Hypermiler techniques

How to get the most mileage out of your car

I guess I have hypermiler blood going way back. When I was a kid - forty odd years ago now - I remember family drives from Toronto up towards the Haliburton area over gently rolling hills. Whenever we reached the top of a hill - sometimes even a bit before - my father would shut off the engine, and let the car glide up over the crest, then down to the bottom, and even, if we got enough speed, a third of the way or more back up the other side.

We didn't call my dad a hypermiler, and I didn't call myself one when, twenty five years later, I moved to the highest altitude town in Ohio (elevation about 1,000 feet), and discovered I could coast, with the motor off, for three whole miles from the edge of the town to the highway down the hill.

What makes you a hypermiler? An obsession with squeezing every last mile out of a gallon of fuel (or every last kilometer out of a liter). What are some popular hypermiler techniques? Here are some I have used.

Warning Some hypermiler techniques carry certain risks you should be aware of before you try them. Do not use the techniques mentioned here without first thoroughly researching any risks they may pose. For example, turning off your car motor may cause your brakes or steering to become progressively less responsive, which can increase the likelihood of accidents. Hypermiler types deal with these risks intelligently and responsibly, by understanding them and taking them into account in their driving habits. Do likewise, or don't try what's described below.

Remember also that all drivers, including hypermilers, need to respect applicable laws, the rules of the road, and common courtesy.

Don't idle. Always shut your engine off at stop lights, or whenever a stop of more than 15 seconds is likely. In the early days of gasoline engines, turning off an engine was probably not a good idea, but today's motors start quickly and cleanly, and you'll reduce wear and tear on the engine if you don't leave it idling. A hypermiler would never leave the engine running while waiting for the light to change.

Coast downhill or to a stop. Don't just shut the engine off at the traffic light - shut it off if you see you're heading for a yellow or red light. Shut it off just before you clear the crest of a hill. But do remember that once you shut the engine off, you have a limited amount of braking power, and each time you brake you use up some of that power. If you drive a standard car, you can restore full braking power by engaging the clutch while in motion; in an automatic, turn the engine on to restore braking power.

Time your traffic lights. If you see the red light in front of you is about to turn green, try to time it so that you clear the light just as it turns green, and at the maximum speed without using any gas. This may mean slowing down more quickly at first, so that you can get that last bit of the way to the 'starting line' at a faster speed.

Don't speed. Drive slowly. The faster you drive, the more of the energy in your gasoline goes to fight wind resistance instead of getting you to your destination. Driving at 50 MPH (80 km/h) will use a lot less gasoline than driving at 65 MPH (or 100 km/h). Also, you'll have less car maintenance to do on a car that is consistently driven at lower speeds. Just because your car has 150 MPH on the speedometer doesn't mean driving at that speed isn't hard on the engine.

What's your hurry, anyhow? With all the gas money and maintenance costs you'll save as a hypermiler, you can afford to retire a few days earlier. Less hurry now means more time later!

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Watch your mileage constantly. Many newer cars come with second-by-second readings that tell you what mileage you're getting. I rented a couple of these a year ago (right after we tried to go 'car free' for a few months) and discovered that watching your consumption helps you find many ways to get better mileage. You can see the effect of different speeds on consumption; you can see how much gas is needed to climb a grade; and how many MPG you can get out of your car by following hypermiling techniques. This is much like the electricity saving advice I provide in How to save electricity: If you measure consumption, you'll easily find ways to cut back.

Keep tires properly inflated. This isn't just a hypermiler technique. Any sensible driver should be checking tire pressure periodically and inflating tires to the level recommended by the manufacturer. Properly inflated tires improve mileage significantly. Check them every month at least, if not every week or so.

These are not hard core hypermiler techniques by any stretch - they are just basic ideas to help you get a few extra miles to the gallon. But there are serious hypermiler types who get far more than a few extra miles - they get 15%, 20%, even 30% more mileage out of their gas than the published mileage rates for their cars. If you're serious about saving gas - and want to have a bit of safe, healthy fun driving further for less - you should check out the book shown above at right. This book gives you many more tips on how to cut your fuel costs, and is available for just $27 to download to your own computer, so you can browse at your leisure, or print it off for later reference. And it comes with a 60-day, money-back satisfaction guarantee. Buy it now for only $27 and start saving on gas right away.

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