10% Mileage increase... free...

[Robin-535im]

Normal gas mileage for me has been ~20 MPG in my 535 im.

A while back I tried driving really really easy to save gas, like 5-10% throttle as a max, accelerating slowly everywhere I went. Worked okay but it was too hard to drive like that in a 535 5-speed, seemed like a waste. I could push up to 23 MPG at a max but couldn't sustain it because of my heavy foot.

Bill R. posted something a few years back about accelerating up to speed at 90% throttle but I never got that to save any gas. UNTIL I learned the second half of the secret... coasting.

I still drive like a bat outta hell but only until I get up to speed. Then I put it in neutral and coast as long as I can. Works best when traffic is light or on the highway/freeway. I've been sustaining 22 MPG the past few tanks, and that is pulling HARD through the first few gears up to redline, like the M30 wants to be driven.

My guess is that it works because (put your statistics hat on) MPG is a one-sided distribution. You can't go below zero MPG but you can theoretically approach a very high MPG. If you spend a little time at, say, 5 MPG while you rocket up to speed, you can coast at, say, 100 MPG (idling while the car coasts) and get a higher average. Not a huge difference but 10% = $7 a fill up, something to put aside for the new clutch I'll need from all the extra shifting.

Haven't tried a tune up and air in the tires, that's next...

[Paul in NZ]

Bill R. posted something a few years back about accelerating up to speed at 90% throttle but I never got that to save any gas. UNTIL I learned the second half of the secret... coasting.

I still drive like a bat outta hell but only until I get up to speed. Then I put it in neutral and coast as long as I can.

so you coast until you slow down to say 45 mph then accllerate hard to 60 again???
overrun uses no gas at all,idling still uses plenty on an M30

[ryan roopnarine]

IIRC, coasting in neutral, much like driving with the engine off, is specifically made illegal in more places than one would think. glad you could save some money, though. i don't have the stones to try that in an automatic.

[Ken35i]

IIRC, coasting in neutral, much like driving with the engine off, is specifically made illegal in more places than one would think. glad you could save some money, though. i don't have the stones to try that in an automatic.

I wonder how the **** a cop would know that you are coasting and if you were pulled over; what would be said?
"Do you know why I pulled you over?"
"No..."
"You were coasting."
DUN DUN DUUNNNN!!!
Luck you weren't coasting 5km/h over the limit otherwise you would have KILLED someone!!

And you're right there is a law somewhere in the US against your car moving out of gear. If any of that **** were introduced here, I'd do burn-outs outside parlament out of spite.

Sorry. Had to vent, stuff like this grinds my gears.

[Ross]

Ken,
At least where I live in the U.S.A., Illinois, there is no law that prohibits coasting. At least according to my 1998 copy of the Illinois Vehicle Code. I'm curious to know your referrence.
Here in the U.S.A. an individual is afforded the freedom to do stupid things, this is a mixed blessing.
Ross

[Ken35i]

Ken,
At least where I live in the U.S.A., Illinois, there is no law that prohibits coasting. At least according to my 1998 copy of the Illinois Vehicle Code. I'm curious to know your referrence.
Here in the U.S.A. an individual is afforded the freedom to do stupid things, this is a mixed blessing.
Ross

I read in the bimmerforums.com that learner drivers were taught not to coast because it was illegal, may have been in Cali. Coisidently it was in a hypermiling thread. But most drive automatics anyway.
To be stupid or to be an ******* shouldn't be illegal because we're all stupid and were all *******s.

Hypermiling is dangerous, as we all know, when you turn your engine off you loose brakes and steering. If somthing/someone were suddenly jump/run/turn infront of you, all that money you saved will go flying out the window when/if you hit them.

All in all your saving $dick-all when you're trying to increase economy like driving really close behind a truck. Do all the maths you want.
Internal combustion engines aren't very efficient anyway.

[Tiger]

Lol

[whiskychaser]

IIRC, coasting in neutral, much like driving with the engine off, is specifically made illegal in more places than one would think. glad you could save some money, though. i don't have the stones to try that in an automatic.

Driving with the engine off has got to be super dumb - you dont have any power steering or brakes You cant control your speed or use engine braking in silent sixth. It seems a lot of effort and very little enjoyment for £3.50

[Robin-535im]

so you coast until you slow down to say 45 mph then accllerate hard to 60 again???
overrun uses no gas at all,idling still uses plenty on an M30

Often in traffic you can rocket up to speed and coast and usually by the time you have to speed up again, the light has turned and you have to stop anyway.

Otherwise - as you surmised - I oscillate +/- 5 MPH around the speed limit. For a 45 MPH road I'll hurry up to 50 then coast down to 40 and repeat, though I try really hard not to be a jerk to people around me by being an obstacle.

Cool thing about flooring it off the line is that everyone else is so far behind that you have some room to coast before they catch up so you're not slowing down the people behind you.

Windows up, flat road, E34's roll pretty dang well.

[632 Regal]

flat peddling off the line takes a **** load of more fuel than say half throttle to do the same job...


wheres Bill R when ya need him?

Often in traffic you can rocket up to speed and coast and usually by the time you have to speed up again, the light has turned and you have to stop anyway.

Otherwise - as you surmised - I oscillate +/- 5 MPH around the speed limit. For a 45 MPH road I'll hurry up to 50 then coast down to 40 and repeat, though I try really hard not to be a jerk to people around me by being an obstacle.

Cool thing about flooring it off the line is that everyone else is so far behind that you have some room to coast before they catch up so you're not slowing down the people behind you.

Windows up, flat road, E34's roll pretty dang well.