Buying A New Car

[ILikeTobacco]

I dunno about that... on mine there are several modes on the trip meter to toggle through. One displays current average, and one will display overall average. You want to go by the overall average. Although I didn't trust it either to be honest so I just did the math. I get about 320 miles until the fuel light comes on, I fill up for about 12 gallons. That ends up being about 26.6 fuel economy.

With your numbers you're saying you can go at least 600 miles without needing a fill up... there's no way :/

If I clutch in and just coast, I also get great mileage; 99.9 mpg to be exact, unfortunately my commute isn't all downhill :p

Still you seem fairly sure, so if you can in fact prove you are able to get 600 miles to the tank, then I'd love to know how :whistle:

I drive to Oklahoma City from where I live. One way is roughly 110 miles. I can make the round trip 3 times and be empty as I pull up to the first gas station when I get home. It doesn't take much of an angle to keep the car rolling in neutral and there are mile stretches that are down hill. The uphill parts I usually drop to around 30. You get more than 99.9mpg when rolling in neutral, of course the meter isn't designed to figure that out. It is also a very straight drive so I don't lose speed to added friction of turning. Overall it is just a mixture of having the habit of not being lazy and using cruise control and going into neutral and not playing speed racer just because I can. Everyone who has ever driven one knows how fun they, but when you drive long distances a lot, you learn to take it easy and save gas. :p

[abysal]

I drive to Oklahoma City from where I live. One way is roughly 110 miles. I can make the round trip 3 times and be empty as I pull up to the first gas station when I get home. It doesn't take much of an angle to keep the car rolling in neutral and there are mile stretches that are down hill. The uphill parts I usually drop to around 30. You get more than 99.9mpg when rolling in neutral, of course the meter isn't designed to figure that out. It is also a very straight drive so I don't lose speed to added friction of turning. Overall it is just a mixture of having the habit of not being lazy and using cruise control and going into neutral and not playing speed racer just because I can. Everyone who has ever driven one knows how fun they, but when you drive long distances a lot, you learn to take it easy and save gas. :p

Still I don't want to be rude and call BS... but take a look at this: http://www.fuelly.com/car/mazda/speed%203

[ILikeTobacco]

Still I don't want to be rude and call BS... but take a look at this: http://www.fuelly.co...mazda/speed%203

Again, they also probably don't go into neutral constantly. Most people don't because most people don't care. The tests, and even that site, are based on normal use. I don't drive my car the way people normally drive. The thing is, my MPG is fairly low compared to people who do hypermiling. You want to see crazy driving habits, google that.

[abysal]

Again, they also probably don't go into neutral constantly. Most people don't because most people don't care. The tests, and even that site, are based on normal use. I don't drive my car the way people normally drive.

Fair enough, but I'll remain skeptical, until I can prove this on my commute, or corroborate with additional data.

[threetonesun]

You don't get 50 mpg, and putting the car in neutral, in a manual, burns more gas. Why? If the car is in gear, and you take your foot off the gas, the engine stops injecting fuel. You get some drivetrain loss from having the car in gear, but not as much as you think. If you put it in neutral, the car drops to idle... and has to burn gas to stay running.

Also, coasting in neutral is SUPER DANGEROUS. It takes longer to make an evasive maneuver, and it takes longer to brake. It's also, you know, illegal in some places. So don't do it. If you want 50 miles per gallon, but a diesel and drive it like a normal person, or get an electric with a CVT. Trust me, it's smarter than any internet-theorist hyper-milers.

Also, also, who buys a Mazdaspeed 3 and tries to hypermile it?

[+Fulcrum Subscriber¹]

FWIW mazda got good consumer reports reviews; Subaru topped that list. At the end of the day you gotta believe someone's opinion. go with the speed3, but keep the clutch engaged thank you!

[perochan]

i have couple mods (TIP and intake) and i get to 340 miles per tank. Mostly highway so not so bad since sometimes i acceerate really fast. :D

[tsupersonic]

I have stock wheels and I get 50mpg on average on the highway. Not hard to do if your not constantly using your gas or the breaks. Get to around 75, throw it into neutral and roll. The thing doesn't like to stop for anything. You actually believe the rating? It is designed to be sue proof and is done simulating bad driving behavior.

Your claim would be believable had you said you got ~40 or so MPG. My BS flag is going off on your post. If you are so concerned about gas mileage, you wouldn't have gotten a Mazda Speed3. If you are trying to hypermile, this is not the car. The Speed3 was meant to be a cheap sporty car, and the demographic is not supposed to care about fuel economy so much (else you would buy a Mazda 3 w/Skyactiv)

[abysal]

On that 110 mile commute, he must pass under a lot of bridges to affect his gas mileage like that.

[M.F.D.K]

Well, thank you everyone i think i have made up mind, and i will be going for 2012 Mazda Mazda3 i Touring SKYACTIV Sedan. This seems exacly what im looking for.

Thanks again guys, will update when I buy it hopefully this sat.

Cheers

[Liquidfox]

Are you all retarded?! Coasting is stupid! Not to mention, leaving it in gear actually uses less fuel than sticking it in neutral!

[Astra.Xtreme]

Are you all retarded?! Coasting is stupid! Not to mention, leaving it in gear actually uses less fuel than sticking it in neutral!

All? Calm down. It was one guy that threw that idea out there.

When you throw it in neutral, it's at a lower rpm than when it's in gear, so I'd believe that it would increase mpg slightly, but probably not a worthy amount.

[sc302 Veteran]

It all depends on the down hill and the gust of wind pushing you.

[abysal]

Are you all retarded?! Coasting is stupid! Not to mention, leaving it in gear actually uses less fuel than sticking it in neutral!

No need to act like an internet savage, it was just one guy who was ;)

[M.F.D.K]

It all depends on the down hill and the gust of wind pushing you.

My unlce alwaays does it, he even shuts off the engine believe or not, he's kinda of risk taker too

[threetonesun]

As I mentioned before, in a manual, putting it in neutral will force the car to burn gas to stay at idle, while coasting will shut off the injectors.

And turning off the engine is just a really super bad idea in a modern car. :laugh:

[sc302 Veteran]

As I mentioned before, in a manual, putting it in neutral will force the car to burn gas to stay at idle, while coasting will shut off the injectors.

O_o shut off the injectors while coasting? I can assure you injectors don't shut off when coasting. They aren't pushing as much fuel through them, but they don't shut off. Some cars will shut off cylinders when cruising due to momentum and programming, but none shut off injectors while coasting as that is the same as being in neutral and standing still. Shutting off injectors while in neutral, what a hoot. Thanks for a lol.

[threetonesun]

O_o shut off the injectors while coasting? I can assure you injectors don't shut off when coasting. They aren't pushing as much fuel through them, but they don't shut off. Some cars will shut off cylinders when cruising due to momentum and programming, but none shut off injectors while coasting as that is the same as being in neutral and standing still. Shutting off injectors while in neutral, what a hoot. Thanks for a lol.

This isn't complicated. Two scenarios:

1) rolling down a hill in neutral, your car will drop to idle, fuel is injected to keep the engine running.

2) rolling down a hill in gear, car stays at whatever RPM it was at, wheels turn the engine, no fuel is injected.

This is true of manual transmission, at least. What modern automatics do, I'm not certain.

[sc302 Veteran]

This isn't complicated. Two scenarios:

1) rolling down a hill in neutral, your car will drop to idle, fuel is injected to keep the engine running.

2) rolling down a hill in gear, car stays at whatever RPM it was at, wheels turn the engine, no fuel is injected.

This is true of manual transmission, at least. What modern automatics do, I'm not certain.

automatics do the same thing based on load + rpm, same as manuals. However gas is still pumping, spark is still happening, combustion is still going on even if you are going down hill and in gear. the vehicle doesn't understand angle, it understands load, throttle position, and rpm. under low load many new cars will turn off 2 or more cyls (I do not believe 4cyls turn of anything, they just spray less fuel into the cyls) to try to maintain fuel ecomomy but all of the injectors do not turn off.

[zeta_immersion]

I used to put the car in neutral and then back in gear, however, while I was getting better mileage and breaking was easier and what not, the transmission did not like it much (as it is not manual) ..... basically what happens is, if you put N then stop is fine, but if you put N then have to go into D then you need to rev the engine a bit and gear it ... never the less, I would rather take the hit on 100ml of gas and some break wear then a full transmission rebuilt (though with time, as the car ages you don't give a crap)

[threetonesun]

Again, this is with manuals, and it has nothing to do with angle, if the engine and wheels are connected, the engine is turning and there's no throttle, there's no need to inject fuel. You could run a scanner on your car to verify this.

With automatics, it gets different, although most modern automatics do this to some extent, and have other tricks to get better gas mileage than manuals.

[sc302 Veteran]

go ahead show me some screen shots of your scanner showing that there is no open and close event on your scanner, if your scanner is capable of that...you aren't going to have a parts store scanner give you that info. i am also curious to see what your 02 sensors read as well, they should show no difference in the before cat and after cat sensors.

[threetonesun]

go ahead show me some screen shots of your scanner showing that there is no open and close event on your scanner, if your scanner is capable of that...you aren't going to have a parts store scanner give you that info. i am also curious to see what your 02 sensors read as well, they should show no difference in the before cat and after cat sensors.

No, because I don't care if you believe me or not, but this fact has been hashed over a million times since the hyper-miling idea started.

[sc302 Veteran]

If I cared enough I would. but I really don't.