Driving Slow saves far more money than Rebates

[Gary]

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I get 5% off fuel purchases with my Sam's Club MasterCard, and I'll max out the fuel rebate most likely. I think it's on the first $6k in fuel purchases, FWIW.

Costco has the identical deal (probably copied it from Sam's). I rejected the card though because the points can ONLY be used in Costco, and I don't spend that much money there.

- Civic Hybrid goes from 50mpg to 70mpg if I slow to 55.
- The Prius I rented went from 45mpg to 65mpg when I slowed to 55.
The key is the DRAG which decreases approximately 40% when you slowdown.


Costco's old Amex was 3% gas/max $1000 qtr, 2% restaurants/travel, 1% other. Hit the gas max on 10K mi. trip. Now it's Visa with 4% gas/max $1750 qtr(7000), would have covered the trip, 3% restaurants/travel, 2% Costco, 1% other. You have always been able to cash out the annual rebate at the store. $500 a yr avg here. Also have a 2% grocery card and 1.5% all else card, all no fee.

50-55 mph is probably the sweet spot for min top gear speed / max lower drag speed. Many new cars have instantaneous mpg displays to verify when cruising. When I towed a 4x8x2' box trailer behind a BMW E30, it was like dragging a parachute at anything over 55. Should have airfoiled the front surface like semis/trailers do. Most cars are pretty aerodynamic now though. But my sweetest hwy cruising for getting there is at least 10-15 over.

 

[TiredTrucker]

Originally Posted By: umungus1122
I've found with heavier vehicles especially, accelerating slowly and steadily and just coasting and anticipating lights and traffic saves the most gas. Love the people who race from one stop light to the next and get nowhere fast!


That is a truck driver's comedy channel right there! I always get a kick out of watching auto/pickup drivers racing from light to light instead of pacing themselves.

The big problem in all of this when it comes to safety is that the states have been jacking up the speed limits incrementally to where many are not comfortable for various reasons running. Just because a state feels that 75 mph is where they want the speed limit doesn't mean I am going to drive it. My semi is going to do what it has done for a few decades now.... 60-65 tops. Only with an occasional bump to get around someone expeditiously. I am not going to throw away $10,000 a year just to make everyone happy and go the posted limit. When things were 65, that seemed a little more reasonable as a speed limit to have the majority of folks all flowing at the same general rate.

And let's at least be honest. A state may jack the speed limit to something like 75 mph, but there is always that 10-20% that feel that the speed limit actually is a speed minimum and they are going to go faster than the speed limit. Whether it is safe to do or not.

 

[George7941]

Watching the traffic ahead of me on the highway always reminds me of group of maniacal lemmings. The majority of drivers do not maintain a sufficient gap from the car ahead of them, and frequently, what should have been a two vehicle accident turns into a five or six vehicle accident because they are all piling into one another.

Then there is the constant lane changing, darting from one lane to another. I generally stay in one lane on the highway, adjusting my speed as the traffic in my lane dictates. I do maybe a twentieth of lane changes and braking that the average driver on the highway does.

The same crowd who claim speed limits have no effect on highway traffic speed and that drivers will drive at the speed they want to are the same ones clamouring to raise speed limits. A bit of a contradiction there.

 

[DBMaster]

"Maniacal lemmings"

I like that. I don't think people look ahead even a quarter of a mile because I constantly watch them race around me only to spike the brakes when they reach the back end of the jam (constipated roadway). I clearly see the brake lights ahead yet they seem to ignore it. They're also frequently zipping past on the right approaching an entrance ramp clogging the highway with fifty cars entering. Due to the construction on I-35 they've taken to extreme tailgating because they don't want anyone getting in front of them.

Did I already say that autonomous roadways and vehicles are our only hope?

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
My semi is going to do what it has done for a few decades now.... 60-65 tops.

normally some poeple will be [censored]/angry at this....
but in my last trip, 98% of the trucks i saw maintained their lanes and where very courteous (in high lateral winds!).

so i'll signal a stuck driver to pass (if nobody behind me) or "thank" them if they let me pass (blink-blink)

not a lot of people understand the physics of driving 80,000# behind you (or more).

 

[SeaJay]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
My semi is going to do what it has done for a few decades now.... 60-65 tops.

normally some poeple will be [censored]/angry at this....
but in my last trip, 98% of the trucks i saw maintained their lanes and where very courteous (in high lateral winds!).

so i'll signal a stuck driver to pass (if nobody behind me) or "thank" them if they let me pass (blink-blink)

not a lot of people understand the physics of driving 80,000# behind you (or more).


My wife complains about all the truckers on the interstate during her commute back and forth to work. But I've commuted enough on that road enough to know that I would rather be surrounded by nothing but truckers, who about 98% of the time as you say are driving rationally than all of the commuter cars accelerating and braking as hard as they can while switching lanes to save probably 5 minutes at most of their total commute. Some mornings it is absolute chaos from all of those nuts in the commuter cars.

 

[Traction]

There are FAR too many vehicles and drivers that are a major hazard at 55! The ones trying to go 75 with 3 low bald tires, and a spare, etc. The engine runs, but there is nobody behind the wheel.

 

[veryHeavy]

Originally Posted By: DeafBrad
The truth of the matter is you have a wide range of drivers in the world. We have young and aggressive drivers who drive fast, to old drivers who drive slow...... In a system with extremes like this, there needs to be flexibility in the system. That flexibility is the minimum and maximum allowed speeds. In this system, one group cannot dictate what another group does if they are in the range of flexibility.

Best post.

This morning in the snow slush, I noticed people still driving 70 like it was sunny & dry. I saw an SUV brake at a redlight... and keep going. I saw a schoolbus pull-out in front of cars... and then his rearend swung around & hit the opposite curb. Later I made a left turn signal but before I could reach the left turn lane, a huge pickup truck passed me & blocked me. (He thought he was more important, so he butt in front of me.)

Americans are full of stress & anger which leads to bad driving.
Even today when they should be going slow & cautious, they continue to drive as if they are in a race.
They need to grow up.

 

[veryHeavy]

Originally Posted By: Cujet
The Tesla Model S, with it's amazing acceleration, pays near no penalty for "jack rabbit starts". There is very little additional loss by accelerating a well engineered electric car quickly.

False. I drove an EV with a Tesla-designed motor & battery. Jackrabbit stars most-definitely made the MPGe drop. Even electric motors have a "sweet spot" for efficiency & jamming your pedal to the ground will simply make the motor run hotter (which is wasted energy).

The dash even had a "green zone" and a "yellow zone" and a "red zone" showing when you were operating most efficiently. Fast accelerations went into the red, while normal accelerations kept the car in green.

On another note: Greenercars.org rates the Model S as no cleaner than a Chevy Cruze Diesel. Three reasons: The diesel has a urea catalyst to bring the NOx pollution to zero. It's cleaner than many gasoline cars. (2) The Tesla is one of the least-efficient EVs on the road (it IS a sportscar after all) getting upto 40 MPGe less than other EVs. (3) The Tesla's giant battery & aluminum structure is very costly to build, where the steel compact car is cheaper to build (in terms of energy cost)
.

 

[TiredTrucker]

Originally Posted By: veryHeavy
Originally Posted By: DeafBrad
The truth of the matter is you have a wide range of drivers in the world. We have young and aggressive drivers who drive fast, to old drivers who drive slow...... In a system with extremes like this, there needs to be flexibility in the system. That flexibility is the minimum and maximum allowed speeds. In this system, one group cannot dictate what another group does if they are in the range of flexibility.

Best post.

This morning in the snow slush, I noticed people still driving 70 like it was sunny & dry. I saw an SUV brake at a redlight... and keep going. I saw a schoolbus pull-out in front of cars... and then his rearend swung around & hit the opposite curb. Later I made a left turn signal but before I could reach the left turn lane, a huge pickup truck passed me & blocked me. (He thought he was more important, so he butt in front of me.)

Americans are full of stress & anger which leads to bad driving.
Even today when they should be going slow & cautious, they continue to drive as if they are in a race.
They need to grow up.





Unfortunately, I have to agree. I see the most bizarre stuff weekly going on around me while driving my commercial semi truck. Common sense sure is not common out on the road. I just pace myself and relax as best I can while driving and let the others stress out and feel like they need to be somewhere yesterday. No load or anything is worth it to me to get in some stupid hurry up game.

 

[Merkava_4]

I find that 60 on the highway is plenty fast enough for me. Any faster than that you can't be in the right lane because you'll run into the cars merging in from the on-ramps.

 

[Lubener]

Driving slower, less jack rabbit starts, tailgating and constant speed changes, brake applications but common sense is asking too much for some feeble minded individuals.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Driving 55 mph on the interstate also means you will be tangling with traffic merging from the right side quite often. On Connecticut's stretch of I-95 there are on-ramp merges almost every 3-5 miles for long stretches. Driving a steady 55 will increase your confrontations with merging traffic, most of them will be right around 55-60 mph as they come up along side you. Then someone has to speed up and/or slow down. It gets exciting.

One thing is certain, if you're driving 15-25% slower than the flow of high way traffic, then you will interact with many more cars than if you were just flowing with them. That means more chances (ie time on the road) to cause or be involved in an accident. Ideally, you could drive at 70-75 mph without a car within 200 yds of you for miles. No chance of an accident other than from your own car breaking down. Now drive 55 mph and there will be far less gaps where you can drive without anyone right on top of you.
He didn't say anything about driving in the right lane. Most people that drive slow do it in the middle or left lane.