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I drive a VW diesel beetle and my commute is 100 miles a day. It's a very low pay job in the middle of nowhere. And there is no place I could live closer to work. Now I pay about $50 per week in fuel to go back and forth to work plus incidental trips. If it goes up a lot more, I will have to quit my job.
One of my goals this year is to get a job closer to home. I am looking. Fuel prices, wear and tear on my car, and the time it takes to commute are my main motivators. I'd like more money too but that's not likely. The General Manager of my store says the company is contemplating adding a gas allowance to our compensation package but I'm not holding my breath.
One of the reasons I bought my house was that I could walk to most places. So what happens? I get a job 50 miles away.
My car has over 200,000 miles on it, 2002 Saturn. I had some repairs done, and decided to take the bus instead of rent a car that week
This was in February.
I went back and looked at my gas bills, repair costs and history, the high mileage indicating things might start failing more (hence higher, or more frequent, repair bills), and job issues meaning I might be looking at being outsourced or layed-off, so need to reduce expenses and avoid debt and big purchases, like a new car.
So I started taking the bus as much as possible, or walking where I would have drived (short trips that I could walk to), so changed my driving habits to using the car when only absolutley necessary, or renting a car if I have a long road trip planned (I go on these every so often).
So it took issues of anticipated unemployment and reduced income combined with an old car that I cant afford to replace just yet to cause me to drastically change my driving habits.
The whole idea is to drive a lot less to get more time...more mileage... out of my old car, and avoid going into debt or digging deep into savings to buy a new one or a newer used one.
With the jack-up in gas prices that is a side benefit to me, as that wasnt really what figured into my decision. And I am fortunate to have fairly reliable, if infrequent, public transit to make using the bus a realistic option
on a trip like that, if you safely followed trucks, you'd be amazed at the increase in mpg as well! but yeah, when I'm on cruise control at 70ish, I'm amazed at all the people blowing by me. but it's also a bit more relaxing!
I thought about that. But the trucks were going sooooo slow...even I didn't have the patience to stay behind them (they were going around 60).
Maybe if gas goes to $5, I'll have to get over it and follow behind the trucks.
Given that the only place I really drive to is work (or the grocery store right by my house), I am not sure what I would or could do to 'change my habits.'
If the grocery store is close, you could walk or ride your bike.
There is absolutely no mpg benefit to driving anywhere close to any semi since the air flow behind a semi trailer will severly buffet and drag on a car COSTING MPG TO OVERCOME THE VIOLENT FOLDING BACK IN AIR FLOW!!
"Jeff has mentioned hypermiling here and here; it is the sport of squeezing a gallon of gas until it screams. One popular technique is drafting, or driving really close behind big rigs to get into the low-pressure zone created as they move through the air. According to Discover online, driving in this "free ride zone" not only save fuel for the tailgating driver, but also for the trucker, who is getting a little high pressure push.
Until something happens.
Tim Haab at Environmental Economics shows test results from Mythbusters:
* In scaled wind-tunnel tests, driving 100 feet behind a semi at 55 mph will reduce drag on your car by 40%. The drag reduction increases as you approach the bumper of the truck until you get a 93% drag reduction at a distance of 2 feet.
* In road tests, the testers achieved an almost 20% improvement in gas mileage at a distance of 100 feet (at 55 mph) and a 45% improvement at 10 feet.
Tim also calculates that at 100 feet you have 1.25 seconds to respond if the truck slams on the brakes, (keep off that cell phone) and at ten feet you have .124 seconds. The reccommended distance at 55 miles per hour is 150 feet.
AND FINALLY......
Did you ever stop to think that some kid, or some half awake adult, will try your advice and die because of it???
BTW. this is not meant to be a personal attack on you as a person. My concern here is to undo really bad dangerous advice. OK?
if anyone follows a vehicle at an unsafe distance, that's not due to my advice. i said above, drafting at a safe distance. and here you go:
Drafting a Big Rig
Myth: Drafting a big rig saves fuel
They emphasized again and again how dangerous drafting a big rig is: ~3/4 of truck/car accidents are caused by person driving the car and you're driving in the blind spot of the truck. 150ft is minimum recommended following distance at 55mph, so even the 100ft test is considered dangerous.
Small-scale test
NASA let them do a small scale test to study the aerodynamics of a big rig. They captured video of smoke travelling over a minature big rig and verified that there is a low pressure area behind. They then stuck a minature car to a force gauge to study the difference with and without drafting.
7 car lengths: 21% drag reduction
10ft: 60%
6ft: 80%
2ft: 93%
Full-scale test
Freightliner lent the MythBusters one of their new Cascadia big rigs, which they are billing as the most aerodynamic big rig on the market.
Mike Ryan, Hollywood stunt driver, was there to educate Grant on the ins and outs of drafting. Also on-hand was Andrew Smith, test engineer, who helped them hook up a computer to the fuel injection system to accurately measure the fuel consumption.
55mph control: 32mpg
100ft: 35.5mpg, 11% improvement
50ft: 38.5mpg, 20%
20ft: 40.5mpg, 27%
10ft: 44.5mpg, 39%
2ft: 41mpg, 29%
The fuel economy actually dropped at 2ft. Andrew Smith's theory was that at 2ft, Grant got nervous with the throttle as it was difficult to maintain that 2ft gap.
drafting at 100 feet provides an 11% mpg improvement. 50 feet is a 20% improvement. just following the "3 second rule" would put you a little more than 100 feet from a truck. so don't do it if that's not enough time for you (if you like to play with cell phones, or zone out, not a good idea).
if someone isn't comfortable with 100 feet distance between them and the next car, then don't do it. but i was asked what it would take to change my driving habits to save fuel....i listed what i do now. i'm comfortable with stopping distance of 100 feet between me and a truck if i'm going 55.
i dont think she drives enough to make up the cost difference. the original plan was that id take the xterra when my car is paid in full and we would get her a new car. i like driving the xterra, but the gas will be a killer. so im thinking of keeping my car and then trying to keep her from going to crazy.
yeah that xterra is gonna be killer back and forth to brooklyn. i'm avoiding SUVs as lons as feasible. with a dog and a kid, i'm ok for now. but as we add more kids something larger will probably become useful at some point. hoping that some sleeker wagons start making a comeback before i get to that point though.
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I thought about that. But the trucks were going sooooo slow...even I didn't have the patience to stay behind them (they were going around 60).
Maybe if gas goes to $5, I'll have to get over it and follow behind the trucks.
what i do, and i know it's only a modest benefit...is i ride in the right lane as long as possible behind them, and then pass, then get back in the right lane behind the next one. it doesn't work well if there's any traffic volume, but if it's just a few cars, i get maybe 0.5 - 1mpg better than i normally would. small things add up though.
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