An Experiment: Results

At some suggestions of Terry's, I went ahead and modified my driving habits. Terry went and opened a fresh can of whup%&$ on the media on the subject of gas mileage standards and the reasons why they always say "your mileage may vary." And it was a well constructed deconstruction of what the nimrod in the media revealed as yet another GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY to keep you from your God-Given right to drive a Behemoth and get 70MPG.

I leave it to Terry to deal with the media. He suggested a few weeks back that in order to maintain good gas mileage, there are certain simple steps the average driver can do to increase their fuel economy. Inflate your tires properly, drive somewhere around 50-60MPH, cut out the jackrabbit starts, etc.

So last fillup I decided to give it a shot. The parameters of the experiment:

1) My 1996 Honda Civic EX; (supposedly) 12 gallon tank; 4 Cyl Fuel injected; GVW probably around 2400 Lbs.; nearly 92,000 miles on the clock
2) Nassau county roads; approximately 30-35 miles per day, mostly street driving with a little highway.
3) Stop & go conditions, though not like Manhattan.
4) Speedometer does not, or rarely, goes above 60MPH.
5) No A/C use, given the moderate to cool temps up here over the last few weeks

The results?

286 miles on 9.68 gallons. Translates into 29.54 MPG. My normal average? Probably about 230 miles per tank, and at the same amount added to the tank, about 23.8 MPG.

So, by some very simple modifications in my driving habits, I raised my MPG by nearly six full miles a gallon; obviously I drove nearly 60 miles additional on the same gas. That's two days extra between fillups, which I usually do about once every two weeks. So, in the space of about three fillups, if I have this right, I'll gain an extra week's driving without having to buy more gas.

Is it killing me to sit in the right lane the whole time? You betcha - like many people, I believe in passing people as a way to get places faster. But, at $3.09 a gallon (what I paid yesterday), I'm interested in saving 2 gallons worth of gas per fillup. $12 additional per month, times twelve months, is $144, half again as much as what congress was threatening to give me. So I am now a righteous convert to slowing down. I'd like to hit 300 miles on a single tank of normal street driving - I probably had enough in the tank yesterday to do it, but it was looking too iffy for my comfort. But I might push it on this next tankful.

Nobody in an 8 cyl. SUV is likely to see a 6 MPG improvement no matter how slow they drive. But if you're worried about fuel prices, and you want to save some money, wouldn't it make sense to get even a 2MPG improvement? Leaving aside the safety, I'm recommending everyone watch their speed.