Fuel economy. Can you really save?

[Miatamaniac92]

You work at a Holiday Inn Express(showers and a pool)?

Chris

[TheChadVIII]

I save more money by not going to Starbucks three days a week anymore than I do by slowing down on the roads!

But honestly, say you want to drive spiritedly.... That's what sports cars are for right?

Would a high horsepower car that you can give half throttle to get the job done, or a underpowered car that you have to mash it to keep up with the high powered one do better in the long run?

I'm just sayin' my stepdad's 6.2L LS3 vette is getting about 3mpg less than my S2000.
And he even gets better mpg on the highway than the Honda!

I could get better mileage if I tried, so could he, but then again we could have both bought hybrids. I'm thinkin' if you wanna go faster and still be concerned about gas mileage, get an engine that won't sweat going faster.

[cArAzzIE]

"If I can hold the whole conga line back to help the entire line save fuel so they catch a green light, I'll do it," Mr. Gerdes said.

This guy's attitude makes me sick - he is about as self righteous as one can get...

self righteous: confident of one's own righteousness, esp. when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others.

I can't stand people who have the audacity to interfere with another person while driving. That kind of behavior leads to road rage. Unless of course you have cherries on the top of your car...still doesn't make it right.

[Mathews2004]

I have been wondering if we, meaning racers, drivers, and general car nuts, are a dying breed. Maybe we are just into about a different type of performance now.

[motorollow]

If I can hold the whole conga line back to help the entire line save fuel so they catch a green light, I'll do it," Mr. Gerdes said.


I actually tried this one morning in the left lane of I-30 after reading an article about it. In moderately heavy traffic I left a 5-6 car gap ahead of me and I never had to hit the brakes once (and neither did the "conga line" behind me). The reason there is stop and go traffic is that no one follows the 2 second rule because they get tired of other people cutting in front of them.

[Dave04]

Interesting link concerning driving slow... THESE KIDS just tried driving the speed limit and see what kind of reaction they got in Atlanta.

[CosmosMpower]

I did a little experiment with the Miata this past half tank. Instead of driving how I normally do (3000-4000 rpm shifts in every gear) taking off fairly fast to get up to speed then cruising in 5th I took it REALLY easy everywhere. I shifted at 2,200 rpms just high enough to make the car not bog in the next gear, was very light on the gas and accelerated very slowly to get on highways etc. When I saw a light was red or I knew there was a long downhill off ramp I coasted all the way there etc.

From half a tank to empty I got right around 130 miles divided by about 5 gallons for half a tank. That equates to about 26 mpg instead of my usual 22-23 mpg. That translates to about 230 miles per tank driving old way, 260 driving the new way. Totally not worth it, I'm going to continue lead footing it everywhere.

[CosmosMpower]

Interesting link concerning driving slow... THESE KIDS just tried driving the speed limit and see what kind of reaction they got in Atlanta.

ROFL so THAT's what Miatamoto was doing a few weeks ago while in Atlanta visiting his family. I bet he didn't think it would get all the way back to dfwmiata

[MadMonkey]

I did a little experiment with the Miata this past half tank. Instead of driving how I normally do (3000-4000 rpm shifts in every gear) taking off fairly fast to get up to speed then cruising in 5th I took it REALLY easy everywhere. I shifted at 2,200 rpms just high enough to make the car not bog in the next gear, was very light on the gas and accelerated very slowly to get on highways etc. When I saw a light was red or I knew there was a long downhill off ramp I coasted all the way there etc.

From half a tank to empty I got right around 130 miles divided by about 5 gallons for half a tank. That equates to about 26 mpg instead of my usual 22-23 mpg. That translates to about 230 miles per tank driving old way, 260 driving the new way. Totally not worth it, I'm going to continue lead footing it everywhere.

Are you talking NA or NC? I usually run about 275 miles per tank leadfooting it everywhere in my NA...

[MadMerv]

The Dallas police or State troopers did this a couple of years ago on I-20 after there were tons of accidents in the area.

So, I filled up Sunny this morning at 418 miles. Not empy, but the cheapest gas is in Azle($3.81) so I stopped there. Only took 10.0 gallons, and I topped it off! My average for 1970 miles is 38.55mpg. It's working for me :)

[Radio-Active]

Interesting link concerning driving slow... THESE KIDS just tried driving the speed limit and see what kind of reaction they got in Atlanta.

Back in '95 I was going as fast as I could muster in the 1982 Isuzu Pup Diesel that I had. At 85 mph, it was doing all it could and I was staying in the right lane. I got passed by everyone including a state trooper that just gave me a look like "Are you nuts!" He went on and passed me at 95. That truck got 38mpg on the highway if I left it below 75. I think I got 32 mpg on the highway that day going between Albany/Valdosta and Atlanta.

[CosmosMpower]

Are you talking NA or NC? I usually run about 275 miles per tank leadfooting it everywhere in my NA...

NA, 1.6L there must be something wrong with my car if I'm babying the crap out of it and only getting about 140 for half tank or 270-280 for a full tank. Granted it is 80% city driving.

[tailchaser]

NA, 1.6L there must be something wrong with my car if I'm babying the crap out of it and only getting about 140 for half tank or 270-280 for a full tank. Granted it is 80% city driving.

Yup. Sounds bad. I'll give ya $2.50 for it.

[MadMonkey]

NA, 1.6L there must be something wrong with my car if I'm babying the crap out of it and only getting about 140 for half tank or 270-280 for a full tank. Granted it is 80% city driving.

Mine's 1.6 also, catless, and with the timing bump (16 degrees) and cone filter. I never drive it gently because it doesn't get out much

[MadMerv]

Filling the tank in a Miata can be erratic, that's why I never accept what one tank says. If you think you can effectively calculate MPG with only doing it for "half a tank", it's not going to be accurate, especially since an indicated half tank is seldom half a tank. If you want accurate readings, you have to run multiple tanks, the more, the better. I started this six tanks ago......