Driving a Prius and trying to max the gas mileage must be good practice. I just rented a Mercury Grand Marquis that is rated for 25mpg highway and I got 26.1mpg over a 1655 mile trip. Two people and luggage at 70-75mph for 90% of the trip. Used regular gas the entire trip. The car had 1800 miles when we picked it up. http://autos.yahoo.com/2007_mercury_grand_..._gs/?poll=22216
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(200Volts @ May 22 2007, 03:00 PM) [snapback]447448[/snapback]</div> Truth is that the Prius makes us better drivers in many ways.
How do you pulse-and-glide in a Mercury Grand Marquis? The only EV mode it has stands for Extremely Voracious. ;-)
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KTPhil @ May 22 2007, 02:51 PM) [snapback]447592[/snapback]</div> pulse & coast. Yeah it does work. I pulse & coasted on an 06 Jetta TDI PD and netted 5.6L/100km over that short test. That's 42mpg
Like most Ford products, if you let all the way off the gas the auto trans will drag more to slow you down. If you ALMOST let off all the way on the gas you will be close to coasting. Mainly what I did was drive 75 mph in the flats and then slow to 70 going up hills. Then 70 down hills until almost at the flat, then speed up to 75 ,with the hill assist, for a constant cruise speed (exactly constant) of 75. The Marquis has a 5 bar MPG "gauge" (it's more of a vacuum gauge IMHO) to help hold a constant speed. I call this the semi-pulse and glide technique.
