Hi um, I am brand new to hypermilling.
 

Hi. I am a young person, it will probably show. I know a little bit about cars. I have a 1996 volvo 960 wagon. It gets about 18-22 mpg pending my habits. I like to drive it as fast as it will go. But I simply cannot afford to pay the gas my volvo consumes while I race it. It is a HEAVY car. I have never been caught racing, and I have lost one race out of 30. Everyone is different, and I expect to be treated somewhat hostile for a while here because of my racing addiction, yes I say addiction. I want to learn how to stretch my gas as far as it will go, I don't care how. I am mechanicly inclined, not linguisticly. I don't know a whole lot about cars, but I am very easy to teach.

True Fact: When I learned that there was an entire online community dedicated to gas savings, I almost cried. Gas is a real problem now, and it's about time someone did something about it. And I salute every single one of you.

first things first, buy a more fuel efficient car. something like a civic or a corolla. im assuming that your still in high school since you said that your young?

stop street racing, it can kill someone and is very dangerous. ive been there and done that, its not a smart thing to do. if you like to race, take it to a track. I had a friend in high school who got caught racing, and it took alot of money for that mistake

I am switching from a wagon to a sedan, and upping the year one. it gets better FE(by up to 10 miles per gallon CITY alone.).

On the matter of street racing: I am sorry, but I won't be stopping any time soon. I am very carefull while doing it, and avoid traffic at all costs.

I need to know the methods of increasing mph. Both in driving technique and in mods. Under the hood mods are not best for me, but will be looked into as well as I can. I am looking for things like aerodynamic mods and driving techniques. Volvos don't like turning off the engine while coasting to a stop. It's annoying to change from drive to park*start car* and back to drive again.

When I first started building hot rods, back in the 60's an old rodder told me that speed costs, and then asked me how fast I wanted to go..

I have to ask.. Just exactly what the *hell* are you racing against that you win with a 960 wagon with an automatic?

Two quick points: happily, the aerodynamic mods will speed up your racing some, at least on top end.

And, with an automatic the best way to get high mileage is probably pretend you have a raw egg between your foot and the gas pedal and the brake pedal and drive in such a manner that you will not break the egg.

Street racing is nothing new...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcDtobKr-_M

Keep reading the forum to find your driving and aero ideas.

As for having to shift to Park to restart, you can't start in Neutral? You probably can, but unless your car is rated for flat-towing, EOC is a bad idea. Look in the manual to see if it says you can tow your car with all four wheels down, if it says you can then you can try some EOC.

Street racing is dangerous, illegal, and in some cases immoral, and you shouldn't do it. This is not a safety or law forum, so let's talk about FE. When you race you destroy your MPG calculations. Racing should be a separate cost/measurement for you, so fill up before and after any event, or if you want an empty tank to keep your weight low, don't expect to figure your MPG after racing. Maybe a ScanGauge would be a good investment for you.

Try switching to track racing. Bump up your "bracket" by doing so. This WILL help you save on gas. If you lose one in 30 then go up a skill level. This will likely result in fewer races but better competition, thus saving gas. Also safer. Note I didn't say switch because street is unsafe (although it is) - you asked how - that is one of the HOW ways - switch to track racing.

Sell the Volvo and get a Corolla, Acura, whatever. Many more opportunities there for specific competition, and they get better mileage.

You, my friend, need a stock Civic VX. The car was practically designed for turning the motor off and coasting. They look sporty, they have a VTEC-E engine, they have stylish, light alloy wheels, and the worse you can do if you're driving like a maniac is get in the mid 30s for mileage, no matter how you drive (assuming you leave it stock). And the best you can do is the mid 60s.

I don't pretend it's anything new. And the bulk of my races were won not because my car was any better, but because my opponents weren't willing to push their cars faster. I am willing to wring out every last bit of speed, as they start getting sketchy around 120(I say it's psychological). But hell, as long as the money showed I didn't give a **** WHY I won.

Take out the passenger seats when you know you're not going to have riders. Don't fill the tank when you're going to be racing.
I'll skip giving the life saving advise,because I really don't like kids.

Well thanks so much, hope you get your SSI check soon. That lazy mailman, taking money from the government...

Anyways, I would just like to annouce over a 10% increase in FE from just changing my driving habits alone(and this is calculating my best mpg before, to current[it's over 20% at my worst])! I am simply amazed how much it really adds up! I must admit, when people were mentioning the MINOR gains from all the little things they do, I didn't believe it would cause THIS much of an impact!

Turning off my engine on stretches of road over a quarter mile to coast to a stoplight, and gaining speed while going DOWN a hill then coasting. I have only been turning my car off occasionally, but I now know that this isn't just a minor savings, I am going to be saving anywhere from 150 to 300 bucks every single month by doing this. THANKS SO MUCH!

Btw current mpg is around 22. Alot better than what I was getting!