intersection and you need quick acceleration to get into the line of traffic it is like a rocket
In my opinion B is useless unless you are going down a 45 degree decline and would be going way over the speed limit without using your brakes, if DFCO is on it does not matter if you are at 2k or 5k rpm you are still using 0 fuel but the former will let you coast longer.
Accelerate slowly you'll catch up at the next traffic light, have long term thinking if the light in front of you is yellow you should be off the gas and be idling at 5 or 10mph before you have to hit your brakes (whenever possible) .
I think one of the best tips for beginners is to imagine you are ridding a bicycle instead of driving, you don't hit the brakes when you can coast and you go slower on uphill sections and accelerate while going downhill, and you don't take off in a full sprint after every stop. Also be patient and grow some tough skin, people will honk at you for not going over the speed limit or for accelerating too slowly to the next stop sign, they rather you floor it and then slam on your brakes 5 seconds later.
I averaged 47 mpg (US gallons) over 7000 miles with CVT in a semi urban area.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bernadine
1. Climate Control is Always on automatic, so with AC on.
2. Tyre pressure is 2.4 bar (factory advice).
3. Daylights on (cannot turn that off in my country).
4. Most miles on the highway, max speed 60 miles per hour.
5. Outside town I use cruise control if the traffic is not too heavy. Otherwise I maintain constant speed as much as possible.
6. CVT Always in D (economy mode)
7. Start/Stop mode Always on, except in pile ups on the highway.
6. Accelerating with rpm between 1700 and 2500, when accelerating is done, lift the accelerator just a little bit to get revs down quickly.
7. In practice, the engine (when cruising) never exceeds 2100 rpm.
8. I use very expensive high grade fuel with engine cleaning dopes 50% of time, the other normal fuel (for Europe = Premium in US I think).
9. Contrary to others, I maintain constant speed as much as possible all the time.
10. I anticipate traffic lights as you would not believe, so far in advance, with the goal to prevent full stop.
11. Braking is only allowed for safety reasons! Brakes convert valuable energy into worthless heat.
Well, that's it. Your car should easily do the gas mileage of my car as I live in an urbanised area.
Great tips, there's no start/stop in the U. S but if you anticipate lights way ahead like you do you should rarely be sitting at a stop.Quote:
Originally Posted by RodeRoNL
Also is everyone getting everything ready before turning on the car? Like checking your mirrors, putting on your seat belt and docking your phone before you turn on the engine? I do that and shut off my engine as soon as I put it in Park at my destination, it kicks up the fuel economy on very short trips, I'm not sure how useful it would be in the grand scheme of things for longer trips.
I agree with RodeRoNL, and add my two cents.
Drive as if the brakes were bad, and if thumb-tacks were pointing out of the brake pedal into your foot.
That way, you become more concious of using the gas pedal, and you learn to anticipate the traffic situation and learn to act accordingly.
See it like this: There is no real sense in firstly pressing the pedal and using up expensive fuel, and then in the next moment using the brakes to kill the motion which you paid for by burning fuel.
If you are going to use the brakes at the next corner anyway, why step on the gas any more than absolutely necessary?
Btw, I average around 4.3L / 100km (55 mpg) with the 1.0L MT model, and I certainly don't drive as if I were participating in any economy championship.
Sorry to go off topic here - Do the NL cars have MAF or MAP sensors? I ask because I'm interested to know if the cruise needs a MAF reading.Quote:
Originally Posted by RodeRoNL
Quote:
Originally Posted by Teasmade
I highly doubt that the cruise would need any kind of engine parameter reading. I know if the computer senses wheel spin it will disengage cruise control. I would imagine that if the computer sensed transmission slippage then it would disengage cruise control. Otherwise, it just senses current speed, desired speed, and it tries to keep the 2 numbers matched up.
All the MAF sensor does is to measure the density of the air entering the engine.
Indeed - my line of thinking being that it might be a system that when cruising takes into account engine load when calculating throttle position input - to smooth things out going up a hill. The other reason I was wondering is that someone did put up a diagram of a US aftermarket cruise kit and there were more connectors to the engine ECU that I would have expected - however they weren't labeled with their function - only the pin used.Quote:
Originally Posted by 91cavgt
I just got Truck and Bus driver licens last year, and when i did we drove in a truck/bus with a scangauge attached. First run driving like all people would do, and second run driving and trying to save as much fuel as possible, incl. Coasting with gears looking forward etc etc..Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox
Most new engines completely shut down the fuel injection when you are coasting, so it would always save you money.
I drive my MT 5 speed with low Rpms, switching gears when the UP icon⬆is in the display, its possible to drive 60 km/h (37mph) in 5 gear, and I get about 21/22 km/L (12-13,67mpg) With a warm engine in 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) , 2 persons inside.. looking forward, read the trafic, coasts to red light.
See the picture, about 1800rpm, driving a bit higher than 60..
Attachment 2958
Why can't we get that eco gauge in the U.S.? We need that and the 1.0 liter engine as a special eco model.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gnarles2
I agree!
Hmm, maybe its possible to change the speedometer.. What i Think is, the ECU could probably deal with it?
Try and ask the US Mitsubishi import dealer ..
Ive just reached about 7000kms on my 2015 cvt.. I found something interesting. Why is cruise control so much better in fuel efficency keeping the rpms lower than without?
Coming from a manual rav4 with a noisy engine, ive gotten used to the noise to acceleration ratio which was very clear - more noise=more rpms=more power. But not with the mirage. Ive seen the engine at low rpms running fairly quietly vs engine at higher rpms running very audibly and also maintaining the same speed on a slight uphill at 60kms/h. what gives? Is one gear ratio for cruising and the other poised to accelerate faster?
Conversely, downhill coasting in "D". Sometimes ill feel the cvt automatically behave like "B" and use the gear to keep revs up and act as a braking mechanism to slow the vehcile down, and then switch to "D" when speed slows down
mine will increase in speed on downhill grades if i am going over a certain speed, and engine break if i am below a certain speed. i still have not figured out at which speed the transition from engine breaking to coasting takes place. it seems like perhaps around 40 mph.
I used to belong to a diesel car club where the maniacs (of which I was one) were trying to outdo each other with fuel mileage. I currently get about 50 mpg with the Mirage with the air conditioner off.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bernadine
First, and I know some will disagree with me on this, is sometimes even the same exact model car gives different mileage. I tried three of the same model ES Mirages at the dealership (2014 leftovers) and I wound up picking the one I have now based on the sound and vibration of the engine, how the CVT interacted with the engine and that the car felt "tighter" than the others. I can't explain it, but after driving over 40,000 miles per year for 30 years I just have a sense about it....though not infallible if you saw my Monte Carlo which was a piece of junk...but hey...it was my first new car.
But I diverge...the basics that affect mileage are 1) acceleration; 2) the air conditioner; 3) position of the windows; 4) color of the car; 5) coasting; and 6) braking...
The first three should be pretty obvious....4) the darker the color of the car the more often you will use the air conditioner...5 & 6 overlap each other...the basic principle is that every time you touch your brakes you are killing gas mileage...I do two things about that...the instant I see a light turning red I immediately go into a coasting mode with the idea I don't want to come to a complete stop if at all possible...I also don't tailgate other cars even when traffic is moving slowly...what happens when you do that is that you will hit the brakes more often when the car in front speeds up and slows down...that takes a lot of discipline to do and I had to really work hard on that...outside of the air conditioning there is no question in my mind that braking is the number one thing that kills gas mileage...people do that way more than they think.
I use a full synthetic which helps "a little" in terms of mileage and wear and tear on the engine and have found that additives are useless since most motor oils whether synthetic or not are of way higher quality than those of years ago...A mechanic used Quaker State on one of my cars in the seventies that "varnished" the engine when they had to pull the heads...the good old days...btw...use of higher octane doesn't affect mileage, just hurts the wallet...I just wish they would get rid of the ethanol...it hurts gas mileage, the trade-off in mpg doesn't help the environment, doesn't do the car any favors either and raises the price of food crops...my one and a half cents...
that's one of the main reasons that I always try to buy white cars. even up here in the great white north, it still makes a huge difference in summer. the spoiler on the mirage also helps at midday because it partially shades the rear window, which itself is not too large. the rear passenger windows are also small, which helps keep extra sun out. folks, try touching the top of a white car and then a dark car on a hot sunny day. you'll be amazed at the difference.
and as for the ethanol... follow the money :)
Using the cruise control as much as possible with the CVT is the best way to get higher numbers. I am usually getting about 42-45mps on my commute to and from work because its all stop and go. Other times I am getting 45-55 mpg using the cruise control and really paying attention to the lights ahead and taking my foot off of the gas instead of braking.Attachment 3214Attachment 3215
it's nice to see how so many people beat the EPA ratings. yesterday I set a new personal best trip average, which included lots of downtown (but light traffic) driving of 51mpg on my readout. after getting home, I stepped out of the car and just proudly looked at it for a couple seconds before heading inside.
gas prices where I live have come within 15 cents/ltr. of their all-time high just before the GFC in 2008, even though oil currently costs much less than it did it that time. what a racket! one day, I don't know when, i'll go full electric with solar charging. until then, my beloved little mirage will keep the hurt as low as possible.
El Kap: glad to hear you're still enjoying the car and what it can do.
Your dealer obviously knew how to keep a customer happy. That dud engine could have turned out badly.
I think you may have me confused with Ichabod. my engine has been trouble free since day one (knock on wood).
Yeah , should send all our Mpg,s reports to the EPA and the good reviews so that they can adjust the Mpg Rateing on the Mirage. I've told a few dealers that they should tell All Buyers that the hwy mpg is between 45 to 55 or better. I'm sure they have told people that they get better then what's on the window.
Oops! Yes I did. My bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by El Kapitan