When to make it shift

[Hockey4mnhs]

I have a 93 Honda accord ex. I have never broken 29 Mpg with it. I try to make it shift by letting off the pedal on all the gears. It shifts around 2000 and I was wondering if it is running rich because of the slow acceleration and that is affecting Fe.

[MetroMPG]

Acceleration technique gets a lot of attention, but I'd say as long as you're not standing on the gas as a matter of habit, it's pretty low down the list of things that really influence your MPG.

If you feel like doing some reading, there are a lot of detailed techniques on this page that'll have a bigger influence:

Beating the EPA - The Why’s and how to Hypermile

[MetroMPG]

PS - welcome to the site!

[Hockey4mnhs]

I’ve been reading lots of sites including this one for the past two months. I really try hard to have good mileage. I moded the intake to a K&N which i think may help. Cruse control is a absolute must when i drive because i have 18 mile each way commute on almost all highway. Still i have never broken 28/29 mpg. You guys are getting 2x that. Please help with any suggestions

[LxMike]

Originally Posted by Hockey4mnhs

I?ve been reading lots of sites including this one for the past two months. I really try hard to have good mileage. I moded the intake to a K&N which i think may help. Cruse control is a absolute must when i drive because i have 18 mile each way commute on almost all highway. Still i have never broken 28/29 mpg. You guys are getting 2x that. Please help with any suggestions

don't look at the numbers other are getting unless it with same car and trans.

find what the epa rates your car at and work towards beating those. makje sure engine is tuned up, check the basics . tire pressures set at what?? any extra weight you don't need in there. stuff like that. do you have a tach> what rpm's does it show at speed??

[MetroMPG]

Here's one tip: any good driver can do better than cruise control, unless your commute is over perfectly FLAT land. The cruise responds far too agressively to inclines, and "wastes" energy by engine braking on descents, just to hold on to that set speed.

For highway commuting, the single biggest factor affecting your fuel economy is your speed.

How fast are you setting the cruise at?

[MetroMPG]

Also, we're driving vastly different cars, so it's not too useful to do comparisons there. You need to look through the garage and find some people with similar cars to yours (with automatics) if you want to see what's possible.

[Hockey4mnhs]

55-60 on highway 45 off (i live in the country)

[krousdb]

Luckily the inclines aren't too bad on my commute and cruise control works very well. I don't think that I lose any FE using it. My foot doesn't get tired either.

28-29 is good for your car, probably higher than the EPA highway rating. As Metro said above, slowing down will help.

[krousdb]

So fueleconomy.gov gives the 93 Accord a 22/24/28 rating. So 28-29 is 19% over epa combined. Not bad at all. I see that your speeds are moderate. How long are your trips?