It's not that I don't beleive my good friend when he tells me of his MPG claims for his vehicles. Which ever vehicle he owns!
His MPG claims surpass the EPA "highway" rating for the engine, while driving in the "city". I do realize that he drives very easy and due to only having the one vehicle, he isn't getting another vehicles MPG claims confused.
He is the only driver of this vehicle as his wife has never driven. I have driven with him often as we often hang together. Either he drives or I do. I don't see the difference in the way that he drives compared to the way that I drive. If anything, I think that I'm a bit easier on the gas when starting out and while cruising although we have different vehicles and engines.
My 4 cyl engines are EPA'd higher than his V6's but he claims that he is getting XX MPG/city, which is better or at least matches my XX MPG/city. Mine being an '04 ALTIMA 2.5 S 4cyl automatic. His MPG kills my wifes' Lexus RX-300 w/3.0 V6 and they're pretty close on the EPA city(hiwy being different).
Recently he owned a '04 Chevy Venture MiniVan w/3.4 L V6 @ over 4000lbs claiming to be getting 25 MPG city. IIRC, the EPA was 17 or 18 city/26 hwy. Prior to this '04 Venture MV he owne a '99 Venture MV with the same set up. And he does mostly city driving as neither he or his wife really travel anywhere outside the city/county limits expcept to shop/lunch.
Now, he has recently(April 2011) bought a new '11 Equinox 4cyl FWD only. EPA'd @ 22/32. His city MPG claims are all between 28-30 MPG with a low of 23 MPG city. As myself, very little expressway with the exception of one on ramp to the next off ramp(a few miles). Sure, on the weekends maybe further on the expressway on ramp to off ramp(15 miles), lots of stops once at their destination because they hit all of the malls'/plazas' and stop for lunch.
He doesn't buy fuel economy type vehicles but does drive them to get the max MPG for what they are. He has always made these claims throughout the 35 years we have known each other. I have never whitnessed him actually calculating the MPG for his vehicles after a fill up so, I can't argue the point. But, I have drive with him and I can't pinpoint anything that he does compared to myself.
On the other hand, I can pinpoint the differences between me and my wife as she is on and off the throttle the whole time she is driving and slows down abruptly. A bit hard on the throttle from a stop but not absurd.
But with my buddy, I can't put my finger on what he is doing to net the MPG that he is claiming. I do know one thing and we in our family are all doing this...Is that we're using the cruise control more often than most people do, even just running down the road for a few miles. I don't see much difference for myself on the city MPG cycle but, my hwy MPG is better/more consistant as I am traveling more at the posted speed limit and not much over, while locking on the CC.
I don't see where my buddy is accelerating any slower than I nor getting up to speed any differently than myself(prior to using the CC). He does drive responsibly, I'll give him that(as I do). I have learned a few things from him and his driving habbits but, they haven't netted me much better MPG(if any at all) than I was already getting. He claims that he doesn't even see much effect from winter driving and he is claiming that he uses a calculator when figuring the MPG and compares it to the MPG reading on his dash screen in the vehicle.
What ever he is doing, he needs to teach others and tell the MFG of his vehicles what he is getting so that they can use him for their testing of their EPA MPG ratings.
He changes his oil @ 3mo/3K miles from the instant oil change places, get the ATF change out once or twice in his ownership life of the car and over inflates his tires ~ 5-6 psi and keeps the vehicle clean. That's it. Oh yeah, he does pray(as I do) prior to traveling.
Of all of his driving tecniques that I have applied to my own vehicles and my driving style, I haven't really seen much if at all any differences in MPG than what I was already getting. Which tells me that I am already doing OK! But, he is killing his EPA ratings on his all of his vehicles(going back many years) where I am meeting and only slighty exceeding mine.
What say you? Is he full of it? Or just doing better than most?
His MPG claims surpass the EPA "highway" rating for the engine, while driving in the "city". I do realize that he drives very easy and due to only having the one vehicle, he isn't getting another vehicles MPG claims confused.
He is the only driver of this vehicle as his wife has never driven. I have driven with him often as we often hang together. Either he drives or I do. I don't see the difference in the way that he drives compared to the way that I drive. If anything, I think that I'm a bit easier on the gas when starting out and while cruising although we have different vehicles and engines.
My 4 cyl engines are EPA'd higher than his V6's but he claims that he is getting XX MPG/city, which is better or at least matches my XX MPG/city. Mine being an '04 ALTIMA 2.5 S 4cyl automatic. His MPG kills my wifes' Lexus RX-300 w/3.0 V6 and they're pretty close on the EPA city(hiwy being different).
Recently he owned a '04 Chevy Venture MiniVan w/3.4 L V6 @ over 4000lbs claiming to be getting 25 MPG city. IIRC, the EPA was 17 or 18 city/26 hwy. Prior to this '04 Venture MV he owne a '99 Venture MV with the same set up. And he does mostly city driving as neither he or his wife really travel anywhere outside the city/county limits expcept to shop/lunch.
Now, he has recently(April 2011) bought a new '11 Equinox 4cyl FWD only. EPA'd @ 22/32. His city MPG claims are all between 28-30 MPG with a low of 23 MPG city. As myself, very little expressway with the exception of one on ramp to the next off ramp(a few miles). Sure, on the weekends maybe further on the expressway on ramp to off ramp(15 miles), lots of stops once at their destination because they hit all of the malls'/plazas' and stop for lunch.
He doesn't buy fuel economy type vehicles but does drive them to get the max MPG for what they are. He has always made these claims throughout the 35 years we have known each other. I have never whitnessed him actually calculating the MPG for his vehicles after a fill up so, I can't argue the point. But, I have drive with him and I can't pinpoint anything that he does compared to myself.
On the other hand, I can pinpoint the differences between me and my wife as she is on and off the throttle the whole time she is driving and slows down abruptly. A bit hard on the throttle from a stop but not absurd.
But with my buddy, I can't put my finger on what he is doing to net the MPG that he is claiming. I do know one thing and we in our family are all doing this...Is that we're using the cruise control more often than most people do, even just running down the road for a few miles. I don't see much difference for myself on the city MPG cycle but, my hwy MPG is better/more consistant as I am traveling more at the posted speed limit and not much over, while locking on the CC.
I don't see where my buddy is accelerating any slower than I nor getting up to speed any differently than myself(prior to using the CC). He does drive responsibly, I'll give him that(as I do). I have learned a few things from him and his driving habbits but, they haven't netted me much better MPG(if any at all) than I was already getting. He claims that he doesn't even see much effect from winter driving and he is claiming that he uses a calculator when figuring the MPG and compares it to the MPG reading on his dash screen in the vehicle.
What ever he is doing, he needs to teach others and tell the MFG of his vehicles what he is getting so that they can use him for their testing of their EPA MPG ratings.
He changes his oil @ 3mo/3K miles from the instant oil change places, get the ATF change out once or twice in his ownership life of the car and over inflates his tires ~ 5-6 psi and keeps the vehicle clean. That's it. Oh yeah, he does pray(as I do) prior to traveling.
Of all of his driving tecniques that I have applied to my own vehicles and my driving style, I haven't really seen much if at all any differences in MPG than what I was already getting. Which tells me that I am already doing OK! But, he is killing his EPA ratings on his all of his vehicles(going back many years) where I am meeting and only slighty exceeding mine.
What say you? Is he full of it? Or just doing better than most?
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