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Date:         Sat, 24 May 2008 16:13:31 +0000
Reply-To:     Richard Golen <rgolen@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Richard Golen <rgolen@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Lessons on gas mileage from VW's Autostadt
Comments: To: taeke <taeke.t@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <48383610.0405be0a.7d0d.ffffa519@mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

Sorry, but believe it or not, I've never owned a car w/an automatic transmission....so I can't say if its a problem.

> Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 11:37:01 -0400 > From: taeke.t@GMAIL.COM > Subject: Re: Lessons on gas mileage from VW's Autostadt > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > > Considering the considerable size and age difference, the van is pretty respectable compared to the beetle. Insurance, depr. And upkeep eat in big time to the gas saving of driving the smaller car. > > Is it rough on an auto to put it in neutral as a matter of habit? > -----Original Message----- > From: "Richard Golen" <rgolen@HOTMAIL.COM> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > Sent: 5/24/2008 7:30 AM > Subject: Lessons on gas mileage from VW's Autostadt > > A couple of years ago one of my sons (who had an internship at VW Wolfsburg) and I spent the day at VW's Autostad. At Autostadt, there were a number of 2 to 4 hour driving courses that you could take - performance driving, Toureg off roading and economy driving. We chose economy driving. > > Quite frankly I thought I did pretty well on the economy driving front prior to the course. I was wrong. Actually was able to improve my "performance" by 15%! > > Here's what I learned (many apply to a manual transmission car) > > 1. The obvious. Tune ups, clean filters, tire pressures, etc. > > 2. Anticipate, anticipate, anticipate. If you are coming to a stop sign or stop light, don't drive up to it, coast to it. Look forward down the road to see stop signs, etc, and get ready for them. Why waste gas and drive up to a stop? > > 3. Three things are important to gas mileage - throttle position, revs and speed. > Throttle Position - go gentle on the throttle. Fast acceleration wastes gas. The more open the throttle the more gas that is used. Gentle and deliberate acceleration is the way to go. Driving around town, there's no need to quickly accelerate to 50 mph and then have to back down to 30 mph. > > Revs - it takes gas to spin the engine. The higher the revs, the more gas used. We were taught to shift (again around town) at 2000-2400 rpm to the next gear. Racers call this "short shifting". In addition we were told to skip gears. We were driving a Golf V (Rabbit in the US) w/6 speed manual. Shifted 1st to 2nd to 4th to 6th. On my 98 New Beetle (2.0L Gas 5 speed) I shift 1,2,3,5. Don't think this really works well on a Vanagon, so I just keep the revs down. > > Speed - Besides the obvious (speed means more revs = more gas), the faster you go, the more aerodynamic drag you have. The more drag, the more gas. > > 4. Use gravity!! One of the last lessons was to use gravity to your advantage. If you are on a down hill stretch, put it in neutral and coast. Years ago when I first learned to drive, I was taught NEVER to put the car in neutral because using brakes weren't as good as they are now and you needed the braking action to help slow a car down (keeping it in gear and letting off the gas). This is not the case now. > > 5. If you have cruise control, use it! Cruise control saves gas as the computer control gently opens and closes the throttle. The computer is better able to anticipate subtle changes in speed, etc. than we can. If you are driving down a long country road with a speed limit of 40 mph, put the cruise on (assuming the traffic conditions warrant it). On the highway, by all means use cruise. On the highway, anticipate your movements and the movements of other cars so that you are not going off cruise and back on. I learned to drive on a 36 hp Beetle...you had to learn to maintain your speed, so anticipating your "moves" became part of the driving experience...so I use that "skill" while driving on cruise. > > Most of these techniques work well in around town driving, but also work well on the highway. True, while getting on the highway, I don't accelerate to redline before shifting gears, but probably rev up to 3K and then shift. > > Using these techniques, I've been able to increase my gas mileage on both my Vanagon and New Beetle. On my 87 Westy, I've gone from 16 mpg to 19.6 mpg in mixed driving. On the highway, I've gone from 18 to 20 (slower acceleration, coasting where safe and practical), not exceeding 68 mph (VNE for you pilot types) on cruise control. My New Beetle has gone from 24 mpg to 27 mpg mixed driving, 27 mpg to 30 mpg (72 mph - 3400 rpm on cruise control). > > Ric > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Change the world with e-mail. Join the i’m Initiative from Microsoft. > http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Join/Default.aspx?source=EML_WL_ChangeWorld

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