Driving For Better Economy - A Challenge?

[OldSkoO1]

I've posted a few times and do get involved in quite a few if not all debates about poor economy.

I'm happy with my economy and get the combined average in the right conditions, and exceed it. Anyone with any engine can try this challenge, even if you don't care or are happy with your economy. If your interested in the challenge, try the following techniques over a tank to be fair to the test :

- Most importantly, pretend you don't have brakes, drive as if they weren't there, use them as little as possible apart from the obvious need to stop

- Following on from that, this means coming off the accelerator much much earlier than you are use to providing it is safe and your aren't going to the extremes of rolling at 15mph with angry motorists behind you :)

- So, only use your brakes if you need to stop, not slow down

- Now acceleration, do it fairly quickly, get up to traffic speed or cruising speed on an open road quickly (not redline foot to floor quickly), but fairly quickly.

- When i say use brisk acceleration don't push the pedal straight down, do it smoothly, so at medium pace press the pedal closer to the floor until you get to gear change or cruising speed.

- Get up to speed and stick at that steady speed, use cruise control if your car has it and its not a hilly country road

- When accelerating it is always best to use the RPM (rev) band where the engine is producing max torque, this is when the engine is working most efficiently, especially on diesel. You can still take your petrol engine up to 6-7k rpm too.

- So in my T180 i like to accelerate up to approx 2.6k rpm and change gear which will put my into 1.8k / 2k rpm for the next gear.

- Once you are up to speed choose the highest gear that will ensure the car does not labour. In my t180 i like to sit around 1.4k rpm

Now the above are fairly simply concepts, the biggest change is not using the brakes. And, i know it is odd accelerating pretty quickly for economy but try it. The important part is the braking, or lack of. Smoothness also helps so on a final note:

- Pretend you have a glass of coke that is 3/4 full sitting in our cup holder. You know when coke spills its sticky and can stain. So along with pretending you have no brakes, also pretend the coke cup is there. Now drive with that in mind. Don't drive slowly, drive with the quicker acceleration but now your thinking of the coke you will do it quickly but smoothly. You will also corner more smoothly because you will slow down gradually as you come to bends and turn in smoothly and accelerate quickly but smoothly back up to speed.

So if your still with me and you want to give it a try, have a read of the above a few times to understand the concept if needs be then give it a go and please post back to see if it has worked for you.

The only scenarios where this wont work is in town stop start traffic. There isn't much you can do to improve that. The brake thing will help a little.

//Plus

This isn't a planet saving challenge or a penny pinching fuel debate its a challenge to see if these techniques can really improve the economy of people who are unhappy with what they get day to day. And... do use your own judgement when braking, i dont want to be responsible for anyone driving dangerously after reading this advice! :)

You also have to reset your fuel computer before trying.

Oh and in case you didn't get it, pretend you don't have brakes, excluding the need to stop.

[Red Yaris 54]

Is that not the only way to drive?

[dieseldrinker]

Old Skool = Old Fossil.

I can understand the desire to drive well, everyone should. But you are trying to compensate for the inadequacies of the car and the 180 engine. Why do that ? The car, by Toyota's own (unpublished) figures, is awful on fuel.

Enjoy your driving.

DD

[smyffalis]

good post mate. i get an extra 10mpg in my wee car doing driving like that. saves me a few bills!!!

[Johan007]

But you are trying to compensate for the inadequacies of the car...DD

Fuel economy is down to the driver and traffic levels not so much the car. The car however provides the maximum amount of mpg achievable.

I cruise as low as 1200 revs in a 30/40 zone.

We all thrash the car when the driving conditions are right B)

[Jarod]

I made 1 economy drive for 700km and I did 6,5l/100km = 36,2mpg 25%city, 75% outside the town

Normally i have avarage of 7,3l/100km = 32,2mpg (from 13kkm)

I really couldn't do that better i was thinking veeery much when driving. Driving to 90km/h

For me it's not worth only 0,8l for 100km fuel saved, but in normal driving I'm not driving like a maniac :P

I have 1,6VVt-i 5 gear manual

[OldSkoO1]

Old Skool = Old Fossil.

I can understand the desire to drive well, everyone should. But you are trying to compensate for the inadequacies of the car and the 180 engine. Why do that ? The car, by Toyota's own (unpublished) figures, is awful on fuel.

Can i just point one VERY important fact out. Those combined figures are achieved from a lab environment NOT public roads. The tests for official consumption are conducted on a rolling road dynamometer with an ambient temperature for a typical British summers day (temp affects MPG) and the rolling road is obviously, completely flat (inclines drastically affect MPG). Also rolling roads don't have traffic, traffic drastically effects MPG as you speed up and slow down a lot when you are on a rolling road you keep a solid steady speed apart from the acceleration tests. The avg. speed on these tests is also 40mph and that is only over approx 10 miles!

The tests simply DO NOT reflect real world driving conditions and therefore you can't expect the achieve the combined unless you drive on flat roads with avg. speeds >40mph in the summer. I dont know of many cars driven in the real world that can achieve their combined figure without trying. Maybe some VAGs as long as your not doing a lot of town driving.

And... I'm not an old fossil, far from it actually

I did put 2 clues on my post, 1) its a challenge and 2) its nothing to do with penny pinching or saving the planet and its not just for the people who are dissapointed with their fuel economy, its not just for t180 owners.

The tips i posted are the result of a test from a local driving group. We felt that the tips or concept i posted are a minor adjustment (braking) that anyone can apply. After several methods we found this gave the best gains with minimal effort with the added bonus of potentially safer driving. Step up the acceleration, keep a steady speed, reduce the braking, thats it. The coke can was an added bonus. The list my be quite comprehensive but the concept is simple, brake less.

I drive like this and all i do differently is not brake as much, simple. We are just interested whether others can apply this and notice a difference which is why i posted it here as a challenge NOT a fix to economy. Its not old man driving either so its not boring or frustrating or hard to do.

[Speed_Chaser]

I've posted a few times and do get involved in quite a few if not all debates about poor economy.

I'm happy with my economy and get the combined average in the right conditions, and exceed it. Anyone with any engine can try this challenge, even if you don't care or are happy with your economy. If your interested in the challenge, try the following techniques over a tank to be fair to the test :

- Most importantly, pretend you don't have brakes, drive as if they weren't there, use them as little as possible apart from the obvious need to stop

- Following on from that, this means coming off the accelerator much much earlier than you are use to providing it is safe and your aren't going to the extremes of rolling at 15mph with angry motorists behind you :)

- So, only use your brakes if you need to stop, not slow down

- Now acceleration, do it fairly quickly, get up to traffic speed or cruising speed on an open road quickly (not redline foot to floor quickly), but fairly quickly.

- When i say use brisk acceleration don't push the pedal straight down, do it smoothly, so at medium pace press the pedal closer to the floor until you get to gear change or cruising speed.

- Get up to speed and stick at that steady speed, use cruise control if your car has it and its not a hilly country road

- When accelerating it is always best to use the RPM (rev) band where the engine is producing max torque, this is when the engine is working most efficiently, especially on diesel. You can still take your petrol engine up to 6-7k rpm too.

- So in my T180 i like to accelerate up to approx 2.6k rpm and change gear which will put my into 1.8k / 2k rpm for the next gear.

- Once you are up to speed choose the highest gear that will ensure the car does not labour. In my t180 i like to sit around 1.4k rpm

Now the above are fairly simply concepts, the biggest change is not using the brakes. And, i know it is odd accelerating pretty quickly for economy but try it. The important part is the braking, or lack of. Smoothness also helps so on a final note:

- Pretend you have a glass of coke that is 3/4 full sitting in our cup holder. You know when coke spills its sticky and can stain. So along with pretending you have no brakes, also pretend the coke cup is there. Now drive with that in mind. Don't drive slowly, drive with the quicker acceleration but now your thinking of the coke you will do it quickly but smoothly. You will also corner more smoothly because you will slow down gradually as you come to bends and turn in smoothly and accelerate quickly but smoothly back up to speed.

So if your still with me and you want to give it a try, have a read of the above a few times to understand the concept if needs be then give it a go and please post back to see if it has worked for you.

The only scenarios where this wont work is in town stop start traffic. There isn't much you can do to improve that. The brake thing will help a little.

//Plus

This isn't a planet saving challenge or a penny pinching fuel debate its a challenge to see if these techniques can really improve the economy of people who are unhappy with what they get day to day. And... do use your own judgement when braking, i dont want to be responsible for anyone driving dangerously after reading this advice! :)

You also have to reset your fuel computer before trying.

Oh and in case you didn't get it, pretend you don't have brakes, excluding the need to stop.

Very good idea, it's worth trying guys. At least just for fun.

Would like to add a few things which I think wasn't on the list and can help to achieve even better fuel economy:

- Change to the highest gear as soon as possible. In my car (1.6 petrol) it's possible allready at 40KMh.

- Be ready for everything. If you're standing downhill, when you start moving let the car roll a bit (in neutral, if you don't

have MM-T) without pressing throttle, as getting car to move takes very big amount of energy.

- As I allready said, getting car to move takes very big amount of energy, so try to avoid 100% stopping. You can do it

by keeping the distance to the car in front of you, so if the driver will decide to turn or let some people to cross the road

you will have time and distance to let your car roll until he will start moving again (this method can be used in traffic jams

aswell).

Do the same thing when you're coming at red lights, release the throttle and let the car roll. You can use engine braking,

don't know the exact word, but just change to the lower gear and the car will start braking with it's engine and roll slower.

- When you're driving outside the city, try to keep your speed steady. If you're going to pass someone, keep the distance

and start accelerating when the towardscoming car is still infront of you. Accelerate towards the car on your lane and approach it

so that when the towardscoming car will pass you and the passing lane will be free, you'll have much higher speed than the

car you're going to pass and you will make a good pass at good speed without changing to lower gear to get a better acceleration.

-Be clever, use your mind and the things you allready know. Maybe you will figure out some new ways to improve your economy!

I think that's all I knew about fuel economy, but if some other points will come to my mind I will try to share them with you guys :)

Sorry if I wrote something that was allready on the Oldskool's list!

Best regards, Alex

[Djw John]

Can I just add that every other car I've driven (30+) beats the combined figure at normal motorway speeds. This one beats it if you get towed with the engine off ;)

[dieseldrinker]

Can I just add that every other car I've driven (30+) beats the combined figure at normal motorway speeds. This one beats it if you get towed with the engine off ;)

Well said djw. Just completed my first 500 miles in the car that replaced my Auris T180. Over 50 mpg driven in the same manner. A bigger, heavier car too. Let's be honest here, the T180 is a !Removed! of a car. The performance is rubbish, the ride is not great, the seats are awful, the stereo is crap and it drinks fuel ! Probably very reliable though !

DD

[Aldridge Andy]

Can I just add that every other car I've driven (30+) beats the combined figure at normal motorway speeds. This one beats it if you get towed with the engine off ;)

Well said djw. Just completed my first 500 miles in the car that replaced my Auris T180. Over 50 mpg driven in the same manner. A bigger, heavier car too. Let's be honest here, the T180 is a !Removed! of a car. The performance is rubbish, the ride is not great, the seats are awful, the stereo is crap and it drinks fuel ! Probably very reliable though!

DD

We won't know until the Auris has been around for three to five years... and I suspect a few owners will be going elsewhere before that time comes round.

Interesting times ahead! ;)

[Grippen]

Well the 1.4D4D compared to other engines of the same category and some even bigger does consume a lot. In order to have an average of 5-5.3l / 100km I'm driving in economy mode at not exceeding 100 km/h in highway. At the beginning I was going up to 120 km/h and average was close to 5.8l if we look at competition we see averages bellow 5l. Of course the weight of the car, no 6th gear and a no stop and go system makes a lot of the difference. The car weight should be at max 1.2T a 6th gear should be there and power/torque should improve a bit say 100-110hp. Also a stop&go I think this would bring consumptions bellow 5l at least the ones in optimal circuits and 5l low in real life without the need of controlling the speed. 120km/h is not that much still he consumes a lot a this speed. But its the car i have nothing I can do right

[rcflyer]

I've posted a few times and do get involved in quite a few if not all debates about poor economy.

I'm happy with my economy and get the combined average in the right conditions, and exceed it. Anyone with any engine can try this challenge, even if you don't care or are happy with your economy. If your interested in the challenge, try the following techniques over a tank to be fair to the test :

- Most importantly, pretend you don't have brakes, drive as if they weren't there, use them as little as possible apart from the obvious need to stop

- Following on from that, this means coming off the accelerator much much earlier than you are use to providing it is safe and your aren't going to the extremes of rolling at 15mph with angry motorists behind you :)

- So, only use your brakes if you need to stop, not slow down

- Now acceleration, do it fairly quickly, get up to traffic speed or cruising speed on an open road quickly (not redline foot to floor quickly), but fairly quickly.

- When i say use brisk acceleration don't push the pedal straight down, do it smoothly, so at medium pace press the pedal closer to the floor until you get to gear change or cruising speed.

- Get up to speed and stick at that steady speed, use cruise control if your car has it and its not a hilly country road

- When accelerating it is always best to use the RPM (rev) band where the engine is producing max torque, this is when the engine is working most efficiently, especially on diesel. You can still take your petrol engine up to 6-7k rpm too.

- So in my T180 i like to accelerate up to approx 2.6k rpm and change gear which will put my into 1.8k / 2k rpm for the next gear.

- Once you are up to speed choose the highest gear that will ensure the car does not labour. In my t180 i like to sit around 1.4k rpm

Now the above are fairly simply concepts, the biggest change is not using the brakes. And, i know it is odd accelerating pretty quickly for economy but try it. The important part is the braking, or lack of. Smoothness also helps so on a final note:

- Pretend you have a glass of coke that is 3/4 full sitting in our cup holder. You know when coke spills its sticky and can stain. So along with pretending you have no brakes, also pretend the coke cup is there. Now drive with that in mind. Don't drive slowly, drive with the quicker acceleration but now your thinking of the coke you will do it quickly but smoothly. You will also corner more smoothly because you will slow down gradually as you come to bends and turn in smoothly and accelerate quickly but smoothly back up to speed.

So if your still with me and you want to give it a try, have a read of the above a few times to understand the concept if needs be then give it a go and please post back to see if it has worked for you.

The only scenarios where this wont work is in town stop start traffic. There isn't much you can do to improve that. The brake thing will help a little.

//Plus

This isn't a planet saving challenge or a penny pinching fuel debate its a challenge to see if these techniques can really improve the economy of people who are unhappy with what they get day to day. And... do use your own judgement when braking, i dont want to be responsible for anyone driving dangerously after reading this advice! :)

You also have to reset your fuel computer before trying.

Oh and in case you didn't get it, pretend you don't have brakes, excluding the need to stop.

[rcflyer]

I've posted a few times and do get involved in quite a few if not all debates about poor economy.

I'm happy with my economy and get the combined average in the right conditions, and exceed it. Anyone with any engine can try this challenge, even if you don't care or are happy with your economy. If your interested in the challenge, try the following techniques over a tank to be fair to the test :

- Most importantly, pretend you don't have brakes, drive as if they weren't there, use them as little as possible apart from the obvious need to stop

- Following on from that, this means coming off the accelerator much much earlier than you are use to providing it is safe and your aren't going to the extremes of rolling at 15mph with angry motorists behind you :)

- So, only use your brakes if you need to stop, not slow down

- Now acceleration, do it fairly quickly, get up to traffic speed or cruising speed on an open road quickly (not redline foot to floor quickly), but fairly quickly.

- When i say use brisk acceleration don't push the pedal straight down, do it smoothly, so at medium pace press the pedal closer to the floor until you get to gear change or cruising speed.

- Get up to speed and stick at that steady speed, use cruise control if your car has it and its not a hilly country road

- When accelerating it is always best to use the RPM (rev) band where the engine is producing max torque, this is when the engine is working most efficiently, especially on diesel. You can still take your petrol engine up to 6-7k rpm too.

- So in my T180 i like to accelerate up to approx 2.6k rpm and change gear which will put my into 1.8k / 2k rpm for the next gear.

- Once you are up to speed choose the highest gear that will ensure the car does not labour. In my t180 i like to sit around 1.4k rpm

Now the above are fairly simply concepts, the biggest change is not using the brakes. And, i know it is odd accelerating pretty quickly for economy but try it. The important part is the braking, or lack of. Smoothness also helps so on a final note:

- Pretend you have a glass of coke that is 3/4 full sitting in our cup holder. You know when coke spills its sticky and can stain. So along with pretending you have no brakes, also pretend the coke cup is there. Now drive with that in mind. Don't drive slowly, drive with the quicker acceleration but now your thinking of the coke you will do it quickly but smoothly. You will also corner more smoothly because you will slow down gradually as you come to bends and turn in smoothly and accelerate quickly but smoothly back up to speed.

So if your still with me and you want to give it a try, have a read of the above a few times to understand the concept if needs be then give it a go and please post back to see if it has worked for you.

The only scenarios where this wont work is in town stop start traffic. There isn't much you can do to improve that. The brake thing will help a little.

//Plus

This isn't a planet saving challenge or a penny pinching fuel debate its a challenge to see if these techniques can really improve the economy of people who are unhappy with what they get day to day. And... do use your own judgement when braking, i dont want to be responsible for anyone driving dangerously after reading this advice! :)

You also have to reset your fuel computer before trying.

Oh and in case you didn't get it, pretend you don't have brakes, excluding the need to stop.

[mountain_mania]

My 2.0 d4d Auris is great

5.5 l/100km on the highway. 140km/h with tempomat and AC with two person. It's good, right?

[dieseldrinker]

My 2.0 d4d Auris is great

5.5 l/100km on the highway. 140km/h with tempomat and AC with two person. It's good, right?

NO !

DD

[Speed_Chaser]

My 2.0 d4d Auris is great

5.5 l/100km on the highway. 140km/h with tempomat and AC with two person. It's good, right?

NO !

DD

For 140km/h it is very good! Why do you have to be so negative? If you're upset after selling your car,

you don't have to bring your frustration on every topic! :)

Best regards, Alex

[smyffalis]

exactly. thats over 50mpg at near enough 90mph with AC on. just shows you that if you can drive it properly then you can get a decent mileage. im sure with all those other cars youve driven you could have gotten better mpg in them. youre just too busy crying about it all.

if people like the car, im sure someone like yourself wouldnt put them off it.

[OldSkoO1]

I will also add that i calculate my fuel consumption manually and find that the obc is 3mpg under the true value for me.

[Djw John]

Mine is 0.1mpg under!

[OldSkoO1]

Shame John, you are struggling here.

When is your 20k service due? An oil change did some good for me, as you know i'm getting in the 40's combined anyway. Mid 40's on an a-road run, last year i was getting high 40's, low 50's. Since my 20k service, my a-road runs have gone up from mid 40's to early 50's again. Also check your air filter to make sure it is nice and clean.

[Djw John]

Well its got 6000 miles on it but I thought it was a 10k service interval? The air filter will be fine, Scotland aint known for its dusty snady atmosphere ;)

Just filled up (again;)) and tried pretty hard to get it as high as possible and sat at 60mph on a DC, got 41mpg. I'll try and see what I can get it to average out at over this tank. Nothing to do with it being a 5 week month and being skint ;)

[dieseldrinker]

Shame John, you are struggling here.

When is your 20k service due? An oil change did some good for me, as you know i'm getting in the 40's combined anyway. Mid 40's on an a-road run, last year i was getting high 40's, low 50's. Since my 20k service, my a-road runs have gone up from mid 40's to early 50's again. Also check your air filter to make sure it is nice and clean.

This really does smack of desparation. See my T180 citrus thread !

DD

[OldSkoO1]

Shame John, you are struggling here.

When is your 20k service due? An oil change did some good for me, as you know i'm getting in the 40's combined anyway. Mid 40's on an a-road run, last year i was getting high 40's, low 50's. Since my 20k service, my a-road runs have gone up from mid 40's to early 50's again. Also check your air filter to make sure it is nice and clean.

This really does smack of desparation. See my T180 citrus thread !

DD

Just trying my best to help people, as fuel can be important to some. I'll cover every angle no matter how small, i'm just like that.

Only thing i can say that if the a-road's are hilly it does affect me too. Just today i was getting 52mpg using a-roads and dual carridgeway but as soon as i hit a hilly, twisty a-road it dropped to mid 40's and that will drop to 42 when going through town. Hilly roads are half as bad as town driving, but i except it as i know the combined actual is calculated on a rolling road and divded the extra urban into the urban figure.

Anyway, John, how about chopping the T180 in for a 170 or even a 140tdi Golf 5, even with DSG, thats a v.good motor that will give you 50+ all day long, easily revo-ed and will go like stink when done. There are some good deals going on ex-demo and 2nd hand stock too!

[Djw John]

I'd really love to chop it in for pretty much anything but the lease company arent being very forthcoming about it. Gonna take it to the dealers first as Ive to get them to check it over and take it from there.

Leon FR for me instead I think