Hyper Miling Results Week #1

Well this week I tried some hyper miling tricks this week to try and stretch out the old MPG's. On Monday, my gas mileage in the cavalier was a paltry 26.5 (this included some Sophie driving though and she is not what you would call "efficient"), but by Friday I got 30.6. That is about a 15% increase in fuel efficiency. So what did I do, well I started by airing the tires up past the recommended. Some hypermilers will push this to the limit of the recommended max on the tire, like 44 psi, but I only went to 38 to start out with. The second thing I did was run on the white line. This keeps you out of the ruts created by normal traffic. It was funny, the first time I tried that it looked like a whole new road opened up for me. If you ever try it on a nice day it will look like you are on a different path. I think this also has an added advantage of keeping you away from the other oncoming traffic thus reducing the drag you encounter from their wake. The other thing I did that pretty much anyone can do is change my parking strategy. It really makes sense when you think about it, how much time do you waste driving around a parking lot looking for a "good" spot and then end up parking far away anyhow. That whole time you're looking you are burning fuel and lowering the efficiency. So what is the solution, pretty much take the first pull through you can get. Also you can look for what the high spot is in the parking lot to help you kind of coast out of the lot when you go to take off. Now I look at parking spots completely differently, the best spot is the most fuel efficient not necessarily the closest. I have also been driving like I don't have brakes. You might say that doesn't make any sense, but when you step on the brake you are essentially wasting the gas that it took you to get going. So how do you drive with out brakes? You just coast into turns, you look for red lights way in front of you so that you can slow down gradually, and also anticipate stop signs and things that you can just let off the gas without using the brake. I have also been taking it easy on the gas trying to stay at 55 or less, but I haven't added a whole lot to my commute. 4 minutes. That isn't too bad, considering I have increased the fuel efficiency by 15%. I also got 26.2 mpg's in the Caravan on the way home from Mom's, maybe when it warms up I can get to 30. That is the other thing, cold weather is bad for fuel economy, warm weather is good.