Pulse and Glide?

[cee]

..Pete: i think in modern vehicles, the fuel injection system is advanced enough that, when you reach optimal speed for a given stretch of road and you then "glide" (ie. use no acceleration), you're essentially using very little gas on the "glide" portion of the ride..

..i have an automatic transmission, and i use this kind of tactic a lot on minor hills & inclines..for ex: i'll accelerate to speed coming up on a mild downhill slope & then coast just prior to cresting the hill, using gravity to maintain (or even increase) speed on the down side..

..or maybe that's not what "pulse & glide" is actually about (i dunno, being basically a car Dunce..heh!)..

..but it makes sense that if you accelerate modestly to speed and then let off the gas pedal & coast, you're basically running at idle speed during the coasting..and idle speed burns less gas even than trying to keep a steady speed using cruise control or manual foot adjustments (for the most part)..

..just my pennies for thought..others will have better, i'm sure..

l8r!

--c.

[owner of T'Pal; 2002 Subaru Legacy Outback]