SpeedKnight's "experiments"
I'm putting this here as opposed to the Experiments section mainly because I'm not being strictly technical and scientific in my "experiments."
I've been doing two different things, as of late. I'm trying to get my FE as high as I can, mainly to save money as opposed to reducing my carbon footprint. Reducing my carbon footprint is a nice side effect, though. 1) I have an 80 mile round trip commute to/from work. It's predominately 60+MPH highway driving. I can see definate changes in fuel level over the coarse of a day. Based solely on the needle's position, I can grossly judge if my FE is better or worse. As a "standard," I use up 1/4 tank per round trip during my commute. From day to day, I will change my average speed, use coasting more or less often, use the brakes more or less often, etc. By habit, I get into the highest gear possible as soon as possible. 2) After ~205 miles driving, I top off the gas tank. I then record my trip odometer and how much gas I put in. I started doing this 3 fill ups ago. I understand neither of these is super accurate, but it's better than nothing. The latest "experiment," which starts in the morning, is to test closing up some of the grill. I've taped over about 1/2 of the openings in my grill. I'll make a very gross judgement on the effect based on how much the fuel needle moves. Then, when I hit ~205miles for my current trip, I'll fill up again and roughly calculate the "new" FE. Again, I know my "experiments" leave a lot to be desired, but at least I'm doing something. Regardless, I'm interested in any ideas that can be offered up here. I'm also happy to be sharing my attempts to improve my FE. |
Duct tape is great to test whether or not a grille block will work on your car. Keep us posted...
-Jay |
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Welcome.
Addressing content in your "Welcome Thread" post as well as this thread... That's a lot of family for a guy driving a GTI. :) Worn tires are actually good for FE (fuel economy). They have significantly less RR (rolling resistance), according to theory and measurements reported in most RR documentation I've read. I have no way to confirm that for myself. Good job, getting down to 60mph as a spirited driver. I've managed to calm my driving a lot but I can't cruise at 60mph on the highway. For reasonable accuracy, fill at the same pump facing the same direction and don't top off. Also, it can be difficult to trust results from a single tank, so you might not want to declare success or failure until you've had a few tanks (while conditions/driving seemed to be the same before and after). Your GTI VR6 has a normally aspirated V6 engine, right? I wouldn't be surprised if it has the same transmission as the 1.8T, which is probably geared low even for that engine, let alone yours. How many RPM at 70mph in your car? |
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The GTI is my car. One of my gazillion hobbies is working on cars (making them go faster, handle better, get better FE, etc.). The GTI is my latest "patient." The family vehicle is a slightly less fuel efficient, but much more accomodating Chevy TrailBlazer EXT. Yes, it's big, and yes the I6 under it's hood gets horrible mileage, but the truck offers up plenty of room for the family and our Ren Faire hobby. Quote:
Where I like the idea of having a low RR, and thus better mileage, I cannot have tires that won't let me hug a cloverleaf at 60MPH or so (especially in a car that has the ability). The tires I plan on getting are Falken Ziex ZE-912 225/50-15 tires. They rank #1 on Consumer Reports "Ultra High Performance All Season" guide. Many an internet form also gives them high marks, at least for performance. I can't seem to find anything that tells me how they fair as far as RR goes. Quote:
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I'm completely new to owning an import car, let alone a European car, so I don't know much about other engines. I'm also not to sure what my gear ratios are, though I know I wish the 5th gear was taller. At 70MPH, the car revs at 3K. I'm used to driving V8 powered Chevrolet Caprices and Camaros that tach about 1200 at 70MPH, so 3K seems high to me. Sadly, I don't know for certain if this is normal or not. You asking does make me want to look this up. |
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Even the new V6 Camaro with its 273 ft-lb torque (almost all of which is right there at idle) has short gears on its manual transmission. The V8 model is geared like I think the V6 probably should be, and the V8 probably should have the T56 (with its .50 6th) that was in 4th generation V8 Camaros. |
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1 = 3.300 2 = 1.944 3 = 1.308 4 = 1.034 5 = .838 So, 5th gear is a bit of an overdrive, but I'm pretty sure this engine can support an even taller overdrive. From a racing standpoint, I like 2nd gear, and 3rd isn't bad. If I were to change anything, I think I'd go with a 1:1 4th gear and something like a .7 5th gear. Quote:
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Yup, 304hp from that 30mpg V6 model. I want one so bad! I ran the numbers, it's 2025rpm at 70mph, respectable but definitely unnecessarily high for that engine in that car.
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Back on the original topic... *grin* I had the trip computer on my car running on the MPG display this morning... I pulled a 30.2MPG average on the way to work this morning! Mind you, this awesome feat was completely negated this afternoon on the way home by an excursion to VA Beach. I don't think I'm going to turn very good numbers at my next fill up. The fuel needle is sitting at 3/8, with the trip odometer sitting at 205 miles. Last fill up, the needle was at 3/8 with the trip odometer at 224.6. We'll see if tomorrow's trip to work (where I will also fill up) evens things out. |
Well, I had to fill the tank again today. If you check my gas log, you'll see I pulled a 27.06 average. This is down from my last average, but up from the first one I calculated/recorded. Jury's still out on taping over the grill and bumper openings, as it applies to me. Certainly, something good is going on, as I have seen, twice now, MPG figures in excess of 30 on my car's trip computer.
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