Will your car do this?
 

I was playing around today on the way home today. I wanted to see how slow my Festiva would go in 5th gear. Well, it'll idle at 22 mph without bucking or anything and slowly given the gas will accelerate smoothly!! Imagine my mileage if I could drive at about 25 mph for a whole tank!

I haven't tried idling 5th gear...I may try it on my way home on a flat stretch.

Krousdb DID drive a whole tank in an Insight at low speed and achieved something like 160+ mpg.

My car will cruise around town in 5th gear, but it doesn't really like it. Then again, it's at about 1500 rpm at 31 mph...

I've read from other people that the XFi cam makes the Metro motor happier to idle around in high gear than the regular cam. More torque down low.

PS - Dan's Insight marathon wasn't just idling along - they were using P&G.

Hello -

Here are my 5th gear RPMs :


MPH...RPM
00.....800+ (My idle depends on the PCM/ECU's frame of mind)
25.....1100 "Bucking Zone"
30.....1300
35.....1500
40.....1700
45.....1900
50.....2100

When I am driving around town, I am usually in 5th gear as much as possible. Below 30 MPH puts me in bucking territory, but on a flat road, I can "nurse it up" from 25 MPH at 1100 RPM if I am light in the gas.

CarloSW2

Brock said that the TDI wagon approaches 110mpg idling in fifth at ~30mph, I wonder what a Lupo with a 1.4L TDI would do... Of course this with a diesel. A gasser won't see that mileage by just idling. The Insight run was at 17mph and they would accelerate up to ~35-40mph(?), then shut off and coast back to ~10-15mph(?), in order to minimize pumping losses. If they just idled down the street I don't think they would've broken 100mpg. With gasoline engines, it's a few steps forward, and a fraction of that back, because everything you do to make the car more efficient makes the engine less efficient (increased pumping losses).

I usually accelerate and cruize at 25mph in 5th all the time but can take it down to about 16-17 at about 600rpm before it starts pulsing - 20mph is 1000rpm and is good for level roads at about 60-70mpg with little or no throttle. It engine brakes in 5th down to 19mph then bucks as the fuel shutoff kicks in and out usually starting with a single kick in the gear backlash. Usually I only give it very little throttle so that there is some vacuum and maybe 50-70% LOD at that low an RPM. 5th is good for 9degree hills if speed is 25-30mph if I am not carrying too much weight in the xB.

Question for hypermilers out there: what are your optimum acceleration techniques?

Accelerating in my Geo with light throttle:
1st gear: 0 - 4 mph
2nd gear: 4 - 15 mph
3rd gear: 15 - 22 mph
4th gear: 22 - 28mph
5th gear: 28 mph+

I've let the engine settle as far as it would go in 5th gear and on flat roads. It keeps around 18mph (around 90mpg) with some vibration.

I'm currently working on getting something like that down. Remember, as recently as 18 months ago, I was driving with a lead foot, so it's a working progress for me.

I've just recently gotten to where I shift at 2K RPM's consistently. Baby steps... :)

Yup, my TDI will idle at 27mph with the throttle by wire set at 904rpm. I have been messing with the best speed for mpg in this car and found it to be about 32-34 mph in 5th. I think below that and you get the engine loss being a larger percentage of fuel used and above that you start to see more drag and overall friction takes over. Someday I should drive a good distance at that speed.

Oh the other fun thing is I can idle up a 30 degree incline in 1st gear at 904 rpm with no throttle depression and no lugging. That amazed me the first day I got this car, so much torque at low RPM with a diesel engine.

Wow that dohc doesn't care for the low rpms does it.

Idle for me is around 27mph 800-900rpms. I don't spend much time there because the car likes 35mph+ better. I find myself shifting around 1400 rpms most days in everygear but 4th.

lovemysan -

What I read on the saturnfans.com website (or here?) is that I have a "performance" 5th gear ratio (:thumbdown:). From what I understand, you have an "MP2" transmission and I have an "MP3" transmission.

About 6 months ago I replaced my clutch. If I knew then what I know now, I would have tried to see if I could replace the 5th gear with one from an MP2 transmission. From what I have read, you can replace the 5th gear without tearing apart the tranny. The caveat was that my SW2's PCM/ECU might get upset because it assumes an "MP3" 5th gear ratio.

CarloSW2

I don't know how you people do it. My sohc neon isn't happy at anything less than 40mph @ 1500rpm in 5th. I have the tallest gear ratios offered on the neon:
0.72 overdrive 5th gear
3.54 final drive
185/70R13 tires

Is it due for a tuneup? I'd try indexing the plugs, along with a good tuneup.
My saturn is content in any gear down to around 650rpm

Yeah probably but you wouldn't know it from how it runs. I regularly get 40mpg on the highway without even trying and it sees its fair share of 6500rpm shifts. In the end its just a beater and I drive it as such.

how much do you love your tranny?
 

the vx doesn't like going less then 40mph in 5th, it pushes the rpm down close to 1,000, and I've replaced the transmition once already, befor I bought the car I talked to a retired mecanic friend, figuring that he would have worked on older cars most, and less newer crap to cloud his mind, he said that the biggest problem with the civic hatch backs was people who shifted to early, that 5th gear is for crusing at higher speeds, and is not made to take the stress of driving at lower speeds.