New Hypermiler, with saab 900 turbo

[ssaaaabb]

Hi everyone !

I was given the link to this website from FRV - Thankyou

I should have joined years ago, I have been hypermiling for a long time and achieving the unachievable as many of you do too !

My car is a saab 900 1997 se 2.0 turbo. I remap saabs myself and I have remapped it for performance with economy in mind too !

My saab has 2 driving modes, well - its ONE map but the map splits into 2 different techniques..... Floor it for 230bhp, or feather it for upto 150bhp. The last pressure sensor on the gas pedal throws it into beast mode......... As you can imagine - Not good for hypermiling but its there if ever I feel I need it. All other pressure sensors are calibrated for economy.

My best mpg to date is 44.4 mpg, I know this is very poor considering!! But I hope to improve it by putting everything together, All the knoledge I have and all the advice I hope to recieve on here and get above 50mpg.

Coasting with the engine off in a saab is a bit scary though ! The key goes in the centre dash, Its a bit harder to read then in most cars and the worry of locking the steering wheel is always close at mind! So That is only ever done on rare wide road/ no cars around situations .

The car is also 'sensonic' semi auto It has a robotic clutch - I change gear without without having a clutch pedal.

I hope to post some best MPG results up here and Ill be doing lots of reading catching up with the hypermiling goss
Brinn

[frv]

Hi Brinn and welcome. Feel free to post your hypermiling exploits in Chat, mpg stats or start your own thread.
Gord.

[Karl]

Hi Brinn and welcome to the forum

Sounds like a very interesting setup you have there. Would like to know more about how the map changes.

Is it an active map or does it swap maps by using the pressure sensor? Hard to imagine how its works tbh.

Sounds like you are achieving some great results - on par with my Volvo and thats an NA 1.6!

[ssaaaabb]

Thanks

I use a program called T5 suite to draw the engine maps, then I have to plug my engine ECU into my computer and run another program to Flash the map to the ecu- When it goes into the car I have to do an adaption run which decides how I drive over 30 mins.

On my last adaption run I drove economically and felt the difference over my last map which was all about torque, 380NM to be precise !!

My current map is quite simple, but it works by keeping the turbo in negative boost most of the time, imagine there are 10 acceleration settings and how hard you press the gas pedal decides wich setting you are using, 0 being off, 1 being feathering the gas pedal and 5 being in-between, 9 being the highest of the economy remap, 10 being out of economy!! I dont use 10 but its there if I need it, last setting gives me an 80BHP boost from 150bhp to 230bhp, with one extra push of the pedal settng 9 to 10. for the last setting I have to be flooring it. Thats the simplest way for me to explain it.

I like the best of both worlds, I love hypermiling and find it addictive !! but I also love to have a powerfull car .

My car can do 0-60 in 6 seconds, But thats not good for hypermiling - Unless there is method to the madness of going wot and then coasting . I have read all about that but somthing doesnt feel right about it.

and as for your volvo !!, I love volvo , Very safe cars, I have always wanted a 2.3 lpt manual , or T5 ex police and always admired the T5R.
Yours being estate makes it heavier, Loads of extra safety weight too so 45mpg is highly impressive. That still beats me because my record is 44.4

Soon to be beaten though, Im going to do my best to get close to 50mpg.

Nice forum btw, From the people I have spoken too everyone seems very nice.....

[frv]

I'm now officially jealous! I've only got 340 Nm of torque from 2.2 litre diesel!

[dancingbear84]

Meh I have a pug 106 1.5d NA.
Great for fuel economy as i get between 50 and 59 mpg, but rubbish for driving 0 to 60 in 18 seconds, I've never checked torque and bhp but it'll be rubbish.

Just a thought what fuel do you buy? I find in the pug that I get about 60 miles a tank more when I use shell standard diesel over supermarket forecourt. That is around 6 mpg. My driving style remains near enough the same.
Welcome to the forums by the way

[ssaaaabb]

Hi there both above

340nm is very powerfull !, and you probably have that available earlier in the rpm range than I do which is more usefull!!

a pug 1.5d sounds like a good car for hypermiling.

Fuel:

Lower octane fuel have higher calorific vlaues, and I have found better mpg from cheap morrisons/ sainsburys fuel.

No doubt my car goes faster with v-power momentum but thats only due to higher RON.

My engine managment system detects Knock.... Knock occurs when flooring it, and if knock occurs the engine managment system pulls back the boost.

My boost goes upto 19psi with v-power, and about 16psi with regular unleaded.

Higher RON fuels like 97 or 99 super unleaded prevent knock. Most cars dont account for higher knock and dont use different maps to use incase a premuim fuel is added hence NO GAIN in power, and they have less calorific value too......... Therefore in a normal petrol car NA, putting super unleaded in is worse for economy.

calorific vlaue has some impact on mpg, putting super unleaded in a NA car is like feeding it skimmed milk, instead of full fat whole milk ( regular unleaded ).

Therefore there is only One reason to use super unleaded in an NA car, Thats to clean the petrol system/ injectors ect as fuel cleaner is added to super unleaded.

So good for an italian tune up just before an MOT, Force the cleaner through the injectors with full throttle high rpms whilst in turn it will heat up exhaust and catalic converter. When catalitic converters get HOT they work optimallly meaning less Emmisions. In my last 6 or more my car has passed its emmisions test with flying colours because I have thrashed it and got it upto high temps before MOT test, Not good for hypermiling but good for another year of motoring Mot.

Find out if your car advances ignition as some NA cars do this so gains are to be had from higher ron fuel, Its unlikely in small engines though.

Thanks for the warm welcome

[frv]

Great post Brinn - that's a great explanation

You are right about the peak torque in my car - it's at a lowly 2000 revs

[dancingbear84]

I'll re-read that when my brain is more awake (post coffee) that is really in depth though. I know my dad finds no difference in shell or harvest. He has an 05 octavia diesel can't quite remember if it is a 2.0 or 1.9.
I've tried twice now for two weeks using what I like to call supermarket muck and each time I have seen big dips in my FE. I know other people who haven't. I figured it was something to do with the old xud engines.
Though I haven't got a clue. Give me a pc and I can figure that out. A car on the otherhand is alien to me. I really wish I knew more about them to be honest