Saving Gas?

OK I was wondering what others around here might have been doing to save gas since it's been $3-$4. I installed a mileage computer on my car which enabled me to fine tune my driving habits to the point where I was averaging 33-35mpg in mixed city/highway driving on a car that was rated 23mpg city, 32mpg highway under the old EPA measurement standards (21/29 on the new method). Now I've made the issue moot by switching to a job closer to home that requires less travel.

Anyone else doing such things? Anyone get a different car? Hypermiling? Biking or walking? Moving or changing jobs?

Paul Kammueller said:

OK I was wondering what others around here might have been doing to save gas since it's been $3-$4. I installed a mileage computer on my car which enabled me to fine tune my driving habits to the point where I was averaging 33-35mpg in mixed city/highway driving on a car that was rated 23mpg city, 32mpg highway under the old EPA measurement standards (21/29 on the new method). Now I've made the issue moot by switching to a job closer to home that requires less travel.

Anyone else doing such things? Anyone get a different car? Hypermiling? Biking or walking? Moving or changing jobs?

Slowed down.
I've been driving four cylinders of various sizes for many years. I learned along time ago that slowing down a little always improves the mileage significantly. Slowing down even more, and more often, does even more. That's not always practical. But to do so as often as is possible will yield better than published mpg on just about every car I've owned. Again, not all the time. (It's stupid to get in the fast lane for example and be a traffic liability) Slowing down it the original KISS method to less fill ups.

I've adjusted my commuting times. Under good travel conditions I can hold a steady 60mph without a lot of stop n' go and that yeilds a pretty good 40mpg. Under heavy commute on the same route there are stretches where I won't get 20mpg and I won't average 25. I has taken a bit of will power but I am also resisting the urge to pass everything in front of me. I'll get out from behind a stone thrower but I simply back off from the vehicles I used to pass.

I've gone from using a tank and a half to using just one full tank every week

dan

Yeah, I'm driving like a banshee in our little Chevy and laughing at SUVs and Mustangs along the way. This way I'll shame people into smaller, more efficent, cars.

Seriously, I'm commuting in the little car more consistently and combining trips. The best I can do with extremely light-footed city driving in the little car is 20 mpg. I do about 19 with normal driving. It'll get 31 on the highway. We still tool around on the weekend with the SUV, but we stay local and the long road trips are right out. Any requests for a long distance visit are met by quotations of current gas prices. The hypermiling techniques are a little too dangerous for Atlanta traffic so I don't recommend them.

I saw this coming in 2000, when I bought the house I'm living in now. I knew very soon China and India would begin competing with us for oil, so it was just a matter of time before energy prices would start going steadily up. So, I bought a house within easy bicycle distance of my job - actually close enough to walk to in less than 40 minutes - through one of the nicest urban parks in the US, no less. I fill up about once every 2-3 weeks - about 70% of my gas use is driving to observing sites

Soon I will probably be buying a different house - one that's even closer to work.

K. Michael M.

Paul Kammueller said:

OK I was wondering what others around here might have been doing to save gas since it's been $3-$4. I installed a mileage computer on my car which enabled me to fine tune my driving habits to the point where I was averaging 33-35mpg in mixed city/highway driving on a car that was rated 23mpg city, 32mpg highway under the old EPA measurement standards (21/29 on the new method). Now I've made the issue moot by switching to a job closer to home that requires less travel.

Anyone else doing such things? Anyone get a different car? Hypermiling? Biking or walking? Moving or changing jobs?