Freeway driving

[LongRun]

On a trip up highway 5 to 405 in the commute to Long Beach I tried something new, for me. I set the cruise control at 67mph. On the flat I left it. On the slight uphills I click down on the cruise control stalk from one to three times and on the down hill slopes I clicked up with the speed ranging from 60mph to 70 mph and managed 60.5 mpg for 300 miles. This is up from about 56mpg by running all the way with the cruise control set at 65mph. Before this it has been hard to hit 58mpg for any distance with just freeway driving and using the cruise control only. It appears that one click on the cruise control equals 1 mph, either up or down. Does anyone else use a technique like this?

[berylrb]

[quote=LongRun @ Jan 23 2007, 09:26 PM) [snapback]379826[/snapback]</div>

On a trip up highway 5 to 405 in the commute to Long Beach I tried something new, for me. I set the cruise control at 67mph. On the flat I left it. On the slight uphills I click down on the cruise control stalk from one to three times and on the down hill slopes I clicked up with the speed ranging from 60mph to 70 mph and managed 60.5 mpg for 300 miles. This is up from about 56mpg by running all the way with the cruise control set at 65mph. Before this it has been hard to hit 58mpg for any distance with just freeway driving and using the cruise control only. It appears that one click on the cruise control equals 1 mph, either up or down. Does anyone else use a technique like this?
[/b]

Hey Long Run!

I had a similar experience 12/11/06 traveling to Tulare from SF, 101 South, 152 East, 99 South, and 99 to 80 West back to SF the return leg was 242 miles] 59 mpg staying between 63 mph and 67, 57 F, 37,000 miles on the odometer. I didn't use the CC clicks like you described but I did back off 2mph either way up hills or down hills, in effect same principal as you. I did that same trip 3/12/05 and only managed 48 mpg, pure CC the whole way, but since then I've slowed down (easily 75 mph plus 3/12) and increased air to 42/40, 18,600 miles back then.

[JimN]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LongRun @ Jan 23 2007, 09:26 PM) [snapback]379826[/snapback]</div>

On a trip up highway 5 to 405 in the commute to Long Beach I tried something new, for me. I set the cruise control at 67mph. On the flat I left it. On the slight uphills I click down on the cruise control stalk from one to three times and on the down hill slopes I clicked up with the speed ranging from 60mph to 70 mph and managed 60.5 mpg for 300 miles. This is up from about 56mpg by running all the way with the cruise control set at 65mph. Before this it has been hard to hit 58mpg for any distance with just freeway driving and using the cruise control only. It appears that one click on the cruise control equals 1 mph, either up or down. Does anyone else use a technique like this?
[/b]

This is the first time I remember seeing this technique. The cruise control increments are 1mph in the US. I seem to remember that the increment is 2mph in other countries.

[investorrob]

If you're typical trip is 1.6 miles to the grocery store, maybe you could just ride a bike. Your legs would get wicked strong and you would'nt burn ANY gasoline. That's like a Billion MPG