There is something to notice on ways to drive the S2000.
In general it's easy to get caught up with WOT'ing it when intending to rev through the power and then lightly using the pedal in high gears to save on gas....I'm trying not to get caught up with that and tried testing something different...just keep the revs where they want to be and keep the pedal soft.

I was testing my mpg and started messing around with how I drive. Light on the pedal...no WOT on this tank of gas to get a good baseline test. I allowed myself to let the revs stay high since I'm still light on the pedals. Majority of times allowing myself to stay in lower gears around local traffic speed limits of 45 mph and still light on the pedals. It's tempting once the revs start moving, to get the urge to jump in on the action with a heavier foot, but I've been working on not doing that and just driving it in what ever gear delivers power and does fine with the pedal pressure being light. Trying to find out how much of a differance it woudl be in mpg from heavy pedal, high gear...low rev style.

If the car needs to accelerate more, the light pedal approach accompanied with the revs to be higher, torque is delivered quicker than it would be if I were in 5th or 6th gear (obviously). The thing is, when in this situation...pedal is still soft and a light increase gives quick gains provided the higher rpm that it's already in, as oppose to dropping down the gears and getting that urge to pound the pedal down and do your pass in traffic.

Hope I'm explaining this right...

Both styles yielded the same mpg.

MPG remained the same from driving in high gear and then dropping the gear down and WOT it to get some speed to just driving soft and keeping the revs where it is comfortable with the soft pedal.

The car just feels more responsive to this type of driving overall, of course it should too being that I"m allowing the car to stay in higher than normal powerband ranges around local traffic. It darts in and out very quickly...quickly because you remain in the right gear and don't have to shift around to get that power. Don't get too caught up with WOT it to 9 grand every chance you get, just drive it and shift when using the soft pedal approach has no more accelleration the gear it is in.

Hope this information is useful...changing driving style makes the S2000 more fun as it's just something different.

Anyone else notice this?

 

Not sure what you've really determined after reading this post.

I notice a distinct difference in MPG when I'm light on the throttle and shift slower at around 4-4.5K rpms. If I drive like this I usually get 28 mpg highway/town combined. If I WOT 5-10 times on a tank of gas I get about 25 mpg Combined.

 

Interesting topic. I've though about this a few times. Questions like, where would the ideal shift point be and can I get the same gas mileage by using light throttle load and higher revs or heavy throttle load and low revs.

My take is this:

Our engine is most volumetrically efficient at or near the torque peak. (Most engines are). Lets say you are traveling at 30 miles per hour and wish to accelerate at a rate of 0.05 Gs (light acceleration). This will take a finite amount of power at the wheels to accomplish; lets assume 1 hp. The engine can generate 1 hp at just about any RPM, in any gear. The closer you are to peak engine efficiency, the less energy is wasted in making power, and the amount of wasted gas is minimzed. Assuming you aren't prodding the throttle, I'd venture a guess that better gas mileage can be had by shifting a little higher and using less throttle.

 

My speculations exactly.
The question has been .... how much more efficient is it to be light on the trottle at the higher rpms to genarate force than it is to be heavy on the trottle at a less effient producing rpm range.

I ventured the same guess about the gas mileage in this case.

Driving in this behavior....I also think shifting a little higher is ideal for how the air intake optimizes air flow into the engine. It could be the fact that I'm also at a higher rpm range equaling more torque, but what ever false sense it gives, I feel that the engine is consuming air a lot more efficiently when being soft on the pedals and shifting a little higher. Either air gets trapped up in the air box and has a better dare I say ram effect, but if you maintain soft pedal high revs and you are balancing the pedal around the high rpms around 5000 and then make the change to give it more gas, the power that is delivered from 5000rpm and up seems more potent than if you were to have dragged the car from a dig or from climbing up in lower rpms with WOT.

 

empirical results: ive gotten better mileage, with same rate of acceleration, by short-shifting w/ more throttle input

but now i shift high, because i prefer to have power readily available

 

I have noticed that this car, much like my H22A4 powered Prelude gets best highway gas mileage at speeds above 80mph. I am convinced this is a result of 2 things:

1. This car is very aerodynamic so drag at 85 mph is not appreciatively more than it is at 70 mph.
2. Keeping RPMs in the torque band but below VTEC requires less fuel because there is no strain (lugging) on the engine, even going up grades. Less throttle is required to climb a grade if your speed is up... therefor less fuel is burned.


I have achieved over 31 mpg on a highway trip where speeds were >80 mph the entire trip!

 

Why, sure, bro. That's why you always find yourself at 85 to 90 in 6th on the expressway. Its a very happy camper at those revs.

 

Is it bad to keep our car at a constant high rpm? Like 5k+?

 

wow, i get about 200-220 miles out of my tank (mainly city)....i think i should go a little easier on the gas.....

or not, and drive it like i stole it

 

5K is not high in the S2000; it's pre-VTEC, even.

We've got lots of folks around here who've got high miles on cars driven largely in VTEC.

I'm not sure it's a great idea to keep any engine at it's redline all day, but the F20 (and the F22 too) is pretty tough when maintained properly.

If your question is about "constant" RPM, well, unless you're breaking in your car, I don't think it makes any difference.