CVT owner seeking MPG advice

[Daox]

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).

[Kiwi]

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.

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...
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 ��

[El Kapitan]

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.

[Bernadine]

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.

[lourie]

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

[Marrero]

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.

[RodeRoNL]

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.

I averaged 47 mpg (US gallons) over 7000 miles with CVT in a semi urban area.

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.

[Marrero]

I averaged 47 mpg (US gallons) over 7000 miles with CVT in a semi urban area.

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.

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.

[foama]

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.

[Teasmade]

..........5. Outside town I use cruise control if the traffic is not too heavy....

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.