78.3 miles/US gallon YEAH! Thank you for the tips everyone!

[Peakster]

Well, I just filled up the Metro tonight after a few days of hypermiling techniques here in the city. I was shocked (and almost embarrassed) to only pay $3.15 to fill my tank. Driving in 5th gear @ 50km/h and piles of EOC when approaching red lights sure made a HUGE difference. Looking forward to getting more tanks like that one!

Thanks to everyone with their awesome tips for FE! This site has taught me to be a true hypermiler in less than 2 weeks!

- Peakster

[MetroMPG]

Nice work, Peakster!

[rh77]

Great improvement! Keep up the great work -- it can only get better

RH77

[SVOboy]

I would be wary of pump error with such a low fill-up amount, expansion of the gas and all that business.

Nevertheless,

[kickflipjr]

Good work. keep it up.

[The Toecutter]

When I can, I drive 25 mph in 5th gear. At that point, the engine will lug with anything more than 5% throttle, but that little bit is just enough to keep it to maintain speed without lugging.

I don't know what FE it gets at that speed, as it's pre OBD-II and I have no way to really test FE at that sort of constant speed.

[Peakster]

I would be wary of pump error with such a low fill-up amount, expansion of the gas and all that business.

My next fillup indicated that there must have been significant room for error. Using the same techniques in approximately the same period of time resulted in much lower results. Too many variables are evident in small fillups.

For example this past tank, my battery finally gave up (it was the original Delco battery from '97) and when I bump-started the Geo I raced the engine for several minutes and gave it a good run on the freeway all the way home (man! It felt like a sports car after driving so conservatively for weeks!). Also this past tank endured more cold starts (today was lingering around the freezing mark) and it was in the service station twice: once for the new battery and second for winter tire installation.

These types of situations demonstrate just how valuable the 'average mpg' chart is on the gaslog.

[cfg83]

Peakster -

Congratulations!!!!!!

CarloSW2

[cfg83]

Toecutter -

Originally Posted by The Toecutter

When I can, I drive 25 mph in 5th gear. At that point, the engine will lug with anything more than 5% throttle, but that little bit is just enough to keep it to maintain speed without lugging.

I don't know what FE it gets at that speed, as it's pre OBD-II and I have no way to really test FE at that sort of constant speed.

Me too, but I think I can have a higher throttle. On the flat, I can enter 4th gear as low as 15 MPH, but I need to ever-so-slowly increase my speed.

CarloSW2