How to improve fuel economy in my Camry?

[Synomenon]

Originally posted by: hans030390

Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
The one hypermiling technique that's saved me the most gas is coasting. I'd try that first. No sense in accelerating towards a red light or stop sign when you're going to have to stop anyway.

Next to having a "light" foot while driving, coasting is the best way to save gas. This is especially true with manuals, as you can just put them into neutral when needed.

To extend coasting further, there's the "pulse and glide" method of driving. That also helped.

My '95 Civic can do well over 35mpg in the city like this. Maybe even more now that I've used some fuel cleaners (which did boost my MPG).

:thumbsup:
Pulse and Glide is how I drive most of the time.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: johnnq1
I'm always trying to save a penny here and there. When doing daily driving I try to keep the lightest touch on the throttle until I reach around third gear (automatic). Then I give a little more throttle to keep up with traffic...but is there a better way to save gas?

Is opening the throttle at a lower rpm to accelerate from a stop better than opening it more in lets say third gear at a higher rpm?

Ooohhhhhhhh... so YOU'RE that douche I get stuck behind on a single lane road that takes a full mile to accelerate from a 0-45. :disgust:

 

[fleabag]

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity

Originally posted by: hans030390

Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
The one hypermiling technique that's saved me the most gas is coasting. I'd try that first. No sense in accelerating towards a red light or stop sign when you're going to have to stop anyway.

Next to having a "light" foot while driving, coasting is the best way to save gas. This is especially true with manuals, as you can just put them into neutral when needed.

To extend coasting further, there's the "pulse and glide" method of driving. That also helped.

My '95 Civic can do well over 35mpg in the city like this. Maybe even more now that I've used some fuel cleaners (which did boost my MPG).

And to clarify you don't take the car out of gear, you coast allowing fuel cut which most modern cars can do. If you go to neatral the engine will idle and use fuel. When I decide to go pure ev (as pure as my car can go) the ice goes into fuel cut. On a recent test it did almost 6 miles and resulted in less than .1 lires / 100km, the mpg meter was pegged at 150 mpg. The l/100km number translated to something like 4200mpg or essentially no fuel used other than the initial start.

Um, it has actually been tested that coasting in neutral saves more fuel than coasting in gear despite the fact that coasting in gear can mean DFCO. The only real benefit to DFCO is when you're going down a hill and don't want to use your brakes. However I don't coast in neutral because I drive an automatic and the switching between neutral and drive can put unknown amounts of wear on the transmission so the technique works best and is safest (for the tranny) on a manual transmission. There is arguing over whether or not going from neutral to drive and back and forth puts a lot more wear on the transmission and there is at this time no definitive answer because there hasn't been enough testing. With that aside, there has been definitive proof that coasting for long periods of time in neutral will save more gas EVEN with the engine running than coasting in gear. In fact, sometimes when you're coasting in gear, some transmissions will go into neutral without you even knowing it, so you'll definitely not be doing DFCO but will get the benefit of coasting! I've generally found that with those transmissions that seemingly coast in neutral despite being in drive are only able to do this if the torque converter is NOT locked up, once it locks up, it WILL engage the DFCO assuming it's above the threshold for enabling DFCO.

To summarize, if you can maintain or exceed desired coasting speed while doing DFCO, great, do it, otherwise coasting while in neutral or in a neutral like state which the transmission ITSELF has initiated is going to be the way to get better fuel economy. (Engine cut off, coasting in neutral will yield even better gains, but that's more hard core and impractical)

 

[jhu]

Originally posted by: fleabag

Um, it has actually been tested that coasting in neutral saves more fuel than coasting in gear despite the fact that coasting in gear can mean DFCO. The only real benefit to DFCO is when you're going down a hill and don't want to use your brakes. However I don't coast in neutral because I drive an automatic and the switching between neutral and drive can put unknown amounts of wear on the transmission so the technique works best and is safest (for the tranny) on a manual transmission. There is arguing over whether or not going from neutral to drive and back and forth puts a lot more wear on the transmission and there is at this time no definitive answer because there hasn't been enough testing. With that aside, there has been definitive proof that coasting for long periods of time in neutral will save more gas EVEN with the engine running than coasting in gear. In fact, sometimes when you're coasting in gear, some transmissions will go into neutral without you even knowing it, so you'll definitely not be doing DFCO but will get the benefit of coasting! I've generally found that with those transmissions that seemingly coast in neutral despite being in drive are only able to do this if the torque converter is NOT locked up, once it locks up, it WILL engage the DFCO assuming it's above the threshold for enabling DFCO.

To summarize, if you can maintain or exceed desired coasting speed while doing DFCO, great, do it, otherwise coasting while in neutral or in a neutral like state which the transmission ITSELF has initiated is going to be the way to get better fuel economy. (Engine cut off, coasting in neutral will yield even better gains, but that's more hard core and impractical)

QFT. Here's what I'm getting on my Jetta (MkV, 2.5 L gas engine) with that principle in mind. Also, pulse and glide if you have a manual. I'm still amazed that it works so well.

 

[SickBeast]

1. Inflate your tires more (I put mine at 38psi, I have had them as high as 44psi and it makes a big difference but can be bad for your tires and your traction).

2. Hypermiling. Never use your brakes unless you absolutely have to. Accelerate slowly. Use your cruise. Watch the traffic lights ahead of you carefully and take your foot off the gas for stale green lights, yellow lights, and red lights.

3. Change your air filter. It's $20 at Wal Mart and will take 2 minutes to install yourself.

4. Maintain your car (oil changes especially).

5. Use good gas with good additives.

6. Clean your fuel injectors periodically with a good tactrol additive.

 

[SickBeast]

Oh yeah, use your cruise control and minimize your RPMs. Put the car in neutral at red lights or even turn it off at long ones. You can also read up on pulse and glide driving.