How To Increase Your Gas Mileage

armensti

ok so i just came back from a 1:30 drive and i came to a conclusion that the computer system is BS lol im just joking.

I took the car out on the freeway and i left it in 6th gear with cruise control on at 70 mph. i reset the computer by holding down the first button and i kept on driving. when the computer was done calculating i was getting about 36.6mpg and 69.5 mph. after few minutes it slowly started to go down to 33 and then to 30 and then to 29 and so on and on. after some time i started averaging about 24.5mpg and then 25 and then 26, 27, 28. so the highest that i had was 36.6 and the lowest that i had was about 24.5 on the freeway. It mostly depends on the road, if its bumpy and an incline the gas mileage gets less but if its smooth and a decline the gas mileage increases.

After an hour of driving on the freeway i decided to get off and drive on the street to see what happens. i got off the freeway and i started driving on the street. i wanted to reset the computer again so it starts off its calculation on the street. so i did it and when it came back on i was getting 33.6 mpg for like 5-10 minutes but then it went down to 28, 27, 25. the lowest i had on the street was about 22.3 but the average is anywhere from 24.5 to 25.2. i dont know if it will change tomorrow but after driving it for 30 minutes and going threw a good amount of red lights my average was 25mpg.

On the street when taking off on first i wouldn't let the rpm go higher then 1.5k. after 1st i would go to 2nd, after about 15-20 feet of driving on first. Right before i hit 15-20mph i would go to 3rd and go all the way to 25-30mph and i would skip 4th and go straight to 5th. and i was driving like that for most of the time. if i was approaching a red light i would go to neutral from 5th from far away and wait until it turned green and i would drop it to 4th and then 5th. I even tried 6th for few minutes but it didn't make any difference so i don't think we need to use 6th on the street.

so before i did this i was getting about 15.9 mpg now it says im getting 25mpg so give it a try and lets see what happens.

p.s. i probably would not be driving like this again because its so slow people might mistake me for a granny lol

chubbs

Hmmm - bit of a paradox here - you've just improved your mpg readout by driving your car around the country, using fuel for no good reason!*

Don't worry mate - I've done it myself, plenty of times - any excuse to go for a drive!








*actually, there is a good reason - the reason is that it's just a damn fine car to ride in!

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armensti

i actually love the drive lol i dont even have to be going fast in it. as long as im driving it

Minicobra1

Another way to save gas while driving in the city, if your car has the sport package, turn off the Syncro Rev. This can save you quite a bit depending on traffic conditions and or/if you like to downshift while slowing.
Of course you cant heel & toe after turning off SR

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spearfish25

So if you drive like you own a Nissan Versa, you get better gas mileage. I'm not sure how many 370z owners bought this car for its fuel economy...I bought it to enjoy all 332 ponies. If that means 15mpg, so be it.

Anatoray

I think you got the wrong car if you're worried about your gas mileage...

As for the Z's computer that calculates the gas mileage, are you talking about the left gauge or the nav computer that records trip mileage? If you're talking about the gauge, then it's not doing anything out of the ordinary. Those types of MPG gauges always fluctute between the low teens and 30s when cruising on the free way. If it's your trip computer though, then I'd have to say it's broken. That only calculates it based on how many miles you actually drive on each gallon, so it should never hit the 30s, unless you're finding a 30 mile decline somewhere.

JacksHereR

i thought driving on cruise control was known to be well inefficient.... slowing u down on down hills etc so you need more gas to get up the next hill?

Anatoray

It is, because rather than coasting on downhills it's breaking to keep at speed and drops your RPMs. Cruise control isn't abut efficiency, it's about being lazy and not having to control your speed yourself on long trips.

frost

Fuel efficiency may not have been the original purpose for creating cruise control, but it cannot be denied that using cruise control does indeed help gas mileage.

Edmunds did a test on this, and on average you can increase your mileage by 7%, but it can go up as much as 14%.

Other important notes from their testing, if you're going to idle more than a minute, turn the car off. This can save up to 19%.

Avoiding aggressive driving can save up to 31% (I know, I know, just sayin).

Driving lower speeds on long trips can save up to 14% (again, I know).

Things that didn't matter as much as they expected:
A/C On, Windows Up vs. A/C Off, Windows Down.
Tire pressure. (Which I'm pretty surprised to hear).

Educ8r

I have to agree with you!

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chubbs

One or two people buy 370z's then try to drive them as economically as possible. They are called Perverts.

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'03 Grey >>> '06 Black >>>'10 Silver >>> '16 Grey ^

frost

One of my coworkers bought a solstice gxp (is that right?) and always drives under the speed limit. When queried about why he bought that particular car with no desire to actually drive that car, he said "I like how it looks."

Anatoray

Well, some people buy cars for different reasons. I bought the 370 because I liked how it looked. Of course, I was looking for a car I was going to have fun driving, but the 370's looks is what made the decision final.

ChrisSlicks

Don't drop it in neutral. Leave it in a high gear and lift off. If you lift off the gas fuel is cut, in neutral it's still idling along. Idle consumption isn't much but it could make a small difference over time.

monthtrial

Are you suggesting that leaving the car in gear while coasting yields greater fuel savings than placing the car in neutral?

When in motion, If idle RPM is @ 750, that should reduce fuel consumption as when the engine speed is @ 1K + RPM.