Originally posted by Ray:
a few things to note:

driving belowe the "bulk" of the powerband (lower than about 2K) is a waste of time... There is more strain on the transaxle to pull a car that low in the rpm range, and in turn uses more gas.

Also.. coasting in neutral or with the clutch in uses more gas than leaving it in gear and "engine braking" down a hill.

In neutral, you are still pumping gas through the injectors (idling)... in gear, it will actually shut off the injectors and stop using gas at all.. Coasting in gear is the most efficient means of operating the engine that is possible.


You will see the best mileage staying between 2K and 3K (power band and secondary operation, respectively).


Ray


I have found that shifting below 2K RPMs gives me the best mileage. The faster I can get the car into higher gear, the better. I could be wrong, but I try to keep it under 2K, and it seems to pay off.

I do believe the bit about engine braking a down a hill. Since I live on a hill and drive around a hilly area, I will try doing this more often. Does it cause a lot more stress on a transmission to downshift it?

What I really don't understand is in the 626, when I let off the gas pedal at speed, the RPMs drop all the way down, then kick back up slightly to its idle speed of around 650. It feels like it's being thrown into neutral every time, and I understand the bit about the gears reversing (It clunks), but I wonder why my Contour doesn't do it so abruptly? The 626 will just fall to idle and stay down there as you slow down. I usually take the O/D off and sometimes even put it into 2 down the one steep hill. It seems to really help, but is that very bad for it? Btw, the 626 actually has the same CD4E trans. It's a 99 auto with a brand new trans.

2000 Contour SE