Skip second gear to save mileage?

I posted this on the old bored a few minutes before everything got locked up...

Background: My 1995 Escort LX had a bad trans, no second gear. But it still drove, and I drove it like that delivering pizzas for probably 50k miles. I got mid 30s for mileage, and even got 37 once. Thats all city driving, no highway.

My 1997 Escort Wagon gets 32, almost like clockwork, with the same kind of driving. So, I think, I wonder if the mileage would get beater if I would skip 2nd gear? Well, it did. The first tank jumped to 34.7 mpg. Thats a 6 percent jump. Now, I know it could be an anomaly, but as Quasi mentioned, anomalys to the good dont usually happen. Im trying another tank to see if this is true.

Anyone ever notice anything similar?

Joey

Well, it's not all locked up (yet) but it's heading that way. I definitely wouldn't put a new topic up over there.

You probably got better mileage because you were dropping the revs so much heading to third. You probably would get similar results by short-shifting all the way to fourth or 5th.

COnstant gear skipper here as well, and yes, I've noticed a difference. Something to do with minimizing pumping losses, as I am also short shift the living whee out of the car.

Okay, that and I wanted to post to the new site.

Yeah, I lump along in 3rd quite a bit, and a soon as I can, Im in fifth gear. Basically anything over 25 gets fifth, unless Im accelerating.

Joey

I go 1-2-4 my commute is at 45mph so 5th gear is too long for my 1.6l no-tech honda motor. I jumped from 36mpg to 39mpg around town.

Depending on how you do it, you may pay for it in clutch later though.

It is rather easy to do 2-4-6 in a Speed3 (except if you are starting on an incline) because it has LOADS of torque. Anything over 30mph 6th gear a drivable.

I still only put it in D...

Depending on how much of a hurry/how fast traffic is flowing, I either skip 3rd in my golf and go 2nd to 4th or I skip 3rd and go to 5th. I have no idea how you can go from 1st to 3rd though and actually go anywhere, only car I've been able to do that in is something with a V8.

This might help as the R/T has a shot 2nd gear syncro. On the other hand the final drive ration is much more agressive than the norm.

My Neon's ownwer manual implies that shifting gears in anything beside a sequential manner will invoke demons. I'm not certain why.

When I am babying the GTO for mileage purposes, I'll often go odd gears only, and then into 6th if I need it. It does make a difference, 2-3mpg better than short-shifting through all the gears at about 2k.

I'll skip 3rd and go straight into 4th, or when merging onto a freeway, I'll wind out 3rd and skip to 5th.

It's a habit now--and my mileage has improved as a result.

I skip shift in the Mazdaspeed3 most days. It has helped me raise the mpg on the computer to 26.

I skip 3rd in the Mustang a lot, and I did notice an increase in mileage when doing it.

DJ

I've been shifting 1-3-5 in the probe for a while now, but every once in a while I floor it and use most of the gears. Maybe the extra slow acceleration will make up for when I go WOT.

As a side note, I looked around on an eco-modder forum for a bit and I'm quite intrigued by making a instant mpg read-out.

I run 1st to redline then go straight to 6th, then back to 1st when slowing down. Every-time. No matter what. Under all circumstances. I get 50mpg in my miata.

HiTempguy wrote: Depending on how much of a hurry/how fast traffic is flowing, I either skip 3rd in my golf and go 2nd to 4th or I skip 3rd and go to 5th. I have no idea how you can go from 1st to 3rd though and actually go anywhere, only car I've been able to do that in is something with a V8.

I cant do it while accelerating hard, just in normal in town type traffic.

Joey

I will say that I think the gain in MPG I am getting is mostly from the 2-4 shift forcing me to accelerate slowly.

I skip gears, usually 3rd, because often after accelerating through 1-2 I often at the cruising in-town speed and just go straight for the cruising gear. Sometimes, when the speed limit is faster (like a hiway) I'll skip 4th and go straight to 5th. The Miata is a 5-speed. I've never paid any attention to the milage though. I'm probably too much of a lead foot to matter much anyway. I still get 30-mpg w/the Miata 1.8.

When I had the 540 I conluded that while the 6 speed was nice,it really only needed 3rd gear. It had enough torque to launch respectaby in 3rd, and would do somewhere north of 90 without shifting.

I managed 36.1 last tank, and I never pasted 60 mph...All pizza delivery.

Joey

Oh, by the way, I found if I skip 4th, my mileage drops a bit, back down to 33. So just skipping second is my best bet.

Joey

I am working at trying 1 - 3 -5 only in my 1995 Volvo 850, 5 speed wagon. My goal is to always keep it under 2k rpm. 1st gear is 10mph at 2k 3rd gear is 30 mph at 2k 5th gear is 50 mph at 2k

The car seems to take to this well. The engine is never bogged down and accelerates slowly but predictably.

I wish there was a 6th gear that would do 70 mph at 2k rpm

My 88 Saab 900 turbo is fine with skipping 2nd gear. In fact my 2nd gear synchro is on the way out so I skip it most of the time anyway. To bad i don't have a working odo so i can't track my mpg.

My best tank of gas ever was done this way: WOT while accelerating, skip 2nd and 4th, and shift early, like 2k rpms. I got 62 mpg that tank in my VX. I haven't kept up doing it, because it can't be good to go WOT at such low rpms all the time.