Can I be a "hyer-miler" in my 4 cyl Honda Accord?

[Imdanny]

If so, how?

Do I have to piss a lot of people off?

I want details please!

I get 24 mpg without doing anything special. I've always thought 26 would be better. Or maybe 28?

It's just a regular old 4 cyl Honda Accord, 99, automatic.

 

[Amethyste]

Oh yes you can be a hyper-miler!!!! I think an automatic consumes more than a manual overall but you certainly can improve your mileage regardless...

I am one on a 4 cyl. MINI Cooper. But mine is a Manual
Start with everytime you are coasting on a constant ( or close to ) certain MPH, set your cruise on.
I coast in downhills, I don't really step on it when I engage from full stops. And I wave back at people will all of my fingers

I do 44 MPG with my Coopah. I love it................

 

[labellavita81]

What is a "hyer-miler"?

 

[Amethyste]

A hyper-miler is someone who is using ways that is available to him/her to get the best MPH for their auto.

 

[Dancing Fire]

What is a "hyer-miler"?

Kenny!!

 

[radiantquest]

I thought about being a hyper-miler when I bought my Civic. I did a ton of reasearch and really it seems to be more work than it is worth. It is all about coasting and they say that even when you are breaking you are using gas. It is more efficient on gas, but not so much on time and aggravation. To get the most out of hyper-miling it seems that you need to be on a road by yourself.

Try searching hyper miling in google. That is where I got all my information. There is even a story about this hyper miler who seems to be the guru of it and he got something like 80 some mpg on a cross country trip.

 

[kenny]

Yes.
Wayne Gerdes got 59 MPG out of a regular (non-hybrid) Accord.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2007/01/guy-can-get-59-mpg-plain-old-accord-beat-punk

I'm a hypermiler.
Google up hypermiling tips but I'll post one huge thing you'll probably not find next.

 

[kelpie]

YES!

My top ten tips on how to hypermile are ranked in order on their convenience to actually apply to your daily driving. I went from getting 28 to up to 41.5mpg in my VW Golf through strict adherence to the principles below:

1. Ensure your tires are inflated to the max PSI on the tire wall (NOT your car’s manual they want you to experience a cushy ride). Some recommend going 5 PSI over.
2. Buy premium, it burns cleaner and I get such better MPG it actually saves me about $2 per tank.
3. Dump the extra weight you haul around in your trunk.
4. Stop racing up to red stoplights. I’ll never understand why DC drivers will pass others in their rush to get ahead when a red light awaits them. Anyway, just coast up to them in neutral; ideally you’ll time it so they’re already green by the time you get there. Having to brake ruins your fuel economy, so create situations where you won’t have to.
5. Go the speed limit. Crazy huh? but this has really increased my MPG, plus if I get anymore tickets I’ll lose my license.
6. Quit the AC. Mine is broken anyway. Apparently the drag that open windows create is negligible at speeds below 70mph.
7. Draft trucks. This just means finding a tractor trailer and following it at a safe distance. I haven’t noticed a big savings in fuel economy but others swear by it.
8. Turn off your car at red stoplights. I only do this at the really long ones now because I am worried I’ll wear out my starter, but the improvage in fuel economy is insane!
9. Use the hills. Any significant hill you should put it in neutral and take advantage of the momentum. I take this to the extreme and actually turn of my car if A) I am in a safe area where having reduced steering and braking power won’t endanger me, and b) I know I’ll have my car off for more than 10 seconds to make it worth it. I have a stick, so I just pop the clutch when I need to start again. If you have an auto you can turn the key to start in neutral. This technique rocks and is the one I used for at least 5 continuous miles the other day.
10. Mod your ride, this could be as simple as taking off your roof racks or truck tailgate. Others block off their grills to make their cars run hotter. There is seemingly no limit to the things some people will do in order to make their cars more aerodynamic.

 

[kenny]

I'm on my third hybrid car.
I've been honing my hypermiling skills for 6 years.
My best entire tank of gas ever was 70 MPG from a hybrid car that EPA rated at 40 MPG.

Besides a zillion other skills you can Google up the main one is avoiding your brakes.

When you apply the brakes the hybrid system converts kinetic energy (moving mass) to electrical energy, stores it in the batteries, then converts is back into kinetic energy when the light turns green and you start to move.
The system is not perfect.
Nothing is.
At best it can recover only 30% of the energy.
That means 70% was wasted.
Sure, wasting 70% is better than wasting 100%, which is what happens every time you use your brakes in a regular car by heating up the brake pads.

Instead of wasting 70% I'd rather waste 0%.
The key is not using the brakes - and you do not need a hybrid car to do this, as Mr. Gerdes has proven.
So by avoiding brake use I'm actually trying to not use the 'hybridness" of my hybrid. Ironic, no?

Avoiding brake use means leaving a ton of room in front of you.
It means looking 3 blocks ahead and backing off on the gas pedal to it's green when you get there.

Pretend your brakes have failed.

Never get up to a speed you could not coast down from without hitting something.
Every time I have to use my brakes it is a little failure.
It means 15 seconds ago I wasted gas getting up to (or maintaining) a speed that was not needed.

Next is discovering the coasting rate of your car.
You want to copy this instead of just lifting your foot from the gas when you want to gradually slow down.
The reason is some cars actually use more gas and the torque of the engine to help you slow down faster when you lift your foot from the accelerator.
That's dumb, when our sons and daughters are dying in oil wars.

When you discover your car's natural coasting rate you can try to copy it by carefully controlling your foot's pressure on the gas pedal.
To help discover this natural coasting rate get up to speed and put the transmission into neutral.
Get familiar with this rate and try to copy it.
Why use gas to slow down?

That's in in a nutshell.

 

[Dancing Fire]

YES!

My top ten tips on how to hypermile are ranked in order on their convenience to actually apply to your daily driving. I went from getting 28 to up to 41.5mpg in my VW Golf through strict adherence to the principles below:

1. Ensure your tires are inflated to the max PSI on the tire wall (NOT your car’s manual they want you to experience a cushy ride). Some recommend going 5 PSI over.
2. Buy premium, it burns cleaner and I get such better MPG it actually saves me about $2 per tank.
3. Dump the extra weight you haul around in your trunk.
4. Stop racing up to red stoplights. I’ll never understand why DC drivers will pass others in their rush to get ahead when a red light awaits them. Anyway, just coast up to them in neutral; ideally you’ll time it so they’re already green by the time you get there. Having to brake ruins your fuel economy, so create situations where you won’t have to.
5. Go the speed limit. Crazy huh? but this has really increased my MPG, plus if I get anymore tickets I’ll lose my license.
6. Quit the AC. Mine is broken anyway. Apparently the drag that open windows create is negligible at speeds below 70mph.
7. Draft trucks. This just means finding a tractor trailer and following it at a safe distance. I haven’t noticed a big savings in fuel economy but others swear by it.
8. Turn off your car at red stoplights. I only do this at the really long ones now because I am worried I’ll wear out my starter, but the improvage in fuel economy is insane!
9. Use the hills. Any significant hill you should put it in neutral and take advantage of the momentum. I take this to the extreme and actually turn of my car if A) I am in a safe area where having reduced steering and braking power won’t endanger me, and b) I know I’ll have my car off for more than 10 seconds to make it worth it. I have a stick, so I just pop the clutch when I need to start again. If you have an auto you can turn the key to start in neutral. This technique rocks and is the one I used for at least 5 continuous miles the other day.
10. Mod your ride, this could be as simple as taking off your roof racks or truck tailgate. Others block off their grills to make their cars run hotter. There is seemingly no limit to the things some people will do in order to make their cars more aerodynamic.

i'd rather ride my bike instead of following these tips. one of these days you'll cause a big accident on the freeway.

 

[Imdanny]

Thanks, everyone!

I have to read this and absorb it and try it!

I'll start keeping track and see what I can do.

 

[kenny]

Thanks, everyone!

I have to read this and absorb it and try it!

I'll start keeping track and see what I can do.

I think there are a lot of "hyer-milers" in California now that they sell medical marijuana and I hear all you have to to is fake back pain to get a prescription from zillions of "doctors".

 

[stone-cold11]

Is your mileage for city travel? Accord should do better than that.

Drafting big trucks works for me on long distance if you are going over 55mph. Stay within 7 truck width. My 98 Sentra Auto can go from 35 mpg to 42 mpg on highway at a speed of 65-70mph, if I can find a truck that travels at that speed, most travel faster than I like.

Do not turn off the car on downslope for automatic tansmission cars, most cannot start again unless in park and most modern cars uses power steering and braking so your car handling will degrade if you do that. Most modern automatic transmission cars should be able to disengage gear-drive when you are coasting, which is why these cars cannot use engine braking.

 

[Imdanny]

Is your mileage for city travel? Accord should do better than that.

Drafting big trucks works for me on long distance if you are going over 55mph. Stay within 7 truck width. My 98 Sentra Auto can go from 35 mpg to 42 mpg on highway at a speed of 65-70mph, if I can find a truck that travels at that speed, most travel faster than I like.

Do not turn off the car on downslope for automatic tansmission cars, most cannot start again unless in park and most modern cars uses power steering and braking so your car handling will degrade if you do that. Most modern automatic transmission cars should be able to disengage gear-drive when you are coasting, which is why these cars cannot use engine braking.

Mountains.

 

[Imdanny]

Thanks, everyone!

I have to read this and absorb it and try it!

I'll start keeping track and see what I can do.

I think there are a lot of "hyer-milers" in California now that they sell medical marijuana and I hear all you have to to is fake back pain to get a prescription from zillions of "doctors".

I'm on a natural hy (apparently).