I Discovered A Little Fuel Savings Trick Today

[007s 'Vert]

Folks this might sound a bit silly but I feel I have figured out a little trick to help save a bit of gas on the road.
This trick is for automatics.
What I do is I learned how to read the hills in the roadway. By looking ahead (and knowing the layout of the road ahead of you) I can tell if the car is going to kick down to a lower gear while it is in cruise control by looking at the upcoming incline of a hill. Normally on a road that I am not familiar with I can tell if the upcoming hill is too steep for the car to stay in 6th gear, I know ahead of time that it is going to kick down to 5th gear. When it kicks down into a lower gear the RPMs go up and thus lower gas mileage. Right when I know/think the car is going to shift down I just tap the right (+) paddle shifter, thus locking the transmission in 6th gear, the V6 in these cars is plenty strong enough to keep and maintain the current speed in 6th gear, but it is not reving up and sucking gas.
Today I proved this theory in a road I take about twice a week and normally get 27~28 MPGs on a steady basis.
I filled up before I embarked on this 102 mile round trip that has lots of curvy and hilly miles. I practiced the "paddle shifter" trick on every hill where I knew it was going to shift down, and it maintained the speed on every single hill. When I came back to the same gas station and exact same pump I topped the tank back off, When I calculated the amount of gas I put in into the amount of miles I drove I got 29.5 MPG!!!!!!!! Not bad for back country roads!
All I am saying is this theory works for me, results may vary for others. It is just something I felt I needed to pass on to my fellow Camaro brothers and sisters in here.
Try it and let me know if it works for you. I knew it would pay off having these paddle shifters while in cruise control, they are convenient and you dont even need to have the shifter in sport mode, it works just fine in regular drive mode.

[blackknight]

Superb driving Technique.

But in a Camaro. No need for gas mileage awareness.

[Eich]

This article tends to agree with you:
http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/...-lug-and-coast

[007s 'Vert]

Originally Posted by blackknight

Superb driving Technique.

But in a Camaro. No need for gas mileage awareness.

True.........for some
Camaro or not, there are folks trying to save fuel.
I drive lots of miles on a weekly basis, I DO want to save fuel on the long runs, although I once in a while have a lead foot......I mean- Who Doesn't? lol

[Blue17CamaroZL1]

I have a tungston foot aka heavier than lead

[06blownSS]

what is this fuel savings you speak of?

[007s 'Vert]

Originally Posted by 06blownSS

what is this fuel savings you speak of?

Heh Heh,

Drive on! Put the Hammer down! lol

After all-It's your wallet,

This thread is basically meant for those who are bitching about how bad their V6s are burning gas and are looking for a few tips and tricks on how to save fuel.
Like I said before I average over 500 miles a week, you have a tendency to start thinking up new ways to save $$$ when you gotta fill that tank. I usually am not in no hurry, have nothing to prove (powerwise) and just basically enjoy driving this sweet looking machine.
I love seeing the SSs drivers out there enjoying their rides as well, more power to them

[austin]

I also found a way to save fuel. When I was shopping for my Camaro, I was an inch away from ordering a 2SS. Before I placed my order I swiftly changed it to a 2LT at the last minute, thus saving $$$ each fill up.
OP being that you also have a V6, you are saving even more. Good job.
Seriously though, I am really going to be happy about my decision when gas hits $6 a gallon. We all need to find ways to save.

[007s 'Vert]

Originally Posted by austin

I also found a way to save fuel. When I was shopping for my Camaro, I was an inch away from ordering a 2SS. Before I placed my order I swiftly changed it to a 2LT at the last minute, thus saving $$$ each fill up.
OP being that you also have a V6, you are saving even more. Good job.
Seriously though, I am really going to be happy about my decision when gas hits $6 a gallon. We all need to find ways to save.

My thoughts exactly

Even if I did have an SS, with all the miles I do weekly I would STILL be looking for ways to save gas, ya they have gobs of power but even so, I wouldn't be cramming that gas pedal down all the time.
Like I said in the first post, I still had to pass cars three separate times and everytime I do I just punch it hard(when I pass people I used every bit of power at my disposal, if it looks like I have lots of room then I don't punch it that hard), and I even had to slow down through three small towns and one of them I had to stop several times, and I STILL managed 29.5 GPMs, I bet if it werent for all those things I probably would have gotten north of 30 MPGs

[cmb74656]

Just draft a semi. But watch out for rock chips and blown recaps!

[007s 'Vert]

[QUOTE=cmb74656;4520449]Just draft a semi. B Ha Ha! I've done that! even got a cracked windshield to show for it lol. I used to draft Semi trucks in my old jeep wrangler and was getting another five miles per gallon lol, got scary though

[Revo1]

Or you could just pop it in 6th once you reach cruising speed. Or is precise timing critical to the process?

[007s 'Vert]

Originally Posted by Revo1

Or you could just pop it in 6th once you reach cruising speed. Or is precise timing critical to the process?

Well I noticed when I had my Avalanche automatic that when I aproached a hill it would kick down to 5th or 4th (depending on the grade of the hill) and I had no control over it but to just ease off the throttle and just end up going slower. But with the paddle shifters in the Camaro this totally gives you all the control you need. If I had paddle shifters in the Avalanche I bet I could have gone up those same hills in 6th gear and still have maintained the same speed I started up the hill with.
I imagine you could just pop it into 6th gear, but in regular drive mode it will automatically switch back into regular drive mode after a few seconds of me shifting into 6th with the paddle shifter, I imagine in order to keep it in 6th gear I would need to just put the gear selector into sport mode. it is just easier for me to just hit the paddle shifter in drive mode, and if it is a long hill I just keep tapping it when it needs to stay in 6th and is about to change back to drive.

And No.....Precise timing is not needed for this trick, I just like to leave it in drive so that I don't need to worry about what gear it is in when I have to slow down going through small towns. Next time I go I just might try and see what happens if I just do it in sport mode and see if I can keep it in 6th gear all the time.

[007s 'Vert]

Maybe if I get that bird off my hood (see sig pic) my car would have less wind resistance and thus better mileage, lol