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What others suggested, especially: drive slowly. Boring, but it works!
Like E E, I find that if I drive at or over (sometimes much over) the speed limit I get much, much poorer gas mileage. Keeping my speed between 65-70 mph on the freeway gets me 3-5 more miles per gallon.
What others suggested, especially: drive slowly. Boring, but it works!
Like E E, I find that if I drive at or over (sometimes much over) the speed limit I get much, much poorer gas mileage. Keeping my speed between 65-70 mph on the freeway gets me 3-5 more miles per gallon.
In my opinion, cruise control is a gas waster. If you're going 65, and you come to a hill, you can save gas using foot pedal and going up the hill at 62 or 59, instead of letting cruise suck you up the hill at 65. Use constant throttle instead of constant speed, and you'll maximize your mileage.
Seems I've read that cruise control is supposed to give you better gas mileage, but I don't like to use it, personally. Even on long road trips. My minivan has it and I think I maybe used it once, just to confirm it worked.
I use adaptive cruise control all the time. My car's are hybrids, so the uphill/downhill part cancels out due to regenerative breaking. In NJ, a good portion of my commute is at around 40 mph during rush hour. I'm pretty sure that at a constant 65mph, my car wouldn't be that efficient with or without cruise control.
There is an engineering principle that drivers rarely take into account. Much of the gas you use does not propel you immediately down the highway, but stores kinetic energy in your car. When your foot touches the brake pedal, it starts converting that kinetic energy into heat, stored by your brake pads. The more you use your brakes, the more gas you convert into heat.
So the mental-process solution is to drive in such a way that you minimize your brake usage. That can be done by planning ahead. When you see ahead of you that you are going to have to stop, stop burning fuel that is going to have to be converted into heat when you step on the brakes. In other words, take your foot off the gas and coast to the stop sign.
There is an engineering principle that drivers rarely take into account. Much of the gas you use does not propel you immediately down the highway, but stores kinetic energy in your car. When your foot touches the brake pedal, it starts converting that kinetic energy into heat, stored by your brake pads. The more you use your brakes, the more gas you convert into heat.
So the mental-process solution is to drive in such a way that you minimize your brake usage. That can be done by planning ahead. When you see ahead of you that you are going to have to stop, stop burning fuel that is going to have to be converted into heat when you step on the brakes. In other words, take your foot off the gas and coast to the stop sign.
Turn your engine off at long stop lights, rather than idle for 2-3 minutes. I have been doing this for years, but only at lights that I know are long waits. You can usually time when it will turn green(and you start your engine quickly) by watching for the yellow light at the intersecting street.
This is kind of like enjoying one of the benefits of a hybrid, without having a hybrid.
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