The following is a guest post by Andreas on behalf of Money Super Market.

What is Hypermiling?

If you don’t know of the term “hypermiling”, then you’re in a similar boat to where I was a few weeks ago. I was having a discussion with a friend of mine about the rise in fuel costs when they mentioned the act of hypermiling, so I set about doing some research to find out what it actually is, and here’s what I found out.

The term ‘hypermiler’ originated from hybrid vehicle driving clubs and noted hypermiler Wayne Gerdes, and the method of hypermiling can be loosely described as; the act of maximising fuel economy be using certain driving techniques and altering your driving habits.

The group of people that consider themselves to be ‘hypermilers’ try to squeeze every last drop of gas out of their vehicle and they take extreme measures to do so. In 2008, the word hypermiling was selected as the best new word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary.

What Are Some Hypermiling Methods?

Once I found out what hypermiling actually was, there were two things I wanted to know, does hypermiling actually work? And what are these extreme measures that people will do to maximize gas mileage?

To combat the rising cost of motoring hypermilers have adopted many different techniques, and some more extreme than others. Some basic methods they have adopted include:

• Always keeping their windows closed to maximise drag
• Removing any excess weight from their vehicle
• Wearing lighter shoes to allow more sensitivity while operating the driving pedals
• Using cruise control in their vehicle to cut down on unnecessary speed changes
• Keeping your tires properly inflated

These are the simpler methods; here are some that are a little more extreme:

• Coasting – Coasting is the act of taking your foot off the accelerator whenever you are approaching a turn or junction where you will have to slow down instead of braking. The reason behind this method is to minimise the amount you apply the brake, therefore also eradicating ‘over braking’ so that you can make use of the vehicles forward momentum.
• Sun Parking – Hypermilers adopt the method of parking facing direct sunlight. The reason being that you try to avoid your windscreen frosting over so that you don’t have to turn on the engine and wait for it to defrost.
• Parking – Hypermilers try to get rid of unnecessary reverse manoeuvres by parking in a driving space where they can make a forward entry and a forward exit.
• Engine cut offs – Hypermilers adopt the approach of switching off their engines whenever they are in a stationary position to avoid wasting fuel.
• Drafting – This method is surely one of the craziest, it’s basically the act of driving in the slipstream of the vehicle in front of you to avoid wind resistance. The result is a more efficient method of driving but you should always remember to stay a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you.

Does Hypermiling Work?

You may now be asking the question, can I adopt these driving techniques to improve my miles-per-gallon? Well according to an article released by CNN, you can! They tested out various hypermiling techniques and by adopting cruise control instead of cruising at driver-controlled speeds a Mustang got 4.5 percent better mileage, and a Land Rover got almost 14 percent.

CNN also found that accelerating more slowly away from green lights and stopping more gradually for red lights cut fuel consumption in their tests by 35.4 percent for the Land Rover and 27.1 percent for the Mustang. These are incredible figures.

If you want to try some of these methods out for yourself then you would need to work out your MPG or miles-per-gallon, you can do this by using some online tools as well as your vehicles mile counter. Once you have your figure you can adopt some methods to see if you see a difference.

It’s important to remember that you don’t have to adopt the extreme methods, and based on CNN’s report some of the simple methods should do the trick!

Crystal’s Comments:  I hadn’t heard of the term “hypermiling” but I know people who use some of these methods.  Amanda at Frugal Confessions mentioned she coasted the last mile home from work.  I always keep my windows closed and try to keep my car as empty as possible.  I’d seen drafting tested on Mythbusters and still cringe at the idea of being that close to a big vehicle in front of me while driving 55 miles per hour or more…I think that would lead me to buying a car, lol.

Do you practice any hypermiling methods?  Did any of the ones mentioned make you cringe?