Fuel Economy

We all know acceleration no matter how gentle completely f**ks your MPG up if you have a car that monitors this. I've always wondered which results in a higher average MPG

Slowly and gently accelerating up to cruising speed or
Getting up to cruising speed as fast as you can, spending less time accelerating and more time cruising at a higher MPG.


Also, how is it that socks work on either foot!?

The manual for my car recommends using about half throttle but changing up pretty early.

Rick, do you find much difference in performance between half throttle and wide open throttle? I'd guess that in high gears at low revs half throttle would be far more than the engine could deal with unless you had a monstrous amount of torque?

Accelerate to cruising speed as fast as possible. Not because its more fuel efficient but its more fun.

One interesting take on soaring fuel prices, is that petrol is now so expensive that you should definitely make sure you enjoy it instead of plodding along miserably. I doubt many will agree...

im with chris on this one

In the 9 years ive been driving ive probably owned in the region of 15 cars and not one has been bought with fuel economy in mind.
On top of that i have never once shopped around for cheaper fuel, paid attention to fuel prices or kept an eye on what mileage it get out of a tank.

I fill up, drive it and when the pertol light comes on i fill up again.
Lifes too short to worry about things that are out of our control.

lol to be honest I'm the same, my car (before I started replacing the engine...) would get 20mpg if I drove as economically as possible, usually somewhere above half that, and I never really cared because I love driving and I waas driving the car I'd wanted since playing Sega Rally 15 years ago.

So really just asking a hypothetical question. I actually recon it might be a bit more economical to accelerate up to cruising speed in as short a time as possible and then spend more time cruising...

Last year i spent most of the summer and every penny i had on building a track ready Peugeot 106 Rallye, swapped the engine, full rollcage, suspension, spripped out the f**king lot.
Did a few trackdays in it and it was an animal but that last trackday i did at Rockingham cost me almost £600 which included the cost of the trackday, fuel, new tyres and brakes after i got home. Currently out of the car game while i save for a wedding but ill be back to something special next year.

As for the acceleration question - im guessing gradual would be more economical due to the fact that when you acclerate the cars ECU tells itself to put more fuel into the engine therefore using more petrol.

If that makes sense...

what do you drive tom, a hummer :/

X2. My old M3 did 17 MPG around town, if I drove like I was driving miss daisy, If I booted it I got about 8-15 but it was way way more fun. I wish I'd never sold that car

When i had the Peugeot Trackcar i would go for a Sunday blast through the lanes and do £40 of fuel in less than an hour.

Surely that's offsset at least a little by the fact that you'd be spending less time actually accelerating though? Obviously accelerating harshly uses more fuel, but the fact that you spend a lot less time accelerating and more time cruising could make all the difference?

Lee, I drive (drove, until I finish it off) a 1994 Toyota Celica GT4 WRC. 4 wheel drive and a turbo pushing out 20 psi pretty much killed my fuel economy. And also, in the end, killed my engine. I loved this car since I first saw it on Sega Rally lol.

Since my car's got a turbo the torque curve is flatter than you'd think for a high specific output engine, though it's obviously a lot faster up the rev range. The difference from half throttle to full is fairly pronounced.

I do track my mpg, largely because if it suddenly starts to alter for no apparent reason it could be an early warning of engine problems. However, it does tell me that the difference on similar journeys from driving deliberately slowly to driving however the hell I want is less than 10%; for under £3 a week I'll have fun, thanks.

In theroy you would think so but look at the whole urban driving/ motorway driving saga. Around town your constantly stop start driving therefore in effect accelerating quick more often than you would on a motorway where your driving at a steady speed.

Again, not sure if that makes sense.