Any magic bullets for increasing MPG?

[Titan]

Palut, if the person going 80 would slow to 70, BOTH would get even better mpg. No need to worry about gasoline useage so much, as long as you don't mind subsidizing the sellers of oil as much as we currently do. Me? I do what I can to lower my useage...I hate to think about the people that are getting all the money (and what some of them are doing with that money) for what would otherwise just be black goo.

 

[V1]

quote:

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I sound like a broken record, but I'm sick of seeing people putz along on the freeway in the name of gas mileage.

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There's also a certain factor known as safety.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

I enjoy driving the speed limit as well as the vigorous drive beyond. But normally I like to keep it @ the speed limit or a couple MPH below. Lane discipline and being a smooth non-spastic driver help.

 

[rpn453]

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Originally posted by Palut:
That's for driving a hybrid slower though. We all know that they benefit less from electric motors on the freeway. Regular cars lose less mileage with a given increase in speed.

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I neglected to mention that Bedard's test was a flying start test with no acceleration or braking, for which the hybrid system was not a factor.

To me, drafting on public roads is insane. But it seems to be common practice some areas anyway I guess. No wonder there's so many multi-car accidents in busy centers.

 

[bruce381]

magic bullet?? NO
bruce

 

[oilyriser]

We probably have some people here who's cars have gas mileage gauges, who could do a similar test for us. My old FWD non-hybrid car would get 28 mpg at 73 mph, and 40 mpg at 63 mph,so I think the numbers given are realistic.

Each car has a curve of mpg vs. speed. As you slow down more and more, there's a diminishing return for the gas savings. Depending on how much your time is worth, the size of your car, and the price of gas, there's a certain speed that will give you the biggest dollar savings.
(as long as you never block the free flow of traffic)

 

[JohnnyO]

In my pavement-crushing Sport Trac, the best thing I can do for mpg is to just slow down (as best I can

). If I keep it to 65 mph or less I get about 19-20 mpg. At my usual 75 to 80 it drops to about 14-15 mpg. In town sucks bad. Where I live is not too crowded so traffic isn't real heavy.
Whatever you're driving (except hybrids), if you're stuck in traffic you're getting 0 mpg.

 

[Palut]

As long as people don't do 55 in the fast lane, I'll be happy!

 

[OriginHacker21]

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Originally posted by V1:

quote:

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I sound like a broken record, but I'm sick of seeing people putz along on the freeway in the name of gas mileage.

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There's also a certain factor known as safety.

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What I think ticks people off is the fact that you have people in the fast/carpool lane going 55mph in the name of saving gas. In return they hold up the entire freeway = upset people.

If these people would just think - the right lane (slow lane) would make a ton of people happier. It would also be safer for EVERYONE because the fast people wouldn't be pulling stunts to get around them.

In my 220 daily mile trek - I've only encountered one or two people that drive slow in the right lane. Most people are good and drive in the right if they are going slow - or pull over to let you go by if you are going fast. I make it a point to do this as well. Makes for a happier drive and less one finger salutes.

 

[OriginHacker21]

I got my best MPG in Iowa where the speed limits still are 55mph with no hills. I topped 47MPG in my car there going 55mph. Now in California at 70mph average I get 35MPG.

Driving slower definitely saves gas... Maybe thats why all the truck speed limits are 55mph?