Gas Saving Tips
06-13-2011, 05:37 PM
#22
Ok so with the current crunch of how much can any car, even our s2000, go, on a tank of gas. Back in February, an older guy taught me how to drive standard properly. He told me that, for as long as I had been driving standard, I had been doing it wrong. At first I kept saying "there is no way, how?!". Well eventually I convinced him to teach me what he had meant. He said it would help me go 20% further or so. Damn right, I get better gas mileage now. I am just under half a tank now, and I have 300 kms on it. I did this last tank, and the tank before that I got 530 kms. As some of you know, I am not the slowest driver ever by any means 
. Now to answer the question "how have I been driving standard wrong all these years?!".
While shifting through the gears, is where we make the mistake. It is where we can save plenty of fuel if we use the proper technique. If our cars engine is at 3000 rpm at 20km/h, 2nd gears rpm will be approximately 2300. As soon as we press the clutch in, the rpms will start to drop. If we allow our engine rpms to drop below 2300 (2nd gear rpm) before we get the gear in and the clutch released, it will use more gas. Why? Because for our engines to get back up to 2300, it takes more gas to match the speed of the engine to the speed of the car. If the engine is at 1500 rpms, it only makes sense that getting it to 2300 to get it into 2nd gear will need more gas than just simply sliding it into gear if the engine is at or slightly above 2300 rpms. In very basic terms, shift much quicker. You dont need to press the clutch in ALL the way, then pull it out of gear to put it into the next. If you ever play with clutchless shifting, you can pull it out as soon as you let go of the gas. Im not saying go do clutchless, I screwed my camaro up learning clutchless shifts. Same idea though, to get the shifting quicker, just with a clutch.
I have also noticed during downshifts, when I do the throttle blip to do the rev matching, Ill use much more gas. If I downshift while holding my foot on the gas just enough to match, it will use much less gas. As cool as blip rev matching sounds with an exhaust, it can use more gas in the long run.
One more thing too, is to allow the car to STAY IN THE GEAR while slowing down. The engine will shut off the injectors, therefor saving gas. The engine is still connected to the transmission, which is being spun by the cars momentum. The momentum of the car, spinning the tranny, spinning the engine, is what keeps it still running. As soon as you press the clutch to put it into neutral, the car has to run on its own again, therefor using more gas. Keep it in gear until you need to put it in neutral.
Hope this helps everyone save some gas, for all those who already knew and to those who didnt know yet.
Edit: Forgot to add, always use shell 91 specifically, it will go further than any other gas station you fill up at. I guarantee this 100%.
. Now to answer the question "how have I been driving standard wrong all these years?!".While shifting through the gears, is where we make the mistake. It is where we can save plenty of fuel if we use the proper technique. If our cars engine is at 3000 rpm at 20km/h, 2nd gears rpm will be approximately 2300. As soon as we press the clutch in, the rpms will start to drop. If we allow our engine rpms to drop below 2300 (2nd gear rpm) before we get the gear in and the clutch released, it will use more gas. Why? Because for our engines to get back up to 2300, it takes more gas to match the speed of the engine to the speed of the car. If the engine is at 1500 rpms, it only makes sense that getting it to 2300 to get it into 2nd gear will need more gas than just simply sliding it into gear if the engine is at or slightly above 2300 rpms. In very basic terms, shift much quicker. You dont need to press the clutch in ALL the way, then pull it out of gear to put it into the next. If you ever play with clutchless shifting, you can pull it out as soon as you let go of the gas. Im not saying go do clutchless, I screwed my camaro up learning clutchless shifts. Same idea though, to get the shifting quicker, just with a clutch.
I have also noticed during downshifts, when I do the throttle blip to do the rev matching, Ill use much more gas. If I downshift while holding my foot on the gas just enough to match, it will use much less gas. As cool as blip rev matching sounds with an exhaust, it can use more gas in the long run.
One more thing too, is to allow the car to STAY IN THE GEAR while slowing down. The engine will shut off the injectors, therefor saving gas. The engine is still connected to the transmission, which is being spun by the cars momentum. The momentum of the car, spinning the tranny, spinning the engine, is what keeps it still running. As soon as you press the clutch to put it into neutral, the car has to run on its own again, therefor using more gas. Keep it in gear until you need to put it in neutral.
Hope this helps everyone save some gas, for all those who already knew and to those who didnt know yet.
Edit: Forgot to add, always use shell 91 specifically, it will go further than any other gas station you fill up at. I guarantee this 100%.
06-13-2011, 05:47 PM
#23
Registered User
Thread Starter
I think on that tank it was about 30%-40% city, which does help. But going through the city parts with these tips help too. Some of that highway driving was with stop and go traffic going north on that DVP. On the highway, vtec on every on ramp and many tunnels, or atleast making it louder in the tunnels.
06-13-2011, 06:14 PM
#24
this weekend I'll be putting 1200 kms on the car which is the longest trip yet with mostly highway driving, I'll get a good idea on what kind of fuel economy it gets, I've yet to figure it out as most of my driving has been inconsistent city driving up to this point.
06-13-2011, 08:41 PM
#25
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My last tank was 27.3 mpg (tracked on fuelly.com).
That included a day of autocross at Picton (all three runways) for the SCCA regional and two drivers beating on the car (13 runs with a re-run IIRC). AP1 with Toda header, HKS exhaust, J's Tsuchinoko intake and nothing else relevant to the engine.
Oh, I guess fairly sticky R888 275s in the rear, 255s in the front and "maxed" alignment will adversely affect mileage too.
Just don't drive like a 'tard on public roads and you'll get great fuel economy out of these cars given what they are.
That included a day of autocross at Picton (all three runways) for the SCCA regional and two drivers beating on the car (13 runs with a re-run IIRC). AP1 with Toda header, HKS exhaust, J's Tsuchinoko intake and nothing else relevant to the engine.
Oh, I guess fairly sticky R888 275s in the rear, 255s in the front and "maxed" alignment will adversely affect mileage too.
Just don't drive like a 'tard on public roads and you'll get great fuel economy out of these cars given what they are.
06-15-2011, 05:44 PM
#26
ah after thinking about it now I say skip the recommendations and just buy a prius, the guys who first said that were right 
06-17-2011, 10:10 AM
#27
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Although you do look like a big VAGINA cruising in it! LOL
06-19-2011, 11:27 AM
#28
Registered User
Thread Starter
I'm plugged in with my hondata on a laptop right now watching the live data of the car running. Pretty cool actually! It does in fact turn the injectors off when you let go of the has and ride the gear. Any speed. Oh and DBW for the win 
. If you want gas mileage, DO NOT buy a flashpro. My Chevrolet Blazer now gets better gas mileage.
. If you want gas mileage, DO NOT buy a flashpro. My Chevrolet Blazer now gets better gas mileage.
06-19-2011, 11:54 AM
#29
Has anyone compared fuel economy between ap2 and ap1's at highway driving ?. I just did a 1200 km trip with a fellow s2k owner from my hometown, he drives a 2007 ap2 (11k kms, basically new), I drive an 02 s2k with 99k kms. Our fuel economy over the same trip with exact same driving conditions was very similar. I know my engine is smaller 2L vs. 2.2L, but the gearing is different and he has drive by wire, I had an extra passenger (approx. 200 lbs). With all top down driving at 70 mph interstate highway driving with brief stops at tolls and the border.
On a full tank of gas during the drive home, I drove 449 kms from NY state to my home, I ended up with about just over 1/8th of a tank of fuel left when I got home, fuel light was not turned on when I got home. This is one of the only long trips I've driven in my s2k, so I'm not sure what to make of the fuel economy, if it was decent or bad, and how it should compare to an ap2 ?. Anyone have any thoughts on this ?. I searched some fuel economy ratings and the two model years seem to have similar numbers, so it makes sense on what we seen in real world driving.
I enjoy driving the car and fuel economy isn't a big conern either way. The car drives strong, the engine seeems like it's in pretty healthy shape, it didn't burn any oil over the entire 1200 km trip.
Thanks for reading and for any opinions.
On a full tank of gas during the drive home, I drove 449 kms from NY state to my home, I ended up with about just over 1/8th of a tank of fuel left when I got home, fuel light was not turned on when I got home. This is one of the only long trips I've driven in my s2k, so I'm not sure what to make of the fuel economy, if it was decent or bad, and how it should compare to an ap2 ?. Anyone have any thoughts on this ?. I searched some fuel economy ratings and the two model years seem to have similar numbers, so it makes sense on what we seen in real world driving.
I enjoy driving the car and fuel economy isn't a big conern either way. The car drives strong, the engine seeems like it's in pretty healthy shape, it didn't burn any oil over the entire 1200 km trip.
Thanks for reading and for any opinions.
06-19-2011, 05:24 PM
#30
Registered User
Thread Starter
The numbers you just posted are about right. For top down thats what your going to get. Im sure you were keeping up with traffic too, so your range on the one tank was decent. Top up and 100 will get you like 560-600, but really... Thats no fun.