Sweet spot cruising speed

[Jcp385]

If I cruise at around 40-45mph, I'm pulling down 50-55mpg all day long on a flat road. If I have hills, it'll vary. If I can utilize a lot of neutral coast, I can at least maintain. I have gotten 51mpg on a 174mi segment but I was vaguely drafting a truck. Otherwise bare minimum freeway speeds yield mid-high 40s.

If the vehicle is not very aerodynamic, you'll lose a lot of mileage as speeds increase; if it's more aerodynamic, like mine, you'll do pretty well increasing your speeds.

An example would be going from my home to our mini-vacation spot. Speed limits vary from 40-60mph along the route. About 20mi, takes around 45 min. Thanks to the terrain, a good hot summertime drive yields mid-50s going, high 40s back. Best was 56mpg going, 51mpg back. Take 10% off for winter, still quite good.

[JanGeo]

40mph yields the most reasonable mileage around 50 mpg, but going 30mph gets me almost 60 mpg if I can stand driving that slow long enough. Under 50mph is about 45 mpg or more but as soon as I start going faster it starts to drop especially in cold weather, but in hot weather it's not so bad.

[lowgitek]

uPDATE: 3,2l/100

[Draigflag]

Originally Posted by JanGeo

40mph yields the most reasonable mileage around 50 mpg, but going 30mph gets me almost 60 mpg if I can stand driving that slow long enough. Under 50mph is about 45 mpg or more but as soon as I start going faster it starts to drop especially in cold weather, but in hot weather it's not so bad.

Going as slow as you can is not always the most efficient way of travelling. Depending on the gearing, a modern car should be more efficient at high constant speeds than slow ones, my car seems about 20% more efficient at 70 MPH than at 60 MPH, although I having travelled on highways enough to experiment!

[Draigflag]

Originally Posted by lowgitek

uPDATE: 3,2l/100

That's about 88 MPG, very good going! I see your diesel still works out more efficient overall though?

[lowgitek]

I return my diesel back once I received my Auris.

The fact is I think the Verso really rox! I'm expecting for the next fuel ups to see if the statistics here match with ones in the car on the Auris. My verso was 150cv with the 2.2 from 2009... so pretty good results comparing with a january 2015 hybrid car.

[lowgitek]

Originally Posted by Draigflag

Going as slow as you can is not always the most efficient way of travelling. Depending on the gearing, a modern car should be more efficient at high constant speeds than slow ones, my car seems about 20% more efficient at 70 MPH than at 60 MPH, although I having travelled on highways enough to experiment!

Totally agree with you drive slow is not necessary good...

I'm having much better results in cruise speed of 97 till 102 km/h than I have with 50 for eg. It always depend which motor I'm using at that moment and for how long and how I'm using it. Like someone said here in the forum, drive like having a egg, with a nice truck in front of you in a nice and stable speed, with good roads, is all what I want

[MatrixDom]

The sweet spot for my 2013 Mazda is approx 108 km/h as revs are 2000 rpm in sixth speed (automatic). The 95-110 range is good but anything more than that the fuel economy drops drastically. Our best tank is 5.8L/100 km which is better than EPA ratings.

I haven't experimented in my 2015 as much but highway mileage has been stellar so far between 95-110 km/h.

[JanGeo]

I think it is more a factor of getting everything heated up than speed plus motor size is probably a big factor since I am running a 1.5 liter with considerable air drag compared to your vehicles. Your losses come from power used to operate larger fuel pump, computer for injection etc which are fairly constant at any speed and your lights are probably on all the time too. I see increased fuel use just turning on the radio and heater fan in GPH on my scanguage. Idle when warmed up is 0.12-0.13 GPH.

[hondaboi]

Being able to manage 50mpg while doing 80mph for 70% of my journey.
Changed the spark plugs and air filter the weekend so will see if I can get better results!