Ric Woodruff
BANNED, Ric went to Coventry.
- Joined
- Feb 19, 1999
How you drive:
How you drive is biggest factor affecting fuel consumption. Driving harshly, that is, accelerating and stopping hard, is the easiest thing to change. Not only does it adversely effect your mileage, but it puts you in a very high risk group. Moving you from point A to point B is about physics, it takes energy (gas) to accelerate and stop you (because you must reaccelerate to proceed again). Ever notice big rigs in the city, they pace the lights. Why do you think that is? We make a big thing about 'hitting all the lights', imagine pacing the lights so that you almost always hit them. That will have a dramatic effect on fuel economy. Lets face it, saving 25 cents on a tank of gas won't pad your retirement fund, but getting an extra 50 - 100 miles out of a tank of gas will.
Where you drive:
Its no secret that your vehicle gets better mileage on the highway than in the city. This is directly related to starting and stopping. If you can, plan your route to take advantage of the highway.
When you drive:
If starting and stopping are fuel mileage killers and you can't take advantage of choosing your route then consider when you drive. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that driving in rush hour is the absolute worst time. Consider this, when your sitting at a red light, your getting 0 mpg. Seasons and weather also have an effect on consumption. Driving in rain or snow is a mileage killer. Especially snow, if you can avoid it, do it.
Engine Tune:
Common sense here. An out of tune engine can play havoc with consumption. A sticky choke, an intermittent misfire are all relatively inexpensive to correct with a very good return on investment.
Wheel Alignment
Are your roads bad, if their like they are just about everywhere else you most likely need a wheel alignment. Imagine having one of your wheels locked and skidding for 50 feet for each mile you drive. What would that do to your fuel consumption? Right.
Brakes
A dragging brake or maladjusted parking brake is not just dangerous but costly as well.
Tire Pressure & Type
Snow tires or under inflated tires are both easy and cheap to correct. Studies have been done that show almost 70% of the vehicles on the road have under inflated tires.
Options
Ask anybody with air conditioning in their vehicle what it does to fuel mileage. The same goes for optional equipment that places a heavy load on the electrical system. It takes extra energy to drive your alternator to generate that electricity, more than you think.
Vehicle Accessories
Roof or luggage racks, bug deflectors, running boards all have negative affect on mileage, Sport utility vehicles are popular now, does yours have a little air deflector to keep the rear window clean? Same thing for pick-up trucks, if you have nothing in your bed and are going on a long road trip, open your tailgate. Thats worth almost 2mpg all by itself! A better solution is a tonneau cover and leave the tailgate up!
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Ric Woodruff
Braumeister von Sehr Gutem Bier
Since the Last Millennium
1998 Jetta TDI Sport