Are there any hypermilers out there?
As gas prices continue to go up, people keep looking for ways to squeeze more fuel mileage out of their cars. I know my husband is taking hypermiling to a new level, and he has been nagging me about my driving habits that are left over from my days in Southern California.
Really, I do try to conserve gas, but it’s just so easy to accelerate quickly when the light turns green. Someday I’ll learn. I have managed to grow accustomed to sticking to the speed limit on the highway, though. I guess I’m improving, albeit slowly.
Today’s question comes from Denise. She asks,
When coasting in a car, do you use less gas when the car is in drive or in
neutral? Thanks a bunch-I live in a hilly area.
I have to admit that Denise stumped me. I don’t know much about cars, so I had to do a little research on this question. I finally found an answer at the Popular Mechanics website, and the answer is, it depends.
Older cars will use less gas in neutral, though it’s not necessarily safe to put your car in neutral. If you have to hit the gas suddenly to maneuver your car, you’d be in trouble. Apparently newer fuel-injected cars use no gas when coasting in drive, so coasting in drive is the more economical choice if you have a newer car.
Other Tips for Conserving Gas
- Coast as much as you can before hitting your brakes to stop.
- Accelerate slowly out of a stop.
- Keep your speed under 65 mph.
- More importantly, keep a steady speed. Now is the time to use cruise control, if it’s safe.
- Keep your tires properly inflated.
- For hard-core hypermilers, buy an MPG Meter to keep track of your MPG.
Do you practice the fine art of hypermiling? Have you noticed other people in your area driving slower? Do you have any gas conserving tips to share with Denise and other readers?
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That’s probably because it’s all based on RPM’s. The car can be in drive and have the engine idling, or it can be in neutral and the engine is idling. Either way, the engine is using the same amount of gas to continue working at it’s minimum. (~750 RPM for my Miata, for example.)
Your tachometer is what’s telling you how hard your engine is working, and it’d be based off of that. Of course, this is harder to control in automatic transmissions, if not impossible. For best fuel savings, and overall maintenance costs, manuals are the way to go.
However, if you do have an automatic, I’d caution against putting it into neutral… You lose too much control when you do that. Many people believe that a car’s brakes are where your control is – Completely wrong. Your control of the car comes with control of the gas. (Especially evident in manuals – You’re either on the gas or on the clutch and ALWAYS have control. Not so with automatics.) Even with a manual, neutral isn’t really something that needs to be used. It’s as simple as disengaging the clutch. :)
Added gas tip: Always keep your car in good working order. Other than the extras on the inside, everything is key to keeping the machine running smoothly. If you want the most out of your car, take care of her. It’s as simple as that. You can follow all the other “rules” to a “T” and still be stuck with awful gas mileage if something in the car isn’t working properly. (Right down to the seemingly most neglected parts of all: the exhaust. And brakes. Come on, people, can’t you hear them squealing?!)
i have been hypermiling as best i can in my city driving (i’m rarely on the highway). at the very least i’m paying much more attention to smooth stopping and starting. which makes me notice how much my husband needs to improve his! when he drives i tell him i feel like a ping pong ball in the car.
My commutes are so small, I haven’t thought about trying it. It really doesn’t make sense for my short-throw driving habits. But we’ll soon be upgrading to a new vehicle and I would love to put an MPG meter in there to see how much I can save.
Never put your car in neutral when you are using cruise control. We know a couple who got in a bad accident doing this. Something in the engine blew up and they lost control.
Great tips! I also read something somewhere about air conditioner vs. windows and I think it’s more fuel-efficient to use the air conditioner on higher speeds and windows for city driving, but I can’t find my source. Anyway I will definitely keep trying the ones you listed here!
I just read an article about people causing traffic hazards because they misunderstand hypermiling and its principles. People should be aware that:
1) Drafting is dangerous and not endorsed by many hypermilers.
2) Driving too slow can be as dangerous as speeding, and the police will cite you for driving too slow on freeways and major roadways.
3) Putting your automatic car out of gear or turning it off can be hazardous, especially in high traffic areas. You never want to do anything that will cause you to lose your power brakes, steering, etc.
It’s important to conserve fuel, but your safety is even more important!
My daily commute is about 40 miles round trip on mostly rural roads. I’ve found that I’ve been able to cut my gas consumption from a full tank every week to half a tank a week. I slow down going up hills, and use cruise control on the flats. As I approach corners, I let my foot off the gas completely.
It’s saved me a lot of money over the last six months.
We have been hypermiling ever since we read an article on Reader’s Digest about it. We have increased our average mileage by about 6 MPG’s. I am not sure what the $ savings is, but it has to be a lot! My husband always jokes that he is helping our national security by reduceing our dependence on foreign oil!
The biggest way to save (15%+) is to moderate your driving aggression.
People forget that the 55MPH law wasn’t put into place for safety, it was place to save fuel!
I’ve also been practicing hypermiling over the past few weeks and it does conserve a lot of gas. I put my gear in neutral going down hills and cruise when i’m driving on flat terrains. I just don’t like all the lights that are around my area and the people that drive way past the speed limit. Why rush?
“That’s probably because it’s all based on RPM’s. The car can be in drive and have the engine idling, or it can be in neutral and the engine is idling. Either way, the engine is using the same amount of gas to continue working at it’s minimum. (~750 RPM for my Miata, for example.)
Your tachometer is what’s telling you how hard your engine is working, and it’d be based off of that. Of course, this is harder to control in automatic transmissions, if not impossible. For best fuel savings, and overall maintenance costs, manuals are the way to go.”
@Foxie: This is not true. The RPM of the car is mostly unrelated to the load and consequently the amount of fuel burned. A car in neutral at idle will use less fuel than a car in gear, moving at idle. Another example is if you are driving in gear at 2000 rpm and then start up a hill but maintain your speed. Your car will use more fuel to go up a hill at 2000 rpm then it would to remain on a flat road at 2000 rpm.
@MITBeta: Thanks for correcting me, heh. *Opens mouth, inserts foot* I’m always partially right when it comes to car things, yet I overlook some simple ones… However, I use engine braking a lot, so I’m rarely in neutral. I’d rather have complete control always and use a little more gas than give up some control just to save some. I get good enough mileage in the Miata that it doesn’t bother me.
As long as you aren’t blocking traffic, go ahead with it. But don’t become a “rolling road block.” I ran into a minivan doing just such a thing yesterday. I was not happy. I wasn’t doing 90, either. Just 75, which, for the S, happens to be optimum gas mileage speed. (Engine tuned for racing, so it likes to be working a bit harder.) I had plenty of people behind me, too, and I hate being tailgated in a sports car… (Of course, the people around here have absolutely no respect for anything that someone has that is nicer than what they have. None.)
“Never put your car in neutral when you are using cruise control. We know a couple who got in a bad accident doing this. Something in the engine blew up and they lost control.”
I can’t see how this works, at all. You have to be in gear to use cruise control. Any car that would let you do that isn’t properly functioning.
@Alex: Try explaining that to people when you’re using A/C in a convertible. ;)