[Blue Angel]

Very nice first road trip!

I fuel up on a daily basis and I notice when my DIC shows 57 mpg after 370 miles its actually about 51.5 mpg at the pump. So the DIC is consistantly optimistic by about 5-6 mpg from my own experience.

What he said. Put a few tanks through it and keep track of your fill-ups. After 4-5 tanks you can look at your DIC indicated mileage for each tank and then compare that to you actual calculated mileage based on fill data and odometer readings. You'll come up with a correction factor that you can use to better estimate your mileage.

I correct mine at -7%, others seem to vary between about 5-10%. Even so, my correction factor isn't exactly the same each time, so the only way to be sure is to average it out over full tanks. With the Eco and it's early fuel tank cap-off (which gives it an artificially limited 12.9 gallon capacity), filling can be a little inconsistent as well depending on the flow rate of the specific pump you're at and how level the car is sitting. That's why I suggest working out your correction factor over a few tanks.

There are lots of fuel tracking methods you can pick from as well; Fuelly (most popular), Ecomodder (see my sig), and many more I'm not aware of as well as countless smartphone apps. I use a smartphone app to record my data at the pump and then update my on line trackers at home on the PC. This saves me from having to keep track of paper reciepts.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your mileage!

 

[Blue Angel]

View attachment 19410

WHAT? That's the dic display I really want to see! Your instant history as you're driving in small steps! My '12 Canadian Eco only shows over the last 31 miles (50km).

What year/model is that pic from???



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[Blue Angel]

Oh thanks for all the tips guys. Does anyone happen to know how many liters the eco has left (roughly) when the gas light comes on?

My low fuel light comes on with roughly 35-36L used (31-32L on the dic), and the needle drops to E with roughly 38-39L used (35-36L on the dic). The tank volume is about 49L (12.9 us gal), so when it drops to E you've got maybe 10L left.

That's a ROUGH guideline... I've never put more than 40L into the tank so I can't confirm anything beyond that.


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[Blue Angel]

Her drive is pretty hilly though so I can't blame her. Though when I drove it to her work I still managed to get 47MPG lol.

Sounds like a good excuse to teach her a few techniques! You could also back it up with a little $ math and show her how much extra it costs every month when she drives un-eco-friendly compared to your 47 MPG target.

 

[Blue Angel]

It's official - you're hooked!

 

[Blue Angel]

I have a 2012 Eco with 11000 miles and I have never seen never MPG like that. Makes me wonder if there is something wrong with my car. When I say anything to the dealer about my "lack luster" MPG, they for one say not check engine no problem and it will take x amount of miles. Where X is something so far in the future to make me forget about any possibility of a problem.

Check this link to post #100:

Speed vs. MPG charts (post 'em if you got 'em) - Page 4 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com

I posted that somewhere on Cruzetalk also, but I can't find it right now.

If you go to a flat road and do two way averages resetting the DIC to get your mileage over the same stretch of road you'll be able to compare your numbers to what I got. Read this guide, it will tell you what you need to know to accurately (as possible) determine your consumption vs. speed:

How to properly test modifications (AKA: don't believe every MPG claim you read) - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com

Pick one or two speeds to test at and compare to my results. Keep in mind my results are corrected at -7% from the DIC, actual DIC readings will be higher.

 

[Blue Angel]

When I first overinflated my tires I hated the ride... then after a week or so I just got used to it.

 

[Blue Angel]

DFCO seems to have a bit of confusing "logic" programmed into it. Mine works very consistently, but it's consistently confusing me as to why it won't engage in certain situations... it works pretty well ~98% of the time.

Example: There's an off ramp I take every morning going to work. The ramp follows a long gradual uphill section I take in 6th gear, gradually slowing as I reach the top and coasting into the ramp. If the light is red at the end of the ramp I attempt DFCO in 4th and when that doesn't work, in 3rd. 3rd usually gets it to kick in, but then it kicks out, then in again. Sometimes it won't kick in at all. In this one particular situation, day after day, winter or summer, DFCO consistently refuses to work "properly", or the way I would like it to anyway.

One thing I've noticed that will very consistently discourage DFCO is having your foot on the throttle when down shifting, or attempting to rev-match while downshifting. When seeing throttle input when downshifting, I think the car assumes you are downshifting for better acceleration after selecting the gear and doesn't activate DFCO. This could be why your car rarely uses DFCO.

If you think that could possibly be why, the next time you drive make a concious effort to remove your foot from the throttle before clutching, and select the lower gear and release the clutch all without touching the gas. When I first got my Eco I was used to rev-matching downshifts and I quickly found out DFCO would take FOREVER to engage when I did that.

 

[Blue Angel]

I never rev match when downshifting during decelerations.

I used to ALWAYS rev-match in my Saturn... it just makes sense instead of intentionally wearing the clutch to speed the engine up, but I've had to train myself not to do it wiht this car. I try to minimise clutch wear by shifting as fast as possible. On a really good (quick) 5-4 downshift I can complete the shift without the DIC reporting an interuption to DFCO.

 

[Blue Angel]

Im going for the gold badge and 700 mile tank with this tank.

Nice! Give us an update! Where are you at now?

 

[Blue Angel]

Just remember that you will be required to limit your fuel use to 14 gallons to hit the target 710 miles for the HC gold badge. From the Badge thread:

"While developing these badges we discovered that it is relatively easy to get 13.5 gallons into the ECO MT's marketing limited gas tank, but it starts getting progressively harder above this level. Thus there are two sets of numbers for the ECO MT. The first set, US (Canada) ECO MT* assume a 13.5 gallon tank. The second set, ECO MT Modified Fuel Pump, uses 14 gallons. Some of you have increased your tank capacity so we gave you a set of numbers just for you."

Since you stuffed your tank absolutely full you would fit into the 14 gallon/710 mile category. The pic of your fuel receipt needs to show 14 gallons or less were used, and you'll need to fill to the brim again to get an accurate volume.

Good luck with the tank! Offer to take your wife out for dinner if you collectively succeed!

 

[Blue Angel]

Push it and see how far it will go! I've calculated fairly accurately I have about 5 litres until the tank goes dry once the DIC stops reporting a range and just says "low". 5L is about 1.32 gallons. DO IT, you're close!

 

[Blue Angel]

getting ready for my trip to ottawa tomorrow...

Nice! What's the agenda? If you have time take a little tour along the Parkway, it follows the river from Carling in the West end and takes you right downtown to Wellington St. by the Parliament Bldgs, then you take Sussex down to the water again, past the PM's house and then onto the Rockliffe Pkwy which runs East again and goes almost out to Orleans (where I'm at). It's a nice leisurely drive that's more scenic on a good day and usually quicker than the 417 on a bad day.

 

[Blue Angel]

The only time I'll let my car idle is while I'm scraping windows, and even this is iffy with the Cruze because of how long it takes to warm up at idle.

I use a windshield cover to avoid scraping/scratching my window. I start it and drive it easy after about 10 seconds... Mobil1 5W-30 warmed by the oil pan heater flows quick.

 

[Blue Angel]

I can see this car taking ages to warm up though.

You see clearly, grasshoppa! Hypermiling an Eco MT in the winter months does little to generate extra heat for occupant comfort. When it gets really cold out my car doesn't get up to temperature by the time I'm at work, but that's based on my colder-than-most climate. I wear long-johns in the winter...

If I get on the highway and go 60+ MPH it warms up reasonably quick.