Vacationers can cash in on hypermilers' tips

Every vacationer who loads up the family for the summer getaway has encountered their share of pain at the pump. Fuel bills add up on a long trip — even when prices are relatively low.

But two men finished trekking 8,233 miles across the USA in a compact car earlier this month — and spent only $295 on fuel. They squeezed 81 miles per gallon out of a diesel-powered Volkswagen Golf TDI.

They are hypermilers, those who make a sport out of seeing how much fuel economy they can wring out of a vehicle. And even though their methods are extreme, they say average drivers can save hundreds of dollars on fuel every year by following their techniques.

Wayne Gerdes, a well-known hypermiler, and co-driver Bob Winger, an electronics engineer, were out to set a record. Volkswagen says they beat the Guinness World Record for non-hybrid cars by driving through each of the Lower 48 states. The old record was nearly 78 mpg.

Gerdes says he's careful about which techniques he uses. He doesn't draft trucks, overfill tires or strip weight out of the car. For the cross-country trip, the two men carried about 150 pounds of gear.

They had an advantage with the Golf, because diesels get about 25% better fuel economy than comparable gas engines, a point that Volkswagen wanted to underscore by sponsoring their trip. "We just wanted to show, albeit under extreme circumstances, the mileage benefit and potential of Volkswagen's TDI clean-diesel offerings," says spokesman Mark Gillies. The Golf diesel is rated at 45 mpg on the highway.

In one, "the average driver can get 50 (mpg) ... without much trouble," Gerdes says. But vacationers might chafe at some of the methods they need to employ to do it:

•Look, Ma, no brakes. Gerdes says he rarely touches the brakes, even in the thickest traffic. On a 120-mile rush-hour run between Los Angeles and his home in San Diego, he says he tapped the brakes only nine times. Braking wastes energy.

•Be a slowpoke. Gerdes doesn't care as much about the maximum speed limit as he does the minimum. Driving as slowly as the law permits — usually about 20 mph under the limit — on the highway saves fuel by reducing wind drag. He says he stays in the far right lane, using his hand to motion other drivers to pass or wagging the car in the lane to be noticed. As a last resort, he says he'll throw on the four-way blinkers,(generally not a good idea to do all the time since it is illegal in some locales). To avoid trouble, he says he tries to take the most untraveled routes.

•Creep up mountains. Gerdes says he takes the truck lane when it comes to climbs, which he says they encountered multiple times on the cross-country trek. He says he goes especially slow as he's about to reach the crest because he knows he's only going to be braking on the other side.

•Avoid warm-ups. Modern cars don't need to be warmed up, Gerdes says. He starts driving right away as soon as he turns the key. But to get even more fuel savings, Gerdes plots his escape before ever leaving a parking lot. He scouts the traffic lights before even starting the car to see if he can time his way through to make them all. "I like to plan three lights out," he says.

•Keep low RPMs. Gerdes watches the car's tachometer to try to keep the engine turning at its lowest possible speed without lugging, where the engine jerks and sputters. He says he tries to stay about 50 RPMs above the lug point on climbs.

•Pay attention to tire pressure. Underinflated tires are notorious energy wasters. However, that inflation can vary by temperature. Motorists who fill their tires to the recommended maximum in summer may be surprised to find the tires are underinflated when winter comes, Gerdes says.

All told, Gerdes and Winger used 101.4 gallons of fuel on their trip, circling the country with the start and finish at Volkswagen's U.S. headquarters in Herndon, Va. Gillies says while most motorists might not be able to match his astounding fuel economy totals, saving a few tankfuls on a long trip shouldn't be much trouble.

"We have certainly seen evidence that a lot of our buyers can actually do better than the EPA highway numbers in real-world driving," Gillies says. Plus, he adds, "it's fun as well to beat the record."

There's also a side benefit to vacation travelers: The more miles a you achieve per gallon, the less often you'll have to make filling station stops along the way, and the sooner you'll quit hearing that chorus of, "Are we there yet?" from the back seat.