[mclaren1885]

Plenty of times I have got complaints regarding poor FE , be it any car .. At times I have got weird responses when I claimed my baleno was consistently giving 15+kmpl often the mark hovering around the 16-16.8 kmpl mark .. I have had people call me mad , had people laugh at me .. But yes there is a way to do it ..

It takes a lot of patience , it takes a lot of concentration .. Most importantly it takes a lot of will power .. All you have to do is stick to gearshifts at the right RPM .. Not over revv or unnecessarily floor the A pedal .. Here is how you do it in a baleno ..

YouTube - How to get 17kmpl from a baleno !!!

Initially the car is idling at 1500 rpm and then for a while at 250 rpm .. Yes , thanks to an erratic idle sensor and cam hunt on my car .. Notice the shift points once the speedo climbs .. All shifts are at 1750 rpm's or less .. No strain on the engine , nothing .. Car pulls beautifully , the torque is better on stock cars however .. My car has a lag till 2800 where the cam kicks in .. The video is from a stretch I drove at 3pm from IAS campus to TV tower amidst traffic ..

Just remember shift early where you think there is no excess load on the engine , get into 5th as soon as possible .. Leg off the A pedal in 5th means no fuel being injected at all .. Thats the key to achieving a good FE ..

Never checked FE on a stock car , with stage two mods it used to return consistently 16.5-17kmpl , with 12 CR and hard driving it would return 7-8kmpl , now it returns about 14kmpl in the latest state of tune ..

PS : A special thanks to blue boy for teaching me how to be light footed close to two years back .. You have saved me a lot of money .. So when shall I buy you a zinger ??

PS 2 : All figures are without AC ..

[theMAG]

Nice figures. Can stock Balenos also achieve this result?

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by theMAG

Nice figures. Can stock Balenos also achieve this result?

They should , given that the torque lower down is way better than my car .. But making the engine breath better may also have contributed to these figures .. Who says modding doens't help FE ??

[kpzen]

Sounds impossible!!! Firstly to get that kind of FE in the city..! Secondly to have such patience.! Anyways i'll give it a try...!

My Baleno has given me a max FE of 16.7 kmpl on a highway trip to Jaipur where it was mostly doing 100+ kmph all the time...

[himanshugoswami]

my baleno gives me 12.5-13 in the city with 90% AC. i normally upshift between 2000 and 2500 RPM, plus I have upgraded from stock 165 to 185 tubeless potenzas.
On highways, I have done 2 trips so far and got 18.5 KPL on the first trip (Speeds,100) and 15.5 KPL on a trip a fortnight back where the speeds were constantly between 110 and 140.

[shuvc]

@mcl, Once you slot into 5th, what's the max speed you go up to ?
I get between 10 & 10.5 kmpl with 100% AC in Kolkata. 100% in-city stop start traffic. I shift around 2K, 2.2K.
Without AC it's normally around 12, though I once managed 13.74 with very sedate driving.
On highways, I never managed more than 11.8
Overall I'm happy with what I get.


Btw, is there any 'tuning' that MUL workshops (can) do to increase FE ?

[rjstyles69]

Rahul , lets be practical man. How is that you are talking of FE on a stock baleno ?
The moment I read the title of this thread was expecting loads of engine mods to gain better FE.. hehehe.. Strange things happen and this is one testimonial.
No offense meant dude, I was just kidding.

Well I have been able to pull off close to 13.5 kmpl(has dropped to only 12.5 once) with AC on @least 90-95% in the city.I simply do what you have mentioned, shift at 1750 rpm or even less if possible.

I don't know how good is this for the engine? Once I have gained enough speed I simply would shift to 5th from 3rd directly(city driving).Its pretty rare that we find a chance to do this these days in bangalore, but then I do it every time I find an instance.

Can someone throw light on this , if this is advisable?

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by shuvc

@mcl, Once you slot into 5th, what's the max speed you go up to ?
On highways, I never managed more than 11.8
Btw, is there any 'tuning' that MUL workshops (can) do to increase FE ?

70 max if I am driving in nanny mode in 4th gear .. Mostly stick to 50-60 ..

Same here I always get better FE in city than on highways ..

I dont think there is any possible tuning .. Remember the baleno is distributorless ..

Originally Posted by rjstlyes69

Can someone throw light on this , if this is advisable?

I do it very often too .. As long as the speeds are right and the engine is not being overloaded its fine ..

How is that you are talking of FE on a stock baleno ?

I too started with a stock baleno ra .. Trying to get back to those golden days ..

Well I have been able to pull off close to 13.5 kmpl(has dropped to only 12.5 once) with AC on @least 90-95% in the city.

Try it for a week without AC and see the 13.5 go up to 15 atleast .. Like I said its very difficult and it needs a lot of will power ..

Its pretty rare that we find a chance to do this these days in bangalore

These days its pretty rare to even shift into third .. Thats why I take my car out only after 11pm when all the roads are empty .. Apart from that use the car only to travel from home to coll and back .. Unless there is some unavoidable situation ..

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by shuvc

On highways, I never managed more than 11.8

No fault in there mate...! This car makes u a speed addict on highways..!
Your signature is very true....Infact the rear end design is also not that bad once u get used to " I like the fat ***"

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Same here I always get better FE in city than on highways ..

Finally .. found someone with lesser FE on highways !

I feel the general trend is that FE in Bangalore is better than say Kolkata, Mumbai .. Has it got something to do with a) temperatures being lower, b)lesser usage of AC and even if it is used, the compressor probably doesn't need to strain too much, c) better fuel eg Shell

OT - the way you drive, you just might be able to exceed Overdrive's record for the NHC

[normally_crazy]

coming up - How to get 19 kmpl city driving in a Octavia TDi. With A/c on.

Currently under research - How to extract 15 kmpl with a/c in city from the Octavia vRS

[Proxima]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

coming up - How to get 19 kmpl city driving in a Octavia TDi. With A/c on.

Currently under research - How to extract 15 kmpl with a/c in city from the Octavia vRS

Are you serious or was that a joke?

[ported_head]

Originally Posted by Proxima

Are you serious or was that a joke?

This is probably the one thing he doesn't kid about.

[doctorkats]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Try it for a week without AC and see the 13.5 go up to 15 atleast .. Like I said its very difficult and it needs a lot of will power ..
..

interesting read.
yup too much will power.....

[mobike008]

@Mclaren, that was a nice write-up to extract the best out of your baleno.

But, you indeed require nerves of steel to drive under 1500rpm's all the time . I would rather blow the money on petrol than go through that torture . I love shifting at ~2500rpms when i am driving sedately !!