Who Coasts? tips and techniques anyone
I coast a fair bit to save on fuel, I normally do it when nobody is behind me or I build up more speed than I need and coast all the way to the red lights or the next junction.
I can coast 400 meters easy on level ground, I try to coast down hills as its all free energy, I know the arguments for not coasting but they do not hold up with my style of driving.i I have a 6 mile drive to my brothers house and I must coast around 1.5 miles each way, its a small saving but it adds up over a thousand miles. |
You won't find many arguments against it here. Lots of folks here do it. Read threads about "P&G" or "Pulse & Glide". It's made a huge difference in my mileage, giving me the best results I've had. I do it pretty much as you described, trying to do it downhill when possible.
|
I coast uphill, downhill, level, in traffic, no traffic, just about anytime. About the only time i do not do it is when traffic is heavy and everyone is going about 50 with only 1 car length or less between cars. Yes, this is Los Angeles and one booboo and next thing you know 4 to 8 cars pile up. The worse was 102 cars on the 710 in a light fog. The best way to coast is up to a big truck, eoc and if you do it right you maintain it at a constant speed for about 5 to 10 seconds before you start losing speed. The more you practice the better you will get. Just yesterday i went 4 miles in city traffic and stop signs and only used power about 1.8 miles.
|
In an experiment I coasted for 13 minutes 45 seconds out of 18 minutes. Mileage was close to 100. Not practical in any traffic.
regards gary |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Do you guys think a little more Psi in your tires is better for coasting? What do you guys thinking about putting nitrogen in your tires instead of regular air which is heavier? |
More PSI in the tires definitely helps coasting, people report far longer coasts. If you're concerned about safety or wear, take a look at the tire pressure link in my sig.
Have you tried EOC at all? Most power brakes will work at full power for a couple applications/braking events, and at speed, power steering ought to be ok. I certainly wouldn't want to convince someone to try it if they're uncomfortable with it, but it's different for each car and driver. Nitrogen in your tires will not help FE. Air is already 78% nitrogen anyway. |
That's a pretty decent article, far less doom-and-gloom than many articles about hypermiling. One annoying thing is that they twice make drafting out to mean unsafely tailgating. In fact, the most effective drafting requires you to be back in a 2 to 3 second following distance, which puts you in the trucker's visibility zone as well as the appropriate distance taught to kids in public drivers education courses.
|
coasting is crucial
I think coasting is the most important way to increase mileage in urban driving. You can easily get several hundred miles per gallon while coasting in neutral, which offsets the low-zero mpgs in other urban driving situations. Even short glides add up, but don't be afraid to coast much further as you get more skilled. You'll be surprised how far from the light you can start coasting. (I aim for half miles.)
Tips for Coasting:
|
I noticed cars can speed up even on a very gentle gradient, this happened when I was getting towed home, my brothers car in gear would keep a constant speed on these gradients but the rope would slacken as my car accelerated, I had to touch the brakes to put the tension in the rope again, the road looked dead level, maybe this is the vacuum being made by the towing car as well?
I was around 8 feet behind the bumper, is this close enough to be in the clean air? |
All times are GMT -8. The time now is 04:46 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.