cruising speed?

I find 130km/h in the Mazda3 is a good combination between speed and fuel economy. Obviously 130 isn't the most efficiant speed though.

When I drive my Elantra, 110-120 is a "good" combo. Its a high revving engine. At 120 I'm spinning about 3300 RPM!!

I think around 120/130

In the city 80 KM/H in 4th and on the highway 120-130 in 5th get about the same milage for both. Lately it has been about 7.5L/100KM, according to the computer at least.

i have the sedan 2.0 so its a 4 speed. Today while driving: I noticed that 100km/h is just under 2500 rpm, while 110 km/h is just over 2500. 120km/h also seems to be around 2900 while 130km/h is just over 3000.

The slower you go, the better fuel economy you will get. So the question is how slow are you comfortable going? For me...

...going 55 I get about 40-45mpg
...going 65 I get about 35-37mpg
...going 75 I get about 30-32mpg

[quote author=Kyle Hadcock link=topic=71240.msg1261249#msg1261249 date=1173634716]
The slower you go, the better fuel economy you will get. So the question is how slow are you comfortable going? For me...

...going 55 I get about 40-45mpg
...going 65 I get about 35-37mpg
...going 75 I get about 30-32mpg


[/quote]

not really, it depends on where your engine produces good power while not sucking mass quantities of gas

[quote author=m3forlife link=topic=71240.msg1261713#msg1261713 date=1173656402]
[quote author=Kyle Hadcock link=topic=71240.msg1261249#msg1261249 date=1173634716]
The slower you go, the better fuel economy you will get. So the question is how slow are you comfortable going? For me...

...going 55 I get about 40-45mpg
...going 65 I get about 35-37mpg
...going 75 I get about 30-32mpg


[/quote]

not really, it depends on where your engine produces good power while not sucking mass quantities of gas
[/quote]

I reiterate, the slower you go, the better gas mileage you'll get. Try it, hehe. If your car has the instantaneous MPG gauge, and you pay attention to it, you'll agree. Granted, I'm not saying put it in 5th gear and go 20 MPH. I'm being realistic and talking about highway driving, like AGM_Ultimatex is asking about. :klavergreg:

i've got 50,000 miles now, and average 29mpg. Best long haul test though, was a 1400 mile trip from Milwaukee to Toronto & back.

Never dropped below 80mph.....cruised along 402/401 at 145 - 155 kph. topped out 170 kph around London. plus some city driving in T.O. (maybe 100 miles of the 1400 total)

29 mpg.

I'm kind of believing that with the high revving 2.3 engine, that the higher speeds don't impact our gas mileage nearly as much as some of the larger engine landboats around. Had a 3.8 litre Windstar and it usually did about 20 l/100 km at 120 kph. but on a few extended runs (Montreal to Ottawa for about 2 hours on 4 different trips) pushing it to 160 kph drove the gas mileage up to 19 l/100 km

[quote author=shenon link=topic=71240.msg1337572#msg1337572 date=1176614135]
i've got 50,000 miles now, and average 29mpg. Best long haul test though, was a 1400 mile trip from Milwaukee to Toronto & back.

Never dropped below 80mph.....cruised along 402/401 at 145 - 155 kph. topped out 170 kph around London. plus some city driving in T.O. (maybe 100 miles of the 1400 total)

29 mpg.

I'm kind of believing that with the high revving 2.3 engine, that the higher speeds don't impact our gas mileage nearly as much as some of the larger engine landboats around. Had a 3.8 litre Windstar and it usually did about 20 l/100 km at 120 kph. but on a few extended runs (Montreal to Ottawa for about 2 hours on 4 different trips) pushing it to 160 kph drove the gas mileage up to 19 l/100 km
[/quote]

29 mpg is amazing. I haven't really attempted to get amazing mileage, but I average between 25-26, quite consistently, on a manual transmission.

I typically cruise on the highway 70-75 mph but when gas went over $3 a gallon again, I decided to cut down on the speed a saw a 15% increase in mileage. I was getting 31 mpg at 70-75 mph but now I keep it a 60-65 mph and i am getting 35 mpg. it takes me 5 minutes longer to get to work, but who is in a hurry to work???

I usually go 80+ however I got speeding ticket the other night and now I go about 70-75

Speaking of speeding, I was on a bit of a straight stretch, which i consider a landmark of about 60% of my drive home from town, its where the canadian shield starts, and its a nice set of bridges. I'm going moslty 140 the whole way, but around here i started kicking it up, brought it up to around 168 . I took my foot off the gas as a bend was comin up, as soon as I started to turn, ahead of me was flashing red lights, and in an instant i pressed the break and went down to 120. As I passed the red lights, they pulled over a truck I think. Was a couple of cruisers, and didnt look quite like a speeding pullover, but sure glad I slowed down.

My cruising speed only ranges up to 80km/h or (50mph). Sorry, I'm not a car racer (yet).



__________________
Ricky
Mazda Trucks and Cars

Oh you will be, the dark side is very tempting

Speed limit in AB is 110 anyways, and now that htey got that stupid highway patrol, its hard to speed on the highways.

However, we are also talking about a hybrid.

Scientific testing of vehicles show that an automobiles peak efficiency is in the speed realm of 52-60mph depending on gearing, rolling resistance and coefficient of drag/frontal cross section.

Engines actually are more efficient, breathing wise, at higher RPMs then at lower RPMs. However, you also have a down side of the fact that shorter gears have a greater parasitic loss of power. With the combination of rolling resistance (linear increase with speed) and air resistance (2nd power increase with speed) and short gears being bad to get the motor into a range in which it is really efficient you come up with most traditional gasoline powered vehicles being most efficient in that speed range (it was either EPA or I think actually DOT did a study on it about 8-10 year ago that I was reading. Had nice line graphs etc with their testing results on several vehicles).
-Matt

[quote author=azazel1024 link=topic=71240.msg1459592#msg1459592 date=1180978785]
Engines actually are more efficient, breathing wise, at higher RPMs then at lower RPMs. However, you also have a down side of the fact that shorter gears have a greater parasitic loss of power. With the combination of rolling resistance (linear increase with speed) and air resistance (2nd power increase with speed) and short gears being bad to get the motor into a range in which it is really efficient you come up with most traditional gasoline powered vehicles being most efficient in that speed range (it was either EPA or I think actually DOT did a study on it about 8-10 year ago that I was reading. Had nice line graphs etc with their testing results on several vehicles).
-Matt
[/quote]

I would be fascinated to see an EngineSpeed vs MPG graph of that new Chevy 4/8 cylinder SUV. Without knowing the crossover speed, if I had to guess, I'd say that it would be most efficient (4 cylinders in optimal operating speed) at about 45-50?

Anyone know any more info about it? I know some people that are looking for a larger car to haul stuff around town and short highway trips, without getting shit mileage, for a halfway decent price (ie. no lexus hybrid).