I saw this clip on the local news a few nights ago, and thought I'd offer to share it with all of you. They showed these guys who were getting upwards of 70-105 mpg in their dinky little cars. Of course, several of these guys looked like they took the idea to an extreme - even obsessed about it - but the fact remains that much of this information could be used and adapted to our own cars. They used ideas like shifting to neutral and coasting downhill whenever possible, taking back roads to avoid lights and traffic, shutting off the motor and coasting for as long as possible, driving much slower (and ignoring the honks and hand gestures), among other ideas. Anyway, I don't advocate this type of driving, but I think I'm going to be trying some of it out in the future. Check out the information and see what you think. I'd be interested if some of you did it with your older toys and reported back your mileage improvements. People talk about boycotting at the pumps, well, this type of boycott would go on much further IMO. One of the links I believe even talks about a Toyota Prius which managed over 1200 miles to a single tank of fuel. A quote from the first link: "...set a world record of 1,534 miles on a tank of gas. Then, Randy and five other hypermilers drove his little car around Tonkawa for 8 days straight, and on one 10.5 gallon tank of gas, they covered 2,255 miles, which they figure must be a record, too." http://www.kotv.com/news/local/story/?id=126884 http://www.autobloggreen.com/2006/08/15/relearning-to-drive-from-hypermiler/
I saw that on the news too. I thought it was interesting, but I wonder about shutting off the engine and coasting because on some vehicles you lose steering and brakes with no motor running. Anyways I'm like you some good tips to try. Anything to save a few bucks in the tank!
Thing is - if you think about it - back in the day when there was no power steering, once you started moving the steering was a helluva lot easier to manage. The power brakes go away once you exhaust the pent up vacuum in the booster, but you've still got brakes - they're just harder to engage. I think this'd work best with a standard since you wouldn't have to hit the key to start it - just pop the clutch and roll on. I'm up for trying it myself. I'm even more curious as to how it'd work when I'm pulling my trailer!
I am too old, fat and lazy for a bicycle, so I split the difference and ride a motorcycle. Only 160 miles on a tank of gas, but the tank is only 4 gallons . Beats the hell out my old dodge p/u, 180 miles on a 27 gallon tank.
I remember driving down I-17 in Arizona from Flagstaff to Phoenix years ago in my old BMW...I could shift into Neutral for miles coming out of the mountains...
back in the day, those vehicles were designed without power brakes and steering, that's why they got easier to steer when moving...today all of the vehicles are designed with power steering and power brakes, so when you shut those off it's a LOT harder than a vehicle that never had those things...
I understand that, but then again, compare one to the other, as in steering now with the motor running and steering without the motor running... In my full size ex-cab 1/2 ton Chevy its a minor inconvenience, but still managable. I was playing around a few minutes ago when I picked my son up from school with this idea. I don't know the economy differences, but just by looking at the temp gauge I can clearly see a difference. When I usually go from my house to where I park, my manual capillary type temp gauge jumps up around 185 or so normally. Today, doing the idle/coast thing it didn't get up over 150 on the exact same trip. As soon as I fill back up, I'm going to see what I can do for economy in the beast and I'll let you know how much difference it makes - if any.
On older cars it wouldn't be an issue, but on newer cars the steering wheel will lock once the key is turned off if it is turned too far... That could really cause a problem...
I'm doing alot of coasting right now - just kicking it into neutral and letting it go. I'm curious as hell how much difference it makes. However, I'm having trouble with the image of Tingler with the pump nozzle up his ass... kind of like a fat guy in a speedo - its not something you want to see or contemplate. ::shivers::
If you get 15 miles per gallon with your hot rod, and drive 5,000 miles a summer you will use 333 gallons of gas. At $3.25/ gal it will cost you $1,083. At $2.25/gallon is will cost you $749. So, at the higher gas price you will spend $334 more. If that is a burden, try saving money in other ways (cheaper beer, tap water instead of bottled water, etc.) to keep your hot rodding habit alive and well.
I was going to respond to this, but I think it was directed at Tingler. Although Tingler makes some valid points, I'm not at that extreme... yet.
Cycling is a lot of fun. I used to ride about 250 miles per week but haven't ridden in a while due to "haters". Oklahoma is probably the most unfriendly bike state in the Union.
Quote: These bike tourers sure only average 15 miles an hour.....but they get to see quite a bit of the world. They get great experiences that we miss in cars or on motorcycles. the thing to do would be to bike across the back roads and find vintage tin. have these guys keep their eyes out.
Just as a small thing. What i do to save on the gas is watch my tach. When i drive i try to keep the rpm's below 2000. Its a 2003 2 door 2wd blazer 4.3 liter v6. Its amazing how much of a difference it makes. People behind you arent getting too pissy for going slow off the start and once your up to speed its fine. I havent done it on a full tank to see the mileage but so far its a huge difference in how fast the fuel needle goes down from how i use to drive. If it sounds to whiney about gas prices, it saves me money so i can drive my hotrod more.
Don't forget the mechanical aspect of biking. I'm not an aerodynamic helmet wearing freako, but never really put bicycles down going from kid to adult. Great exercise and great stress relief. However, store bought bikes are kind of a letdown, even if they're super nice. Because if your bike is a custom assembled, custom painted, one-off machine.... you'll taste a little bit of that hot rod zen every ride. Google map your area, and you may find some really cool trails. Cruise sidestreets and alleys to scout backyard cars you never notice driving. Hypermiling, no thanks. I'm the kind of risk taker that will put a pen in my pocket without a protector.
My previous reply was not meant to be directed at Tingler. I was merely pointing out the extra cost of a summer's worth of hot rodding caused by the gas price increase. In my opinion it isn't enough to curtail driving any of my hot rods. Back in the gas crunch in the 70's I put a 2300 Pinto engine in my 31 Slant Window Town Sedan. Woke up one night in a cold sweat when I realized little old ladies in big Buicks were going to beat me across intersections without really trying. Went out to the garage and ripped that sucker out and put a 350 sbc in it. I rode a bicycle to work for several years and went on many tours, long and short. Lots of fun. But had difficulty with some of the car haters. And trouble with people trying to run me over. My main point is, save money any way you need to so you can support the greatest obsession there is, building and driving your hot rod.
Basically, all I'm really doing with regard to this idea right now is not stabbing my foot into the floor as much, kicking it into neutral and coasting more often when traffic permits, and watching to see what the overall results are going to look like. If it makes a big difference, I'll let ya'll know. If it really doesn't, I'll admit that it makes no real difference and give the pocket protector back to the real nerds - they'll need it more.
My older son has participated in the state SAE supermileage competitions. His team score an average of just over 500 MPG this year. In fact one of the tricks to get this type of mileage is to do the coasting -- they get the car up to track speed (30 MPH) then shut off the engine and coast (of course they coast a lot more than you would want to on the road, as they try to keep to the minumum average speed of 15 MPH). Since most of the competative cars have very low rolling resistance thay can coast for ever and can just about double their mileage. Coasting with the engine idling helps but not nearly so much. Interestingly, many of the hotrod speed tricks work really well to get better mileage, increased compression, ceramic coatings, ect. They gain the same edge they are just used differently. I look at it this way -- have fun with your rod, do what you can with your commuter, anyway its not supposed to be fun driving to work.
That whole coasting thing brings back a lot of memories of being a broke ass high school/college kid with 11:1 compression and 4.11 gears in the daily. Shit was only a buck and a quarter then though. 3500 rpm up the hill 600 down.
Well, I filled up today for the first time since before I started this post. I was about 100 miles into the 34 gal tank before I started. I typically get around 375-400 per tank in town at around 12-14 mpg. I measured today I had 442 miles on this tank and filled up with 27 gallons of gas. That equates to a little better than 16.25 mpg. Over the 27 gallons of gas, that equates to around 50 or so more miles on this tank? Take from it what you will, but I'm going to keep driving like this. Not a radical change, but just enough to make a bit of difference.
those are somepretty interesting ideas, but a solution they are not. Most of those ideas would cause road congestion from everyone going so slow, and most cars made these days wont steer or stop well with the engine off. Plus....it would take all of the fun out of driving. I'd rather walk. I just drove to paso and back in my BBF powered dodge. Got 9 mpg....it was pretty painful. I don't know what my ass hurts more from....the seats in my truck , or the $3.75 a gallon for the 5468487658 gallons of fuel I used going there and back. I'm sure I'll be dusting off my motorcycles soon.
I agree with Fast Eddie, by keeping the tach at 2 grand I can almost keep up with traffic (in a 93 Suburban) and this tank is lasting longer than ever. I'm expecting about 4mpg better than driving 80 at 2600 .rpms.
Trust me - around here I won't even drag my ass going slow on the freeways. However, about 75% of my driving is done on city streets and off the main highways. I've even noticed that I can shift from 2nd into 5th in my truck and it will actually idle less than when the clutch is in (or in neutral), and slowly pick up speed. It only clatters if I touch the gas pedal. I do alot of coasting around here - just kicking it into neutral and rolling along. Like I said, I'm not this bigtime advocate of this kind of driving - rather I just tried it out for myself and am reporting my results back here. It worked for me, and all it took was a gentle modification to my driving habits. Take from it what you will...
Coasting is also a good way to drive a car that has a serpentine belt break, dead fan or a failing water pump. I threw the water pump belt on my 81 Scirocco once when I was about 30 miles inside Mexico. By speeding up to 65 and then killing it and coasting I got the car all the way home. About 2 years later the harmonic balancer on the van exploded on the way to the airport (also about 30 miles from the house). I drove it all the way home this way and never overheated it. This "hypermiling" thing is on MSN now too. It says keeping your foot out of it has the biggest effect. I'd agree, when I'm limping to a gas station or something I'll do this to make it. The worst thing about the price of gas is how you feel paying it, knowing that the oil companies have such nice profits.
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