quote:Originally posted by steven: [QB] I would also like to point out that it's probably actually a little dangerous to do the 60 mph thing when everybody else is doing 75 or 80.
I have been hit twice by people from behind who werent paying attention. MPG also depends on the motor and transmition. I have a V6 sedan that will shift into 5th at just under 80mph and do under 2k RPM. The result is 15 miles more on the same ammount of gas. '01 Chev, 16City 24-38Hwy
Posts: 11 | Registered: Apr 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
Well, when I first got the car it had a MPG of 27.
By driving slowly, starting and stopping more intelligently, and conserving my gas, I got a gas mileage of... 28 mpg.
Which, as it's been a while since I last checked, suggests my actual mpg is much lower now. I'm going to give it it a tune up, check the tires, etc, and then try it again.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
There is something about this concept that I have wondered for a while, but I don't think I could arrive at an answer without more detailed information. I'll explain:
Let's say I have to drive a distance of 60 miles. If I drive at 60mph the trip will take 60 minutes. Let's also say that my rpm's are 1800 at this speed.
Alternately for the same trip, if I drive at 50mph, the trip will take 72 minutes. We'll say my rpm's are at 1400.
Does the amount of fuel that I save from slower driving more than make up for the fact that I have to drive 12 minutes longer?
I think that the only way to be sure is to know how much fuel a particular car uses throughout it's rpm range.
posted
The fuel usage amounts are in miles per gallon. Going a trip of the same distance at a higher miles per gallon is definitely a fuel savings, no matter the relative times.
The question then becomes, is the amount of money (edit: and, of course, bits of the environment) saved on fuel worth the longer trip time to the driver, personally.
posted
I do believe you may be right, I just hadn't given consideration that miles per gallon realy meant miles per gallon.
Posts: 369 | Registered: Apr 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:MPG also depends on the motor and transmition. I have a V6 sedan that will shift into 5th at just under 80mph and do under 2k RPM. The result is 15 miles more on the same ammount of gas. '01 Chev, 16City 24-38Hwy
Something doesn't add up here. Is the transmission automatic, or manual?
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I've never driven an automatic that waited until almost 80 mph to shift into high gear. I don't know what the point of such a gear would be, since it would be used so rarely. Usually an automatic shifts into high gear sometime between 40 and 60 so that you get better efficiency at highway speeds.
And what sort of V6 Chevy sedan is this that gets 38 mpg at 80 mph?
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Heh. I just drove to Kansas City and back this weekend. In my '94 V6 Buick Skylark, I was driving 75 MPH most of the way. I averaged 31 MPG on the trip there. I haven't done the math for the trip back.
Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah, the only way I could imagine an automatic waiting until 80 to shift is if you've got your foot floored, so the transmission stays in a low gear to give you full acceleration. In which case you'd save a lot of gas just reducing your foot pressure (that's the nice way of putting it).
And while I can easily envision a V6 getting 31 mpg at 75, I can't envision one getting 38 at 80.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I can get from my house all the way to my parents (484 miles) on one tank of gas. Of course, I drive a 95 accord that has a 17 gallon tank and I'm drifting in on fumes by the time I get there. Still, it's a little over 28 mpg on a trip where I'm driving close to 70 all the way. meh. Not brilliant for some newer models, but not bad either.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold: And while I can easily envision a V6 getting 31 mpg at 75, I can't envision one getting 38 at 80.
Exactly. I've gotten up to 32 in a V6 Cutlass Supreme while going 75 and 30 in a Buick Regal, but 38 is something else altogether.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
