Driving like an idiot increased my MPG

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Originally Posted by cfg83

I think that people have said here that the principle of accelerating slowly is correct, but in some cases, you can be driving so far outside the engine's sweetspot that it starts to work against you (i.e. lugging).

Does this make sense ?

CarloSW2

I don't think so. We want to accelerate fast up to our target cruising speed because if we accelerate fast the engine's operating more efficiently than if we accelerate slow. We also want to short shift because after ~3k rpm friction losses start to hurt our BSFC, but even then, it's still more efficient to floor/redline than it is to grandma it with a really light throttle. Incidentally, that's why someone who lives in a hilly area can get really good mileage pretty easily in a M/T car. Going down they can coast with the engine off, and going up they give it lots of throttle with the engine operating near peak efficiency, as opposed to driving at a steady speed with no change in elevation, since the engine will only be at some fraction of throttle and lower efficiency.