Skipping Gears and MPG

[skylinedrifter]

For the past few months I have been making extra effort to conserve fuel. I check my tire pressure weekly, I keep extra weight out of my vehicle, I have new plugs, use synthetic oil, I don't let my RPMs top 2,000 when I am accelerating and don't top 60mph unless passing someone. All tolled I have been generally getting about 35mpg.For this fillup, though, I am trying something new: skipping gears during acceleration. I plan on generally going 1 - 3 - 5 or from 2 - 4 - 5, depending on whether or not there are people behind me. lol.Has anyone tried this? Has it yeilded any results?

[Whelan]

never heard of saving by skipping gears. I typically dont let my car go over 3k when acceleration, 2k to me seems waaay to slow. Especially when getting on the highway. I also have an auto right now so I couldnt run the experiment with you. I am consintently now getting 27mpg with my driving habits changed. I wonder if I slow down a little more I can pull 30mpg, that would be awesome! I also have an AWD so it's usually a little worse.

[kunkstyle]

I can't see that helping, as you're going to be running into a higher rpm at the lower gear before shifting, thus using more fuel before each shift instead of keeping around an even 3k or so in each gear. Either that or shifting into the next gear you're using at much too low a speed, which is going to cause damage if you're lugging your engine along at too low an rpm.The only time I'll skip a gear is if I'm up to highway speed in a lower gear, and shift to the OD gear. (IE: 4th to 6th, or 3rd to 5th). I'm all for saving gas, but shifting at 2k rpm and skipping gears seems like a fast way to a heavy maintenance bill. And as I find a majority of people are trying to save gas for monetary value, isn't a higher maintenance cost counter productive? I don't know what traffic is like in your area, but here if I were doing no more than 60 mph I'd be a road hazard, too. Kudos on your efforts, however. More people need to be aware and try new ways to save fuel, instead of assuming that other people will have to change instead.

[Raven]

It does work to some extent. A lot of Corvettes were made that would jump from 1st to 3rd when not under hard acceleration. Removal of the solenoid was the first mod most Vette owners made. It was annoying as hell but did improve mileage.

[Lancer]

Yeah, but these aren't corvettes with 400 hp. I would think that skipping gears (in our vibes) would make the engine work harder. And use more gas. Our cars have some of the best mpg ratings out there. They're so fun to drive, you should enjoy it instead of trying to save a few pennies at the pump. But that's just me.

[Neouka]

I do it sometimes, generally on the highway in stupid traffic, I get accelerating, and I'll suddenly realize that further acceleration is useless, so I'll go from 2-4 or 3-5... same goes for downshifting.As for city driving, I don't think it makes much of a difference, I've done 1-3-5 or 2-4-5 before, but i'd have to rev it up to at least 3 grand so the engine doesn't puke out when you hit the next gear.On some of the buses I drive, they have these neat transmissions, basically the clutch and shifting is computer controlled, but it's a manual transmission, and feels like one. Anyway, they skip gears like mad, like 2-3-5-7-9-10. Saves fuel I guess.

[Petrucci914]

Quote, originally posted by skylinedrifter »For the past few months I have been making extra effort to conserve fuel. I check my tire pressure weekly, I keep extra weight out of my vehicle, I have new plugs, use synthetic oil, I don't let my RPMs top 2,000 when I am accelerating and don't top 60mph unless passing someone. All tolled I have been generally getting about 35mpg.For this fillup, though, I am trying something new: skipping gears during acceleration. I plan on generally going 1 - 3 - 5 or from 2 - 4 - 5, depending on whether or not there are people behind me. lol.Has anyone tried this? Has it yeilded any results?Keeping it under 2000rpm? You do know that our cars are making like -25 horsepower at those revs, right? I don't even know how you can stand that. I find the best way to conserve fuel is keeping the car under 70mph whilst cruising.

[Daox]

I don't have a current brake specific fuel map for the current 1ZZ, but the original 1ZZ (designed in 1998) peaked at between 2000 and 3000 rpm. Accelerating at a high load and keeping rpms between 2000 and 3000 will give you the best mileage while accelerating. This actually gets you going quite quick surprisingly. Skipping gears will likely put you out of this rpm range.

[WD0AFQ]

Watch your "tps" on the ScanGauge while skipping gears.Dan

[Whelan]

I don't think I would be mobile at 2k shifts. I don't even think my car would do it. Of course I'm lugging a few hundred more pounds with the AWD system. But 3k works fine for most cases. On the highway I keep it at or just under 3k while cruising at 65-70mph. Depending on how flat it is I can do 75 at 3k too.I have not seen 80mph in my car in over two weeks. When I used to do it as the common speed. But for another 4mpg currently and an added 50 miles per tank it seems (that equals one full day of commuting/driving), then who am I to complain.

[skylinedrifter]

Well, even when skipping gears I am still keeping it under 2k rpm. Also, I am not mashing on the gas when I accelerate so while the engine is working a little harder, I still think I am coming out ahead in the gas consumption game. Yes, it is slow as hell and I am trying to be considerate about it so i don't do it when there are cars behind me or I know it is a short light.So far, I've put about 170mi on the car since I started this on Tues. Don't know if the gauge is just sticking or what, but it seems like it's working slightly.Maybe I'll drop some $$$ for a used Scangauge so I can experiment with a little more certainty.

[sloth]

I've been doing this for a couple weeks. Very slow acceleration. I live in a very Rural area so usually nobody behind me. Started doing it because I had a 25mpg avg on one tank for some odd reason. Back up to 30mpg now. I also get about 3/4 a mile of neutral coasting each way on my 11 mile commute.

[skylinedrifter]

I checked my MPG this weekend:Accelerating through all 5 gears and not topping 2G - 33.5 mpgAccelereating through 1, 3 and 5 and not topping 2G - 38.2 mpg.

[Petrucci914]

I hope to hell I never get stuck behind you on a 2-lane highway.

[skylinedrifter]

LOL! I am courteous enough to accelerate more quickly when there are people behind me who can't get around me.

[northvibe]

i skip gears a lot, but my mtx is a 6 speed and the 1-4 are pretty close together. I can easily do 1-2-4 or 1-3-5 then do 6 when at 40-50mph. But I shift at 3krpm and drop to 2 when i skip so it works well.