Gas mileage / MPG achievements (with optional MPG computer pics)

**MCMfan92** · 10-09-2020, 03:34 PM

Also that’s a CVT

**precisionxt** · 10-09-2020, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by Top_Fuel

32607 miles on 7.7 gallons of gas. Now that's what I call hyper-miling!

Attachment 18999

LOL! Just so you guys know, I have since fixed this error. I wish I could get that kind of mileage!

**Loren** · 10-09-2020, 07:19 PM

Took a drive down into the South part of the county. A little more "big city" than the area I live in. About a 35-40 minute drive.

I drove across a bridge on the trip down. That required me to get up to and maintain 55 mph until I got over the hump. I had 56 mpg going before the bridge! Down to almost 51 by the time I was across. Spent the rest of the drive catching up. Finished with exactly 56 mpg. Not bad for the conditions.

For the return trip, I stayed on surface streets, but was still on roads with traffic that wouldn't let me dawdle, tailgaters that wouldn't let me coast, and I hit pretty much every major red light... 3-5 minutes of idling at each one. I really wanted at least 60 mpg, not had to settle for 59.3. Better than taking the bridge, I guess.

I need to refit a standard battery so that I can confidently shut down at traffic lights without worrying about maybe not being able to restart. I think 65 in the city would be possible with that.

**fc321** · 10-09-2020, 08:17 PM

Are you sure that waiting until 3k rpm to shift is detrimental? When i ran my home experiments I determined that 3k upshifts had been optimal for the fuel economy. Because prior to that I had been driving the car like a Nun with 2k upshifts but when I did the math I had actually gotten better fuel economy from the 3k upshifts.

Anyone else care to chime in? Nowadays I have been upshifting at 3k very consistently. The Mirage's engine makes a very distinct sound note at 3K rpm. At first i was only concerned about fuel economy but lately I have made my primary concern to be safety. The 2 goals are not always homogeneous because since the Mirage is under-powered then you want to be in the right gear to allow for max torque in the event of an Emergency evasive maneuver needed.

So if you are in 4th gear and driving 30 mph (48 km/h) that would be fuel efficient but less safe than being in 3rd gear. This is the compromise we all need to make each day when we balance fuel economy with maximum Safety. Obviously petrol is cheaper than totaling our car. So for me the PRIMARY goal is not crashing and i leave the hypermiling to long desolate roads that have few cars on it.

**inuvik** · 10-09-2020, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by fc321

Are you sure that waiting until 3k rpm to shift is detrimental? When i ran my home experiments I determined that 3k upshifts had been optimal for the fuel economy. Because prior to that I had been driving the car like a Nun with 2k upshifts but when I did the math I had actually gotten better fuel economy from the 3k upshifts.

Anyone else care to chime in? Nowadays I have been upshifting at 3k very consistently. The Mirage's engine makes a very distinct sound note at 3K rpm. At first i was only concerned about fuel economy but lately I have made my primary concern to be safety. The 2 goals are not always homogeneous because since the Mirage is under-powered then you want to be in the right gear to allow for max torque in the event of an Emergency evasive maneuver needed.

So if you are in 4th gear and driving 30 mph (48 km/h) that would be fuel efficient but less safe than being in 3rd gear. This is the compromise we all need to make each day when we balance fuel economy with maximum Safety. Obviously petrol is cheaper than totaling our car. So for me the PRIMARY goal is not crashing and i leave the hypermiling to long desolate roads that have few cars on it.

Well, I chug along at 30mph in 5th gear here on the Oregon Coast all the time around town in my Outlander Sport. If you play around with the CVT I’ve gotten it to upshift into overdrive ranges at speeds as low as 30mph if you manually shift it from “L or B” into “D” manually at 25mph and let off the the throttle while you upshift. I could get the rpm’s down to around 1000.

**Loren** · 10-09-2020, 09:37 PM

Originally Posted by fc321

Are you sure that waiting until 3k rpm to shift is detrimental?

I think it's entirely dependent on the situation.

Traffic? Terrain? Desired speed?

If my goal is to average 30-35 mph on a flat road with no traffic... I shift at around 2k and almost "idle" up to 30-40 mph. Maybe even 42-45. Then coast back down to 30... and if nobody's behind me still, maybe 25. But, if there's traffic, I cruise at a steady speed usually right at the speed limit, maybe 5 over.

If there's traffic, or hills to climb, or my target speed is significantly higher, then I might shift at 3k... even 4k.

I think there is benefit to accelerating for a shorter period of time (higher rpm, slightly more throttle) vs. a longer period of time when you're trying to reach a faster target speed. I have no data to back that up, just theory.

The engine is most efficient (getting the most forward motion out of the fuel burned) when accelerating with the throttle as open as it can be and RPM in the vicinity of the torque peak (which is a really wide 2500-5500 in this car) in the highest possible gear. But, if you go full-throttle, the ECU reads that as "forget fuel economy and go for max power" and puts you in open-loop, so you can't fully open the throttle. But, you can give it half to 2/3.

I've seen REALLY good fuel economy from using two wildly different methods of acceleration. Just depends on the traffic situation and what you're trying to do.

1. Very, very light acceleration. Light throttle, barely perceptible acceleration, shifting at 1800-2200 rpm.

2. Moderate acceleration. Half to 2/3 throttle, shifting at 3000-5000 rpm, skipping to top gear when desired speed is reached.

I think you'll get better acceleration with less throttle application if you're holding the lower gear and letting the engine rev a little more vs. being in a higher gear and flooring it. The engine and its electronics are VERY flexible, and it will always "try" to accelerate no matter what you throw at it. It's pretty amazing how resistant to "bucking" this engine is under low-rpm acceleration... but, I still think that if acceleration is the goal... be in a lower gear!

Whether you're in "pulse and glide" mode, or "cruise at a constant speed" mode is a major factor, as well.

Would be interesting to hear some feedback from our more experienced hypermilers on this! I feel like I'm pretty good at it, but I'm not a total hypermiling guru who has done a lot of dedicated testing... and I know we have a few of those here.

Meanwhile... I'm battery shopping.

**PityOnU** · 10-11-2020, 04:45 AM

Hit a whopping 39.Xmpg average today. The lowest I've ever had. But this was after driving like an absolute psychopath (weaving in and out of traffic, then hitting 95mph on mountain roads trying to bait a Subaru WRX) and doing a lot of mountain climbing/small town driving on the Seattle Northcountry leg of the Cascade Loop. Overall, not bad.

**RogerF765** · 11-06-2020, 09:25 PM

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My 2020 ES 5 speedjust rolled over 1000 miles on this trip to work. I was going a steady 70 mph for the most part with the AC on because it is Florida after all.