Hypermilers: How NOT to drive, from msn news Options

[saleeka]

"Drafting"? You mean tailgating dangerously close?

Shutting your car off while in motion? Are they really serious?


I'm all for increasing fuel milage, but driving habits like these are insanely dangerous to other motorists, let alone yourself...

Click here for the full story.

This post has been edited by saleeka: May 29, 2007 - 6:35 PM

[CAMAricer]

OMG, I can't believe how employing these techniques can increase your MPG so significantly...

I drove conservatively and I was averaging 23MPG on my V8. After reading this article, I decided to take that challenge upon myself and see just how much MPG I can squeeze out of my V8.

Well, it's only been 1/3 of my tank (5 gallons) and I'm already averaging 35MPG! It's INSANE!

With gas prices the way they are, being a hypermiler isn't such a crazy idea anymore. Of course I don't do the dangerous stuff, but rolling to stop signs, accelerating slowly, keeping it under 65mph, and keeping the trunk/car free of crap adds up quickly. And I could care less if someone flips me off on the freeway, I'll enjoy the $$$ that's staying in my pocket



EDIT*

I bet those people who were making fun of hypermilers a year ago are eating their words now...it's $4.69 (regular) a gallon up here in SF. So unless you're getting paid mad money (like me ) , $60-75 for weekly fill-ups hurt no matter how much you try to say it doesn't.

EDIT**

Mythbusters did a show where they tested up much gas you could save by drafting. The results astounded me. At 200 feet (behind a big rig), you save about 5% (not much). At 100, it climbs to 10%. At 50, it goes up again to ~20%. Then at 25, it jumps nearly to 30%! That's not chump change, people! And following a big rig at a distance of 25 feet is not that too far off what people normally do anyways! Seriously, how often to you follow that close being other cars, keeping in mind 25 feet is like 2 car-lengths. And it's not like big rigs SLAM on their brakes or break often. If anything, they are the safest cars to follow b/c they are a) slow, b) have heavy (can't suddenly break), and c) have way better views of what is ahead of them (so they can anticipate dangers better than normal sedans can, which translate to less gas->break->gas>break speeds).

This post has been edited by CAMAricer: Jun 13, 2008 - 3:12 AM

[saleeka]

Mythbusters did a show where they tested up much gas you could save by drafting. The results astounded me. At 200 feet (behind a big rig), you save about 5% (not much). At 100, it climbs to 10%. At 50, it goes up again to ~20%. Then at 25, it jumps nearly to 30% That's not chump change, people! And following a big rig at a distance of 25 feet is not that too far off what people normally do anyways!

Traveling at 55 MPH you move approximately 80 feet per second. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't feel comfortable being 25 feet behind a semi at that speed. I'd love to ring and extra 5-10 MPG average out of my car, but I’m not going to risk my life to do it.

[CAMAricer]

But people normally drive 15-25 feet behind other people's are in the freeway while doing 80-85 MPH (at least here in LA). That, IMHO, is way more dangerous than following a semi. Like I said, a semi cannot go 65 to 0 as fast as a car going 65 to 0, which would make driving behind a semi actually "safer". It's your driving style that ultimate determines how dangerous these "maneuvers" can be.

People risk their lives everyday doing even riskier things that have no real benefits to it, like talking on the cell phone (come on, you know you all do it!), running yellow lights, eating a burger or other food while driving, driving home after a beer or two, driving at 3AM when you are practically falling asleep at the wheel, or driving way over 65MPH (which has been shown to exponentially increase your chances of death or severe injuries). And let's do some simple math:

If you commute 60 miles to work every day and go 60 MPH (average), you'll get there in 60 minutes.
If you commute the same distance by going 90 MPH (+50% speed), you'll get there in 45 minutes but at the cost of life and limb (besides terrible MPG). Yet people do it anyways and just shrug it off.

So it all boils down to your driving style...for me, saving a few minutes here and there isn't too important to me. Driving at a nice leisurely pace, saving my gas, and enjoying the ride in my car is infinitely better than racing to every stop light, slamming my brakes behind every "slow" driver, getting mad, cursing and yelling at rush-hour traffic, and possibly getting a hernia or stroke in the process.

As an interesting observation:

Cruising on the freeway at 65MPH in my Celica gets me a lot of angry stares/looks from other drivers...
Cruising on the same freeway at the same speed in my Lexus hardly ever gets me any looks (some people actually form a line behind me!).

Traveling at 55 MPH you move approximately 80 feet per second. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't feel comfortable being 25 feet behind a semi at that speed. I'd love to ring and extra 5-10 MPG average out of my car, but I’m not going to risk my life to do it.

This post has been edited by CAMAricer: Jun 13, 2008 - 12:09 PM