theblue

great links man. That was crazy, 800 miles on 1 tank....wow

GetCaughtDead

seriously...that's nuts. I could never be that prudent in my driving style, but I do try to keep my trunk free of bodies, and I avoid using a/c if I can possibly stand it. for me it's about more than saving money, it's about saving fuel.

toeveryhour

iTrader: (3)

Who cares what the crusing speed is for optimal mileage? You can only do the speed limit, unless you're loaded with $$ to pay off tickets... which I guess you wouldn't care about optimal crusing speed for highway mileage ANYWAYS.

monkeysauce

My Great Aunt Frannie said she passed someone in an RS3 when she was taking the Buick out on sunday, that must have been you

Pirranha

When my car was stock I tried to see what the best speed to get good gas mileage too. Turns out that the best I got with my 5spd was to do cruise control at 60mph and I got 35mpg. Now that I have rims, which are heavier, I'm getting 28mpg

paul34

I was under the impression it was exactly at 55 MPH - since with the stock wheels, 55 MPH = 2500 RPM exact.

I try to set cruise control to that whenever possible. Last time I did that (all city) I got 29 MPG.

This also includes coasting in gear as much as possible, and almost never using the brakes except for red lights... I don't usually downshift just for the sake of braking, either (sometimes I will). I just use the braking available in the current gear by taking my foot off the pedal.

Pirranha

I tried to do 55mph, but that was unbearably slow and it almost seemed as if people were getting mad at me. 60 was the slowest I could go...lol

farberio

I lie, I got 36 MPG doing 78 MPH driving to Flint MI.

dropzone

128 MPH in 5th chillin at like 5800 RPM. That is THE speed for optimum mileage.

-Holla at yo boi

paul34

Yea, you have to at least keep up with the flow of traffic. Definitely can't do 55 everywhere... some people do anyway, and they're the sort of people that cause accidents and such .

Although I take advantage of empty highways and do 55-60, if there's traffic, then I'll keep up with the flow. This usually means 70-75. Sometimes I'll have to disengage cruise completely because people in heavier traffic don't know how to keep a constant speed AT ALL. I hate wasting gas on inefficient people

TougeTerror

Between 70-75 is the best, for my car at least. Anything over that and I'd notice the tank would drain much faster.

paul34

Also, though, if you have a LOT of hills on the highway, especially steep(er) ones, then cruise control probably won't be the best. Whether you're in an auto (multiple downshifts to maintain speed) or a manual (the engine must work much harder to maintain speeds since the tranny is in overdrive), it's pretty wasteful of gas/stressful for an engine to work so hard in overdrive.

It might - and check traffic conditions around you - be better just to keep a constant throttle by yourself, and allow the speed and revs to fall (keep throttle input constant). Then just pick up speed when on a downhill slope (don't go to neutral or anything... just stay at that same throttle input - you'll gain speed).