Notes on styling... what do people think of the Mirage?
While I had the car, I set out to ask 50 people what they thought about its styling.
I failed. (Only managed to interview 32 people.) :)
I was fully expecting confirmation of my own opinion that the Mirage is not a particularly attractive car... and I was proven wrong.
This one deserves its own thread, posted here:
Thread: Survey SAYS! (I asked 32 people what they thought of the Mirage's styling...)
my fuel economy in the Mirage: 46% above the EPA rating
More from my notes with the Mirage... I added a fuel log entry:
https://mirageforum.com/forum/em-fue...vehicleid=7497
https://mirageforum.com/forum/fe-graphs/graph7497.gif
In MPG US, left to right, that's:
52.0 ... 60.0 ... 54.6 ... 53.0
That works out to 54 mpg US = 4.36 L/100 km = 23 km/L cumulative (not average) over that total distance, or 46% better than the car's EPA combined rating of 37 mpg.
Driving notes...
This result is pretty representative of basic "eco-driving" techniques that anybody can do (with the exception of the 2nd tank, which was the fill-up we did for the SMCC economy run. But that was only 60 mpg using lots of hypermiling tricks on a very demanding route, so it didn't actually skew the results very much).
Ecodriving techniques were used, like:
- never idling for more than a few seconds,
- smooth, moderate acceleration & braking,
- shifting into top gear, even at low cruising speeds (eg. 30 mph / 50 km/h), downshifting later if more power is required,
- minimizing brake use -- this is key in urban driving -- letting off the gas early to coast as much as practical toward slowdowns/stops/turns, depending on traffic; sometimes in neutral when a long coast was wanted, sometimes in gear when more decel was wanted, taking advantage of fuel-cut mode.
- reading conditions ahead to keep from wasting momentum by rushing into avoidable slowdowns, eg. choosing the lane with the best "flow", timing traffic lights, etc.,
- sticking to the speed limit (or very close to it) -- this is a key technique for highway driving
- turning off the engine at long stops (when safe),
- stuff like that
I specifically wanted to show what was possible to "average" drivers who want to focus on efficiency, but not go crazy. Aside from that short 2nd tank, no "hardcore" techniques were used like engine-off coasting, or pulse & glide. I never draft other cars/trucks.
Pretty darned good for 1478 km / 918 miles of mixed driving. About 600 of those km were on the freeway @ ~60-65 mph; the rest was a mix of city/suburban driving and secondary highways (80 km/h / ~50 mph limit) .
There's more where that came from!
And I'll also point out, this wasn't my "normal" driving style. I typically throw more "advanced" techniques in the mix, eg. engine off coasting up to stops, turns -- a shifter-mounted kill switch is one of the first mods I do to any car. That's a huge fuel-saving technique (and yes, it has risks which can be potentially dangerous if you're not aware of them... lawyer made me say that).
Used in my typical fashion, my own results would have probably been around the 65 mpg US mark like 3dplane is getting in his Mirage, or...
http://mirageforum.com/forum/attachm...2&d=1403535732
(From: http://mirageforum.com/forum/showthr...ll=1#post14162 )
