One of my friends who has a Prius has been explaining me the virtues of getting 50 miles per gallon (he said he typically averages about 45 mpg). For $30,000, it's nearly worth the price if you can afford it. If not, he tipped me off to some things he has noticed that anyone with a car can do, which should save a few bucks.
The biggest gas rip off, according to the Prius gas mileage meter is accelerating off the line. This apparently has been tested nationally and common sense should tell you that it works. While I can't give you the percentage of gas it saves, it only makes rational sense that if you hear the engine revving up, it means that gas is burning up just as fast. The solution? A slow acceleration off the stop line should increase fuel efficiency. Rather than going from 0-60 in 5 seconds to hit the next light just as fast, just ease into it. Who cares if you get passed by someone on the other side?
The other solution is simply to drive slower. In a state as small as Delaware, sticking to the 55 mph speed limit along most roads will get you there just as fast as going 65. Here's why going that much faster is just dumb or not worth it. There's a light every two miles! The odds of you hitting one somewhere that will slow you down just as much is 100 percent.
Another way to think about it is to look at the drive from Dover to Wilmington (or Dover to the beach), which is about 70 miles. Let's say your car averages 25 mpg and carries 15 gallons in the tank (giving you 375 miles on a tank). Assuming you hit no lights (which is a big and really unrealistic assumption), going 60 mph will take 70 minutes. If you go 55 mph, the same trip will take 76 minutes. If the average savings of 12 percent in gas mileage by driving slower is correct, those six minutes saved translate to a decrease of about three miles per gallon. Put another way, going 60 mph in our hypothetical car, your gas mileage drops to 22 mpg, and you'll get only 330 miles on that tank. Going 55 will get you approximately 420 miles. So the speeder (who gets there, at best, five minutes faster), will get almost 100 less miles on the same tank of gas.
Now for the trick, and why drivers should act rationally and drive slower: Taking four fillups at $3.50/gallon for our 15 gallon tank, that's $52.50 per fillup. At the average of 25 mpg, four fillups is 1500 miles. But the kicker is when you look at it this way: if you speed (even up to a mere 60 mph), your fuel efficiency is giving you only 330 mpg. This means you are filling up 4.55 times. At $52.50, this means you are going to spend $238.63 per 1500 miles. If you slow down and get that increase in fuel efficiency, you are going to fill up only 3.57 times for the same distance traveled, and spend only $187.50. It might only be a savings of $50, but that adds up over time (and who would refuse $50?). If you drive 15000 miles/year, you are saving about $500. That's almost as much as the economic stimulus package if you had filed jointly and qualified. It translates to even more if you used the actual price of a gallon today ($3.60-3.66) or in a few months ($4+).
Things to think about. Obviously the numbers can be manipulated rather easily, but it is just as easy as driving a bit slower and engaging in a slow acceleration off the line. Perhaps this idiotic drivers who seem to be in a big rush to get to work have money to burn, but in this economy, I would venture to say that most, including myself, don't, and all could certainly use an extra $500, even if it's in unrealized savings.
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