I purposely drove slower this week to see how much it would affect gas mileage

[psteng19]

Originally posted by: iversonyin
Wow, thats a good deal for 1996 sentra. I should look into getting one. How can you drive in NJ without AC on in the summer?!

Indoor parking keeps the car cool while parked.
Then it starts to bake once under the sun.
It's rough, but I manage.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: psteng19


At 15k miles a year and $2.50/gal, an extra 2-3 mpg probably saves me $75 a year

I also have peace of mind in not having to worry about cops and speeding tickets.

$75

hmm

i think the reduced speeding ticket thing is worth it, but not the $75/year

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: psteng19
My daily commute consists of 95% highway and with my current hours, I don't much traffic.

Usual rate of speed @ 75-80 mph gets me about 38 mpg during the winter (summertime is considerably better).

My average speed this past tankful was about 55-60 mpg. I got close to 41 mpg.
So a difference of approximately +2 mpg.

It was painful at first, but I got used to doing the speed limit, not on the far left lane of course.
But cars were still riding my ass, highbeaming me, giving me the finger as they passed, lol.

optimal gas mileage for US transmission is 55mph

Yep.

I get ~16MPG at 55-60mph and ~13MPG at 70-75mph. Don't even want to know what it is at 80+.

 

[RU482]

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Try driving 25 in 5th gear the entire way. Or ride a bike.

It's all about time savings. If 2 mpg is worth your time, then go for it.

Say you're driving 60 miles. That's 45 minutes @ 80 or 1 hour @ 60.

15 minutes each way, 5 days a week, is 2.5 hours per week, saving approximately $2.76 in gas per week (assuming $2.39 per gallon).

Is $2.76 worth 2.5 hours to you? That's like a dollar an hour!

I think when people advocate this driving slower, they are talking more about the collective savings of all the people commuting. Imagine that $2.76 per week savings multiplied by say. . .100,000,000 people. That's 276 Million dollars less worth of foreign oil we have to be dependent on as a nation each week. . .Like a $1 Billion per month. It adds up. You have to think about the big picture and about what's best for America in general. Not just about yourself.

[Edit] And please don't take these figures as literal. ... I'm just illustrating a point. I'm sure they aren't 100% accurate, I just pulled what seemed like reasonable numbers out of the air. I'm sure that the actual savings per week would vary from person to person.

yeah, and think of all the lost tax revenue and what they will jack up to make up for it