I have a manual and I tend to shift at the recommended speeds and I'm averaging about 28MPG, higher occasionally.

 

Hilly roads shouldn't really matter, because for every heavy acceleration up the hill there is a coasting down the other side. It will be the same as a perfectly flat road.

 

I've gotten as high as upper 30s on long highway trips back when i was mostly stock, but now I get about 25mpg with the injen intake and Alphawerks headers. not bad at all and I don't exactly drive conservatively

 

Actually hilly roads DO matter. Remember that professor who swung the bowling ball from his head and didn't move because he knew the ball would lose energy and not make it all the way back to hit him? You actually don't make up the fuel used to climb a hill even while idling down one. I also live in a very hilly area and know this for a fact even in my civic hybrid.

 

In a car, When stopped at the bottom of the hill, driving to the top and rolling down the hill to a complete stop, the total work done is equal to zero. The only energy expended is in the force needed over come friction and is dissipated as heat. This is exactly the same as a car rolling on a completely level surface. Why would any more gas be used to drive the same distance? Also, why are you talking about a pendulum example when we are talking about a energy expended going up a hill vs a flat surface?

 

Well, your thought is true. But in reality the car idles on the way down, so there is SOME gas expended. But for the most part, the work done is close to 0.

 

just under 12K miles and I'm averaging 25.81mpg (yes, I track it all in MS excel).

 

Is it bad that I have used up a bit over 1/4 of a tank and only have about 85 miles on the odo?

That's about 23.44 according to my quick calculation... might have something to do with the fact I'm still learning stick so not making the best shifting decisions/early enough

 

Driving a stick can either get you good or really bad milage, depending one how you drive it and if you know how to drive it. Once you get better and your not reving the engine so much unnecessarily, it'll get better

 

i rarely ever even get 22mpg, its usually more like 17 and thats on low grade gas... 87 octane... lol i go thru tank after tank like its nothing... could it be all the performance mods? me thinks yes. :D

 

I'm getting between 24 and 25 in the city. I'm manual with Injen intake. The intake took up my MPG about 1.5-2 in the city after I learned that making that awesome noise put an awesome dent in my wallet. My first tank with CAI on was about 18 or 19.

 

wat rpm's do u shift at?

 

I shift below 4k and stay around or under 3k while cruising around town. Fastest road here is a 1 mile long county road I take to work and back to home and it is 50 mph.

 

Ive decided to not look at my rpms unless I have to. I basically just shift when I feel the engine peak in that gear and when my acceleration drops off. Gas mileage has only suffered about 1 MPG. Does anyone else shift like this, or are you using the tach to let you know when to shift?

 

depends on if i'm driving hard or not... if im going hard i'll look, if im going slow i'll usually just look at the spedo and see when its time to shift... i skip alot of gears... got 29mpg last tank (little city, some highway)

 

That IS how I shift because I've learned the sound of 4k rpms. I only really look at my rpms if I gun it in first, or I continually get on it hard through all gears.

 

What do you mean you skip alot of gears? Is that for better acceleration or a way to increase gas mileage?

 

my car gets 320-330 per tank

 

about 14mpg

 

Wow that is really bad!