Sweet spot cruising speed

[Draigflag]

Well I got almost 400 miles to do this weekend, but only about 20% is highway. Still, I'll have a go with cruising speeds and see what happens. Unfortunately, there are a few inches of snow here and there, so I might have to slow it down a bit!

[LouSiffer]

My sweet spot is usually around 112 km/h. It's not as great for the fuel consumption, but it's just in that range that enough others pass me to grab all the tickets

[Draigflag]

I have another question as regards to tail winds and head winds. If there is a strong tail wind, should I decrease my cruising speed and let the wind help push the car, or increase it? If theres a strong headwind, should I increase or decrease or will neither make a difference?

[Jcp385]

A tailwind lets you cruise a bit faster if you so choose at the same fuel economy. I do things a bit differently - I simply pick one steady throttle setting and this, with a tailwind, lets me run a bit faster with better economy. The opposite is true of headwinds.

[trollbait]

Since a headwind would add to the effective speed of the air moving over the car, it will increase the effective drag. So slowing down can reduce the losses from the headwind.

[Draigflag]

Thanks for the answers

[JanGeo]

Although by going slower it makes it longer that you travel into the wind and the more it has time to exert force against you however since drag increases with the square of the velocity it is best to not go too fast... Tail winds work great when you drive a brick like my 2006 xB but going faster with a tail wind increases pumping losses due to light load so it sort of cancels the tail wind a bit if you go too fast. It is fun going 70-80 mph and get 50+ mpg though!

[Draigflag]

Yea that would probably be 80 or 90 MPG in mine! Its a shame I dont get to use highways more often, I think ive only used them twice in the last year...

[Jay2TheRescue]

My Escape Hybrid does best in the 50 MPH - 60 MPH range. Mileage really drops off quickly over 65 MPH.

[lowgitek]

In my Toyota Auris TS HSD the best mileage is done at 107Km/h

The best I could get till now was 4.1L/100Km