Get ‘hyper’ about mileage and ease up on pedal

06/22/08

Rocky Mountain News

In the race for better gas mileage, the tortoise beats the hare, hands down.

The days of $4-a-gallon gasoline have spawned a flood of Web sites, blogs, experiments and products designed to help you squeeze every last drop of mileage possible out of a tank of gasoline. Full Article

This article really sums up the idea's for Green Driving Tips was created.

The writer quotes an average driver - Brent Wells, 43, who commutes 110 miles round-trip from his home in Windsor to his downtown auto-repair business, Autotailor.

" Any driver can improve a car's mileage from 10 percent to 20 percent, Wells said.

"Just being aware of driving habits can help," Wells said. "Accelerating is the biggest issue where the bulk of the fuel is wasted."

In addition, Wells advises careful monitoring of tire pressure as well as regular maintenance.

"A car doesn't have to be overmaintained," Wells said. "Just maintained."

Wells said no "magic potion" will improve a car's gas mileage and that costly devices retrofitted into vehicles to give real-time mileage results are not a smart investment.

Getting new drivers to learn good habits before they learn bad ones is also important, made easier these days because of what they have to pay at the pump.

43.5 MPG this morning

Got called out early this Sunday morning.  Tried to keep my eye on the Throttle Position Sensor(TPS) and keep it below 30.
21.5 miles .49 gals used -average speed 31 mph-Max speed 57 MPH Max RPM's 2554

MPG misrepresents gains in fuel efficiency from scrapping worst ...

Mongabay.com

- Jun 21, 2008

- 16 hours ago

The use of miles-per-gallon instead of gallons-per-distance to measure fuel-efficiency may be clouding Americans' judgement when it comes to choosing whether to take the worst gas-guzzling vehicles off the road, argues a new paper published in the journal Science.  Full Article

This article has an interesting idea about how to measure fuel-efficiency.  It also debunks some of the midsets people have about gains in MPG.
"For example most students responded incorrectly to the question whether the savings of going from a 12-MPG car to a 14-MPG car were greater than replacing 28-MPG auto with a 40-MPG model. The 2-MPG gain from upgrading from a 12-MPG to 14-MPG translates to a savings of roughly 120-gallons over the course of 10,000 miles. By comparison, going from 28-MPG to 40-MPG saves 95 gallons over that distance."
The idea that 28-40 mpg is less of a savings than 12-14 mpg escapes most people.  Of course going from 12-40 mpg would be the best idea, but many people cant afford to buy new cars.  That's were using "Green Driving Tips" to beat the EPA helps out.  If you are just looking to save money, increasing the gas mileage just a little on a car that is paid for will save you more in the short term (2-4 years) than buying a new car that gets better gas mileage.

Beating the old EPA(38) - I got 41 MPG-Honest!

I got 41 MPG yesterday on the way to work.  This beat the old EPA highway figure of 38. 

How did I do it? 

Starting out slowly, putting it in neutral while coasting, timing the lights so I kept the car moving most of the time.
Also it was cool enough that I didn't use the air.  I never turned the engine off till I got in the parking lot.  I only stopped for one light and waited a mere 20 seconds.

Later in the day I saw my average for one trip drop from 38 down to 35 while waiting at a long light.(took two cycles to get through it).  I was also running the air.  As I said before, I want to be green not wet!
 

Judging that jalopy by its gas mileage

By Rick Popely |Tribune reporter

June 20, 2008

On top of that, new-car dealers typically only keep late-model cars they take in trade, so high-mileage ones often wind up on small independent lots such as Full Story

This article reports how used cars that get over 30 MPG are increasing in value.  I believe this will continue especially when some of these older cars get better gas mileage than many new Hybrids.
 

Anyone can become a hypermiler and save gas and money

By Lisa Lillelund
Amesbury News

Wed Jun 18, 2008, 07:44 AM EDT

Don't switch lanes so frequently since you get better gas mileage going straight at a steady speed, so settle back in the right lane and relax at slower Full Article

This article points out some Green Driving Tips. The biggest gas savings is slowing down. " Driving 60 mph instead of 70 mph on the highway can help you save around 15 percent on fuel. "
That's something we can all do but I'm not for lowering the speed limit. If people want to waste money on gas I don't think the government should tell them not to. But I know I have slowed down.

Drivers' hunt for gas mileage leads to dead-end products

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 3:19 AM

By Braden Lammers
REPRINTED, WITH PERMISSION, FROM THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH.

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
"The EPA has evaluated or tested more than 100 alleged gas-saving devices and has not found any product that significantly improves gas mileage. Full acticle ...

It's funny to me that people will spend so much time and money on products to try to save gas, but will not slow down.

Lane