80 mpg in an ordinary car?

This was on our local news the other night. It is called hypermiling, driving to save money on gas. It is actually possible to more than double your mileage per gallon by a method of driving.

Yesterday I tried it. I love it for the frugality and because it keeps me constantly focused on driving (a problem for me.) I tried to follow what I believe are the suggestions offered on the program.

1. I look for declining grades and slopes as I drive. If they are gentle enough, I put the car in neutral and coast until the car is going much too slow for traffic.
2. I gradually bring the speed up to or close to the speed limit and take my foot off the accelerator. The car will coast quite a distance without losing significant speed. When it does, I give the accelerator another gentle boost and do the same thing all over again.
3. If there is a traffic light in the distance, it can be approached in two ways. You can get enough speed up to glide through it, or you can take your foot of the accelerator timing your arrival at the light so that it is green and you don't have to stop. stopping and idleing are the big gas guzzlers.

4. At this point I have not figured out the alternative to idleing in traffic except to turn the engine off so I need to research this further.

But my first attempt at this was wonderful. It is amazing how many downward grades there are on a normal trip. I swooped onto the interstate and immediately swooped off the next exit which sloped down to a city street. I modulated the speed so that I had the advantage of the green light and coasted about one third of the way up the hill of the street I planned to take.

My tank is newly filled so I am going to keep track of how long it lasts. On Tuesday, I will take a hundred eighty mile trip, mostly on divided highways. All of a sudden, I look forward to driving that far.

Any cautions or suggestions will be gladly accepted for my new driving adventure.