Best habit to shift gears on MT and fuel economy
 

Hi well like the post says.. I own a toyota 86 FT manual, and I'd like to know what 's the best way to shift gears and have a nice fuel economy rate about 25mpg like most ppl state.
I don't know if my driving habits are bad or whats up , but I've taken my car from the dealer with the tank filled up have done like 89km and have half a tank left.
So maybe I'm shifting gears badly at bad rpms. A friend of mine told me to keep rpms below 3000rpm not to consume excesive fuel.
but what would be the best manual shifting practice. Start car 1st gear, then 2nd gear those gears are the most fuel demanding ones.. then 3rd .. move to 4th .. Then should I stay driving the car in 5th and 6th gear?

Slower acceleration. Slower deceleration.

You can look at your instantaneous mpg on the dash menu.

Try not to have any fun. :)

I've actually done it checked the instantenous mpg reading , but even if I start slowly in 1st gear gives like 36litres , then it steadies.. then jumps a bit.. then seems to be about 8 litres when I'm in 5th and 6th .. but seems like it's not a matter of being under 2000 rpms . it's weird.

I drive 40 minutes to and from work 5 days a week, and drive around weekends to play. I get stuck in ~30 min of traffic each day, and I average 30mpg per tank.
Here are things I do that I've picked up from hypermiling.

1) Don't jackrabbit the gas pedal.
2) try to stay out of neutral- coast in gear.
3) I change gears between 3k-3.5k
4) I keep 2 car distance between me and cars in front of me, because I'm scared of rockchips. If you are not, feel free to draft behind trucks (you get a mpg boost from as far as 100 feet gap if I remember correctly)
5) have a steady foot- accelerating uses more gas than staying constant speed

Under 3000!? I get my car in the 3-4k range...right now I'm averaging 27 MPG LOL

1) Pretend there is an egg between your foot and the gas pedal
2) Coast downhill in Neutral not in gear.
3) I change gears between 2k-2.2k
4) I keep 10+ car distance between me and cars in front of me, so I almost never have to brake (wastes alot of gas)

heh kay so what don't jackrabbit the gas pedal mean, what about coasting in gear? I've been trying now to shift gears in the 2-2.5k range. Honestly don't now what's the best rpm to shift gears.. some ppl are saying 3k-3.5k

If you activate the eco shift light it will give you the shift arrow @ 2K - 2.2K.

go to the 3:30 point of the video below.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB9dcC9dl3w"]Scion FR-S: How to set the Shift Light & Gear Indicator Display Settings (BRZ GT86) - YouTube[/ame]

Well I don't have cruise control, I enabled the G-on feature which tells you with a blinking arrow when you should shift to the next gear. but that goes in a high rpm mostly.. which wouldn't be really fuel conservative.

jackrabbit means quick starts (big acceleration compared to slowly reaching driving speed.

When you cost in neutral, your car uses gas to keep it's idle, but you go a little farther. When you coast in gear, you use no gas, and you supposedly go less distance (I havn't really noticed). Everytime I drive to a red light, I start coasting in gear early and get into neutral when I'm almost at the light to prolong the in-gear coasting.

You should learn how to drive predictably so you can replicate your results, then compare the difference in mpg from you changing gears at 2k vs 3k. Most of getting a high mpg just involves you driving at a constant speed for as long as possible, and reducing your accelerating amount.

I hit 30mpg almost every single gas tank, but I've been practicing for a long time, and I used to have a air fuel gauge/boost gauge to stare at when driving my old car to make sure I kept my foot steady.

I don't use cruise control ever, but you could give that a shot.

When you coast you mean when you're letting the car roll without pressing the gas pedal and in neutral ? Sorry

coasting just means moving without stepping on the gas pedal. you want to do that while staying in gear

My other car gets 9 mpg but it is far more fun than my BRZ but not a good Daily Driver.

If you go to neutral, the fuel economy is better because there is less drag from the transmission.

its not your driving habits, its a manufacture defect. take your vehicle in for refund/exchange.:burnrubber:

i've tried both, i only get 27mpg when I do neutral

I'm being serious here.. I wanted to discard basically it was a manufacturing defect.

For the kind of fuel economy you're talking about, it doesn't sound normal unless you're at or close to WOT for all of those 89 km (even then that doesn't sound right... I took a long, fast cruise where I went through half a tank in 144 miles & I was at high revs & over 100mph for much of it).

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

If I wanted fuel economy I would have bought a Prius.

Do this with Manual Transmission:

Without the clutch pressed in, just press the START button to get the car in ACC mode, or turn your key to the ACC Mode.

Press ODO/TRIP to cycle to "G – ON" on display.

Press and hold to cycle ON/OFF.

With this setting ON, while driving you will see which gear your car is in located in the Odometer display.

***IT WILL ALSO show you a small UP ARROW to indicate when to shift for max fuel economy.***

This is different from your REV Indicator. The small fuel economy arrow will be located in Odometer area. Once you hit the best RPMs to shift for max fuel economy a small up arrow will pop up showing you that now is the best time to shift up for max fuel.

Hope that is what you're looking for!

FYI: There is another setting there called Needle or N...I can't remember exactly. Most people don't know what this does...so I'll tell you. With Needle turned ON, when you start the car the tach needle will roll up to the highest RPM setting you have your REV Indicator set to...and then back down to 0. With Needle turned OFF, when you start your car the tach needle will not move. BORING! Turn it ON so you can see that Tach needle go up and back down because race car! :)

Kay so what would you do in my case. I still haven't emptied the tank filled my by dealer. I'm in half a tank. Should I empty it and do a full recharge shell's vpower? see how it goes.
should I take it to the dealer to check the ECU .. ?

Almost there... Already have the tires!

thanks Eric I did enable G-on didn't have it enabled before.. I know the arrow kicks up when it's in a high rpm range.. and I don't know if that's the optimum point for conservative fuel economy..

It depends on what gear your in, but I would trust it anyways. Also, I wouldn't use the instantaneous MPG reader. Use the AVG MPG. It updates less often but is much more realistic. With regular driving you should get about 320 miles on a full tank, with about 28mpg.

Don't forget, it probably has a smaller gas tank than your previous car, so while it may seem like you're burning through gas faster...the tank is rather small so you will need to stop for gas more often.

Yah I know but , only 89km with half a tank since I took it out from the dealer which had the tank filled up it's nothing. I don't get it. I'm worried that car has manufacture fault. Besides stupid Toyota in my country says they don't publish the fuel average on city highway here.
What the heck ..

I see. My best advise then would be to wait maybe 1000 miles and see if the issue persists through another 2 or 3 tanks. Maybe everything will be fine and you won't need to deal with the dealership. Believe me, the last thing you want is the dealership poking around at your car. They tend to make things worse when they start touching things.

I know :(:cry:

Run the tank out and fill with premium. You'll at least have a fighting chance.
The dealer I got mine from thought all the Scions ran on regular.

No clues to be had anywhere.

Yup that's what I was thinking off , should I reach to the low fuel led light? and then refuel. Was going to fill up with Vpower from shell.
To make matters worst stupid dealer forgot the underside rubber grummets and the rubber pads which go on top of the suspesion struts.

PD: Could this be a manufacture fault from your view? I would have to have at least a cel on I think.. car is working fine no strange noises nor anything.. just this annoying fuel thing

The shift arrow usually shows up around 2k RPMs...

I couldn't imagine this being different from car to car.

Gonna check that cause if it's showing far higher than 2k then somethings wrong with the ECU or my car. To make matters worse.

Well, dssence, I think your math is suffering from a small representative sample.

I would suggest you fill up your car's tank with premium gas (til the pump clicks off) and re-set the trip odemeter to 0.

Drive, keeping the rpms below about 4,000, till the tank is down to 1/4 full. Fill up at the same station at the same pump (to click off). Divide the miles driven by the gallons of gas consumed (or kilometers/liters).

Do this about 3 times, checking your milage each time. This will give you a good idea of your average gas milage.

Then come back with your findings ...... http://www.runemasterstudios.com/gra...mages/wink.gif

I think the instant gas mileage is only useful as a pointer about what sorts of driving styles cause bad mileage - i.e. hard acceleration obviously puts you at higher consumption, but also hard deceleration as pointed out before.

I use it to gauge how much unnecessary consumption I am causing (i.e. if I'm not in "fun mode")

I must disagree with you here. First of all, coasting downhill in neutral is somewhat dangerous, and it eats up brake pads a lot more.

Also, when you cost IN gear, you consume 0 gas, because your engine is driven by the "wheels".

However, if you coast NOT in gears but in neutral. You are actually consuming gas. The engine has to inject a small amount of gas into the engine in order to keep the engine spinning, or else the engine will stall.


Do correct me if I'm wrong though.

I think you've hit the nail on the head.

sorry to ask.. but i drive a sports car:burnrubber: whats MPG?:iono: :D

This is personally my perspective, others may agree or disagree. If fuel economy is that important, might as well get an economy car for good fuel mileage. I always hear individuals complain about fuel economy or how to achieve good fuel economy, but they are driving vehicles that aren't meant to be super good on fuel economy.

Back to the thread. I usually shift around 3000 rpm and drive like a turtle from the get go; however, it annoys me when someone behind me is tailing my butt because I'm starting off slow.

Actually this car gets better than the economy car that I previously owned.

More horsepower, better handling, and better fuel efficiency! :) FRS ftw.

If you car is brand new, your gas mileage will increase after the first couple of tanks.

Also as others have said, upshift before 3000 rpm and whenever you're moving at a constant speed (highway, etc.), upshift into the lowest gear possible.