Well, my concern is safety. If you had to choose between mileage and safety, I'd prioritize safety. That's one reason why Fit > Yaris. Most people say the yaris's sacrificed too much for mileage, including safety (less airbags, etc)

You think it's safe, I don't. I'll try the brake thing, but I'm sure I've done it before and observed the observation I told you.

 

huuuu
Maybe 20 years ago, but most name brand cars, especially Honda, will easily go 250,000 miles with proper care.......

 

Maybe kia, but not hondas, well i see plenty of old civs and accords from like 80 crusing around. Most have very well over 100k for sure

 

Yea your right honda used to last 250000 miles easy, but not restarting your car 50 times a day to save gas. My company put idle busters on our trucks to save fuel and save millions but they did not consider the maintance and the oil needed to make and ship the batterys,starters, flywheels,etc and gallons of oil the engines will use. I knew someone would call me on 100000/miles but that is what the government considers life cycle. I use m1 and bp or shell premium in all my cars. NO problems and engine runs and is clean with very good mileage and power. That is why I said it not about oil but about spending money in different parts of the economy. Everything wears out its trying to keep it to a miminal.

 

FIXED

 

one word.
DANGEROUS.

just drive moderately, it will elongate your cars life, avoid fatal accidents, and save gas.
more than any neutral or turned off engine would.
things like killing the engine and hypermiling are dangerous.
I can average a low of 33 combined on a decent run of moderation

 

+1.

My father-in-law's 1996 Honda Civic has 380,000 miles on it and is still going strong. He's only had brakes/tires/clutch changed.

He's going to drive it for a few more years until he retires.

 

Considering all the aforementioned arguments - how is it dangerous?

Hypermilers are, perhaps, the safest and most aware drivers on the road.

 

man you love to exaggerate. Show me a link to anyone that said they do it 50 times per day.... I know I said maybe 10 per day or less and that's a special day. A typical day is 4 extras RT.

I think the Eco area just needs a new thread for those that have never tried it, are bored by it, don't own a Fit and otherwise just come here to take a steaming pile of shit on the constructive comments and discussions eco users that are showing real results are having.

You have to love the www ohh and the moderators

 

word. Not everyone needs to add thier unproven two cents.This is the eco part, not the safety. And AS the thread starter lets just remember what the question at hand was. "What is the amount of time needed so that it is more efficient to turn the engine off?" NOT IS IT SAFE TO DO THIS, DOES IT WEAR YOU STARTER OR ANYTHING ELSE.

 

The strain on the starter is undeniable, since the starter for a car without the idle stop mechanism does not have the kind of life cycle for frequent on-offs. I remember reading an interview with a Toyota engineer in a Japanese car magazine who was saying that he recommended doing the shutoff to save gas moderately because of this strain factor.

Cars like the Prius that are default set to idle-stop do not have this problem because the starter is engineered to have a far higher on-off cycles during its service life.

I do shut off my car's engine when I expect the "sitting there" to last for a couple of minutes or longer. But anything shorter, I usually choose to preserve the starter.

 

lol I scoff at that remark.
cleanmpg.com states that its not dangerous as well. but consult your local DOT about turning off your engine, cruising in neutral or drafting behind another car to lower wind resistance.
what if the situation arrives that you need to accelerate, or the car in front of you screeches to a halt and you have to move out from behind him and pick up speed to not get hit in the lane next to you? maybe its easy doing that on the east coast, but when i moved out west, I quickly realized that will get you killed. in summation driving is dangerous enough without impractically running your vehicle to its maximum; its bad enough engaging the clutch uses a small amount of gas, as well as the wear of a car being started multiple times in one trip. The solution for better MPG, find the cars sweet spots and drive moderately. Much safer.

 

Ok 50 times might be a little high put I live in Chicago so you could easily restart your car that many times. Cars that drive over 200000 miles are not sitting in traffic, they also have the least amount of wear. Starting your car puts the most wear on an engine beside overheating. Gas is lubricant and need to vaporize to burn, Heat soaking injectors is how you plug them. when gas vaporizes in the injectors little seeds plug them and that starts a problem. I always cool my motor by turning on the A/C to run the fan before shutting off the car. There is a lot of Research needed before I believe in hybrid and other technologies.

 

Such as when? If I'm coasting to a light (engine off), a car is likely in front of me, and I'll be hit anyway. Where could I accelerate - into the car in front of me?

If the car in front of me does a panic brake, I keep a HUGE distance from them (I don't tailgate like many of the aggressive drivers on the road) - so I have plenty of time to stop. Additionally - the heightened attention that a hypermiler gives to driving will allow him/her to see the situation as soon as it happens (whereas many other drivers are busy chatting on the phone, eating McDonald's, or watching their in-car DVD player).

Really? I just moved out from the San Francisco Bay area, I'm from Colorado (far more busy streets than Arizona), and have also lived in Virginia. All of those states one would be fine to hypermile. In all candor, I've noticed that SC drivers are far more aggressive and unskilled than Bay Area drivers. So by your logic it is more dangerous to hypermile here in SC than it is to hypermile in the Bay Area, and yet I believe it is still safe to hypermile here (or anywhere). No where will hypermiling get one killed.

There are hypermilers representing all the states. Hypermiling will not get one killed.

Perhaps hypermiling in the far-left lane of I-880 through Oakland, CA might...

 

I hate making arguments but here we go:

To avoid many dangerous situations an easy acceleration is necessary, if you have to toggle and turn on the engine or shift out of neutral your available response time is otherwise hindered. you must be dense if you think that a car accident happening in front of you wouldn't require moving outwards and then away from the incident into a safe position, if you really are from CA, you would know its only to protect yourself from the guy behind you.
And what is this heightened sense crap? you really believe because people are aware they can save gas they are freaking superman and have amazing automotive reflex and precognitive abilities? (and might I say your blatant generalization about other drivers is poor and a fallacy in reasoning)
I do find the most inaccurate statement in your whole post being Colorado's streets more busy than AZ, any census and even the ADOT and CDOT stats will tell you we have a gain of almost 3,000,000 more people; and about 2 mil. more drivers with 10 years behind on road construction. Now I hate this state with a burning passion, but with those stats its not even comparative. My general thesis is.. its dangerous to hypermile anywhere besides rural surroundings, your car isnt designed to take the wear, and drivers arent trained on evasive action due to an unresponsive car. Learn to drive moderately. Savings < Safety.


BTW. if that 39.2 is your reading when hypermiling, I get more driving moderately, ~41

 

response in blueVVV

 

Excellent response Snap_Fit.

 

How about this situation:
1) Your car is off and you are coasting downhill to what seems to be a yellow light.
2) You brake lightly since you will be stopping soon.
3) Someone (or multiple cars) cuts in front of you since you left a bus length gap.
4) You need to brake hard suddenly since the guy that cut you off braked.

You will not be able to brake hard enough since the brake booster is no longer working and you used up the last bit of pressure. And I'm not even sure if the electric power steering/ABS will be working in this situation.

Or this:
1) You are at a light with your car off
2) A huge truck comes barreling towards you honking for you to get out of the way (let's say his brakes failed)

A car that was running could, but barely get out of the way.
A car that was off needs to be cranked before it can move and those split seconds cost you your life.

My point is that you cannot predict what will happen at any time when you are driving, that's why they are called "accidents". Have you also considered a similar situation in snow/ice conditions?

Also you imply that non-hypermilers talk on the phone, eat McDonalds and watch DVD's where as hypermilers are the safest bunch on the road with "spidey senses". I do not hypermile, but I also do not eat or talk on my cell in the car. Thanks.

You can prob get better mileage by swapping to the 1.3L engine, or even get a smart car instead of the fit. At least that way you can keep the car running.

My $0.02.

 

lol. When is the last time you received higher education man?
Your argument is completely fallacious and it doesn't even require me to retort in proper form, though I do feel insulted. So I will. (besides what types of fallacies did I present?)
I have hypermiled before and received decent results, not any better than subtle acceleration and a top speed of 63mph has given. your assumption that I drive fast is pretty rude, as was AppleMac's that people that don't hypermile eat food, watch dvds while driving, and talk on the phone, theres no actual evidence to back this reasoning. Your ad hominem's are as well poor claiming that "we" all know it wouldnt be safe for me to hypermile. Though I sport as Soshinoya badge, I am anything but an unsafe lead footed driver, I wouldnt infer such a thing about you out of respect, which you dont seem to present for me.

+2 for lamyun's post btw

I could go on about how you misdirected this topic off into other fields of safe driving but its not worth the time, rather heres Edmunds stance on hypermiling.
"But how do hypermilers do it? Below are some hypermiling tactics that practitioners say increase pocket cash while reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Still, not all hypermiling techniques are safe or the best idea for your car's mechanical longevity. Many of them are extremely dangerous and, some would say, profoundly irresponsible. While we endorse the pursuit of energy independence, in no way do we support or encourage all of these activities. This article serves only to illustrate the lengths to which people will go, not to offer them as fuel-saving tips to our readers.

Source:
Hypermiling: Quest for Ultimate Fuel Economy

 

another side would argue that it saves the environment even tho it comes at a cost to your wallet