Howdy all

Well I made my first effort today on a 300 mile trip to better hwy mpg. EPA of 27 mpg on the Ranger hwy. It was down right a struggle. Running at 60 to 85 mph with A/C on doing this same run I get around 22 MPG. MPG has been bad on this rig since new.

Todays 300 mile trip netted 29 mpg with standard air pressure in tires. Temps 72f to 98f. I ran the speed limits,,, no speeding so that was 55 mph to 75 mph. there was abit of city road work in there ,, maybe 20 miles at 30 mph to 45 mph. In the hills of northeastern oklahoma and northwestern arkansas I coasted quite abit. Had afew go almost two miles and did do some passing. So I wasnt the slowist thing on the road. No A/C and that blew this afternnon. I did some drafting> J.B. Hunt semis are good for a soild 60 mph around here and are everywhere. Did some pulsa coast in flat areas and did light timing and such when I could. the Ranger dosent coast worth a flip at say above 55 mph. Drag caused by the large frontal profile is stupindess. Below 55 mph to say 35 mph coast is wonderful,, a real sweet spot. But only useful in town. The Ranger is kept in a good state of tune. Filter, fluids, plugs and never fails to start . With acouple psi on the tires and not doing over 70 mph and not under 55 mph Im sure the 30 mpg barrier could have been broken. But it sure is alot of work!!!!

None the less I did enjoy the effort even if it was basicly fruitless

psy

OOOO made the same run in the wifes new 05 Accord Sedan, I4, 5AT, 5k+ on it last week. No A/C in the am, on in the pm. commited felony speeding and foot to the floor ALOT and got 32 mpg.

 

A/C can really be killer, and the EPA doesn't turn on the A/C or anything during their test on the treadmill. They also don't go over ~60-65 MPH if I remember correctly, so that blows most people's "highway" driving. Any vehicle that's got a lot a drag will use a lot less energy at lower speeds, basically get into 5th gear and keep the engine revs low.

Good work! and welcome

 

Hi Psyshack:

___First off, nice improvement! Did I just read you went from the low 20’s to almost 30 mpg on your first attempt at hypermiling? If so, excellent job! Secondly, do I know you from over at DriveAccord.net?

___If I did not know any better, I would say you and I drive almost the exact same automobiles! An 03 Ranger XLT w/ the I4 and a stick is my landscaping and sometimes winter vehicle. My primary vehicle as of early this year is an 05 Accord EX-L w/ NAVI using the I4 w/ Auto. Each has their own hypermiling style and technique but I find highway driving is a bit easier to beat the EPA then city with just the basics. Once you pick up the more advanced hypermiling techniques, you will find city driving is far easier to beat the EPA then highway.

___For highway driving, you have the 4 + 1 types of drafts and a very limited ability to use a FAS. Do not worry about the terms and techniques right now but if you hang around long enough, you will get the feel for taking both the Ranger and the Accord to new heights you might have not thought possible a few weeks ago! Once you discover what we do and practice, these techniques can be transferred to everything you might drive today as well as what you may drive well into the future. I drive the Ranger with my tail gate down as it does decrease our Cd unlike what some of the studies you might read on the net say. If you have a Tonneau cover, that is the best overall solution that I know of at this point in time.

___Finally, I hope to see you begin adding tank over tank data into the Real Hybrid Mileage Database. It accepts non-hybrid data for us non-hybrid drivers too. In the bigger scheme of things, saving a gallon of fuel over each and every tank no matter the vehicle is good for you, your family, your neighborhood, our country, and even the planet!

___Good Luck and I hope you can keep improving over what you have shown us already …

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Hello Xcel

Yes drive Accords is the place of contact.

And the autos are basicly the same. Your Accord is EX-L over wifes EX.

As for yesterdays run in the Ranger I went out and checked the tires psi after I posted. all four tires where at 24 psi :O. I just checked them last week and they where at there standard 32 psi. Air must have shrunk. I filled them up to 38 psi as there almost worn out as is and see how it does now. As for the Accord and the one Im buying for myself. I doubt that there will be much hyperm in them. there just to much fun to drive. And my new one will get CAI, Header and Catback, and maybe cams.

Ive hyperm'ed in a 92 Ford Festive GL in the past. But when a car gets high 30's with a/c on and foot hard in the gas its hard to slow down and go for low 50's. Esp. when gas was under .90 cents a gallon .

Enjoyed reading of the record attemp in the toyo this past weekend. I enjoy alot of facets of auto's and hyperm'ing has always been a fun one to follow.

psy

 

Don't mean to hijack your thread but thought I'd just introduce myself in this one since my current vehical is a 2003 Ranger XLT 4cyl 2wd 5spd automatic.

Can't say I'm a "hypermiler" just yet but I've been driving slower than the average driver for several years now (not something most 22 year old males do). Part of the reason is because I'm relatively stingy, I hate paying for gas no matter how little or cheap it seems to be. Another big reason I drive slow is because I'm a motorcyclist, and after you've had the chance to ride a sporty motorcycle that accelerates so effortlessly and does so faster than 99.9999% of the cars out there...you realize it's just not worth it to try and drive "fast."

I test drove an Insight in 2002 and loved it. Before buying my Ranger I test drove a couple regular civics too. I would have loved to been able to buy an Insight but at the time I thought it was out of my price ranger and I really wanted to try and keep my auto loan as small as possible. I got the Ranger for just under $12.5k. When looking at the Civics I was looking at the EX and Si versions, I should have looked at the HX but didn't think about it. I thought I was going to be using the truck for work and hauling more things that I ended up doing, so in retrospect I wish I would have gotten a Civic HX for maybe a couple grand more.

I test drove a Ranger with a stick shift but didn't like the way the manual transmission felt in a truck (especially compared to those civics) so I went with an automatic. It's EPA rated at 23/26, in the winter I usually get 22mpg with A LOT of short trips and few highway miles. In the summer it improves to 24mpg under the same driving conditions. Out on the highway during the summer I can easily get the 26mpg the EPA lists just by doing the speed limit, I do have the tires pumped up a bit (35-38psi) and leave the tailgate down. I'd get a tonuer (sp?) cover but I'm a broke college student and the nice ones are expensive. I've made a few 60 mile (round trip) highway trips out to the airport doing 60mph or so and seen 28mpg. I don't think I could raise that number any higher without some new found knowledge, xcel I've read some of your posts over at insightcentral.net and knew you had a ranger but that it was a stick...but it seems like you get CRAZY numbers in anything you drive. You'd probably be able to get an Abrams tank to get a whole 5mpg lol.

I do drive it slow and avoid "jack rabbit" starts or accelerating to a red light, usually try and keep the rpms below 2k while accelerating in town but sometimes I gotta bring 'em up to 2.5k in the flow of traffic. It's nice that a lot of the main roads in my town have speed limits of 45mph, and it seems to kick into 5th gear right around 47mph. Maybe I could get 30mpg if I did an entire tank at 47mph with no stops lol. You gotta use the A/C here in Kansas (20mins south of KC) in the summer but I do try and cut it off whenever possible (but I refuse to show up sweaty and stinky to class just to save 1-2 mpg). Alright that was a long post.

 

Hello enp83

Im very suprised at the number you are getting with your Ranger and automatic at that. Most autos around here are getting 20 mpg even and its really hurt the Rangers bad. I could have bought a f-150 for a bit more and got 19 mpg on the hwy and had a real truck. I have a buddy thats getting 19 mpg on a f-150 4x4 driving speed limit or a tad under.

Being in Oklahoma I too have had to throw not running the a/c out the window so to speak so my FE will go to crap. Its just to hot and humid to go without. I work hard and sometimes outside and in the dreded boiler rooms in this part of the world. At 44 I have to cool down.

Within the next few months I will be purchasing a new daily driver and the Ranger will get parked under the nearist shade tree. And used only when a truck is needed or driven to excersise it.

I over heated the other day to the point I was thinking of buying a hybrid. I cooled down and got my faclties back. I dont like the current way hybrids are being done. I think toyota is on the right track and can do alot better. Honda IMO has done a Half **** thing. And Im really disapointed with GM. Gm should own this hybrid thing out right and all chasing the American giant. They have been in the hybrid game with there locomotives for what 40 years maybe. Almost all large locomotives in the usa and canada are hybrids. But in typical GM fashion they will do consumer stuff half arsed. and then theres ford that cant seem to do there own thing at all. They have all but ruined mazda. I dont expect anything earth shattering from them at all. So for now I will be looking at hondas other offering in civic and accord as my new daily driver with a mt tranny. i will still coast and work on light and traffic timings.

I have many 1 to 2 mile coasting I can in a weeks time aas i drive around this part of the world and they can even be done with safty with ing. off. But when you turn the engine off the the odometer and speed-o stop working. :/. So that ruined that.

psy

 

My brother has an '03 F-150 V6, auto, 2WD, flairside bed, I think its rated at 16/20. He doesn't really keep track of his mpg but I think he gets 16, he drives like the average joe though. His idea of saving gas is keeping it under 3,000 rpms. <wheres the rolling eyes smiley> I've driven his truck briefly a few times and you could easily keep up with traffic and not go over 2,000 rpms, usually I'd let it touch 1,500 rpms and then it would shift.

My mom went out to California for a week this past week, she was going to rent a Taurus for $250 for the week. I told her there were a couple hybrid rental places online so I did some searching and found a couple of 'em. Reserved a Prius through fox rentals for her, but when she landed at Orange County/John Wayne airport she couldn't get a hold of ANYBODY at fox rentals. They're a small company so I guess they don't have a counter there, she used a courtesy phone of theirs but it didn't work, tried calling both their local and 1-877 number with her cell phone and only got their recordings. She finally said screw it and had to rent a regular car.

I agree GM should be out in the lead with Hybrids. I don't know much about GM's and Ford's Unions or how Toyota/Honda Unions work but I do know Ford/GM are a bit handicapped with their Unions and healthcare costs. It's probably both the Unions and Ford/GM's fault. How much do the two of them spend per vehical on healthcare for their workers? I know the figures pretty high, especially compared to what Toyota/Honda spend.

One thing I don't like about Ford/GM is that both of them could build a "honda civic" that got 40mpg on the highway. The Saturns in the late 90s (my sister had a SC1 that could do it) were close. I don't have the numbers off hand but I think a manual Focus or Cobalt "only" gets like 34mpg on the highway? That's the same as a heavier and larger Accord 4 cyl with an automatic.

Ford/GM need to look at Honda and Toyota's "halo cars". Ford makes their GT "the pace car for an entire company" and then GM, I dunno is an Escalade XXXL their halo "car"?? Maybe the Lexus SC430 is Toyota's halo car but I'd kinda say it's the Prius...seems to be the one model that gets the most attention. Then with Honda, they seem to be keeping the Insight around long enough to retain the MPG title even though they lose money on every car they sell and sell less than 10 a month I think I read??