Driving for FE with a VX

[James]

Has anyone driven a vx with a supermid? I am curious what the best technique is for hills. I am torn between downshifting and maintaining lean burn, and slowing down while maintaining lean burn and then going into power mode for a while to either maintain speed or slowly accelerate until the top of the hill when lean burn is reengaged. I remember reading that in 5th gear at max power in lean burn reads 45mpg instant, and when it shifts to regular mode that goes down to 25mpg(i dont know what speed that is for. My guess is that downshifting makes more sense unless going over 65mph, but it is sure easier to just let it hop out of lean burn.

I am going on a long road trip and want to test the effect of speed on mpg. I will try a tank at 57 and one at 67mph, but the data wont really be all that accurate since it is just one trial and the vx fuel tank capacity is variable (I think the slant of the pavement has a lot to do with how much the tank will hold.) (some pumps just get more in there than others, and i have seen back to back tanks of 38-45 mpg followed by over 60mpg with similar driving for both tanks). The trip will be interesting because i have got nearly everything fixed for fe now...we will see what the low roller can do!

[Sigifrith]

Check some of Krousdb's old posts. He had a VX for a while.

[James]

yes those posts are great. I read most of them a while back before I had a vx, but just read through them again. Apparently in top gear 45mpg instant is what is reading on the supermid in lean burn with a load on the engine and then it drops to 25-30 when lean burn cuts out. I would guess it would be better to shift down and maintain lean burn. Any other VX drivers have a guess?