I live in a area with alot of mountains and after driving light on the gas pedal and the driving more aggressively, I dont think I save that much gas taking it easy. I have been switching driving habits every other tank of gas. In the end the Hemi preformed better by driving harder and the tranny did'nt hunt for the right gear as much.

 

BOOYAH! "Hell Yeah" to driving like a criminal!

 

I've been doing similar tests and have found similar results. But I do a lot of highway miles and some city miles, I'm not up in the mountains. I've tried babying the pedal and also being a little more aggressive, just keeping up with cars in front of me when I get the green lights. I don't see any difference at all in mileage.

Now if I could find the right highway speed, that would be nice (25 mile commute 1-way). I'm completely stock with the exception of a CAI and Banks exhaust.

 

I have found that in the city when i really baby my truck a gain 2 or 3 miles per gallon but thats taking it really easy shifting at the lowest possible rpm i can and coasting to a stop in nuetral at the red lights its crazy how that can affect the gas millage but it helps. and when i worked 2hrs from home i noticed that at 130KM/H i got about 2 mpg more than goin at 120KM/H probably because the truck doesn't work as hard to keep it rolling in those rpm range i think it was reving at 2300 or so can't remember. highway the most i got was 18mpg i believe and city well i don't even want to add it up getting only 300 and some km a tank oh well at least i can say YEAH ITS GOT A HEMI!!!

 

I've found similar results in stop and go/mountain driving. MPG sucks no matter what. On flat freeway, I only get decent mileage if I use cruise-control and keep the speed under 65mph. Even a slight headwind will blow it.

 

Did an experiment this weekend.
I set the cruise at 58mph and did a mixture of motorway(freeway) and 2 lane black top suff.
I babied the gas pedal to get back up to the set cruise speed, to try and get better mpg etc.
It was REALLY windy and the best I could manage by hand calculations was 13.5 mpg.
I get about 11.5 doing the same run but driving more agressively.
The wind did have a lot to do with the reduction in mpg but I don't think I get any better than 14.5mpg for the same run with no headwind.
I'm gonna be driving a little more assertively shall we say in future and enjoy my truck ha ha ha.[sm=gears.gif]
AL.

PS these figures are based on LPG fuel consumption and at less that half price compared to petrol, WHO CARES yee haaa ha ha ha.[sm=burnout.gif]

 

I know it sounds crazy
but the highest MPG technique
is to:

Accelerate at 70-80% throttle to about 45 mph,
turn off engine and coast to about 20 mph,
then repeat, over and over.

This is a standard technique in 'MPG Marathon' competitions.

Of course, it doesn't have much application to day-to-day driving.


Accelerating at a very low throttle opening to whatever MPH you intend
is actually less fuel efficient than
accelerating at 70-80% throttle to that MPH
then quickly shifting into your highest gear
where the MPG is highest.

This doesn't work with stoplights in city driving
where the highest MPG technique
is to drive at the slowest speed
that allows you to 'make' the lights without ever stopping,
preferably never even hitting the brakes.

A typical Ram gets:

0 MPG at idle
3 MPG during hard acceleration
12 MPG in typical mixed city-highway driving
18-22 MPG around 50-60 mph depending on 2wd vs 4wd, weight, tonneau, tires, etc
12-14 MPG at 79 mph
8-10 MPG at 100 mph

When driving in mountainous terrain
I don't recommend it because of safety
but the higher MPG technique is to
slow down 15 mph climbing hills
speed up 15 mph descending hills.
This gives slightly better MPG
than holding a steady speed that would average the same.
You have probably been bothered by 18 wheelers doing this
to make their MPG 6.25 rather than 6.00

 

We might as well enjoy and use our Hemi by driving it harder. For me, its more rewarding and I get very irritated trying to drive easy. Its not worth the few dollars I save.

 

doin 80-85 i get 16-17 mpg, i got the 4.7 tho, i dunno how itll effect the hemi at those speeds, and doin 65 quite frankly is babying it...unless your in a 30 MPH zone.....or goin through a Resi-neighborhood....but yeah i was headed up to Occoee from Lakeland, (bout a 175 mile round trip) busted out 100 mph and still kept it at 17.8 MPG...tell me that aint cool. Also my truck is just stock as of right now....

 

Yea, My Hemi wants to cruise 75-85 mph. I find myself drifting up from 65mph to 75mph all the time. The top gear is really tall. Its like a Freight Train.