Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 21 to 40 of 55
  1. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by rsvman View Post
    For the life of me I don't understand what makes a person want to speed up considerably when they are just going to have to slam the brakes in 50 yards or so and sit at a traffic light for 2 minutes, but whatever floats their boat, I guess.
    I wonder how much some of the newer vehicles that turn off when at a dead stop help improve mileage. Even at idle, a car uses fuel. Saving that two minutes of gas has to make a difference. It's very interesting to see how they just stop the engine still under compression to reduce wear on the starter/battery. I'm still not sure it's a great idea, but it should help with mileage. We test drove one by Toyota, but passed on it for other reasons.

    I never realized that Otto cycle was replaced by the Atkinson cycle in a lot of hybrids. It's still amazing that 140 years later, we still have the same two basic types of ICE.

  2. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by rsvman View Post
    "V8 oversize trucks" ...but whatever floats their boat, I guess.
    Sometimes, their "boats" don't float:


  3. #23
    Perhaps he heard that boats are more fuel efficient than cars? For large enough cargo, that's certainly true.

    YmoBeThere, thank you for satisfying my daily need for some schadenfreude.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston area, OK, Newton, right by Heartbreak Hill
    I have, for more than a decade, been doing the take your foot off the gas as you approach a stoplight thing. If it's a stoplight where I am familiar with the timing I will slow to a crawl without ever braking so that I never stop before the light turns green. (When I'm first in line.) When I will have to stop behind other cars, I still do the slow to a crawl thing hoping that I will never have to stop but it's harder to get the timing right when you aren't first in line.

  5. #25
    Here in Pennsylvania our state government is fed up with everyone getting better gas milage. How can they expect to rake in the cash on our $0.587 per gallon gasoline tax (that doesn't include the federal tax) if people get better milage now? According to a recent commission study, the recommendation is to move to an $0.081 per mile usage tax.

    My daily driver gets around a whopping 20mpg. At $0.587/gallon tax rate, I pay almost $.03 per mile in tax via the gas tax. Those thrifty 30mpg cars are paying almost $.02 per mile in gas tax.

    Of course the gas powered vehicles getting less than 7.25mpg or so will probably make out better with the usage tax replacing the gas tax.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    Quote Originally Posted by PensDevil View Post
    Here in Pennsylvania our state government is fed up with everyone getting better gas milage. How can they expect to rake in the cash on our $0.587 per gallon gasoline tax (that doesn't include the federal tax) if people get better milage now? According to a recent commission study, the recommendation is to move to an $0.081 per mile usage tax.

    My daily driver gets around a whopping 20mpg. At $0.587/gallon tax rate, I pay almost $.03 per mile in tax via the gas tax. Those thrifty 30mpg cars are paying almost $.02 per mile in gas tax.

    Of course the gas powered vehicles getting less than 7.25mpg or so will probably make out better with the usage tax replacing the gas tax.
    whoa, that's a serious gas tax. Do they throw in a free wash and wax once a year?

  7. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by PensDevil View Post
    Here in Pennsylvania our state government is fed up with everyone getting better gas milage. How can they expect to rake in the cash on our $0.587 per gallon gasoline tax (that doesn't include the federal tax) if people get better milage now? According to a recent commission study, the recommendation is to move to an $0.081 per mile usage tax.

    My daily driver gets around a whopping 20mpg. At $0.587/gallon tax rate, I pay almost $.03 per mile in tax via the gas tax. Those thrifty 30mpg cars are paying almost $.02 per mile in gas tax.

    Of course the gas powered vehicles getting less than 7.25mpg or so will probably make out better with the usage tax replacing the gas tax.
    Illinois is ahead of the curve and instituted an automatic annual gas tax increase in 2019 so they don't have to think it through anymore. They did propose instituting a $1000 annual registration fee on electric vehicles (it was $100 on "regular" cars), but after pushback decreased that to $250 (while increasing gas vehicle registration to $150).

    "California pumps out the highest state gas tax rate of 66.98 cents per gallon, followed by Illinois (59.56 cpg), Pennsylvania (58.7 cpg), and New Jersey (50.7 cpg). The lowest state gas tax rates can be found in Alaska at 14.98 cents per gallon, followed by Missouri (17.42 cpg) and Mississippi (18.79 cpg)."
    https://taxfoundation.org/state-gas-tax-rates-2021/

    I wonder if other states will start increasing car registration fees in lieu of gas tax revenues (or simply increase gas tax). The other things that crushes me in Illinois is the spread between regular and mid/premium gas. It's like 40-50 cents/gallon each (i.e. regular --> mid price increases 40-50 cents gallon, another 40-50 cents gallon increase between mid and premium. So, yeah could be paying $1 more/gallon for premium in IL. Apparently, the nearest refineries only product 87 so they have to go to farther away refineries for the other stuff...). One of my vehicles says "premium only" (I go mid-grade, which according to mechanics/message boards etc. for said vehicle is okay). In most states, I believe the spread is much less though.

  8. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Bluedog View Post
    Illinois is ahead of the curve and instituted an automatic annual gas tax increase in 2019 so they don't have to think it through anymore. They did propose instituting a $1000 annual registration fee on electric vehicles (it was $100 on "regular" cars), but after pushback decreased that to $250 (while increasing gas vehicle registration to $150).

    "California pumps out the highest state gas tax rate of 66.98 cents per gallon, followed by Illinois (59.56 cpg), Pennsylvania (58.7 cpg), and New Jersey (50.7 cpg). The lowest state gas tax rates can be found in Alaska at 14.98 cents per gallon, followed by Missouri (17.42 cpg) and Mississippi (18.79 cpg)."
    https://taxfoundation.org/state-gas-tax-rates-2021/

    I wonder if other states will start increasing car registration fees in lieu of gas tax revenues (or simply increase gas tax). The other things that crushes me in Illinois is the spread between regular and mid/premium gas. It's like 40-50 cents/gallon each (i.e. regular --> mid price increases 40-50 cents gallon, another 40-50 cents gallon increase between mid and premium. So, yeah could be paying $1 more/gallon for premium in IL. Apparently, the nearest refineries only product 87 so they have to go to farther away refineries for the other stuff...). One of my vehicles says "premium only" (I go mid-grade, which according to mechanics/message boards etc. for said vehicle is okay). In most states, I believe the spread is much less though.
    No worries. Pennsylvania is trying hard to catch up. Also on the table is an extra 2% sales tax on vehicle sales, and extra 2% to lease fees, making many more roads toll roads, increasing all annual vehicle registration fees 100%, and creating a $275 electric vehicle fee.

    They also are looking at adding a $1.10 per trip fee for taxis/Uber/Lyft etc, and $1 delivery fee for all package deliveries.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    That is a ridiculously high fee for trips. More than 10% for most of the trips I take. I would be [mad].

  10. #30
    I've always driven with an eye on getting good gas mileage. I've also always had manual transmissions, though I don't think that makes a difference anymore. I do get complaints from passengers about coasting too close to the car in front before braking but I swear I'm paying attention! One of our current cars is a hybrid which has introduced a new game: trying to keep the car running as an EV as much as possible. It's good fun. I try to ride my bike on short trips (where the engine won't even reach running temperature) but when it's raining I take the hybrid and lock it in EV mode. It rejects this, however, once I reach a certain speed (30 mph?) which is odd as I can coast at much faster speeds and have EV mode kick in automatically. We keep cars a long time so I'm hoping it'll be electric from here on out...

  11. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by rsvman View Post
    You might think that 4 mpg is not that much of a difference and that it is probably not worth it, but the way I see it, essentially what I am doing is taking a 13.3% discount on gas.
    I took a different approach and picked up almost 4 mpg by trading my CTS-V in for my ZL1.

  12. #32
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    Time for the next update.

    I am not doing the "full-on" hypermiling that I was doing initially as "proof of concept," but I have incorporated several habits of modest hypermiling into my driving routine now, so that I almost don't have to think about it anymore. This has continued to score me dividends at the gas pump, as my mileage is routinely several mpg better than it was in the past.

    As further proof, as I mentioned before, my car keeps a record of lifetime mpg for the vehicle, which I bought second-hand. At the very beginning of all this, when I took to hypermiling because gas became briefly unavailable, the lifetime mpg for the car was 30.0. I think I chronicled how this has been going up gradually. Well, it recently moved up to 30.6! My goal is to get it at least to 31.0.

    Progress in lifetime mpg has been steady. I posted in the first week of August that it had gone up to 30.4. So I have taken it up about 0.1 mpg each month, which is actually pretty good. Gas prices are drifting up again (going up fast in some places) and I suspect they will stay high for quite some time, so I am happy to continue pushing up my mileage. I am probably averaging about 32-32.5 mpg right now.
    "We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust

  13. #33
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Greenville, SC
    I too have incorporated some hypermiling habits into my driving. Here's my latest mileage. Admittedly it's a short run, but the Prius is looking good.

    The secret - live near a gas station that is significantly higher than your home. The glide home is virtually free.*

    hypermiling-sm.jpg

    *There may be a bit of extra cost involved in moving to a new house, but I wouldn't count that against the mileage savings.

  14. #34
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Dur'm
    Quote Originally Posted by camion View Post
    I too have incorporated some hypermiling habits into my driving. Here's my latest mileage. Admittedly it's a short run, but the Prius is looking good.

    The secret - live near a gas station that is significantly higher than your home. The glide home is virtually free.*

    hypermiling-sm.jpg

    *There may be a bit of extra cost involved in moving to a new house, but I wouldn't count that against the mileage savings.
    That's a good deceleration score. That's the one I routinely have the most problems with, because I'm not always very good at identifying when lights will change before I get there. The car docks you a lot when you miss.

  15. #35
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    Quote Originally Posted by Phredd3 View Post
    That's a good deceleration score. That's the one I routinely have the most problems with, because I'm not always very good at identifying when lights will change before I get there. The car docks you a lot when you miss.
    Practice makes perfect when it comes to knowing when to slow down to stop wasting gas versus when to speed up so you can make it through the light before it turns red. You get better and better at it the more you think about it and try to maximize your mileage.
    "We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust

  16. #36

    ~950 miles 45 mpg

    2012 Honda Fit, doing a 3-day lollipop tour from SE TN to Charlotte via Knoxville, then to Durham via Greensboro, then to Knoxville via Greensboro and back to Chattanooga. Not pure highway but maybe 95% was.

    Also hit* a deer 125 miles in.

    What was my secret?

    Well, wind was almost non-existent, and traffic was busy enough that it was easier to maintain a steady 65 mph in the right hand lane, rather than go the speed limit of 70 and frequently have to slow down and then pass someone.

    * The deer was already dead in the road, not visible to me because of traffic - in fact, I had just been cut off by a higher-clearance-than-my-car pickup truck that straddled and cleared it fine. The Honda is low to the ground, and I rumbled roughly over it - at highway speeds. [No time to swerve - having just been cut off, I was closer than ideal to his rear bumper.] Any damage is underneath. At my next destination in Charlotte, my friends' dog came out to greet me, and she was VERY interested in the smell of my car. Thanks, Maggie, for backing up my story.

    No fluids leaking other than water from A/C. So I think the car is OK.

    I rarely get over 44 mpg. Pure highway is usually 40-44, a bit less if significant headwinds.

  17. #37
    I guess that explains why the dog alerted to your car. By the way has anyone seen your wife lately?

  18. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by Jeffrey View Post
    I took a different approach and picked up almost 4 mpg by trading my CTS-V in for my ZL1.
    What...you went from 10 MPG to 14 MPG?? (Just kidding you!)

  19. #39
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    On 10/13 I posted that my car's lifetime mileage went up to 30.6. Well, it went to 30.7 sometime last week. So, I guess it took about 5-6 weeks for the next one-tenth of a mpg to show up. Still pretty good, and making progress.

    I did note that at one fill-up I only got about 31.4 mpg. Re-inflated the tires, and got almost 34 mpg the next tank. It's really important to keep the tires inflated properly, especially as the weather changes. I am trying to get tire-pressure checks to at least once a month (I think every two weeks would likely be the way to maximize efficiency).

    Oh, and hypermiling all the time has made it essentially second nature now, although I am not going full-on; no true coasting, not turning the engine off at stoplights, not accelerating so slowly that it irks everyone around me. As I see the gas prices continue to rise, I am really glad that I can now almost effortlessly get much better mileage than I used to.
    "We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust

  20. #40
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    Resurrecting this thread from the dead for the next update.

    I gave up on the extreme hypermiling that drove everybody insane, but have continued to drive more conservatively and to try not to 'turn money into heat' as much as possible within the realm of courteous driving. It has become habitual now.
    Anyway, I last reported that in the first week of December of last year, my car's lifetime mileage had gone up to 30.7. Progress slowed, and apparently halted, as it was stuck on 30.7 for a very long time.

    Yesterday, at long last, it turned to 30.8! I had given up on it ever changing, but it finally did.

    Still want to get to lifetime 31, especially since the price of gas is apparently going to be high for the foreseeable future. I will likely update the thread again in about a year, if I can find it by then.

Similar Threads

  1. Jon Scheyer update
    By jimsumner in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 01-30-2018, 08:52 AM
  2. CTC update
    By jimsumner in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 10-01-2013, 08:34 PM
  3. EJ Singler Update
    By Neals384 in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 01-01-2010, 12:55 PM
  4. Band Update
    By grossbus in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 12-29-2009, 05:57 PM
  5. BSG Update
    By DevilAlumna in forum Off Topic
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 02-16-2008, 10:43 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •