Slow Down a Little, Save a Lot of Gas

[cmego]

Slow-Down-a-Lttle-Save-a-Lot-of-Gas: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

Every 10 mph faster reduces fuel economy by about 4 mpg, a figure that remains fairly constant regardless of vehicle size, Clark said.

Okay, folks, seems to me I got nearly 24mpg with the cruise set at 65-70 on a winding, hilly parkway. Ya mean if I went 55 I'd get more than the EPA rating?

[Rambit]

Maybe, but what's the fun in that?!!! I think we were all born with bigger right feet.

Bernie

[Fourward]

If you want good MPG...get a hybrid...I personnally enjoy the crappy gas mileage as I do 120 from gas station to gas station! HAHAHA

[Rambit]

Or we could all do what these boring people did - Married Cheapskates Set Guinness World Record.

Bernie

[GoofyTimL]

Actually you may do better in hilly terrain because you don't lose that much going up hill (because of the power ratio) and you save tons going down hill with the throttle body closed.

The best mileage we've ever achieved in the H.E. was on a scenic two-lane route in the mountains of Utah, and going over the continental divide on I-70 between Grand Junction and Ft. Morgan, CO.

[Casey]

i cant even imagine the amount of discipline it would take me to drive 55 on the highways. with everyone blowing around people doing 65, i cant even imagine doing slower than that.

but i dont 100% believe this either. i remember just recently reading an article in 0-60 saying that when the speed limit was lowered to 55 in the 70s, a big reason was because of fuel concerns. are we saying that with todays engine, aerodynamics, etc, we STILL are limited to 55 mph? i dont totally buy this.

[OoTLink]

Originally Posted by GoofyTimL

Actually you may do better in hilly terrain because you don't lose that much going up hill (because of the power ratio) and you save tons going down hill with the throttle body closed.

The best mileage we've ever achieved in the H.E. was on a scenic two-lane route in the mountains of Utah, and going over the continental divide on I-70 between Grand Junction and Ft. Morgan, CO.

Nein. I get 12-14mpg here because of the hills. It sounds like a good idea, sure, but in a residential area going up and down hills, and having to stop every few blocks (both ways), yeah.. not really that good a savings.

If I granny drive it here I can push 16mpg, if I do that in Vegas I can get 20.. same exact style. What kills the gas mileage is accelerating from a stop, not maintaining speed as the engine remains in MDS mode

Then again, it's a bit of apples-to-oranges comparison, the roads here are smaller with more traffic lights and (much) lower speed limits, in vegas they're big, wide, and faster.

I'm a stickler for speed limits, even on the freeways, and the only place I ever really let it go is on rural ones. (EG: Driving through central california.) On the regular major freeways I take from say, the house to the college, I STILL sometimes do it (70 in a 65 to pass semis?) but I feel bad about it, because in the end it'll save me all of about 5 seconds, and the only real reason is to raise adrenaline a tiny bit, as when I get to the intersection after the freeway, half the time the people that I passed going 70, that were doing about 60, well, they're right there with me.

So I gave up on that for the most part, I just do something within 2-3mph of the speed limit either way, and get there when I do.

55mph? Yeah, that's pretty boring, but I will say this: OUR CARS ARE GEARED TERRIBLY. At 80mph, the engine is turning what, 2200-2300rpm?! That's stupid, heck it's within a few hundred RPM of what most V6 econobox car engines turn at that speed!

What for?! If you let go of the gas going down a hill at 80, you'll likely start slowing down. Who came up with that idea?!

If we had some GM engineers working with the gearing we'd probably get 30mpg on the freeway instead of 22-23 at those speeds!

[wcsmithiii]

Originally Posted by cmego

Slow-Down-a-Lttle-Save-a-Lot-of-Gas: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

Every 10 mph faster reduces fuel economy by about 4 mpg, a figure that remains fairly constant regardless of vehicle size, Clark said.

Okay, folks, seems to me I got nearly 24mpg with the cruise set at 65-70 on a winding, hilly parkway. Ya mean if I went 55 I'd get more than the EPA rating?

I was driving today on a country road,and was getting 30 mpg going 40mph.Could that be right ,300C is getting good gas milage.

[LSCto300C]

Originally Posted by OoTLink

55mph? Yeah, that's pretty boring, but I will say this: OUR CARS ARE GEARED TERRIBLY. At 80mph, the engine is turning what, 2200-2300rpm?! That's stupid, heck it's within a few hundred RPM of what most V6 econobox car engines turn at that speed!

What for?! If you let go of the gas going down a hill at 80, you'll likely start slowing down. Who came up with that idea?!

If we had some GM engineers working with the gearing we'd probably get 30mpg on the freeway instead of 22-23 at those speeds!

Glad to know someone else thinks this too.
My old 96 Lincoln Mark VIII does 75 here in MT at just a hair over 1000rpm. No joke.
Going down the pass into Butte if I let off the throttle at 85mph I'd have to put on the brakes or else I'd be knocking on the door of 100mph easily!

[frankieo]

I guess I wont be saving on gas anytime soon.