Just want to share my trip with you all
I went down south to the beach over the weekend for my first long trip with my new 2010 Tahoe.
Most of the trip is highway. I averaged 11.2l/100Km(21.3mpg) on the way down had cruise controle set at 70mpg most of the time
on my way back, didn't use cruise much my average dropped down to 10.2l/100km(23MPG) speed varied between (60-70 MPG)

we were 3 adults and 2 babies with their car seat, and trunk fully loaded. rear seat folded up.(not removed)
oustside temperature 30-35C AC set to Auto 23.5C all the way.

I am very pleased with my tahoe and the highway fuel economy. I hope I start getting better fuel mileage in the city soon though.

I noticed using cruise control does use more fuel, since it tries to mentain the set speed and most of the time I was runing on V8. when using the pedal, one has more control to have it run on V4 more often. of course it will be compenstated by the avg speed, but will get better mileage for sure.


looking forward for your feedback on the above.

 

23mpg for a hybrid? are you serious?

 

I hope you are not comparing an 8 seater4x4 suv with 6.0 v8 liter engine with 7000lb towing capacity to a prius? Lol

 

23MPG is unmodified, modified the Tahoe Hybrid can get 28MPG or better!!!!! Plus carry the weight of 2 Prius on a good day with a 12 knot head wind according to Boeing winds LOL

 

Guss,

You are correct, you can do better without cruise. The Honda Insight cruise control electronically emulates what the old vacuum-driven cruise systems did by themselves; allows the speed to bleed off of setpoint about 3 mph during slight climbs, so it can avoid tipping into the throttle.

What I do now on urban thoroughfares (80km/hr speed limits) is hold the pedal steady up mild hills so I stay in V4, and accept that speed will drop a little until I crest over the hill. The hybrid trans helps here as well by adding torque to maintain V4.

 

KC,
yes, this is exactly what I was doing on the way back, instead of using the cruise. I would stay as long as I can in V4, although the speed is dropping a bit.

I noticed somethign today, when driving in the city, outside temp 26c and trans temp and veihicle high enough to stay in Auto stop. I am driving around 10 mph and hardly pressing the gas pedal, and I am still in V8 mode, and it wont go to autostop mode. then I hit the gas pedal hard and release very quick, it goes to auto stop right away. is this normal. it happend to me several times.
What is causing this, and why it wont go to autostop mode right away ?

 

Guss,

One of the things that affects autostop is battery charge level. If you were at low speeds and the temps were all good, but were still in engine-on/V8 mode then the battery pack was probably below its minimum state of charge. So the engine was adding current. Same thing happens when you are just sitting in autostop for a while with accessories on, and the engine comes on every so often for a minute or so, then shuts back off. When you tipped in hard momentarily, it was probably just enough extra current to get the battery pack over its autostop-enable charge level.

 

Thanks kc
that explains it.

 

KC135R so when the battery charge is low the Auto-Stop function is not available until the battery hits a certain charge level is this based on voltage or amperage? I know this maybe complicated to complete however when the battery reaches this level, low charge state and the vehicle is being used for short drives or not at all for several weeks, could there be a plug in option to bring the battery state to at least a normal, Auto-Stop level? I am not looking at increased EV Mode as I know this is dependent on battery size, however to keep some for of normal state for Auto-Stop mode would be nice. I believe all on this forum would really like to see this form of option/modification by the manufacture for the first generation vehicles and customers. Any thoughts?

 

It seems when I am running the AC, I can't stay in AUTOSTOP mode for long time, and the slightes push on the gas pedal, the engine goes on
in winter the cold weather doesn't help, and in teh summer, running teh AC on doesn;t help either am I ever going to get better mileage in city driving in hot weather(33C+) and AC running??