Throttle limiter for best ECO?

[Loren]

While something like a Scangauge can absolutely go a long way towards teaching you "how much acceleration is still fairly economical" and just exactly what kind of MPG to I get cruising at particular speeds, and things like that, you can still get a lot of good info out of the factory fuel meter on the Mirage.

First, you can get a lot of that sense of "what kind of MPG to I get cruising this speed" by simply achieving a speed, holding it constant, and resetting the meter. Keep driving for a few minutes, and the number you get will be very similar to the "instantaneous" reading that you might get from a Scangauge at that speed.

What I do when I'm hypermiling (which to some extent is almost always when I get into the Mirage) is watch that MPG display. It resets when you start the car (if it's been resting for 4+ hours), so you can start from that. Or... if you want to "cheat", you can reset it after the engine is warmed up... in the Mirage, that really doesn't make a HUGE difference like it does in some other cars.

So, I set out on a drive, and after the first couple miles, the meter should have settled into something fairly realistic. From there, I start playing the game. I want to move that number up as much as possible, and never DOWN if I can avoid it. You'll find (at least on a fairly short drive) that you can easily gain a couple tenths of an MPG every time you do a coast-down of at least 10 mph. I find that those coasts go on longer and end up being more efficient by doing them in neutral, at least in the Mirage. So, I do that "pulse and glide" thing. I'll gently accelerate up to maybe 5 over the speed limit (trying to NOT lose more than a tenth in the process), and then if traffic allows, I pop it into neutral and coast down to as slow as I feel comfortable depending on traffic and how big of a hurry I'm in. I might coast down from 50 to 30, or 45 to 25. And then accelerate gently IN TOP GEAR (unless you're below about 30-35, then you might use 4th... but, you'll be surprised what the Mirage can pull out of as long as the revs are above 1200) back up to speed.

You can also gain a couple tenths every time you stop by spotting the stop way in advance and coasting IN GEAR, and downshifting (I don't usually bother downshifting past 3rd gear) as you slow down to keep the revs above 1500. Doing so keeps you in DFCO (deceleration fuel cut-off), so you're using zero fuel for the entire coast. Then, after your stop, try to retain as much of what you gained as you can. If there's traffic and you've got to get back up to 50 mph, you might lose a couple tenths. You might also lose a couple tenths waiting at a traffic light. At the very least, most traffic light or stop sign stops should be a wash... you'll gain on deceleration, and lose on acceleration. But, if you just powered up to the stop and braked hard and then briskly accelerated away... you'd lost a lot more.

You can, without investing in any additional equipment, just use that factory MPG display to see real gains in economy. You just have to learn to play "the game". Every drive becomes an opportunity to set the high score!

[MirageRally]

While something like a Scangauge can absolutely go a long way towards teaching you "how much acceleration is still fairly economical" and just exactly what kind of MPG to I get cruising at particular speeds, and things like that, you can still get a lot of good info out of the factory fuel meter on the Mirage.

First, you can get a lot of that sense of "what kind of MPG to I get cruising this speed" by simply achieving a speed, holding it constant, and resetting the meter. Keep driving for a few minutes, and the number you get will be very similar to the "instantaneous" reading that you might get from a Scangauge at that speed.

What I do when I'm hypermiling (which to some extent is almost always when I get into the Mirage) is watch that MPG display. It resets when you start the car (if it's been resting for 4+ hours), so you can start from that. Or... if you want to "cheat", you can reset it after the engine is warmed up... in the Mirage, that really doesn't make a HUGE difference like it does in some other cars.

So, I set out on a drive, and after the first couple miles, the meter should have settled into something fairly realistic. From there, I start playing the game. I want to move that number up as much as possible, and never DOWN if I can avoid it. You'll find (at least on a fairly short drive) that you can easily gain a couple tenths of an MPG every time you do a coast-down of at least 10 mph. I find that those coasts go on longer and end up being more efficient by doing them in neutral, at least in the Mirage. So, I do that "pulse and glide" thing. I'll gently accelerate up to maybe 5 over the speed limit (trying to NOT lose more than a tenth in the process), and then if traffic allows, I pop it into neutral and coast down to as slow as I feel comfortable depending on traffic and how big of a hurry I'm in. I might coast down from 50 to 30, or 45 to 25. And then accelerate gently IN TOP GEAR (unless you're below about 30-35, then you might use 4th... but, you'll be surprised what the Mirage can pull out of as long as the revs are above 1200) back up to speed.

You can also gain a couple tenths every time you stop by spotting the stop way in advance and coasting IN GEAR, and downshifting (I don't usually bother downshifting past 3rd gear) as you slow down to keep the revs above 1500. Doing so keeps you in DFCO (deceleration fuel cut-off), so you're using zero fuel for the entire coast. Then, after your stop, try to retain as much of what you gained as you can. If there's traffic and you've got to get back up to 50 mph, you might lose a couple tenths. You might also lose a couple tenths waiting at a traffic light. At the very least, most traffic light or stop sign stops should be a wash... you'll gain on deceleration, and lose on acceleration. But, if you just powered up to the stop and braked hard and then briskly accelerated away... you'd lost a lot more.

You can, without investing in any additional equipment, just use that factory MPG display to see real gains in economy. You just have to learn to play "the game". Every drive becomes an opportunity to set the high score!

Also, if l let my car get down to one square l can easily hit 30mpg pounding it around...if l was on the highway doing constant speed for long miles, yeah-l can get 45mpg easy, but most of it is haha....me...(Cough) Lead Foot (Cough) lol l also bought a bluetooth obdll port scanner that goes into each control module of my car and gives me exact measurements of oil temp, engine load, and coolant temp....also l ca go into my ecu and display graphs of what the computer is doing.

[Fummins]

Just a heads up incase you don't already know, some of those obdII dongles/gps/wifi/insurance driver tracker things are known to throw random codes and make the car run like pooh randomly. Not all do though. If you start getting abs or engine lights and the car won't rev up unplug it.

[timw4mail]

Just a heads up incase you don't already know, some of those obdII dongles/gps/wifi/insurance driver tracker things are known to throw random codes and make the car run like pooh randomly. Not all do though. If you start getting abs or engine lights and the car won't rev up unplug it.

My Ultraguage seems to throw codes...but only for the dealership techs, I think I've seen it throw a bogus code once.

[Fummins]

Iirc the most common code is a communication one for the abs. Some of our cars acted up every few hours some once a month.
It took us a while to figure that one out. The Mitsubishi dealer tore apart an entire car tracing all the wiring tried different computers, then gave up and said they have no idea. Whoops....

[MirageRally]

Just a heads up incase you don't already know, some of those obdII dongles/gps/wifi/insurance driver tracker things are known to throw random codes and make the car run like pooh randomly. Not all do though. If you start getting abs or engine lights and the car won't rev up unplug it.

l have the ThinkDaig obdll that comes with Mitsubishi's own Software (subscription) and can accurately pinpoint what is wrong with the car...hopefully it runs good

[Loren]

Just to make you feel better about yourself... I had to run some errands today. Short trips, and I didn't feel like hypermiling.

Drove to the doctor's office and back, maybe 5 mile trip. And a few hours later, I drove to the recycling center and then the pharmacy and back... maybe 8 mile round trip. I drove by sound/feel. Shifted when it felt right, or when it started sounding delightfully angry. I rev-matched every downshift, and generally just enjoyed the drive. I might have extended a coast to a stop here or there out of habit, but I wasn't definitely not hypermiling.

The first trip netted about 30.2 mpg. The second trip added to that (no reset) and ended up just under 32 mpg.

So, yeah. Driven "normally" or "somewhat spiritedly" around town... that's not unreasonable.

Pretty amazing that I can get 54 mpg on the same trips if I try very hard and traffic is just right. Or, I could drive more aggressively and get 27 mpg. The Mirage is VERSATILE!

[gone.a]

Still can't get the hang of keeping my car in ECO while accelerating, thankfully l'm now getting 30mpg instead of 23mpg...does anyone know if l installed a throttle limiter...would that be better? Pros?...Cons?...Don't care about warranty...wish l had an ECO button that l could press and it would limit the throttle for me l would either install a pedal block that would wrap onto the back of the accelerator pedal and hold it in the ECO range...OR...l would install a limiter spring/screw that would limit how far the accelerator pedal goes down, basically not being able to go Wide Open Throttle. Thanks

I wonder if there is something wrong with either your car or the way you are calculating MPG. Only getting 30 mpg in the city is very low for someone who it trying to get decent mpg. I will see low 30's driving normally without a care.

[MirageRally]

I wonder if there is something wrong with either your car or the way you are calculating MPG. Only getting 30 mpg in the city is very low for someone who it trying to get decent mpg. I will see low 30's driving normally without a care.

l'm calculating how many miles l can go before l need to fillup....l can go to 280 before l get gas, 280/9.2=30mpg...l don't go by the computer.

[MirageRally]

Just to make you feel better about yourself... I had to run some errands today. Short trips, and I didn't feel like hypermiling.

Drove to the doctor's office and back, maybe 5 mile trip. And a few hours later, I drove to the recycling center and then the pharmacy and back... maybe 8 mile round trip. I drove by sound/feel. Shifted when it felt right, or when it started sounding delightfully angry. I rev-matched every downshift, and generally just enjoyed the drive. I might have extended a coast to a stop here or there out of habit, but I wasn't definitely not hypermiling.

The first trip netted about 30.2 mpg. The second trip added to that (no reset) and ended up just under 32 mpg.

So, yeah. Driven "normally" or "somewhat spiritedly" around town... that's not unreasonable.

Pretty amazing that I can get 54 mpg on the same trips if I try very hard and traffic is just right. Or, I could drive more aggressively and get 27 mpg. The Mirage is VERSATILE!

l also installed a spring so when l push the pedal down it stays to where l can go at 3,000rpm...then if l need to speed up for whatever reason, l kick the pedal down which enables the spring to give me full throttle....all in all...awesome Also will be installing new grille...will post this weekend