Hypermilers

how intriguing to hear situations around us alter our lifestyle. i'm not that extreme, but i've tried not to exceed 3,000 rpm while driving. it gave me at least 15-20 more miles more on my 19 gallons full tank, i think.

Have not gone to these extremes. But we are more careful to minimize trips and cosolidate errands into one journey. We live about 30 miles from the closest even medium sized town where we shop for groceries, so this makes sense no matter the cost of fuel, but only became meaningfully apparent to us with the rising cost.

As an interesting side note, I saw a spokesman from Consumer Reports interviewed on TV. They have found that late model cars experience essentially NO difference in gas mileage with the A/C on or off. The effect on fuel efficiency that everyone believes may have been an issue 25 or 30 years ago, but evidently is not the case with today's techonology. So the hypermilers can now at least annoy others in traffic while riding in the relative comfort of a cool car, except of course on those occassions when they coast with the engine not running.

Hmmm, I don't think that I'd ever get that extreme, surely there are better things to worry about than that! Nevertheless we do need to be careful about how much we use the car - as I live in quite a well stocked village I try not to use the car at weekends!

I haven't gone to too many extremes but I have found myself coasting, shutting off my engine. My wife and I have two cars, my car is a "performance" car and only takes premium...it stays parked now...we are in practice a one car family. This actually has been good because it has allowed us as a couple to have more time to talk while commuting or going to the store as apposed to before when we would "lone ranger" it everywhere.

It really has not. I think about it like this:

If gas has gone up a dollar a gallon from last year and I use about 75 gallons a month then I need about 75 extra dollars a month.

I think we can handle that. If we don't have 75$ margin in our budget then I think we are walking a bit too close to the edge, money wise.

When i think about it like this I don't freak out about it as much as I could if I was just looking at the sign at the gas station by my house that says $3.80 per gallon.

z

It would be neat to see the effects of slow acceleration at lights on mileage overall.

Basically, the overhead from accelerating slowly results in a lot of stop-and-go traffic, and substantially more idling time. From personal experience, this is not the sort of idling where you can turn your car off (e.g., > 10 seconds), because traffic is crawling.

I think - and I'd like to see a study done on it to see if my idea is right or not - that the advice to accelerate slowly actually has a substantial effect on increasing fuel consumption when there is a lot of traffic volume, which is the time when it really matters. Personally, I think that in heavy traffic people should be putting the pedal to the floor. :-)

For example, if I'm bagging it around town in my car I'm getting 25-30 mpg. If I'm crawling around slowly at lights during heavy traffic, I'm getting 15-20 mpg.

I suppose my point is that these things are not necessarily immediately intuitive.

It would be neat to see the effects of slow acceleration at lights on mileage overall.

Basically, the overhead from accelerating slowly results in a lot of stop-and-go traffic, and substantially more idling time. From personal experience, this is not the sort of idling where you can turn your car off (e.g., > 10 seconds), because traffic is crawling.

I think - and I'd like to see a study done on it to see if my idea is right or not - that the advice to accelerate slowly actually has a substantial effect on increasing fuel consumption when there is a lot of traffic volume, which is the time when it really matters. Personally, I think that in heavy traffic people should be putting the pedal to the floor. :-)

For example, if I'm bagging it around town in my car I'm getting 25-30 mpg. If I'm crawling around slowly at lights during heavy traffic, I'm getting 15-20 mpg.

I suppose my point is that these things are not necessarily immediately intuitive.

I have changed my driving habits. I coast a lot more. In fact I have figured out exactly where I can start coasting in my neighborhood to make it all the way into my driveway without using the gas. I also turn off my car when I am sitting are red lights for more than a few seconds.

For me it is not so much a money saving thing, although that is good. I have recently been convicted about how Christians should be stewards of the environment instead of just consuming it. We as Evangelicals have basically given that aspect up to the liberals. I have just been convicted that maybe I am not supposed to live my life consuming more than my share of stuff. So in many places in my life I have begun consuming less and trying to use products and services that will be eco-friendly.

That is interesting. The only thing I've done because of gas prices is just ride the bus a whole lot more and only take the car on Sundays and when it is just too inconvenient to take the bus, like for instance going to the grocery store.

I have cut down my driving a lot. If I have to run errands I save them all for one trip, where as before I may have just run for a quick trip somewhere. (Has saved us money as well as gas money!)(

We tend to turn the car off more if we're waiting for each other in a store.

Two months ago we spent less than $100 in gas all month! Thanks to a $25 gift card from our gas credit card and hardly any driving!

Our biggest change is making sure we always use our small car on Sundays for church and on youth care group nights (a 70 mile round trip). We also tend to think of trips in terms of how much they cost, as opposed to just the number of miles driven.

When I was in high school back in the day, I did a lot of those things.

I haven't modified my driving a great deal ... yet, but 88 cents a gallon seemed even more daunting to me at age 17 than $4 per gallon now.

The problem with turning off your car when coasting is when you crank it back up. Engine crank-up causes a tremendous amount of wear if it's not a hybrid engine (built for off-on usage). The long term effects will be worn piston rings, burning oil, loss of compression, decreased gas mileage and an engine with less life left to it.

M Jones, you're right, if there's any amount of traffic volume, everyone should theoretically drive exactly 60 miles per hour. If it's in the city, everyone would get up to speed quickly and evenly, and you'd have a combined "drafting" effect where everybody except the lead car experience increased gas mileage.

A guy I work with has converted an old Prius into a Solar Power assisted Plug-In Hybrid. I can't imagine the solar panels add much more than a mile or two to the range. The main advantage is for short drives the extra battery allows the Prius to run completely on electricity.

On the other side of the coin, if the purpose is to reduce world fuel consumption overall not just personal gas expenses, then the best approach is to buy a Hummer: http://machinedesign.com/ContentItem/68136/SaveenergybuyaHummer.aspx

Apparently the amount of oil used to make the high-tech components in a Prius exceeds the amount of oil you'll save during it's life.

I started driving way below the speed limit here in Socal right when gas started to increase. I do allow myself some extra time. Part of the reason is because of the cost of gas and also the fact that I got 2 tickets within a 2 months time. I repented and decided to follow Jesus' admonition: "Slow, I am with you always. . . . .

For those who need to feel like they are doing something about it, this is what you do.

Everytime you get a new prescription, have the doctor call it into the Giant Eagle grocery store on Patrick Street in Frederick. For every new prescription, you get $1.00 off per gallon of gas at the GetGo across the street. You can also buy your groceries while you're at Giant Eagle. For every $50 you spend, you get $0.10 off in gas, although everytime I've been there they've been having a continuous special of $.20. To further capitalize on the situation, they offer gift cards for every store and restaurant in the area. Going on a date? Pay for it at Giant Eagle. So...if you need a new riding lawn mower at Home Depot, you can go buy $700 worth of gift cards at Giant Eagle and get $2.80 off per gallon of gas. Combine that with a new prescription and $100 worth of groceries and your gas is free. I'm not even mentioning their florist or videos or cleaners...or the child care service while you shop.

When you go to the GetGo, they scan your Giant Eagle card and the price is reduced before you pump.

Giant Eagle is making out and we should all buy stock in them. An amazingly creative marketing approach meeting the needs of one of our greatest frustrations. They could successfully end up with a cut of almost all of a consumer's purchases. Meanwhile, while we save maybe $15.00 at the pump from our prescription, our insurance company is paying them $700 for our medicine. They also know, we'll probably kill an extra $15.00 while waiting for our prescription to be filled.

I tried it once. My prescription wasn't ready by the time I left town, so I had to transfer it. I bought groceries while I was hanging around and now have $0.20 off per gallon on my Giant Eagle card. But...I haven't been able to make myself have an empty tank while near Patrick Street. I usually have an empty tank about 30 miles away from Patrick Street. I hate to blow a $0.20 discount to only put in a gallon or two. In the end...I'm not sure it's really a savings. But...for those of you who have to feel like you're doing something to beat the prices...

Truth be told, we are drastically changing everything about the way we live due to gas prices. Living 30 miles from our church, we are seeking out other believers in our town. I even purchased a bicycle and considered riding to homeschool classes on the C & O Canal. Then...I wondered about golf carts on the canal...but I don't think they are allowed. The thought of horses crossed my mind. We've explored the trains. The cost of gas will determine how we school our children next year. It determines how often we see our older children. It's huge.

I use some of the hypermilers techniques like trying to use only cruise control to help prevent excess gas pedal usage.
I know that they also have hypermiling teams. One team drove from chicago to New York on one tank of gas in a Prius which only holds about ten gallons.

Hey, Josh. Just saw your dad and brothers at Rebelution Dallas. Great time. Alex and Brett are remarkable! My 12-year-old son really enjoyed the time, and my wife and I really appreciated the twins' wisdom and
"do hard things" message!

I've been psudo-hypermiling - coasting to stops, turning off engine at red lights. Last tank probably improved my mpg by 5 or 6. Not bad. But not willing to turn off engine while driving, etc.

Blessings on you!

Tom
Doctrine Matters

I sacrificed my incredibly hip image to save on gas. I went out and bought myself a scooter and a gigantic helmet that looks like something out of star wars. I'm planning on starting a scooter gang called "Nerd Patrol". Anyone want to join?

Here's my thing...

So we do all this thinking about how to save a couple cents per gallon, and we change how we drive so we save a couple bucks every week, and then we drive through Starbucks every morning and plunk down $4 for 16oz of coffee.

What on earth???

Ummmm....apparently we're not THAT worried about it.

I tend to be more on the tree-hugger side and not wanting to mar the creation if possible. But I say go ahead and drill ANWR in a few places. The American ppl can't stand the thought of tampering with a land neither they nor their children will ever see...and they accept the gas prices rather than do that. Let's be realistic, the fickle American public won't feel that way when gas really is too high.

It will be interesting to see if we can ever add the mass transit infrastructure the rest of the world grew up around. We inevitably will have to join then in the reality of prohibitive prices, but personally I think we're a ways from reaching that.

I'm not one to hypermile but I would dare say that all these efforts to squeeze out every last mile out of a gallon seems like more trouble than it's worth. Besides, isn't driving way below the speed limit dangerous for yourself, other passengers in the car, and for the people you're sharing the road with? If you're talking about hypermiling as a recreational competitive activity than....**sigh** whatever. Also, I'm no car mechanic but isn't regularly performed maintenance and tune ups supposed to be your best bet for getting good gas mileage out of your vehicle?

I haven't done any of these crazy things...yet. I am, however, considering one of those little scooter things. (They're like motorcycle-lites.) My mom has one, and she uses it around town. She pays 4.00+ for her 1 and 1/8 tank. Then, she drives forever! She gets 90 miles per gallon. :) I can deal with windblown hair for that.

Maybe you should all come and live in England where our gas (petrol!) is about $8 a gallon. I'm guessing you'd change your driving habits then!

As a poverty-stricken college student whose lifestyle necessitates frugality until I graduate and can bring in a suitable paycheck, I have looked for ways to cut costs on gas for years. You might consider me an "Amateur HyperMiler"! :) I usually get my gas in Rockville vs. Gaithersburg as it has been, on average, 10 cents cheaper per gallon at all gas stations there. I have tried to drive 55-65mph where legal (I-95) since learning that this is the most fuel efficient speed for my car. Also, while searching for another used car after the tragic death of my Hyundai Accent (24-33mpg) last year, I settled on a Lexus ES 300 (18-26mpg) vs. my dream F-150 (12-16mpg) as the former gets 6-10 more mpg than the later. I must admit, it took my dad's wise intervention to make that choice, haha!