That, my friends, is my gas mileage. I don’t have a hybrid; I drive a regular old 1997 Nissan Sentra. This is all from just slightly adjusting the way I drive.
Inspired by this article that I read a couple of months ago, I started implementing some gas-saving driving techniques, and have noticed that my gas mileage has improved from about 27 mpg to this impressive 43!
The article above will give you a place to start, but may intimidate – I personally find the idea of drafting behind a large truck on the highway super frightening. The main ideas are easily incorporated into my daily driving habits, however. As much as possible, I pop the car into neutral and let momentum take control. I also keep my speed down on the highway, use my cruise control more often, and I try to coast to a stop instead of accelerating whenever feasible. These all sound like common-sense tactics, but they make all the difference in my wallet, consumption and attitude – it’s impossible to have road rage while hypermiling!
That article was awesome. I read it out loud to my husband. It’s funny that the guy’s motives aren’t so much about saving energy in general, but just gas. Then again, where I live, nobody even cares about gas.
That’s so cool! We are leading parallel lives! Just keeping my rpms around 22,000 has made a difference in the number of times I need to stop for gas. Not sure I want to draft off semis, I draft off my husband when we bicycle and sometimes that gets hairy…
Now I want to see how high I can get my mileage. Thanks for the inspiration!
Great Job, I will be moving closer to work so my gas mileage will go from 32 mpg to 75 mpg since I will be driving very few times and riding my bike to work!! I love it. I love your enviro- conscienceness. I practice it as much as possible too. I am going to adopt more of your ideas.
Hooray for hypermiling! I was late to a meeting yesterday, and had to go over 65 on the highway – it was the strangest sensation after keeping my speed down for such a long time!
Nice work!
Um… running at 22,000 rpm will cause pistons to come flying out of your engine compartment, possibly impaling innocent bystanders through the skull. Now 2,200 rpm, that’s a good place to be
I, too, have been trying my hand at hypermiling. My 2006 Hyundai Sonata V6 is EPA rated at 20/30 on the old rating system, about 18/27 on the new 2008 rating system. 26/35 are my best numbers so far. I spend very little time on the freeway, otherwise I’m sure I could hit 40.
By the way, a recent Myth Busters episode showed an 11% increase in mileage by drafting 100 feet behind a semi with a trailer. The long semi-truck trailers are about 53 feet, so 100 feet is enough to fit a single-trailer semi and a few cars between you. Not dangerous or scary.
Here’s to spending less time at the gas pump!