Fast Running Blog

This is just my own experience: I drive a 2001 Chevy Prizm that I bought in 2004. I have put over 100,000 miles on it so right now it's at 138,000 (bought it used with about 30k on it). It's an automatic transmission which kind of kills my gas mileage, but there are some tricks I have learned that have equated to better gas mileage. Since I am driving to and from college 40 miles each way about 3-4 times a week, plus driving to work and back and sometimes to Emma's house, I want to be as gas efficient as possible. I have found that I get better gas mileage if I don't let my car sit there idling. Anything over a minute of idling is just wasting gas. Rather, what experts suggest is to start your car and simply ease into it. Your car will warm up within the first few minutes. In addition I try to keep rpms around 2.5 and no higher (this unfortunately means I usually cause a line of angry motorists behind me). I drive 45-50 mph top speed on the 55mph zones, and no faster than 55-60 mph on the highway. Just doing this I have found that my gas mileage increased from 27 mpg to a sweet 33.39 mpg (as per my last fillup on 10/8/08). My goal is to get the mpg up to 35 mpg by the next time I fill up. (FYI this is really neat because the car brand new was listed at 27 mpg highway. I am definitely showing them! And this is without any performance enhancers or dry gas or any gizmos). Just doing this saves me as much as 5-6 bucks easily a week in gas :) That's nearly a half tank of gas a month!

Truck: 14-16 mpg
'77 Firebird: about the same...maybe less depending on the speed limit, whether it wants to start or not, etc. It's pretty sensitive with the gas pedal. Touch it a little bit and the engine gets going pretty quick.

We try not to drive much if we can avoid it, or we try to make sure we can do multiple things with our trips. Often I'll run or bike places instead. Sometimes it takes just about the same amount of time to run/bike as it does to drive, and it can be less stressful cuase I don't have to deal with sitting in traffic.

2005 Hyundai Elantra GT - average anywhere between 34-37 mpg for a tank, depending on how much highway miles I put on it, and how my my wife drives (she doesn't like manual transmissions).  I have a trip computer on it, so I get instant gas mileage averages.  Typically, when I first fill up and reset the trip computer, I get the mpg up to almost 45 on my first trip to work, which is about 98% freeway.  The only thing I do different is I use full synthetic oil.  BTW, this was rated 32 mpg highway by the EPA.  I drive no faster than 65 on the freeways here, and whenever possible, I will coast down the hills with the transmission disengaged (either engage the clutch all the way or put it in neutral).  Prior to this car, I had a 1994 Geo Prizm that got right around 30 mpg.  We put about 150,000 miles on that, IIRC.

Draft behind semis. This did a miracle for us when we had to drive our CNG van from St. George in between stations with low pressure and thus being able to fill up only half way.

James, be careful with cluth approach as that is a good way to damaging it.  I had a friend who did that down a hill that was about 5 miles long and a short time later on the trip his clutch failed.

Under normal circumstances, this is not a very good approach and one semi drivers hate (because they literally cannot see you at all).  I remember watching an episode of Mythbusters where they did actually show the increase in efficiencey when drafting behind a semi at specific distances, but I remember an incident several years ago where my little brother was drafting behind a semi and it started hitting its brakes and swerving back and forth to lose him.  It is the equivalent of our tailgating another car to the extreme.  I understand your situation was unique, Sasha, but I would not advocate others taking up this as a pastime.

Jeff, thanks for the warning - I haven't had any issues, but will make sure to take it out of gear if I want to coast instead of just engaging the clutch.  I only have 50K miles on it right now and on my previous car, the clutch didn't have to be replaced until 90K miles - I am hoping for the same sort of longevity.

Drafting behind a big truck must work because the MythBusters confirmed it.

http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2007/06/episode_80_big_rig_myths.html

Yes, but, sadly cutting a hole in the floor with a machine gun doesn't work. They did not confirm that.

http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2006/09/special_megamovie_myths.html

 8)My '97 Geo Prizm LSI gets 30 mpg in the city and 35-39 on the highway. My '02 Highlander gets 20-22 mpg in the city and 25 on the highway. My convertible '05 mini cooper S gets 25 in the city and about 28 on the highway. I'm sure the mileage would increase if I slowed down, but the mini is too fun to drive slow. I usually go about 85 on the highway. 8)

UPDATE! On my last tank of gas using nearly 11 gallons of a 13.2 gallon tank, I averaged 35.45 MILES PER GALLON! This is a huge breakthrough. I'm going to try to get even better mileage now!

Also helps to only drive downhill.

OH YEAH!!! Last tank of gas: 36.5 MPG!

I averaged 48.3 mpg in my Toyota last summer. I kept trying for 50, but the closest I got was 49.6.

And I don't have a hybrid. If anybody can guess how, I'll give you a hug.

Is it a Tercel?

Why, yes it is.

You're on to me.

I read an article about a competition where the competitors all drive for the best mileage.  It is an actual competition with standards, rules and a specific car for each driver - but it is just a normal Toyota, or whatever, that we could all go buy.  The winner got well over 100 miles/gallon.  They would never idle (car off at every stop); coast to all stops; accelerate like a turtle; park on hills to roll down before starting; and so on.  Maybe a bit extreme for normal driving, but the guy who won drives like this everyday.

I think they call it hypermiling.

There is some merit to some of it, although I wouldn't want be the person driving 50 mph on the freeway when I'm supposed to be going 65.  However, if you gave one of those "hypermilers" a Prius, I bet they would get somewhere in the vicinity of 150-200 mpg.  On a side note, I have noticed I get better gas mileage when I use full synthetic oil.  There is also some debate about shutting off the vehicle at every stoplight - basically the starter on a regular vehicle is not meant to cycle all the time, and you may damage it by cranking your car more than is necessary.  Hybrids like the Prius are a different story, since their starters are made to cycle continuously.

So I drive an automatic, which gets significantly less mpg than standard models do. My prizm is listed at 27 mpg. This summer I got it up to 36 mpg, however I've found with the bitter cold, even while hypermiling as best I can. I.e. only going 55 on highway, coasting downhills, and driving like a 90 year old grandma.. I am still around 31 mpg. I like my car though and I don't want to get rid of it. It might be awesome being able to get 50 mpg like Tyler, but my little prizm rocks the house. I've put 144,000 on it since I got it (it's a 2001) and I am hoping I beat 212,000 our family's (record) that my dad had on his 1992 Ford Taurus when he used to drive 90 miles to and from work.

Last year I stumbled on a site about hypermiling and tried it out over the summer with my Tercel. It was pretty cool to get such good numbers out of the car. There are some safety issues with it, since turning off the engine also turns off the power steering and brakes. And you shouldn't coast with the engine off in most automatics, so it can only be done with manual transmissions. I bought the car for cheap, so I wasn't worried about premature wear to the starter. So far I haven't seen any signs of wear.

But now, sadly, my Tercel has taken a turn for the worse. Its exhaust pipe is dragging on the ground and it's got a bad temperature gauge somewhere, so my efficiency has dropped. It's not as much fun to hypermile and only pull 30 mpg's. Plus with gas prices lower, there's less incentive. I haven't had time to fix the exhaust, so now shutting off the engine is only good for avoiding tickets :)

 

Now that the weather is warmer I am averaging between 34 and 35 mpg. Car is now at 148,100 miles and still going strong :-D. I love this Chevy Prizm.

Anyone good at math? Is it worth it to just drive my Chevy Prizm or try to get a loan for when the Chevy Volt comes out in 2010 and get that. I mean I still get okay mileage even though this is an automatic. Thanks in advance.

Benn

The Volt is expected to cost $35,000 or even $40,000.  Not cheap. 

One thing to keep in mind- if your car is running fine, then it is by far the most environmentally friendly to keep using it.  Buying a new car to help the environment is actually counterproductive.  See the attached gov't study.
http://msl1.mit.edu/ind_eco/sslinks/links.php?go=16

Manufacturing a new car takes roughly 200,000 MBtu's of energy, 39,000 gallons of water, plus lots and lots of new materials, pollution, etc.  Your current car is already made so the environmental effect is behind us.  There are lots of reasons to buy a new car, but scrapping your functional car to buy a new one to help the environment is, by and large, not one of them.  My two cents.   :P

Benn:

A loan is always a bad idea when you have a no loan option. Unfortunately most people do not agree. If not in words, then definitely in actions and attitude. Which is why we are having problems with the economy. Most people do not know how to operate without borrowing. Do not be one of them.

I get 31 hwy on a good day in my '94 Olds Cutlass Supreme with a 3.1 L V6.  140,000 miles on it too.  28 hwy on a bad day.  About 20-25 city depending on if I'm in Logan with lots of hills or Hurricane with not so many.    I change my oil every 3k miles along with the air filter and I try to change the spark plugs and wires regularly as well.  I also make sure I have sufficient coolant to make sure she runs cool.  I drive about 80 or a little over on the freeway if I'm south of Provo or north of Ogden, but I don't punch it all the time (it's kind of a grandma car so I don't have much to prove) and I try to drive smoothly.  I also check tire pressure regularly.   The biggest secret is just to take care of your car and not drive like a banshee.  I have a '72 Chevy 3/4 ton 2WD truck at home with a 402 Big Block (that's about 6.6 L) carbureted V8 with 113,000 miles on it and I can squeeze 13 mpg out of it.  Granted it's a standard transmission but compare that to some of the big SUV's and trucks now with fuel injection and they get about the same or worse in a lot of cases.  I just take care of it and don't burn it up all the time.

i drive a 2000 jeep cherokee sport. V6/4x4/129,000 miles. i just put 902.8 miles on it this weekend and i am quite disappointed with the results. 14 mpg! horrible. i really thought it was better than that---at least 17-18. does that seem right or does my car have issues? 

14 mpg is a just a little lower than what it is rated at (17 city and 22 highway...I think that is for a standard transmission though which would be a bit better.)  This could be just your driving style though.  I usually get less mpg that what my car is rated for because I have a pretty heavy foot.  With that many miles there could also be some maintanence on the car that hasn't been done, the big one being a tune up.  Having old spark plugs can really affect your mileage.  There are also other things that can be done to improve mileage, I would suggest getting getting a list of the recommended service intervals for your vehicle and start going down the list to see what has actually been done. 

Like I said before though, this could just be because of your driving style, and I assume that you had the AC on so that would lower the milage to.  You probably have nothing to worry about.

I get about 30 mpg in town and almost 40mpg on the highway in my 1974 Mercedes 240D (diesel).  I love it, but I think everyone driving behind me hates it, at least until I start running it on bio diesel, then they'll get to enjoy the smell of McDonalds french fries... or not.

My 2001 Prizm is now at 157,350 miles on it and still running strong, although it's now making a little louder sound, especially while idling in PARK before going to Drive or Reverse. Any ideas why? I try to avoid going over 60 mph, and am still logging 31-33 mpg average right now, despite the hills and using the heat.