Cruising Speed "Sweet Spot"? (for best fuel economy / MPG)

[Charlie]

I went out today on a fairly flat stretch of road and did 45 MPH on the way to the store in my CVT, and I did actually get better MPG at about 63 MPG.

Unfortunately, 45 MPH results is worse MPG when it comes to hills. Not sure why, but when going over hills frequently, seems an extra 5-10 MPH helps. Probably has to do with a combo of inertia, and engine load at rpm.

Either way, 45 does seem to be the sweet spot for the CVT on a flat road, of which, there are little in my area But for those easy rolling hills, you might be better off at higher speed.

Oh sweet! Thanks for the info from a fellow CVT owner! Yea, I have to admit, my routes really ARE generally flat. Good to know that if things get hilly, probably better to up the velocity.

-Charlie-

[deleted user]

Use the hill to hybridize your car, neutral coasting downhill, your mileage will improve significantly.

regards
mech

[Cani Lupine]

My 5MT actually gets about the same numbers going 65-70 as I do going 55, and faster is better on hills. I'll see an easy 50 MPG average on freeway trips without any hypermiling tricks. Unfortunately, I really can't hypermile in this area. Way too much traffic going way too fast.

[Cleartec]

I have found out that with the 1.2 mt/5 has the best economy and power driving with the highest gear around 2000 rpm

[Mirage_Sydney]

As others have noted, I've found the best economy at around 45 mph (72 km/h) in my 5-speed manual. But up to 50 mph or 55 mph the drop in economy isn't significant enough to make much of a difference to how I drive. At 60 mph and up I really start to notice it though.

I have a few steepish hills on my daily commute. With hills I find it best to kick it back a gear if the engine is labouring - if your speed is dropping and you need to push the accelerator to keep the speed up, you're probably better off kicking it back a gear or 2.

When I'm going over a series of hills my routine is:
(1) At the top of the hill, slip it into neutral and let it coast.
(2) If you absolutely must slow down because of the speed limit or because of the car in front of you, it is better to apply the brakes early in your descent and then coast towards the bottom so that you hit the next uphill with the maximum momentum.
(3) As soon as the next uphill section starts, slip it into 5th and apply the accelerator very lightly.
(4) As soon as the engine needs a bit more oomph, slip it back to 4th. If the hill is steep it needs even more oomph, slip it back to 3rd. Better to be doing it easy in 4th or 3rd than struggling in 5th.
(5) At the top of the hill, go back to step (1) and repeat.

[MetroMPG]

(2) If you absolutely must to slow down because of the speed limit or because of the car in front of you, it is better to apply the brakes early in your descent

And ideally, engine brake (in gear) instead of braking while in neutral, from a fuel economy perspective. You'll use zero fuel in DFCO (deceleration fuel cut-off) mode provided the RPM is higher than ~1600 (roughly - I'm not exactly sure where the Mirage starts/stops DFCO).

[Mirage_Sydney]

And ideally, engine brake (in gear) instead of braking while in neutral, from a fuel economy perspective. You'll use zero fuel in DFCO (deceleration fuel cut-off) mode provided the RPM is higher than ~1600 (roughly - I'm not exactly sure where the Mirage starts/stops DFCO).

That's interesting, normally I engine brake for traffic lights and roundabouts, but when I'm coasting in neutral downhill I tend to brake in neutral. Why is it more fuel efficient to engine brake? Is it simply because the actual brakes require power (similar to headlights and air con)?

Good to know, thanks.

[Cleartec]

yeah I think braking actually costs energy. Try braking with transmission, in that way no fuel and braking is used

[Cobrajet]

And ideally, engine brake (in gear) instead of braking while in neutral, from a fuel economy perspective. You'll use zero fuel in DFCO (deceleration fuel cut-off) mode provided the RPM is higher than ~1600 (roughly - I'm not exactly sure where the Mirage starts/stops DFCO).

Absolutely right. Use that DFCO. My Mirage DFCOs until about 1100 rpm.

[uheym]

Absolutely right. Use that DFCO. My Mirage DFCOs until about 1100 rpm.

How did you find the 1100 Rpms? Using a scangauge?
I alway use the gear as the breaks, slowly or fast driving + normal breaks if I need to.
You can slowly see the mpg rising if you drive with coasting, and try to be on neutral as little as possible.