MPGs - Many People Griping - A Foundational Knowledge Primer To Assist in Better Efficiency

[R_che]

400 break in miles so far on new LC...getting 21.5 to 22.5 in combined street and highway driving in DFW area of N Texas. With DFW traffic, there is a lot of stop-and-go activity. Looking forward to some extended highway driving soon, but for my everyday driver...so far so good.
Note - Leaving the LC in ECO mode, and using 91 octane fuel. LC is equipped with 20" Yokohama Geolander X-CV's
.

 

[cuervo]

here is a tactic i use. cruise control as often as i can. take your foot off the accelerator. let the vehicle stop and accelerate. on its own, you will find it using electric mode a good deal of the time, especially at speeds below 35mph on flat ground. i have it in electric mode at 65mph on slight downhill freeway areas.

 

[TrailWhale]

Road trip MPG report:

(I usually get 17-18 MPG average with my typical driving -> short city drives + 80+mph windy interstate road trips loaded with bikes and cargo box. Also I have modest AT tires.)

I recently went on a 2400mi road trip from southern Idaho to the Canadian rockies/interior BC. It was almost entirely on 2-line highways, going 50-65 mph. No bikes this time, but I did have a roof cargo box. The average over the entire trip was 22mpg which was quite nice! That is enough extra range to make gas stops feel normally spaced out. Once i got back and filled up it showed 327mi of range on a full tank, which is a nice sight when I'm used to seeing a depressing 260mi.

TLDR - 17 to 22 mpg is a pretty big jump, and I didn't change anything about how i drive... it was just a change in what I was driving.

Also, i gotta say, i think the measurement in L/100km, while super awkward at first since it is inverted, is a far superior way to measure fuel economy, it just makes more sense. Fuel used per distance travelled is quite logical, higher is bad because more means more fuel consumed. The limits of no fuel consumed vs infinite distance travelled also are more logical

But It was fun/weird at first to see the MPG meter work in reverse though!

 

[Sugarloafer80]

400 break in miles so far on new LC...getting 21.5 to 22.5 in combined street and highway driving in DFW area of N Texas. With DFW traffic, there is a lot of stop-and-go activity. Looking forward to some extended highway driving soon, but for my everyday driver...so far so good.
Note - Leaving the LC in ECO mode, and using 91 octane fuel. LC is equipped with 20" Yokohama Geolander X-CV's
. View attachment 45203

Thanks for confirming they are the G057 variant with an OD of 32.3

 

[Sugarloafer80]

here is a tactic i use. cruise control as often as i can. take your foot off the accelerator. let the vehicle stop and accelerate. on its own, you will find it using electric mode a good deal of the time, especially at speeds below 35mph on flat ground. i have it in electric mode at 65mph on slight downhill freeway areas.

Straight cruise control works much better than adaptive which just tailgates the vehicle in front of it and flucuates with them. I shut it off ALWAYS.

 

[R_che]

I’m very happy you’re finding this stuff helpful. Regarding the throttle modulation, I kind of do the sharp but shallow-ish or medium push throttle to get full electric boost and then back off of it more gradually when I’m doing city driving where there is more light to light driving. It’s almost like you pulse the pedal but back off as turbo boost starts spooling up unless you need to keep accelerating hard. In city driving I find I’m not usually on throttle for long periods of time and I believe this is what is described in prior posts as Pulse and Glide by BlueCruiser who must be an absolute pro at hybrid driving. This is my very first hybrid and I can’t get 29 MPGs like he seems to be able to get reasonably consistently. I get about 23 MPGs in the city when I mess around with this stuff and am not in a hurry or rush to get somewhere. That’s insane to me… I could get 21-22 MPGs on a super flat highway at steady speed without any brake use in my 4Runner if all conditions were perfect and here I am in my LC getting 23 MPGs with much heavier and 1” larger diameter tires in stop and go city driving!

By no means do I always drive this way but it’s kinda fun to know if I need to extend my tank range or just am not in a hurry this car is capable of getting really good (relative) mileage.

Here I am city driving at 40 MPH with engine off and just electric boost gauge showing assist.

LC Newbie - how do I replicate the dashboard screen shown in your attachment?

 

[ultane]

here is a tactic i use. cruise control as often as i can. take your foot off the accelerator. let the vehicle stop and accelerate. on its own, you will find it using electric mode a good deal of the time, especially at speeds below 35mph on flat ground. i have it in electric mode at 65mph on slight downhill freeway areas.

Welcome to the Asylum.

 

[Stage7]

Straight cruise control works much better than adaptive which just tailgates the vehicle in front of it and flucuates with them. I shut it off ALWAYS.

Yes, I don't like how the adaptive cruise control slows down so much around curves. It overcompensates IMO.

 

[TrailWhale]

Straight cruise control works much better than adaptive which just tailgates the vehicle in front of it and flucuates with them. I shut it off ALWAYS.

Adaptive set to the max distance is a very comfortable following distance. Nobody would ever consider that to be "tailgating"

A little while ago I really appreciated it when driving through the entire Salt Lake City region of I-15 during a pretty busy time of day. Hopped into the HOV lane, set the speed to a max speed I'd be comfortable with, and just let it ride. It was the most peaceful busy section of interstate I've ever experienced.

The added safety blanket when on long drives on 2-lane highways is also quite nice.

Personally, I go as far as to say that I think there is little to no reason to ever NOT used adaptive... but again, i'm a max following distance kind of guy. The cruiser is pretty smooth and efficient when it has the space in front of it.

 

[Sugarloafer80]

Adaptive set to the max distance is a very comfortable following distance. Nobody would ever consider that to be "tailgating"

A little while ago I really appreciated it when driving through the entire Salt Lake City region of I-15 during a pretty busy time of day. Hopped into the HOV lane, set the speed to a max speed I'd be comfortable with, and just let it ride. It was the most peaceful busy section of interstate I've ever experienced.

The added safety blanket when on long drives on 2-lane highways is also quite nice.

Personally, I go as far as to say that I think there is little to no reason to ever NOT used adaptive... but again, i'm a max following distance kind of guy. The cruiser is pretty smooth and efficient when it has the space in front of it.

Do that in the northeast and a semi will pull in front of you. Forget every other punk in his tuned to oblivion old german uber tank. It is only as good as the driver in front of you. I have been teaching HPDE for 20 years and one of the first habits we have to break is staring at the bumper in front of us instead of looking as far ahead as possible. Adaptive is the cause of the ever increasing accordion affect we are experiencing on the roads today. I can see far in front of me and move easily in and out of traffic with little to no change in speed majority of the time. Not being harsh here. Being real. Adaptive is fabulous for folks with less than great anticipatory skills. It is definitely better than the folks that can't maintain 5mph let alone 10mph. It is great for the sheep following the herd. Before some of you ignore me again, how many of you have taught these skills??? The road needs a few rams.

 

[TrailWhale]

Do that in the northeast and a semi will pull in front of you. Forget every other punk in his tuned to oblivion old german uber tank. It is only as good as the driver in front of you. I have been teaching HPDE for 20 years and one of the first habits we have to break is staring at the bumper in front of us instead of looking as far ahead as possible. Adaptive is the cause of the ever increasing accordion affect we are experiencing on the roads today. I can see far in front of me and move easily in and out of traffic with little to no change in speed majority of the time. Not being harsh here. Being real. Adaptive is fabulous for folks with less than great anticipatory skills. It is definitely better than the folks that can't maintain 5mph let alone 10mph. It is great for the sheep following the herd. Before some of you ignore me again, how many of you have taught these skills??? The road needs a few rams.

I don't live in an area with excessive traffic where this is a concern to me. My city and the areas I travel to are peaceful. I'm peaceful. I hope you manage to find peace too, in particular as an instructor. I drive with my small kids and instead of cursing at other cars I take it easy and say "what's the rush?" - my kids are my students and I hope they also can drive in peace and with empathy when so many people on the road seem like they are in a last man standing fight to the death everyone is your enemy cagematch.

When someone pulls in front of me because I left a nice big gap there, that's great, because that's why there was a gap. Everyone on the road benefited from that gap existing because that vehicle was safely able to change lanes. If someone pulls in front because they are simply impatient, then i shrug it off, fall back a bit and make a new gap. What's the rush?

Adaptive cruise control is great for driving the highways and interstates where I live, it has nothing to do with inattentiveness or anticipatory skills. To me it is finding peace and acceptance. I did a 13 hour drive this past Sunday through rural BC/Washington/Idaho and I gotta say, the adaptive cruise was my most valued feature of the vehicle. There is no weaving in and out of traffic on two-lane mountainous highways. You pick your speed and if you catch up to someone doing 2mph less than your speed, that's your new speed. Embrace it.

 

[EOD Guy]

Adaptive set to the max distance is a very comfortable following distance. Nobody would ever consider that to be "tailgating"

A little while ago I really appreciated it when driving through the entire Salt Lake City region of I-15 during a pretty busy time of day. Hopped into the HOV lane, set the speed to a max speed I'd be comfortable with, and just let it ride. It was the most peaceful busy section of interstate I've ever experienced.

The added safety blanket when on long drives on 2-lane highways is also quite nice.

Personally, I go as far as to say that I think there is little to no reason to ever NOT used adaptive... but again, i'm a max following distance kind of guy. The cruiser is pretty smooth and efficient when it has the space in front of it.

I'm a Min following distance kind and I too believe there is little to no reason not to use adaptive. I have found that when approaching slow L/H traffic that refuses to move right, I simply press cancel and resume when past the self-appointed traffic warden. If someone comes up on me fast from the rear, I move to the R/H lane and not be part of the problem

 

[Sugarloafer80]

99% of the time, if I am not passing, I'm in right lane. Problem I had in my RR is it is so damn quiet and smooth, you could be set to do 80 in Maine, next thing you know it you are stuck behind a troll doing 65. I would much rather sense the closure rate and act accordingly, if a left lane hog is there, I just merge right and go around the.......may pull back in front of them and then right signal again for the educational purposes....amazing how often they will then move over. So many distracted drivers out there it's scary.

 

[Doggman1525]

The psychology of traffic is fascinating....and terrifying

 

[ultane]

BTDT…

 

[Sugarloafer80]

LOVE IT!!!!