New Personal Best MPG

[Eli]

Call me a glutton for punishment, but I'm going to go ahead and post this here. Why, I don't know but hopefully someone will appreciate it.

We took the 444,000 mile Insight out on a road trip this weekend. I was excited to see what she could do now that we've gotten her all fixed up.

This is the route and elevation profile of the route we took:

http://www.geocontext.org/publ/2010/04/profiler/en/?topo_ha=20117471117228

Santa Fe, NM to Grand Junction, CO:

Total Distance: 392.2mi (631.22km)
Moving Time: 8:04:38
Average Moving Speed: 48.6MPH (78.15km/h)
Max Speed: 69.9MPH (112.42 km/h)
Min Elevation: 4,572ft(1393m)
Max Elevation: 10,141ft (3091m)
Elevation Gain: 11,228ft (3422m)
Max Grade: 7%
Min Grade: -7%

We traveled 402.7 miles total and used 4.358 gallons of fuel, for an actual fuel economy of 92.4MPG. That's actual fuel economy - filled from filler tube to filler tube, and a new personal best one way record.

I don't want to hear a single gripe about my average speed unless you are actually aware of your average speed. I report it because it's only fair to report statistics of a trip, otherwise the MPG number is meaningless and I invite others to post MPG stats with average speed - especially the TDI guys. Most people don't have a clue what their average speed is. Here's a hint: It is exceedingly difficult to get your average speed up to anything that resembles the speed limit of the fastest roads you're on. Small towns, construction zones, twisty winding mountain highways, stupid people and small animals all conspire to lower your average speed to something that seems unreasonable. The speed limit on the fastest highway was 65mph, with plenty of 55 and 45mph stretches along the route. That said, I tried to keep it around 55MPH in both the 45 and 65 zones.

Grand Junction, CO to Santa Fe, NM:

Total Distance: 394.0mi (634.03km)
Moving Time: 7:52:44
Average Moving Speed: 50.0MPH (80.47km/h)
Max Speed: 78.3MPH (125.94km/h)
Min Elevation: 4571ft (1393m)
Max Elevation: 10180ft (3103m)
Elevation Gain: 13679ft (4169m)
Max Grade: 7%
Min Grade: -7%

Traveled 397.3 miles on 4.944 gallons, for an actual fuel economy of 80.4MPG. This leg of the trip I decided to focus on the best compromise between fuel economy and speed. As you can see, it didn't make much of a difference in the trip statistics. The lower MPG is due to both this technique, weather conditions and the fact that the return trip has a higher total elevation gain.

So in total, we traveled 800 miles and used 9.302 gallons of fuel, for an average actual fuel economy of 86.0MPG round trip, handily beating my previous record of 84.5MPG over 807 miles. Not bad for almost half a million miles.

 

[jlee]

Wow.

 

[EightySix Four]

Very nice. I think I'm averaging 17 flat in the 335

 

[skyking]

Right on!
A couple of aeromods and you could hit triple digits

 

[punjabiplaya]

gogogo auto xprize

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Very nice. I think I'm averaging 17 flat in the 335

Mines 25.5, hmm seems like im not driving it hard enough. lol

 

[EightySix Four]

Mines 25.5, hmm seems like im not driving it hard enough. lol

I can't get my damn foot out of the boost. I should have never bought the JB4...

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Daaaaamn. I've always been jelly of your Insights, even more so now for the fact that you've been able to get the most fuel economy from the one you paid for the least.

Two questions: have you had to replace the hybrid battery on any of the cars? Are there other very economic cars built around the same time that cost little to buy?

 

[NutBucket]

That's impressive to say the least!

 

[PhoKingGuy]

I can't get my damn foot out of the boost. I should have never bought the JB4...

Coming from a slow ass Jetta TDI its pretty quick enough as it is for me. I can already get in a lot of trouble with it.

 

[Eli]

The battery in Insight #1 was replaced under warranty in January 2010.

The battery in Insight #2 was replaced by the previous owner out of pocket in 2008.

The battery in Insight #3 is original and needs to be rebuilt or replaced. Fortunately, I have three spares currently.. so I'm equipped to handle that.

The Insight is still the most fuel efficient production vehicle ever. Nothing compares. The only thing built around the same time is the first generation Prius. They can be had fairly cheap, but repairs are very expensive. Repairs on the Insight are easy and cheap in comparison.

They're amazing automobiles, but certainly not for everyone.

 

[EightySix Four]

Coming from a slow ass Jetta TDI its pretty quick enough as it is for me. I can already get in a lot of trouble with it.

You'll get the urge eventually... they all do :evil laugh:

 

[Eli]

Coming from a slow ass Jetta TDI its pretty quick enough as it is for me. I can already get in a lot of trouble with it.

Do you ever track your average speed on a trip? I'd be curious to see how it compares.

If you could average 50MPG at 70MPH average speed, that would be nothing to scoff at - I wouldn't be able to do that I don't think. Read: A 70mph average speed would mean spending time at 80MPH or above.

Though the trip I just took wouldn't have allowed for that, even if you were 10MPH over at every opportunity...

 

[LTC8K6]

I was coming back from Fayetteville NC on highway 87 Sunday. I stopped at a light and guess what was across from me?

An insight of the earlier variety. It was a stunning blue color, which caught my eye. It looked like it just came off the boat.

Eli's threads immediately popped into my mind...

 

[EightySix Four]

Do you ever track your average speed on a trip? I'd be curious to see how it compares.

If you could average 50MPG at 70MPH average speed, that would be nothing to scoff at - I wouldn't be able to do that I don't think. Read: A 70mph average speed would mean spending time at 80MPH or above.

Though the trip I just took wouldn't have allowed for that, even if you were 10MPH over at every opportunity...

My car tracks it's average, right now the speed is 42mph and I'm getting 17mpg. The more I think about this the more concerned I am considering how much is city driving... I think I may need to take the boost down a level or work on the self control a bit... nah, boost needs to come down.

 

[Howard]

How's the MIMA working out for you?

 

[Eli]

How's the MIMA working out for you?

This trip was taken with Insight #2, the 444k mile car - the one my fiancee drives. It's completely stock.

MIMA is amazing though, it's great. I really wish I would have had it on this trip. The car as stock sometimes does some really annoying things that ultimately lower your fuel economy - like try and charge the battery while still pulling up a grade.

I'm averaging about +10% in Insight #1 since I got MIMA a little over a year ago. That could have theoretically taken me up over the coveted 100MPG mark on the first leg of this trip. Some day!

We plan on taking a trip this October up to Oregon, and I'll be taking the car with both MIMA and the prototype higher capacity, more robust battery pack. So maybe, just maybe...

 

[punjabiplaya]

My car tracks it's average, right now the speed is 42mph and I'm getting 17mpg. The more I think about this the more concerned I am considering how much is city driving... I think I may need to take the boost down a level or work on the self control a bit... nah, boost needs to come down.

<gasp> WHAT?!

 

[EightySix Four]

<gasp> WHAT?!

Well... my foot isn't coming up...

 

[thescreensavers]

I got 21mpg on my last tank, thats up from 19! LOL

I could get 26-28mpg if I tried on a trip, but 65-70mph speed rather then 80 lol

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

The battery in Insight #1 was replaced under warranty in January 2010.

The battery in Insight #2 was replaced by the previous owner out of pocket in 2008.

The battery in Insight #3 is original and needs to be rebuilt or replaced. Fortunately, I have three spares currently.. so I'm equipped to handle that.

The Insight is still the most fuel efficient production vehicle ever. Nothing compares. The only thing built around the same time is the first generation Prius. They can be had fairly cheap, but repairs are very expensive. Repairs on the Insight are easy and cheap in comparison.

They're amazing automobiles, but certainly not for everyone.

:hmm: How much does replacing the battery cost? Kinda sucks we can't buy them here.

 

[Eli]

:hmm: How much does replacing the battery cost? Kinda sucks we can't buy them here.

Depends. You can do it yourself for fairly cheap, if you're so inclined. Couple hundred.

There are services available that will rebuild your battery for around $1000 plus shipping.

Last but not least, there is a brand new, higher capacity, more robust battery pack available for a fraction of the cost of a new battery from Honda - $1800.

A pack from Honda is $2700.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Depends. You can do it yourself for fairly cheap, if you're so inclined. Couple hundred.

There are services available that will rebuild your battery for around $1000 plus shipping.

Last but not least, there is a brand new, higher capacity, more robust battery pack available for a fraction of the cost of a new battery from Honda - $1800.

A pack from Honda is $2700.

Thanks for all the info.

 

[HarryLui]

My average speed is always around 30mph in the City.

Is that mpg with a/c on?

 

[TraumaRN]

Well I try and do my best with my Fusion Hybrid, it doesn't track average speed but my best road trip MPG was a nearly 1800mile round trip from Michigan to North Carolina, then South Carolina and then back to Michigan, averaged 46.2MPG with 95&#37; of that being freeway and my cruise control set to 65MPH on the freeway.

Currently mid-summer according to the car my long term MPG since I bought the car 2 years ago is 44.7MPG. I consider that to be outstanding given our harsh winters in Michigan really drag that average down in the winter time. I filled up two days ago when I was at half tank, and doing the math 427miles driven and 8.27gallons to fill is about 51.6MPG. Pretty damn good for a mid-size sedan that comfortably seats 4 and weighs about ~3800 pounds.

My best short term road trip up north to my parents second house which is about 430 miles roundtrip was actually just last month, 48.4MPG when I did the math, and that trip is about 98% freeway/roads with at least a 55mph limit. Again cruise control was set at 65mph.

This car really can do amazing things if you are willing to drive a certain way. For example just going by what the car tells me which is probably +/- 1.5% I averaged 61.3MPG driving all city yesterday with the A/C ON. That's incredible to me and especially in city driving requires no crazy hypermiling techniques.