1) Take a look at the hypermiling techniques http://www.hypermiling.com/ 2) Track your mileage religiously (it often lets you know something is going wrong while you can still do something about it) and it will tell you when you're breaking the bank to seconds on trips 3) Check your tire pressure every other tank and when ambient temperature changes. Harder tires reduce rolling resistance, but extend stopping distances. 4) Most important of all, SLOW DOWN! Seriously, regardless of your vehicle's inherent aerodynamic characteristics the faster you go the harder your engine must work to get you through all that air. We all drive a vehicle with the aerodynamic characteristics of a brick on wheels. Your vehicles engine has to work against three forces to move you anywhere; rolling resistance, its own momentum, and wind resistance. Of these the greatest is wind resistance. Slowing down reduces the resistance you must overcome logarithmically; the time lost at a slower pace is linear.
Matt Thyer matt_thyer@hotmail.com Help me support Washington trails!
-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Michael Sullivan Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 2:58 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Gas Mileage Improvements? I have a 91 GL Auto with approx 188K miles. I tracked a recent tank from empty to empty again. I put in 14.4 gallons and got 218 miles out of it. This equates to only 15.14 mpg. A/C was off majority of time. This sucks worse than I thought. These are a mix of highway and city miles. Can I get some suggestions on improving this, please? Michael in San Antonio P.S. No engine conversion suggestions, please. Thanks in advance. 91GL Weekender AT 2.1L 'Gringo' 73 Beetle |
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