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1. Telecommute one or more days a week.
2. Consolidate errands or run errands that are in the path of other obligatory road trips
3. Keep your tires properly inflated
4. Choose where you live wisely to increase walking and cycling possibilities for daily living.
5. Make your next car purchase a fuel efficient one! The size of vehicles today baffle me in light of the fact that families keep getting smaller but the cars keep getting bigger. If you must have a bigger vehicle, choose a minivan over a full size SUV. Car based vehicles get better mileage then truck based ones.
6. Live "smaller"
7. Really get to know what happens in your immediate area and support local businesses and activities. It will not only save you gas and time but will build a stronger community.
8. Learn to drive a manual transmission car. You usually get more power and better mileage from manual transmission cars with small engines.
9 As a society, we must support development that can be served by mass transit. Likewise, we must support the development of mass transit.
10. Let the bus take the kids to school. It's running anyway.
11. Don't wait in long drive thru lines. Park the car and go inside to order.
12. If you can, move your commute to non-rush hour times. Sitting in traffic wastes lots of gas.
13. Don't run errands during rush hour.
One thing that I like to do is put my car in neutral (manual transmission) and coast on long downslopes or moderately hilly areas of slight ups and downs. I make a game of it sometimes to see how far I can go using only gravity. You'd be surprised at the number of places in the area that you can travel a mile or more without losing speed and without using the gas. Of course, you have to be prepared to get the car back in gear quickly in the event of an emergency.
I really wish I could telecommute 1 or more days per week. I work for the state and it would be entirely possible with my job, but they don't allow it. Just a waste of gas and more traffic on the roads, because they like to keep "tabs" on their workers I suppose
Well we were tired of the commute to RTP from Sanford (45+ minutes) so we opted to move to Durham! We were renting in Chatham County but finally decided commuting was not for us! We purchased a townhome near Southpoint at the end of February and cut our gas consumption by 60% at least. We do not carpool any more but have the option if we choose to cut our consumption even more.
As we are used to paying A LOT more in gas than we currently do so $4/gallon gas won't hurt us too much now. We made the biggest change someone can make to reduce gas consumption and are much happier for it!
Well day one of driving at the speed limit to work! At least near the speed limit. I set my cruise on 67 and drove into RTP on 540 so here goes:
OMG! OMG! OMGosh!!
I felt like the pace car on the final pace lap at the Indy 500.
Cars and mostly pickup trucks passed me like I was standing still.
I rode the center lane as usual and I still passed a few cars in the right lane. Weeee!
No one flashed their lights but I did have some tailing me like Dale Ernhart Jr. does to Jeff Gordon! Maybe they were drafting off my car.....Yeah right!
Then on a secondary road where the speed limit was 55 I set the cruise to 55 and I
felt like Grandma Mabel driving her 74 Dodge Dart to Church on Sunday's!
But if I can save some dollars in gas I shall continue my speed limit quest.
I will calculate my savings and see how much I will save and hopefully report it back.
Question: Where does one go at 6am at 85mph on 540? Good gracious!
Well day one of driving at the speed limit to work! At least near the speed limit. I set my cruise on 67 and drove into RTP on 540 so here goes:
OMG! OMG! OMGosh!!
I felt like the pace car on the final pace lap at the Indy 500.
Cars and mostly pickup trucks passed me like I was standing still.
I rode the center lane as usual and I still passed a few cars in the right lane. Weeee!
No one flashed their lights but I did have some tailing me like Dale Ernhart Jr. does to Jeff Gordon! Maybe they were drafting off my car.....Yeah right!
Then on a secondary road where the speed limit was 55 I set the cruise to 55 and I
felt like Grandma Mabel driving her 74 Dodge Dart to Church on Sunday's!
But if I can save some dollars in gas I shall continue my speed limit quest.
I will calculate my savings and see how much I will save and hopefully report it back.
That happens to me too when I set my cruise control. I prefer to ride in the center lane so I am not in the fast lane people way and I hate the right lane because you have to deal with merging traffic.
I get a kick out of people who are impatient and need to pass me on a secondary road they floor it to speed by you like bolt of lightening and I think oh yeah you just wasted about 6 dollars in gas.
When people pass you on highway do what I do I give them that friendly Carolina wave. They may wave back with one finger in the air then you just smile real big back. And say tell Grandma hey when you get there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dansdrive
Question: Where does one go at 6am at 85mph on 540? Good gracious!
They are going to Bojangles or Biscuitville to get them some fresh made biscuits!
Well day one of driving at the speed limit to work! At least near the speed limit. I set my cruise on 67 and drove into RTP on 540 so here goes:
OMG! OMG! OMGosh!!
I felt like the pace car on the final pace lap at the Indy 500.
Cars and mostly pickup trucks passed me like I was standing still.
I rode the center lane as usual and I still passed a few cars in the right lane. Weeee!
No one flashed their lights but I did have some tailing me like Dale Ernhart Jr. does to Jeff Gordon! Maybe they were drafting off my car.....Yeah right!
Then on a secondary road where the speed limit was 55 I set the cruise to 55 and I
felt like Grandma Mabel driving her 74 Dodge Dart to Church on Sunday's!
But if I can save some dollars in gas I shall continue my speed limit quest.
I will calculate my savings and see how much I will save and hopefully report it back.
Question: Where does one go at 6am at 85mph on 540? Good gracious!
Too funny I did the same thing today and set my cruise on 67. People did not want anything to do with that. They would pass me like I was doing 25 and they were doing 55. I also made sure on my whole commute (half interstate, half rt. 70) that I did not go above 2500 rpms the whole time. So it meant slower take offs from stop lights, but I still got up to speed rather quickly. Again, people wanted nothing to do with that as they quickly sped around me only to wind up stopped at every single light I was at all the way until I got on the beltline. I really think I could sqeeze 2 or 3 more miles per gallon out of my tank after all is said and done.
Doesn't help that I'm driving back to Northern VA this weekend and probably will spend about $85-$90 round trip on gas for about 550 miles of driving
From the above article: "The four-cylinder engine now holds 37% of the U.S. market, up from 30% just three years ago when gas last averaged less than $2 a gallon, according to J.D. Power and Associates."
Also from above article: "
S&P said that over the past three years, vehicles equipped with eight-cylinder engines saw their market share drop to 18% from 28%. V-8 engines command an $8,000 premium per vehicle over the V-6 models, while the four-cylinder models offer a $4,000 discount, on average. "
Less cyclinders means less gas needed to get somewhere unless you need to tow something.
Great post! I need to spread reputation around before I can give it to you again (I've been trying, I swear!). I completely agree with (and try to practice as much as possible) all of the points you cited.
I love driving a manual because I have complete control over the efficiency of my engine based on shifting patterns. And I love watching my instant mpg meter show 99.9 mpg when coasting downhill (I make a game out of trying to make that happen)! You can also see the differences in the mpg ratings of vehicles of the same model between manuals and automatics; on my personal vehicle I have actually beat the official mpg ratings and I credit it to driving style, which can be altered on more levels with a manual. Some automatic transmissions are more efficient than others, but since their shift patterns are permanently set for efficiency, I find that driving these is sometimes a strange experience (just based on how the transaxle shifts).
I assume that this is also the reason why manual transmissions are more popular than automatics in so many Eurpoean countries (besides the fact that they are fun). You'd be hard pressed to find, and pay more to rent, a rental car with an automatic transmission in the UK.
Thanks MiamiBlue. I appreciate the kind words!
There are things I have learned in SouthBeach that can apply almost anywhere! Most of these things are how to live with urban sensibilities.
Interesting stats on the 4-cylinder's, dans. I have found myself watching the tachometer more than the speedometer. Also, the minivan has an "avg mpg" calculator built in. I challenge myself to keep that number up!
We sold our second car almost two years ago. I've since been cycling/busing to work. We're saving the gas money, the insurance money, the registration/inspection/oil change/repairs/parking money...
Day one drive home at or near the speed limit. And based on input from this thread I watched my Tach to keep my engine RPM's down to squeeze some more gas mileage out of the ole Batmobile.
Things went pretty smooth or should I say slowly.
As I was accelerating up to speed I was passed by
like Shack riding a horse in the daily feature.
But eureka on 540 some people were actually
driving between 65 and 70. I knew that because
we were in the middle lane as the low flying cars and
trucks whizzed by. As we passed the airport on 540 I
swear one that passed us was a Southwest 737 but they
went by so fast I could not be sure.
The scary part is I am starting to like the slower pace.
With the spring bloom out I am actually seeing more of
the scenery around me and less of the bumpers of the cars
and trucks I was once trying to pass on by. I also
started to count the people driving and using their cell
phones on 540. I got bored with that after counting 15
in a 10 mile stretch. And the real amazing thing after today was
I noticed my gas Gage barley headed south which is a good
thing.
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