Slow acceleration saves gas = stupid myth . If I fill my bathtub slowly will I save water ? (insurance, engines)
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I accelerate slowly (not like a turtle), but not trying to race through town like an idiot either. When I am easy on the throttle I get MUCH better mileage. It's not a myth, but keep on wasting fuel for no reason if it floats your boat. People who honk at me when the light turns green only get slower acceleration as a prize...
I have to question how slowly you accelerate for people to actually honk at you? I accelerate at a nice smooth pace and definitely don't try to speed up aggressively... However, I never get the honks. I wonder if you just have to deal with more psychopaths than I do or whether you really do accelerate that much slower than me.
Short answer, she's from Long Island, New York--or at least lived there for a long time. Most of the people in this country drive too slowly or incorrectly according to her.
I'm glad that I don't have that affliction. When I was younger, I had the misfortune of having to drive in or around a few big cities.
If you can believe this, the Philadelphians were the best. They might gesture, usually not, but they'd let me change lanes. Probably because I'd moved to the area with NC plates. The poor dear doesn't know what she's doing or what she's going. They were right.
I think the op has some valid points implied, not the fuel efficiency aspect. Some people are so slow to react to a green left arrow that only 4 cars get through when 7-8 could have made it if everyone was on the ball. So it comes down to common courtesy. With so many cars on the road we simply do not have the luxury of each car taking excessive separation distances.
I once drove in the phenomenon in LA known as the high desert commute. This is people who live in victorville and surrounding areas who have to be in the LA basin by 6 am or they will be late to work. Its four lanes for about 10-15 miles downhill and EVERYONE including grannies in old volkswagons were doing well over 80mph, most over 90, with perhaps 2 car lengths in between. I got caught in this coming back from vegas early one monday morning.
It works because everyone is on the same mission with the same mindset and an amazing amount of cars are flowing.
I accelerate slowly (not like a turtle), but not trying to race through town like an idiot either. When I am easy on the throttle I get MUCH better mileage. It's not a myth, but keep on wasting fuel for no reason if it floats your boat. People who honk at me when the light turns green only get slower acceleration as a prize...
You sound reasonable until you got to the part about slowing down when youre honked at.
It sounds like your driving habits are not motivated by fuel economy but by the joy you get from taunting other drivers by impeding the flow of traffic.
Its a big world full of lots of people who have places to be on time. We all dont have the luxury to drive as slow as we like.
This is why they are working on autonomous cars and automatic braking systems. Whatever their individual reasons there are too many dullards on the road to use our highways at peak efficiency.
I think the op has some valid points implied, not the fuel efficiency aspect. Some people are so slow to react to a green left arrow that only 4 cars get through when 7-8 could have made it if everyone was on the ball. So it comes down to common courtesy. With so many cars on the road we simply do not have the luxury of each car taking excessive separation distances.
I once drove in the phenomenon in LA known as the high desert commute. This is people who live in victorville and surrounding areas who have to be in the LA basin by 6 am or they will be late to work. Its four lanes for about 10-15 miles downhill and EVERYONE including grannies in old volkswagons were doing well over 80mph, most over 90, with perhaps 2 car lengths in between. I got caught in this coming back from vegas early one monday morning.
It works because everyone is on the same mission with the same mindset and an amazing amount of cars are flowing.
Yes, your (and the OP's) idea of "on the ball"" works fine at getting you through the light UNTIL the person at the front is T-boned by someone just as determined to get through a light without wasting any time actually stopping at it when it first turns red (see how much more time they save by doing that?). When that happens, it takes you a LOT more time to get through that light. (We won't even consider the person who got T-boned because clearly your time is much more important than their safety.)
No, you're not understanding why the fuel consumption of both averages out.
Once the desired speed is reached, in all cases, you'll be at the same low fuel consumption rate, just maintaining forward motion.
When you accelerate harder, the car will use a lot of gas while doing it, but it reaches the intended speed faster and goes to that low consumption rate faster.
When you accelerate slower, the car will won't be consuming as fast as the first case, but it will be consuming above the low cruising rate for longer.
- If you were never going to get to that cruising speed in the slow acceleration case. For example, racing between closely spaced stoplights, where the slower driver is never going to get up to the speed limit before slowing back down. Then the crowd which is accelerating hard is just ensuring they have to brake harder.
- If we're talking "pedal to the floor", where you're likely to cause tires to spin, automatic transmissions to have trouble keeping it in the optimal power band, etc.
But in general, getting up to your intended speed in a reasonably spirited fashion is going to be a better choice than crawling up to it.
This is a great point that people should understand. Driving like grandma does does not yield the highest MPG. Good fuel economy is much more about conserving momentum. Slamming on your brakes (stoplight racing) is much more detrimental than mashing on the gas.
Peak efficiency is achieved by accelerating relatively quickly (not flooring it) up to 40-45mph or wherever your highest gear kicks in and maintaining that speed for the entire trip. Staying as close to that ideal as possible will give you your highest MPG.
Hypermilers have also shown that the "pulse and glide" method of maintaining an average speed can be even more efficient than just holding a specific speed.
This all can be easily verified with any OBDII scan gauge that shows total fuel used over the course of a short trip.
The main thing is to drive in such a manner that you minimize braking. Every time you need to hit the brake, you convert kinetic energy of motion into waste heat.
Example: I don’t follow to close to the car in front of me, and if I see a red light up ahead I immediately take my foot off the gas and coast, hoping that the light will turn green before I get to it.
Obviously, do everything safely and within reason. I’m not going to coast along at 20 mph on a 55 mph road, that’s just dangerous and angers anyone behind you.
Its really only in the US people accelerate extra stupid slow, I don't know why that is but in every other country I have been too people drive in more of a sporty kind of way and enjoy it.
Its called commuting not racing. I bet you are one of those who tailgates everyone and is continually changing lanes like you are the only one who counts out there on the road.
But don't worry in a few years we will all have self driving cars and this sort of conversation will be unnecessary. Instead of being mad at the drivers you can complain about the software that controls the cars.
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