N00b with 05 Elantra looking to save gas & $$

[andy867]

Hey all! I discovered this site last night and after looking through various gas saving threads, I decided to test the tire pressure and coasting/P&G techniques and so this morning I took my car to work which is on a military installation so speed signs vary from 20-40MPH. well, after taking my car to pt, back home, to our motorpool, to an airfield 17 miles away and back to home again, I had only used up 8 miles of gasoline, although I drove 50 miles. and after all my previous mileage, I still managed to bump my MPG up by .7 so I was impressed.

After topping my car's tank off, I continued my lil experiment and having driven 38 miles, I only knocked off 4 miles of gas and had a whopping 40.1MPG (car is rated 24/32). I guess my question is what else can I do that people have found to be successful to help push my car up to around 50? I have A/T with tri-lock alarm (so shutting off car is unfortunately out of the question). Any help is much appreciated!

And continue to Hypermile your rides!

[SVOboy]

I'm guessing you already have a scanguage 2? Have you thought about aero mods at all?

Welcome to the site!

[andy867]

actually, I am using my car's default computer readout (so not sure exactly how accurate it is), but I have thought about getting the SG2. And yes I have thought about aero mods, just wondering which work out best and what materials to use, etc (still new to hypermiling)

[SVOboy]

Check out the aero forum for some more insight on materials and methods...

Feel free to ask questions, we like to show off our work.

[andy867]

Well I guess the first thing I am looking into doing is the grille block and curious as to what has been decided as the best material and whether interior/exterior, etc.

[andy867]

I am also curious about car parts (spark plugs,) and anything else that can help boost performance and improve FE.

[Hockey4mnhs]

that will help to an exstent. a good tune up will help in general but he best boost is just drieving the best way you can

[andy867]

well, the thing that I am still learning is the coasting/P&G like lately my MPG has dropped from the 40.1 to 31.5 (which is still 10MPG over my newly rated MPG according to the EPA). I am just wondering for an A/T vehicle on how best to accelerate to maximize mpg like tach/RPM, etc. and also like the best way to accelerate up to speed, etc. I know slowly, but how slow?