OK, I'm thoroughly confused about all this P&G. I'm a new HCH2006 owner on my second tank of gas. I thought I understood the technique somewhat, although I don't think I'm executing it too well.

But, what is FAS? I understand what it stands for from the Glossary, but I don't understand how it is acheived. Are all of you people turning the key off while driving or shifting into Neutral? That sounds too scary for me.

 

Yes, some people are turning the key off temporarily to shut of the engine. Yes, it can be dangerous. It is usually done when there is no trafic around. It can be just as dangerous as speeding. It is a tool to be used only under certain condidtions by people that know what they are doing.

 

Not everybody used FAS in a P&G technique. They use it because it takes away the drivetrain loss in the glide, so the only thing slowing the car down is the resistance ... of the tires on the ground and drag (wind resistance). You can achieve a much better glide for a much longer period of time, some use it for coasting down hills, before every stop sign/red light. This is how they achieve the insane numbers for lifetime mpg. Not everyone is as capable, and safety should always be your top priority. I have personally never completed a rolling FAS, too nervous about the CVT just yet, if I had a manual, I would every time, I have done it in other cars 10 years ago. You have increased steering resistance if you had hydraulic power steering, you brakes vacuum pressure can fade away, etc. Like Tom said, if you wanna try it, practive on empty roads (no traffic or obstacles).

With time you will execute it well, I am still a newbie and found I was off too. I am going to work on my general efficiency some more before I dive back into my P&G techiniques.

Good luck, and enjoy your new car!!!

 

All,
Am a 2006 HCH newbie and have appreciated this thread, but has caused some confusion. Would like some tips from some of the long ball hitters (50 mpg+) in similar driving conditions as me - SOCAL driver in heavy traffic and fairly hilly environment.

Questions
1) Is the MPG calculator accurate? Started off at ~42 mpg and now up near ~45mpg. Still on 1st tank of gas so have not had the luxury of testing simple miles driven / gas replaced to validate mpg calculator.

2) Any 50mpg+ pros out there with similar driving conditions (see above) that could provide mentoring? I think I am starting to get the hang of P&G, based on 3mpg increase. Have seen various theories some that disagreed in this thread. Nothing drastic - No FAS, just boring accelerator (P&G) techniques.

Thanks for the assistance.

 

The MPG calculator isn't absolutely accurate, but it seems pretty close. Mine resets itself every 63 miles, so it doesn't give meaningful cummulative stats. Several others have found the same problem.

I'm not a hypermiling pro, but tonight I got about 52 MPG on the freeway. I hope that's good enough to qualify.

I don't jump through hoops to improve FE. I use cruise control as much as possible so that I can get decent mileage without concentrating on the gauges all the time like I was playing an intense video game. I keep a good distance from the vehicle in front, to avoid braking too hard. Whenever you have to brake so hard that you're using the friction brakes rather than regenerative braking you lose FE big time. I accelerate gently, avoiding any more than three bars of assist as much as possible. If traffic ahead of me is slowing down, I let my foot off the gas pedal until the engine goes into valves-shut mode (FE is pegged at 100) and then I press down gently on the pedal to get regen to disappear without re-engaging the engine. You can glide a long way that way with very little loss of speed.

Hills are tough for good FE. If you're willing to bleed off some speed on the uphill and let gravity accelerate you on the downhill, you'll do alright.

 

As far as hills, I started out using cruise control on my commute and thought it did terrible - it's so intent on keeping the set speed that it seems to panic and will 'floor it' when your speed starts to drop, and will keep accelerating right over the top of the hill. You'll know what I mean when you see the tach suddenly go up to 3000 or higher (you'll hear it, too). It just 'feels' like this is not a good place to be, FE-wise.

So, I've used that experience to guide me on the hills. Firstly, you have to have a minimum speed in mind, say 3 mph below your cruising speed. When I start going up, I press the accelerator to get 3-4 bars of assist, hold it there, and just see how far that gets me before my speed drops to the minimum. Once I'm at minimum, I'll press a little more to try to hold it. Usually the engine is spinning around 2500 rpm at this point. But if I have to press so hard that it goes into 'gas-sucking' mode (like cruise control does), I back off right there to keep the rpm's at 2500 and let my speed drop below my own minumum set point (actually, I might keep pressing harder if there's someone right behind me). I also make a mental note to speed up a little next time before I hit that hill. And as I come over the hill, I anticipate and let up on the gas to 'float' over the top (unlike what cruise control does).

So far, this seems to be working for me - my last tank (which was only my second) included snow, rain, and an average temp of 30 degrees F (with (2) sub-zero mornings), and I still managed 48.5 mpg. And that's with snow tires all around (at 42 psi, of course!). I guess that doesn't meet your 50 mpg prerequisite, but I think it's pretty good given those conditions.

Sorry if you weren't planning on working this hard on your FE - you'll probably do fine just by following ElanC's tips above.

 

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Wow! That's pretty good for an average speed of 95 mph (179.7 miles in 1.9 hours).

I know I'm probably reading that wrong but I couldn't resist.

 

Yeah, the E-T doesn't get updated when the ignition is off or some such thing but the miles do accumulate. Or is it the other way around.

 

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