Just wondering how to get the best mileage on my vRS.

I drive a lot small highways around 80 km/h (50 mph) and been wondering what rpm's are the most economical.

Is it around 1500 with 6th gear or near 2000 on 5th. There is no need for any quick accelerations but these roads contain small up- and downhills. Of course the onboard computer says the lower rpms - the lower consumption...

Many thanks for your observations...

Christian from Turku, Finland

I'd also like to know this. I've found sitting at 70 to be noticably more economical than sitting at say 80. Not just a little, but a fair bit.

Don't the manufacturers quote on extra urban mpg based upon 56mph?

By keeping just off boost I have found my VRS to be incredibly economical over long distances. At 60mph in 6th I can get a recorded 90mpg, I dont pretend for a second thats what im getting but im confident that im getting around 70mpg - moving up to and over 2000rpm increases fuel consumption a lot.

Don't the manufacturers quote on extra urban mpg based upon 56mph?

I think 56mph is just a random number though and there may be more economical speeds. I always found cruising just above peak torque was most economical in the Fabia, although painfully slow

Chris

Just wondering how to get the best mileage on my vRS.

Why not use the trip computer on a clear, flat road? That should take all factors into account - particularly if you have cruise control. Also, note the drop in mpg if the AC is switched on.

On the motorway, 6th gear, 65-70mph I find flexible enough and economical. Though if I have to slow at all, 5th gear can make more sense in making the speed back up, especially if there any any hills.

Often I find I travel too quickly for optimum economy.

J.

In a similar vein, as a new owner of a 04 vRS I have been trying out various possibilities for driving around town (rarely do motorway).

Find that at 30 mph, on a light throttle and on the flat, the engine is fine. A fair bit of an incline and the engine starts to labour (and, from the 'old school of motoring' I change down to third).

What does everyone else do / recommend - if I'm not hijacking this thread ?

change down,floor it ,then change up and repeat:D

economy is not one of my watchwords when driving my vrs and get 30- 40mpg avg with my 'normal' driving

however i know about economy and if you remember that the petrol/diesel engine is at its most efficient at a constant speed and in the highest gear possible without labouring the engine also use engine braking more than actual brakes and try not to lose unnecessary speed where ever possible

to my amazement i did find one day, i needed to drive 30-40 miles of motorway when the fuel gauge dropped into orange, that by sitting in 6th @70mph i could nearly triple the mpg and as long as i stayed off the turbo.

i have wondered if due to the 6th gear the 56mph for best mpg rule is different on the vrs (just a theory tho).

no offence cars

but why are you so interested in getting the max mileage out of a gallon?

Air resistance is a power of your speed, not linear, so the when you do 40 to 80 the air resistance doesn't just double it increases massively, and your engine has to do a lot more work to keep you at that speed.

Air resistance is a power of your speed, not linear, so the when you do 40 to 80 the air resistance doesn't just double it increases massively, and your engine has to do a lot more work to keep you at that speed.

that would only be true if your car did not have gears, yes the air resistance will increase however in 6th gear at 60-70mph the engine is only doing 1500rpm and therefore doing about the least amount of work.

okeh - the only nearest service station was the one listed 30 odd miles away on the motorway signage... id been pushing it quite hard driving back from scotland and forgotten to check the fuel gauge.

;812555'']that would only be true if your car did not have gears, yes the air resistance will increase however in 6th gear at 60-70mph the engine is only doing 1500rpm and therefore doing about the least amount of work.

Whatever gear you are in, whatever engine you have (even if you are pedalling the car), the work done against the wind resistance is the same. The engine rpm would affect internal losses due to friction, heat etc (just as your trousers would wear out and heat up if you were pedalling).

vRS & economy? Sounds like an oxymoron to me. If economy is what you need

then you might be better suited to an SDI.

:sofahide:

thought id just clarify my point:

an engine that is running at its lowest maintainable rpm for any given gear will be the most fuel efficient speed for that car and that gear, regardless if it happens to be 2 or 200mph.

so if the lowest maintainable rpm for each gear was 1200rpm then the top gear @ 200mph would be the cheapest and fastest way of getting somewhere. of course the hard part would be getting the car up to that speed.

yes wind resistance increases, heat is lost due to friction but the fact is that the speed at which the engine is turning is all that matters when you are talking about fuel efficiency (with identical equipment) and the rev counter is a direct indicator of how much power/work is being produced.

on slightly different tangent i recall my surprise when i found that my vRS was still more efficient than my old Fabia 1.4 16v, both driven quite hard. so more power, more fun and less fuel costs - best car ive owned so far

Just have the fuel computer on immediate mpg readout at all times, and change as per appropriate.

It all depends on up/down hill, temperature, humidity, fuel used, if you are behind another car or not, and is generally massively variable

Lower speeds tend to be better for fuel economy. Lower rpms ditto, however if you start to labour the engine then that is DEFINITELY not the case any longer. This is why on my remapped car I got better fuel economy when not driving it hard, more power/torque at lower rpms so less fuelling to keep it at a particular rev on average I suppose.

When going up a hill at marginal-ok-for-6th you may well find 5th more economical..