Is fuel economy better in cities with fewer hills?

[freeonboard]

I live in Vancouver and it is hard to find a flat area to calculate fuel economy. My computer displays fuel economy instant by instant so you soon realize fuel economy depends on the general slope of the topography. Just a slight downward slope makes a huge difference. the hills on average seem to be really hard on fuel economy.

[CaptSmethwick]

Gravity's a b*tch - unless you want to go downhill.

Seriously, yes it makes a huge difference on fuel economy. Your best strategy is to keep a constant pressure on the accelerator when going up a hill. If you want maximum fuel economy in hilly regions, turn off your cruise control - you should allow the car to slow down going up a hill and speed up going down. That might perturb cars behind you, so may not be the best "traffic management" option.

My father taught me years ago to turn off unnecessary accessories when climbing hills - if you can do without a/c, your engine won't work as hard. Still, I think the biggest fuel saving from that strategy is simply the practice of turning these things off every once in a while as opposed to when you do it.

YMMV