clean diesel part 2

[sesmith]

I wish I could hypermile mine like this, but then I probably don't have the patience anyway

http://www.vwvortex.com/news/volksw...on-less-than-300-of-diesel-achieves-81-17mpg/

 

[begreen]

That's impressive. I don't have that patience either.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I wonder how much of that is the tires. Assuming they weren't doing 35mph down the interstate the tires must really reduce friction like a train on rails.

 

[begreen]

My guess is Goodyear wanted the product placement sponsorship there. I had those tires on the Volt, didn't like them and replaced them right away with a quieter, better handling tire. I didn't note a great change in mileage. You can be sure the tires are inflated to their maximum though. That will make a difference. Less rolling resistance.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

There has to be more to this then. EPA says 45 mpg highway. Say their figures are wrong by a long shot and it gets 55mpg. They still got 30 more mpg. Did they gut the interior to save weight? Blueprint the engine and transmission to reduce friction? Draft another vehicle to reduce air resistance?

 

[begreen]

Hypermiling techniques can eek out a lot more mileage. They do a lot of coasting in neutral, very slow startups, avoiding hills when possible, remove any unnecessary weight (back seat?), backdrafting trucks, keeping speed down, etc.. Doing this cross country takes a lot of patience.

 

[Where2]

I can't hypermile either of our TDI's to save my life, because they're too fun to drive. Even at 11 years old with 190k miles on my MkIV Jetta Wagon (daily driver), I can get 50mpg on the interstate if I simply drive closer to 60mph than 80mph (Ultragauge EM). Nice to see VW raising the bar higher in the record book.