Fuel econemy question

I would disagree. The way to improved milage is to maximize throttle opening while minimizing rpm. Keep in highest gear possible.

The throttle opening thing also requires one to stay below the power enrichment point. This comes at somewhere around 3/4 throttle. Below power enrichening, higher throttle settings burn fuel more efficiently because the effect compression ratio is higher (partial throttle lowers compression ratio).

... But the guy is trying to pick one car over another. How does this help? Is there a table of optimized throttle/rpm somewhere?

You have to be reasonable in your expectations of how another person will drive. We all know that the driving profile has a lot to do with mileage.

And for most of us, modifying the driving profile is like being on a diet or exercising...we may do it for a while, but if it is not part of our daily life, it probably wont become part of our daily life.

Check out a few cars, and -with respect to mileage- you get what you get. You still cant make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

A neighbor of mine, quite a few years ago, came to me because his car had suddenly started getting really terrible mileage. I went over it and changed points and plugs and cleaned the carb and everything seemed perfectly fine to me. He kept it for a few weeks, and reported the mileage hasn't improved at all.

When I asked if anything had changed with his driving habits, he remarked that his teenager had started driving the car. Problem solved. Well, not really solved, but at least identified.

--scott

(partial throttle lowers

Unless the engine has agressive egr programming...

There's an old saying:: "If you have nothing to sell, dazzle 'em with BS"

As so frequently happens in newsgroups, the thread is morphing.

Past time to let this one die.