Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Drive like an old man ...

and save gas. I am doing an experiment where I deliberately slow down my rate of acceleration from stops and on highway on-ramp entrance. This was spurred by linda's obsevation that the subaru gets worse mpg when I drive, and I read an article about tips on how to save gas. I knew most of the tips (proper tire pressure, well maintain car), but the article states that accelerating quickly from stops uses more gas. I really enjoying quick acceleration from a stop light and when entering the highway. With the window down on the Saab, you can hear the turbo spool and it is addictive (whooooosh !).

So, one week into the experiment and I am averaging a 2.5 mpg improvement (from 25.4 mpg to about 28 mpg) with my old man driving. This works out to be about 50 gallons savings a year (about 1 month's worth of gas for me). Net, sounds like a good plan to help reduce my consumption of oil.

There are some downsides: first, in the week of this experiment, I have this crazy need to eat dinner at 4:30, second, the hit to the ego is bad since I am getting passed by minivans, Corollas and everything in between. Since I am trying to be more enviromentally responsibile, i will keep it going.

2 comments:

Vinh said...

My intern revs his car out of first gear too. I keep telling him he's stupid for doing that cuz he's wasting gas. Now I have proof.

Thinh said...

Say what??? you have an intern? You are like Kramer !