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157 Comments
- NerdyNinja, on 10/11/2007, -1/+39Some refinements to the article, as parts aren't fully true.
1. Mythbusters or a similar show did some experiments on the effect of the A.C. on mileage. There was convincing evidence that at speeds around and below 40 mph, driving with the windows down was more fuel efficient. Above 40 or so mph, AC was better (having the windows open probably screws your aerodynamics)
2. Most cars are the most fuel efficient around 55mph, although that figure may be a few years old now. Regardless, driving faster than that causes an exponential dropoff in efficiency, while the lead up to 55mph is closer to a linear graph, if memory serves me right. May work as an excuse to speed through residential areas.
3. Cruise control is NOT smooth at all in areas of changing inclines. I drive a toyota, and if the incline changes it either hits the brakes a little too hard or has the effect of standing on the gas pedal. Learn how to maintain a constant speed and use THAT instead of cruise control - it's not as though the car turns on the "use less gas" function of the motor when you switch into cruise control - and the car probably can't see the road ahead to judge what it should be doing.
4. I think there was an article on digg last summer saying that at this point in time, you wont make up the extra money you spend on a hybrid car in buying less gas, unless you drive way above the American average. - ColorBlind, on 10/11/2007, -5/+32dont...drive...as much?
- MrManFitz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+21I did my own test over a week of regular commuting to work and back. Driving at 70+ mph yielded about 26 mpg. Driving 59 mph yielded about 32 mpg. You can now find me in the slow lane.
- Janitorbob78, on 10/11/2007, -2/+19Get a bike
- Nougat, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17Cruise control doesn't engage the brakes. It lets off the accelerator. And when the vehicle is going particularly fast, a sudden release of the accelerator feels like the car is braking. But it's not.
Agreed that not all vehicle cruise control is the same, though, and it can be pretty jerky in hilly areas. Out here in the Midwest, though, it can't be beat. And it can save you from tickets, too, since your foot isn't slowly creeping the speedometer higher without your noticing. - aggrazel, on 10/11/2007, -2/+16Take the bus.
- FlagrantDrugUse, on 10/11/2007, -3/+15Running on empty doesn't clog up the fuel filter. Where do you think the fuel is taken from the tank? The friggin bottom. Where do you think these "sediments" would be anyway? The friggin bottom. The fuel filter is going to take the crap out of the gasoline regardless of how much fuel is in the tank. Kay, theeeeaaaanks!
- griz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Ride the slipstream..
http://mythbustersresults.com/
....
Drafting behind a big rig will improve your car’s fuel efficiency.
confirmed
To test this myth, the build team procured a car, a big rig, and a device that could measure a car’s fuel efficiency. They then drove the car behind a moving big rig at various distances ranging from 100 to 2 feet and measured the amount of fuel the car consumed. The Build Team discovered that the closer the car was to the big rig, the less drag is produced, thus the more fuel saved. At just ten feet, the car managed to increase its fuel efficiency by 40%. Drafting at two feet was slightly lower than the ten foot distance, mainly because Grant had to keep working the car pedal to maintain distance from the truck. However, that did not dispute the fact that drafting actually can increase your car’s fuel efficiency. However, the Build Team has warned that drafting is incredibly dangerous because the truck driver may not able to see you and you may not be able to react in time if the truck were to make a sudden stop. - yargthepirate, on 10/11/2007, -5/+13They missed the obvious #1 - siphoning it out of your boss' car.
This is helpful twice because after you get fired, you no longer have money available to spend on gas. - chrisc262, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9alex1015 is right
even $.50 a gallon increase is only going to be $20 a month (1000miles/25mpg*$.50pergallon = $20)
maybe you should talk less on your cell phone
or stop buying a coffee every day for $2 a cup (thats $60/month)
people make such a big deal about gas prices, but they pay for a bottle of water!!! - sTiVo, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8You could steal my wallet then fill up both your cars with my credit card...At least that's what some guy did to me last year.
- DreKor, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7I live in a city where everyone thinks their afternoon commute is sanctioned by NASCAR. To them, tailgating is a way of life. They all justify it by saying they're getting into the "slipstream" and getting better mileage. I call ***** and the author of this article is full of it too. If you've ever ridden a motorcycle you know what I'm talking about. Most cars have too small a pocket to get into at all. The taller ones, and SUVs, have one, but you have to be within a few feet for it to work (it is impossible for most drivers to stay in this pocket at all, and it's really dangerous for the ones that can pull it off). If you're farther back than that, you hit really choppy air that's no fun on a bike and gives you WORSE mileage in a car. If you back up from that, the air smooths out again and you're back to normal.
The moral of this story is: get off my ass when you're driving. You don't know what you're doing and I hate you for it. - allaboutdatiki, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7How about dumping that old gas guzzler for something more fuel efficient? Drive enough each year and you can save thousands. It's not a crock. 20-30K driven each year can go a long way towards making payments.
This calculator make it easy to see: http://www.mpgomatic.com/mileage_calculator.html - kenben, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8I dont know where you get your information, but manual transmissions remain more efficient than automatics. The writer was also correct about being able to force the manual transmission to shift earlier and save gas that way.
- bagelpirate, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7"Brake the right way
1. A car consumes most gas as it accelerates. It's a simply law of physics (force equals mass times acceleration). A moving car doesn't require much gasoline to keep moving (due to the inherent inertia). In real life this means, in order to improve your mileage you need to keep the ride smooth. Let me give you some examples.
About 30% of the drivers I see in somewhat heavy traffic apparently cannot control their speed with the accelerator pad alone. Instead I see those guys speed up and slam on the brakes all the time. Obviously, that makes the guy following too close behind very nervous and he too needs to brake and accelerate constantly. In really heavy (but still moving) traffic about 90% of the cars do this. It is relatively easy to hold a speed in a long line of cars without stepping on the brake. Just keep a little bit more distance and try to practice this. If the traffic moves along, you rarely need to brake, unless everything slows down. If you pay attention to the cars ahead of you (not just the one right in front of your nose, but the other cars ahead of that one), you can anticipate when things will slow down and you can ease off the gas. This means you won't lose all that power to friction (on the brakes) and you can keep your speed without having to accelerate. In heavy traffic this is the most efficient way to save gas and can easily get you 10% - 20% better gas mileage."
What about those of us with manuals. I can't go that slow unless I ride the clutch, which I won't do. - VeganG, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5This doesn't work in L.A., where even keeping a safe distance from the car in front of you guarantees that someone is going to take that as an opportunity to squeeze in in front of you. Just because you CAN fit between me and the car in front of me doesn't me you SHOULD.
Here, in stop-and-go traffic, if you're not completely riding the ass of the person in front of you, all you're doing is pissing off the people behind you, and getting cut off every 5 seconds. Not exactly safe. - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6I drive a Smart Roadster which gets around about 45mpg although it is quoted as doing 55mpg combined.
http://virtualauto.it/files/download/virtualauto-it_smart-roadster_1024x768.jpg
Why are cars like this not available in the US? Everyone is complaining but they are flying around in huge 3L cars which really don't need all that power. My car has a 0.7L turbocharged unleaded petrol engine.
I was just on the Ford site and wtf is the deal with them not selling the Fiesta (http://www.speedace.info/automotive_directory/car_images/Ford_Fiesta_mk6_hatchback_car.jpg) or the Ka (http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/best-in-class-used/city-cars/03-large/ford-ka-f3q-a.jpg) in the USA? - dupeduperson, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I hate to post my own stuff, but I looked at efficiency of cars as a function of speed in order to create my Optimal Commuting Speed Calcultor (http://www.phys.selu.edu/allain/efficiency). From the research I looked at, almost all cars' fuel efficiency drops at a linear rate above 60 mph.
- alex1015, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Guy is truly moronic. For drafting to work in a road car the following distances are insanely close, and not safe.
You could just stop bitching about gas prices as it amount to an extra $200 a year. Instead just skip on an option on a car and there you go. - dupeduperson, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4sorry, messed up the link - try this http://www.phys.selu.edu/allain/efficiency/
- SurrogatePimp, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Buy oil stocks & quit bitching. Works for me.
- Modizzle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4according to this other digg article, the air conditioning tip is a myth: http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/09/pf/gas_myths/index.htm?cnn=yes
- rideroyals, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6#13. Buy ARCO gas
Arco gas is a no no for premium gas users. - derricklorah, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4"Some gas stations offer free coffee with fill up or a free hot dog, and if their gas costs the same as the gas across the street, I go for the coffee with my gas."
Can anyone else confirm this? I live in virginia beach and have never, ever, seen this. Maybe I'm out of the loop? - Sketchcast, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4#1 is actually kind of funny. If you drive in a country where the large majority of vehicles have manual gearboxes, you'll find that traffic flows much more smoothly and people aren't nearly as brake happy. It's way less tiring on your left foot to coast in 2nd gear while in traffic, than racing ahead to fill in the gap; traffic flow is a concept that is totally lost on North Americans.
- daveisfera, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Running your air conditioner has a very minimal effect on MPG:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/maintenance-accessories/get-the-most-mileage-for-your-fuel-dollars-406/index.htm - AnonymousCow, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3He was referring to point 9 that says to turn the car off.
- mianomia, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Wait, turn off my A/C and roll up the windows?!? What's next "Use salty condensation on windows to hydrate."
- chrisc262, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3driving your vehicle until it is almost empty most certainly does not suck up "sediment in the tank"
think about it for a second...
ok where do you think the fuel pump is?
at the BOTTOM of the tank
also, there is a "sock" ( filter ) on the fuel pump, and there is a fuel filter before the gas gets to the engine. - hansonc, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3amen. I was just about to post the same thing. All the Toyota's I've ever driven have had crappy cruise control. I use the cruise control on our Subaru to go up and down mountain passes all the time and it's much much much smoother.
- andre75, on 10/11/2007, -5/+8The methods of Mythbusters are by no means conclusive
AC: Increases the load to the engine. Its simple physics.
Automatic Transmission: Has higher loss then Manual, has been proven
Opened Windows: Increase the Drag
Lights: Minor, but higher consumption makes the Atlernator put a heavier load on the engine. - VnutZ, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3*sigh* As usual, people are spouting off with their driving tips and other people are denying that they're true. Well - they are true. Driving with AC at 65mph is equivalent to driving at 65mph in 3rd gear in terms of fuel use. Fast speeds, Fast acceleration, etc. etc. The truth is in experimentation which was conducted in the article Improve MPG: The Factors Affecting Fuel Efficiency (linked below). A laptop sampled data DIRECTLY from the car's engine computer for different driving techniques. It's pretty irrefutable which habits save gas and which don't when you're dealing with raw engine data as opposed to all the hearsay people think they know.
http://www.omninerd.com/2006/07/16/articles/57 - NerdyNinja, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3If you drive 20-30k miles a year, you're not saving any money, just wasting less money.
- daveisfera, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5Running your air conditioner has a very minimal effect on MPG:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/maintenance-accessories/get-the-most-mileage-for-your-fuel-dollars-406/index.htm - IllBeBack, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4For me, cruise control does a better job than I do at delivering the highest fuel efficiency. I have a Toyota Camry Hybrid, which has a real-time MPG meter, and the cruise control is able to get better MPG than I can. But, this is on pretty level surfaces, and I agree with you about the areas of changing inclines.
- fpcyber, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Now if only Toyota could actually develop a smarter cruise control system, to which it really sucks at, maybe they would get better mileage. No wonder the Saturn Aura Green Line gets way better mileage than Camry hybrid.
- Winters, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5I want to know why "Steal It" is not on the list.
- dopesick, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2#13 in the article is utter *****. I own 2 high performance vehicles, AND a work truck.
In all 3 vehicles Chevron, Shell, Unocal (76), perform MUCH better then Arco/World gasoline could ever hope to. - andre75, on 10/11/2007, -2/+41. Makes sense, but the article doesn't really claim otherwise.
3. Good Point
4. That was covered in 27 in the article - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2not really sure if it damages the car but i always put mine in neutral and glide long before stop signs if theres no cars behind me. i used to average 25-26mpg now its up to 29.
- wattersm, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2If only there WAS bus. I drive 50 miles a day to get to work and back, still better than the 90 I used to drive though.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2No, that's a Ford Focus, a totally different car which is quite a bit larger. Fiesta is a "supermini".
- mjl5007, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Actually, there are many cars these days whose cruise control will in fact apply the brakes (afaik, 2003 Altima's do, for example), for example on large downhill sections where gravity causes the car to accelerate past the set cruise speed -- although this usually only happens when you're cruising at sub-highway speeds, since the rolling friction of the tires at highway speeds is usually enough to prevent any acceleration on all but the steepest declines. And as far as suddenly letting up on the accelerator causing a "brake-like feeling", that's really only true in a car with a standard transmission, since the friction of the pistons in the engine is essentially acting like brakes because the wheels/drive-axle are linked to the engine speed. On the other hand, automatic transmissions allow a lot of "slipping" (to overly-simplify a much more complicated subject) when the accelerator is released, which makes it more like a "coasting" scenario (you still decelerate, but it's much more gradual and due to air resistance and rolling friction, not the brakes).
- wildfire, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4I love how some people on digg think they're a mechanic because they can turn the ignition on.
- KillerKellerjr, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2If you would like to read up on how Cruise control systems work check out the following link:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cruise-control.htm - soil, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2seems like filling up at night would save you $$ because the gas will be cooler and not as expanded. Any physicists wanna confirm?
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2This was covered in #12
Close your windows
12. Believe it or not, but opening your windows will increase the turbulences and eventually cost you fuel. If you can, use only the ventilation system of your car. I cannot really gauge this against using the air conditioner. I believe that opening your windows at low speeds and using the air conditioner at high speeds gives you better fuel economy. - sancho320, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3I drive my trikey.
- crisvtc5, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2If you factor in how much you make per hour ... does this make any sense.
What are you saving 30 cents? - mythandros, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4If you're in the middle of urban rush-hour gridlock and you come to a stop light, how exactly is shutting off your engine dangerous? If you're at the front of the line, you'll see the cross-traffic light turn yellow. If you're at the back of the line, you have plenty of time to turn your car on before traffic starts moving again. Either way, you're not being an obstruction to traffic.
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