April MPG Competition powered by Insanika

[Eric Smit]

Username: Eric Smit
Style: Hatch
Trim: LT
Engine: 1.4T
Transmission: MT
Tune: Trifecta
Octane: 91
E85: No
Miles: 682.4
Gallons: 11.224
Tank: 95/5 highway/city
Notes: Didn't go over 55, and only went over 1500 RPMs to go 55 on the freeway. This was on 42# injectors.

 

[Preloader]

60 mpg:blankface:

 

[Macehammer]

Eric, what's the geography in your area like? Very flat?

 

[Natesriv]

Nate- 435 is a fun run! I used to find myself on the west and south parts pretty frequently.

I'll be adding my next tank because I'm pretty proud of it.

Zod, there should be an Overachiever award for the RS who most defies that horrible 29/34 window sticker.

It is a nice ride. Up by the airport it's just farmland. Get in to OPKS and it gets a little busy!

I did roll down the rear windows to let a bug out...that seriously causes some reverb in the car!!

 

[Preloader]

So far my avg on my new commute has been 24, but I checked and realized all my tires were at 31 psi. I just bumped them up to 38. I'm curios to see if that has much effect.

 

[Eric Smit]

Eric, what's the geography in your area like? Very flat?

relatively. there are a lot of hilly areas but I avoided them, and my commute only has 3 hills, up to the freeway, on ramp, off ramp. on the way home, it's on ramp, off ramp, down away from the freeway.

 

[Macehammer]

relatively. there are a lot of hilly areas but I avoided them, and my commute only has 3 hills, up to the freeway, on ramp, off ramp. on the way home, it's on ramp, off ramp, down away from the freeway.

I was assuming as much.

In my experience, smaller capacity engines suffer much more noticeable mpg loss when you try to drive them uphill than their larger capacity brethren (of course they still do better overall).

I do a lot of uphill in my commute; I'm not expecting to push what you can in your area even if you did 60mph. Of course also discount my auto and my RS gearing.

I just wanted to bring it to others attention, if you are commuting uphill/downhill you aren't likely to get Eric's mpg numbers.

 

[chivalryder]

I was assuming as much.

In my experience, smaller capacity engines suffer much more noticeable mpg loss when you try to drive them uphill than their larger capacity brethren (of course they still do better overall).

I do a lot of uphill in my commute; I'm not expecting to push what you can in your area even if you did 60mph. Of course also discount my auto and my RS gearing.

I just wanted to bring it to others attention, if you are commuting uphill/downhill you aren't likely to get Eric's mpg numbers.

I knew this to be true, but how bad it really was came to light when I was renting a 2012 Cruze LT. I could be cruising down the road @ 90kmph, eating 6-7 L/100km when I came to a steep hill and saw the instantaneous mileage readout skyrocket to 39.9 L/100km (the highest it displayed).

Unless you're driving on an absolutely dead-flat road, the slower you go, the less gas you will eat. Once you reach a certain speed (80-90kmph), it doesn't matter how flat the road is, you're fighting against the air viscosity.

 

[ungawd]

OMG.. that one cell that is showing on Sword's row, the color is wrong and it's bugging the sh!t outta me. Otherwise, I am pleased with the outcome of this!

The problem is in the defined ranges. 10-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, >61

Numbers between 20 and 21, 30 and 31, 40 and 41, 50 and 51, 60 and 61 are undefined.
Use ranges like <20, 20-29.999, 30-39.999, 40-49.999, 50-59.999, >=60

Those should work well

 

[Insanika]

The problem is in the defined ranges. 10-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, >61

Numbers between 20 and 21, 30 and 31, 40 and 41, 50 and 51, 60 and 61 are undefined.
Use ranges like <20, 20-29.999, 30-39.999, 40-49.999, 50-59.999, >=60

Those should work well

Yep. I've got next months sheet in the works and that was the first thing I did. I'm wondering if I need to go in increments of 5 as well..

 

[ungawd]

Yep. I've got next months sheet in the works and that was the first thing I did. I'm wondering if I need to go in increments of 5 as well..

5 would probably be better. Anything below 25 may as well be lumped together as there should be very few. I figure there will be few above 45 as well and should be grouped also.

 

[Insanika]

It is a nice ride. Up by the airport it's just farmland. Get in to OPKS and it gets a little busy!

I did roll down the rear windows to let a bug out...that seriously causes some reverb in the car!!

I kinda like the busier parts, darting here and there, feels like a ballet. But then, I don't have to deal with that kind of traffic on a daily basis so maybe that's why I enjoy the challenge when I can.

Otherwise the not-so-busy parts are really nice cruising.

5 would probably be better. Anything below 25 may as well be lumped together as there should be very few. I figure there will be few above 45 as well and should be grouped also.

SO separate out the ranges that are tighter, but leave the upper and lower parameters open more. Good idea.

 

[chivalryder]

Well, I'm certainly not going to score high this month. With such nice weather and such slow drivers today, my pedal hit the floor more than once for extended periods of time.

However, I have to say, it was totally worth it. Got the ABS to kick in during turn-in and hard braking onto a round-about ramp.

It'll be safe to say I'll be out next month as well. Autoslalom begins in May!

 

[GeneralZod]

I have not yet begun to post up miles. I'm in Texas now, where the the nearest city is 60 miles away and the next city over is a four hour drive. I might go visit Smit before he leaves, that's still technically in Texas... or the equivalent of any four other states away.



He doesn't love Opec he loves Iowa... that's corn fed MPG there!




I don't see that, on my end, I am getting the same 30-33mpg from pure highway driving but with a very heavy load as I do on the same gas making about 50/50 mix city/highway. And I have gotten the same 22-23mpg on pure highway with E85 as with the same mix with that fuel.

I do think the key is one of speed, as I recall the best mpg I got was driving in the 55-65 range, and if some "mix" drivers are doing a lot of that while "highway" drivers are mostly doing 80, they're going to win even if they do end up wasting a bit doing 35 at the front and rear ends of the trips. We'd need a more detailed format to tease out that sort of data though.

When I say highway I am talking "urban" as in the Euro driving cycle. Extra Urban is city and urban is like rural roads or road with little traffic asnd under 65 mph.

I was going to further classify the categories, but figured to see if people were willing to participate. Next month it might happen, but I will need a lengthy introduction that is slightly amusing to avoid putting people to sleep.

Also, the "I love OPEC" award will go to the worst MPG. Preloader is winning 2 awards, and I was trying to avoid that.

 

[GeneralZod]

The problem is in the defined ranges. 10-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, >61

Numbers between 20 and 21, 30 and 31, 40 and 41, 50 and 51, 60 and 61 are undefined.
Use ranges like <20, 20-29.999, 30-39.999, 40-49.999, 50-59.999, >=60

Those should work well

THIS! Of course, gawd help you if you fat finger a number then it all goes to hell. Sometimes it does if you have rather large spreadsheets. Then you try to problem solve and just closing and opening the file will work.

 

[chivalryder]

I would like to propose "track" is added to the 'highway/city/mix' options for those who fill up before/after autoX and trackdays.

Otherwise, a day at the track will skew the results when they are getting 40mpg on a regular basis.

 

[ScooterMcTavish]

Username: ScooterMcTavish
Style: hatch
Trim: LT
Engine: 1.8
Transmission: AT
Tune: none
Octane: 87, winter fuel, 10% ethanol
E85: no
Miles: 243.0
Gallons: 8.45
Tank: 40city, 60 highway
Notes: Drive like granny, max 60MPH on highways, long coast downs in neutral, high city mix this drive, AM temps in the 0 to -5F range, PM temps in the 20-30F range.

 

[chivalryder]

Username: ScooterMcTavish
Notes: Drive like granny, max 60MPH on highways, long coast downs in neutral, high city mix this drive, AM temps in the 0 to -5F range, PM temps in the 20-30F range.

Keeping the car in gear will actually burn less gas than idling in neutral. If you're not giving it throttle (or cruise control isn't turned on) as long as the car is coasting and in gear, it will feed the engine a minimal amount of fuel, if any at all. Keeping it in neutral, the car will use gas to maintain idle.

 

[GeneralZod]

Keeping the car in gear will actually burn less gas than idling in neutral. If you're not giving it throttle (or cruise control isn't turned on) as long as the car is coasting and in gear, it will feed the engine a minimal amount of fuel, if any at all. Keeping it in neutral, the car will use gas to maintain idle.

This is not entirely true. Free wheeling or coasting in certain cases results in larger MPG results.

I posted a video on hypermiling that included when and where to coast a while back I might post it again. I did this three years ago in my former manual car and the gains were huge relative to my commute (5 to 7 MPG overall).

example: I was engine braking going downhill using almost zero fuel. However, I did not account for the fuel and loss of energy to go back up hill. When I coasted keeping my energy up, and went up hill I had a higher overall MPG. When I got it dialed in, I was using almost zero acceleration for MILES and was staying at or just above posted speeds. Since I leave very early other cars rarely caused me to slow down.

My LTZ Sonic does not coast as much as my last car. I did a neutral test and my tire, rims, and aero cause me to coast less. That is why the LT package is ripe for MPG. I just don't miss LRR tires. The hybrids works better in bad weather and do it with almost the same friction rate.

When the kooks crap out I will look at the Greenline again.

However, engine braking does have a place.

 

[Eric Smit]

no, you will get better mileage by staying in gear because of the fuel cutoff. when you decelerate in gear, at least in the manual, your injectors shut off and you get infinite MPG.