New MPG personal best, 25.1 MPG!

Edit: Truck is a V6, 4x4, automatic

A little background:

I'm not a huge MPG nut with the intent of saving a penny or being super eco-friendly... I'm a super goal orientated person and just for the heck of it, I set a goal of reaching 25 MPG at some point during the truck's life.

I filled up this afternoon in preparation for my weekly commute (as I usually do every Sat/Sun). Over the past few weeks I've come pretty close to hitting the 25 MPG mark, and this past week, I finally hit it!

This past week's average MPG: 25.1 MPG!

Now for the question I'm sure will be asked... how did you do it?!?!

Truck specs:
2005 AC 4x4, 45,XXX miles, STOCK (including tires)

My daily commute is ~40 miles round trip, with 90% being highway. This past week I had to work long days so I ended up leaving home around 6am before any real traffic was on the interstate, and leaving work around 7pm (again very light traffic at that point).

- I usually average 55-60 mph in the right hand lane. In the past this has netted me 23-24 MPG. Speed limit on I-70 is 55 mph and most of the time, people go around 55-60 so I know I'm not obstructing traffic (many times I end up passing semi-trucks that are going 50ish in the RH lane).

- This past week I started doing the "pulse and glide" technique. My commute has a few small hills here and there, and since there wasn't much traffic around me, I started coasting down the small hills (the hills are not very tall, but have just enough down slope to carry the truck for ~1/8 - 1/4 miles). I would make sure that when I hit the apex of the hill I was going ~60 mph, and would then glide down the hill until I eventually slowed down to 55, at which point I would maintain that speed.

- As usual, I pay attention to upcoming stoplights and time them such that when I see the hand flashing, I start coasting to the stoplight (again making sure I'm not slowing down people behind me... I don't want to be that asshole).

- I'm pretty light on the gas pedal (slow acceleration when there is nobody behind me)

- I usually try to keep the RPMs at or below 1,500 if traffic conditions permit

- 99% of the time I fill up at the same gas station, using the same pump (using the same pump is more coincidence than anything)

- I don't use a scangauge or any fancy tracking methods... I use the plain ol' (Miles per Tank) / (Gallons put in) to calculate my average MPG.

- In the past (when I had my 95 Corolla) I have found that there is little to no noticeable difference in MPG between different brands of gas... it all comes down to driving habits! The same has held true for my truck

- During the hot summer months, I've noticed NO difference in average MPG when using 85 vs. 91 octane gas (at altitude, air is too hot and thin for octane to make a difference in our trucks). However, in the cold winter months, there is a very noticeable difference in both average MPG and performance (knock wise).

Summary:
Lay off the hard acceleration, pay attention to stop lights and time your deceleration/acceleration accordingly, slow down on the interstate, try doing pulse-and-glide when and where appropriate.
For you highway drivers out there, I think the biggest factor in improving average MPG is to slow down. I've seen pretty significant increases when slowing down from 70 mph to 60 mph. However, IMHO 55 seems to be the sweet spot where the truck still has enough power to climb a small incline without downshifting, while still keeping the RPMs around 1500.

Again, I could really care less about the money saved between getting 21 vs 25 MPG (after all, it's only a couple bucks in the end), I just do this mainly as a "I wonder if this can be done" kind of thing.

So now that I've hit the 25 MPG mark, I think this next tank I'll have a little fun with the truck

- Gary

 

Take the advise of kogary and watch the mpg go up.Speed kills mpgs.Another thing is the double cabs that are heavier.I did not here of many mpg complaints until the double cabs became so popular.

 

What octane did you run? Sorry if you mentioned it but too much to read! lol

 

Ahhh ya beat me, my best so far has been 24.7 and i also screwed around on the next tank haha.

How far did you go on your tank? i went 450 miles when i got ^^

I agree its kind of a fun little challenge to see how good of mileage you can get.

 

That's impressive. I have been doing these same things just trying to break 20 mpg. But I don't drive that much on the hwy and have a lot of stop and go as I only drive 11 miles one way to work. But I did manage to break 20 last fill up. Anyway I guess I'm trying to justify trading in my gas guzzling Hemi Ram. My brother told me it wasn't worth it as far as mpg's go. I say different. So I guess I'm trying to prove the point to him also. I averaged 14.5 in the Ram so it is a fair savings.

On a side note, I just figured out how to get the Fuelly into my signature a couple days ago. I filled up today and updated Fuelly but it isn't showing it on my signature. Am I doing something wrong? Or will it update tomorrow? I don't get it.

 

85 octane this last go around.

I have noticed ZERO difference in MPG during the hot summer months between 85 and 91 octane (winter is a different story).

Previous tank was 91 octane and I got 24.5 MPG, and the one before that was 91 and I got 24.8 mpg. So little to no difference. It was all in adjusting driving habits

 

I filled up this last tank at 227.9 miles and got 25.1 MPG
Two weeks ago I went 446.4 miles on a tank and got 24.5 MPG.

 

Yeah, city driving really brings your average MPG down.

As for the fuelly link, it doesn't look like you have your profile linked in your signature, just the image (I can't click on the image and get to your fuelly profile). Edit your signature and just paste the link that fuelly gives you (they tell you what it is somewhere on their website). Don't paste the link in the "image" category for your signature.

 

Nice work Kogary you descibed much the same way I drive, and reasons why. It's the challenge, but I do enjoy knowing I burned less gas, it won't be cheap forever, and the less we burn the less money goes to the middle east.

Depending on the hill I find even better results by slowing down to 50-55 or less at the crest and then accelerate up to 65-70 and then make a longer coast. Leaving Boulder there are usualy lots of vehicles struggling to keep speed going up already so don't feel like i'm causing a nuisance.

 

Good idea, I have an early morning tomorrow (even less traffic on I-70 than usual) so I'll give that a shot and see how it works out!

 

WOW... I am seriously impressed.

The best to date after by lift/tires is 19.8

 

great job, though, I don't think anyone will keep up to all those requirements in the long run if they want to keep their sanity. But pretty cool to know it can do 25 MPG average on one tank.

Getting over 20 is already pretty good for me

 

You'd think and for most you are probably right but after years of learning and refining the challenge still is their for me. My usual commuting time not really any shorter if I gun it to ever red anyway.

Then again if I am on a cross country roadtrip most hypermiling is gone and I'm 5-10 over the speed limit like everyone else trying to make time.