August 31, 2005

Tips for getting better gas mileage.

Prompted by the blue.

posted by minda25 19 years ago
  • ok, now i'm ready for $4 a gallon... oh, wait, I don't drive...HA HA...suckers!
  • *looks at motorbike, smiles*
  • Looks at never taking that driving test. We're not supposed to be thinking about our pockets, are we? We're supposed to be thinking about the environment, and our complicity in its destruction.
  • *thinks about 550km weekly commute, winces*
  • We're not supposed to be thinking about our pockets, are we? Like it or not, money's the only thing that's going to make most people care, particularly over on this side of the pond. Most cities in the US are too spread out to make cycling or walking to get to work or handle most of your chores feasible for most people, and very few have decent public transportation. Until it starts making more economic sense to push for change, most people won't.
  • *thinks about 550km weekly commute, winces* *looks at little 50 hp diesel vw and smiles smugly* Got you "beat" by about 100 miles (160 km) on my commute. I'm burning 5% biodiesel, though, so I wonder if that insulates me a little bit from price fluctuations. This may convince me to finally put down the cash for the 500 gallon 'tote' of 100% -- at about $2.65/gal it's not cheap, but it'll last me a while, and makes my exhaust smell like french fries!
  • 2.65/gal is cheap today, at least where I am in the States. (I paid 2.99 tonight.) This summer I was exceedingly lucky to have a commuter rail, but there's ZERO public transportation to the University where I work the rest of the year. It's a 38 mile commute on the freeways, 50+ on secondary roads - not effing bikable even in the fall, never mind winter. As of right now there still aren't any vanpools that go there, but I'm working on it. I've been working on it for a year. Maybe I can make some progress. It's not really about the money for me - since I got the chance to use the rail for my main commute, I was happier. Driving is stressful and tiring and yes, awful for the environment. I wish I didn't have to, but my only other choice is to live on campus with the undergrads (ewww) away from my partner.
  • We're not supposed to be thinking about our pockets, are we? Most people aren't rich.
  • With computer-controlled, fuel-injected engines, you don't need more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days before driving away. Depends. It gets colder than -40 around here; 30 seconds doesn't do jack.
  • I suspect you'll start caring about your pocket when the cost of food starts skyrocketing, what with it being delivered by road from farms far, far away, Skrik.
  • 3.41 a gallon here in Chicago.
  • 3.19 in Cooperstown, NY at 5pm. Was 2.79 this morning.... I do 44 miles a day - about a gallon and a half in my Echo. That's if I don't go down to Philly to visit my folks... This is why I want to live in a city...with actual public transit...(there is a bus I could take, but I'd have to walk quite a ways to the bus station...)
  • thursday, can I borrow your Echo? Even better, how about a straight trade: your Echo for my husband's work truck. No? Didn't think so. *sigh* Mr. Minda drives 20 miles more than you do per day, and has to fill up the tank every other day. Yesterday, it took $35 to get 3/4 of a tank. Thank God for bicycles! Skrik, I hear you. I feel kinda guilty that I didn't think about posting this before, but for some reason gas conservation is more abstract when gas isn't costing so much. I know we all still thought about it, though. For example, Mr. Minda & I bought bikes this year, I gave up my car all together, and we very rarely use the air conditioning, even on hot hot hot days. All this before gas became unreasonably expensive.
  • I put a dollar of gas in my moped a day, at $2.99 a gallon price. I only use so much gas because I frequently use freeway speeds unnecessarily, and I often drive around for the heck of it. I could cut it down to less than 50 cents a day if I wanted to.
  • well, my echo is blue. is mr. minda's truck blue? :) that sucks though. you'd think work would reimburse him for gas, or is he self-employed? also, long commutes SUCK when you can't read or knit or do anything but listen to NPR news, which is inherently depressing much of the time... I broke down and bought a wee air conditioner because I was worried about my guinea pigs in the heat, and my electric bill actually went down because that's when i started turning the computer off at night...then i broke the knob off the air conditioner so i can't turn it down, but that's another story...
  • Tip for better gas mileage: Put a brick in your fuel tank.
  • How does the brick thing work?
  • The brick works the same way it saves you water if you put it in the bath.
  • But does it make you use less gas, or just not be able to put in as much? How does it affect gas burning?
  • It was a joke.
  • Oh. Sorry. (I was wondering how you got a brick through the small round hole, but I don't drive so I thought it was just something I didn't know.)
  • Even better than a brick, stuff your keys into the gas tank. MonkeyFilter: Makes my exhaust smell like french fries!
  • Premium Gas: Fewer than 10 per cent of cars actually require premium gas. Premium gas does not boost fuel economy or power. I always thought this too, until my wife performed a pseudo-scientific demonstration of how far a tank of 98 octane would take us versus the regular stuff - there was no contest. So I guess YMMV, literally. Until it starts making more economic sense to push for change, most people won't. Which is why they should tax the bejezzus out of petrol (or "gas" as the Yanks would have it). Once the public outrage dies down, it'd encourage people to seek out/demand alternatives and use less. In addition, the revenue could be used for clean energy technologies and improved public transport etc. An extra 100-200% or so on the price at the pump outta do it. Of course, when I espouse this view to people complaining about the current "high prices" I usually get a pretty chilly reception to say the least.
  • ...it took $35 to get 3/4 of a tank... What kind of truck has such a small tank? My truck holds 100 litres, which at today's prices is $105 CDN to fill the tank, which I do about once a week.
  • Which is why they should tax the bejezzus out of petrol You'l have the same effect your looking for if you price cap it at half the current price (because it'll quite being sold). This changes the behavior of the people you want to change, with attacking all consumers.
  • Top tip: buy a smaller car, morans. We've been getting the pity party interviews here in New Zealand, mostly with people who drive their kids to school (I walked when I was a kid, why the fuck can't yours?) in land yachts (you know, kids can fit quite comofrtably in a Corolla; you don't actually need a V8).
  • (I should add, now that I re-read that, that I'm not referring to my fellow monkeys as morans 8).
  • Turn off your car if idling for more than 10 seconds? Holy hell. I'm not that worried about it. I live about 1 mile from work, have a small car with reasonable gas mileage, love my bike (but too afraid of theft or damage to leave it parked on campus unattended) and seldom take long trips. I still am unhappy about gas prices; well, unhappy that they are artificially low in the US as compared to other countries, and I think we should tak gas higher as well - but I do understand the reason we don't (keeps food prices down, for one). Ah well. When you start turning cropland into subdivisions, you end up paying more to transport veggies...
  • (tak = tax. Stupid keyboard.)
  • Somehow I can't see turning off the car at every stoplight. I swear there are 5 minute lights here in places.
  • MonkeyFilter: Makes my exhaust smell like french fries! Awww... I've been taglined. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now. Coincidentally, yesterday I noticed a dude following me for about 2/3 of my commute, right to my parking lot, so I asked him if he wanted to carpool. He said he'd "get back to me." Ah well, couldn't keep up w/ me in the turns anyhow.
  • Rocket, it's a 2000 Chevy S10 ZR2 (all those letters & numbers are very important, or so Mr. Minda says). thursday, it's black. Well, kinda black & grey as it's all scratched all over. It's quite macho looking, though. As far as additional taxes go, I believe it would be a good idea. I've seen more people biking everywhere in the last month than I ever have, and lines for busses are getting longer. There's a lot of unnecessary driving going on, and the higher gas prices go the less that happens.
  • I can't afford my gasoline (Flash).
  • Awww... I've been taglined. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now. As well you should, Stomper, as well you should. MonkeyFilter: I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now.