Let ‘er roll!

OK, so it began as a bit of a lark: gasoline was hovering near $4.00/gal. and living in rural upstate New York–well, I drive a lot. I wondered: “Can I improve my gas mileage a bit?”. I’ve been driving a “vintage” 2001 Hyundai Accent GL, 3-door hatchback for two years. It’s a small 1.6l manual 5-speed, with NO FRILLS–I still have crank windows and no A/C.

During my past two years driving the car, I’ve come to appreciate its fundamentalism but I could never seem to do much better than 39 mpg. However, I had an incentive to try a bit harder to milk every mile out of the vehicle. As the EPA sticker comparison indicates, I was hitting the top end of what drivers had experienced with the car. In fact, as I began this “experiement”, I’d just driven for 320 miles at an average of 40mpg.

Well, here’s what happened when I started driving with a different frame of mind:

STEP 1: Use the terrain and the car’s manual gearing

• I began shifting into higher gears much sooner than the manufacturer’s recommendations.
• All of my startups were deliberate, slow and smooth.
• I always stayed at or slightly under the legal speed limits.
• If the terrain provided a safe coasting area, I shifted into neutral.

STEP ONE RESULTS: 42.5 miles per gallon

Well, that was encouraging! After comparing notes with my son-in-law, who drives a 55mpg + Honda Insight, with low rolling resistance tires, I stepped up the “modifications”:

STEP 2: Increase tire pressure and reduce idling

• I increased my tire pressure all around from 32psi to 40psi.
• When sitting at stop lights or other hold-ups, I turned off the engine if I determined that I would be at the light for 60 seconds or more.
• During the addition of these measures, I continued all STEP 1 changes

STEP TWO RESULTS: 44.7 miles per gallon

Seems almost too good to be true?? It’s not. However, consider these factors:

1. I drive alone.
2. I don’t carrying any heavy items.
3. I drive the same rolling hills in a rural area all the time.
4. I have not driven on a highway with speed limits higher than 55 since I began these changes several weeks ago.
5. The weather is normal for this time of the year; it’s warm and the car does not need to idle high at startup.

The question now is simple: “How long can I sustain this and can I improve the mileage even more?” I’ve increase my mileage nearly 6 miles per gallon over the best averages I normally get during the spring/summer/fall months.  I haven’t done anything too radical, except to add a bit of air to my tires, slow down and using the car’s gearing and earth’s gravity to improve the economy of running the car.

I’m hearing a lot about HYDROGEN BOOST:  do I want to be the next Hinddenberg?