Give us a clue... what's this for?

You may find this article about brake specific fuel consumption helpful. If nothing else it'll make conversations between the OP and their dad more interesting.

tl;dr - If you're going from 30 to 60 mph the most fuel efficient way is to do so with the throttle fully open but to change up before you get excessive losses from friction.

Given that I have very little mechanical knowledge, I have found this article useful in convincing myself that the most fuel efficient way to drive is to floor it in third then block change when I reach 60mph.

Which is probably bks but I'm quite happy with my delusion.

Don't be like that, give us a cuddle.

Actually I was hoping the thread might stimulate some discussion on gear changing techniques.

It didn't.

Ok, this is what I can find in your OP that you want comment on I think. But sadly I can't quite make out the question. That's probably because I am an obtuse (old) dipst.

So what was your question again?

Bert

A previous boss of mine had one of those stupid management books (he even insisted on lending it to me) called "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff" [1]. That's the gist of most of the advice on here.

Seriously if you want uber MPG, you need to drive differently, pump up (or even change) your tyres, fiddle with your engine management, accelerate like an oil tanker, coast down hills, use miles of forward vision to avoid ever having to brake, and completely switch off your brain (apart from the last point).

But you're an advanced driver, and that's not how you do things. You want to be involved with the driving process. You want to make progress. You can still obtain perfectly respectable MPG figures, as you've demonstrated. The other 4 mpg (debatable since it's not even measured in the same car) is the reward for completely spoiling your driving. Don't do it. As others have said, drive your way, don't drive his car, don't enter into discussions about driving, consider leaving home

IMHO block changing up the box will save nothing in mpg terms, most likely, since manufacturers carefully choose the gear ratios in their cars to give smooth acceleration with reasonable economy with all gears in use. Most likely by using 3rd for longer you're wasting the economy you then achieve by using 5th, and you may be using 5th too soon to be economical, even then.

[1] - it was a crap book, don't even bother looking

I have a 2008 1.4 SEAT IBIZA sport

At 2500 revs is does 10 in 1st, 20 in 2nd, 30 in 3rd, 40 in 4th and 50 in 5th which means I can drive using the gears and rev counter in many cases !!

I usually change up to the next gear as low as 2000 revs or up to 3500 revs depending on circumstances

2000 rev upchange if got plenty of time and save fuel by very gentle use of the accelerator

3500 rev upchange to really get a move on/progressive driving

Downchanging gears is done by block changing

Gears for go and brakes for slow - very easy to do for a learner or an advanced driver

SAFEST way to downchange in normal driving conditions is to have the car 'balanced' so no bonnet dipped and that means releasing the brake pedal to do that - it also means that both hands remain on the wheel whilst braking

That does not mean other methods are necessarily UNSAFE

How does using the gears to slow save fuel???

Christ, life's too short!

Put your foot down, enjoy the drive and have more time left to do more stuff when you get there.





This post is 75% serious; 25% reserved for not crashing/dying and staying near enough the limit to retain licence.

Your dad needs to know foot firm down on the throttle to get up to speed as quickly as possible is the most efficient way to drive. Slow acceleration means you take longer moving 2 tonnes of car up to speed.

That also means he needs to anticipate when he can give it full throttle once the car in front is far enough down the road.

Then obviously highest gear lowest rpm without labouring and cruise off throttle to slow down and light loading.


I enjoy my 350bhp and for economy drive my wife's god awful hybrid company car she's been lumbered with. Hopefully for not much longer, it's so dull you may as well play the economy game. No issues achieving 70+ mpg average. Even 62mpg on a 400 mile round trip up the m-way to north Wales. Zzzz