Driving and Car Maintenance Transportation accounts for 66% of U.S.
oil use -mainly in the form of gasoline. Luckily, there are plenty of
ways to improve gas mileage.

Driving Tips:- Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon. The best way to
warm up a vehicle is to drive it. No more than 30 seconds of idling
on
winter days is needed. Anything more simply wastes fuel and increases
emissions.- Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration, and
hard
braking) wastes gas. It can lower your highway gas mileage 33% and
city mileage 5%. Drive at lowest and constant rpms; 2000 rpm are
enough; you can save up to 30%. Even a Porsche can be driven at the
4th gear at 20 mph and at the 6th gear at 50 mph with 2.5 times less
fuel consumption.- Avoid high speeds. Driving 75 mph, rather than 65
mph, could cut your fuel economy by 15%.- When you use overdrive
gearing, your cars engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces
wear.- Use air conditioning only when necessary.- Clear out your car;
extra weight decreases gas mileage. Each 60 pounds increases fuel
consumption by 10%. - Reduce drag by placing items inside
the car or trunk rather than on roof racks. A roof rack or carrier
provides additional cargo space and may allow you to buy a smaller
car. However, a loaded roof rack can decrease your fuel economy by
5%.- Check into carpooling and public transit to cut mileage and car
maintenance costs.


Car Maintenance Tips:- Use the grade of motor oil recommended by your
cars manufacturer. Using a different motor oil can lower your
gasoline
mileage by 1% to 2%.- Keep tires properly inflated and aligned to
improve your gasoline mileage by around 3.3%.- Get regular engine
tune-
ups and car maintenance checks to avoid fuel economy problems due to
worn spark plugs, dragging brakes, low transmission fluid, or
transmission problems.- Replace clogged air filters to improve gas
mileage by as much as 10% and protect your engine.- Combine errands
into one trip. Several short trips, each one taken from a cold start,
can use twice as much fuel as one trip covering the same distance
when
the engine is warm. Do not forget that in the first mile your car
uses
8 times more fuel, in the second mile 4 times and only after the
fourth mile it becomes normal.Long-Term Savings Tip- Consider buying
a
highly fuel-efficient vehicle. A fuelefficient vehicle, a hybrid
vehicle, or an alternative fuel vehicle could save you a lot at the
gas pump
and help the environment.See the Fuel Economy Guide
(www.fueleconomy.gov) for more on buying a new fuel-efficient car or
truck.


Source:
www.eere.energy.gov and
http://www.vcd.org/155.html

On Sat, 23 May 2009 07:52:46 -0700, peakoil wrote:

Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon.

Not if coasting downhill in neutral.

Do not forget that in the first mile your car uses 8 times more fuel

Simply push your car a mile from your house prior to every trip and save
a bundle!

A fuelefficient vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, or an alternative
fuel vehicle could save you a lot at the gas pump and help the
environment.

Well, x thousand buys me an awful lot of fuel for my existing vehicle,
plus means I'm helping the environment by not requiring a manufacturer to
build me a new one...

cheers

Jules

On Sat, 23 May 2009 07:52:46 -0700 (PDT), peakoil wrote:

Driving and Car Maintenance Transportation accounts for 66% of U.S.
oil use

The other 34% to haul their fat guts around.
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.

Jules wrote:
On Sat, 23 May 2009 07:52:46 -0700, peakoil wrote:

Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon.

Not if coasting downhill in neutral.


Actually. modern shift cars with engine management will use less fuel on
the overrun than at iele as the EMU switches the fuel off completely on
zero throttle until revs drop to idle.. Don't neutral a modern car!

Do not forget that in the first mile your car uses 8 times more fuel

Simply push your car a mile from your house prior to every trip and save
a bundle!

Ha ****in ha.,..

On Sat, 23 May 2009 18:03:12 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Jules wrote:
On Sat, 23 May 2009 07:52:46 -0700, peakoil wrote:

Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon.

Not if coasting downhill in neutral.


Actually. modern shift cars with engine management will use less fuel on
the overrun than at iele as the EMU switches the fuel off completely on
zero throttle until revs drop to idle.. Don't neutral a modern car!

Interesting! (Not that I plan on ever owning a modern vehicle if I can
help it)

Do not forget that in the first mile your car uses 8 times more fuel

Simply push your car a mile from your house prior to every trip and
save a bundle!

Ha ****in ha.,..

:-) Too hard ro resist...

Jules gurgled happily,
sounding much like they were saying:

Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon.

Not if coasting downhill in neutral.

Actually. modern shift cars with engine management will use less fuel
on the overrun than at iele as the EMU switches the fuel off completely
on zero throttle until revs drop to idle.. Don't neutral a modern car!

Interesting! (Not that I plan on ever owning a modern vehicle if I can
help it)

Doesn't have to be THAT modern - the Lucas injection on my 19yo Saab does
that.

Adrian wrote:
Jules gurgled happily,
sounding much like they were saying:

Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon.

Not if coasting downhill in neutral.

Actually. modern shift cars with engine management will use less fuel
on the overrun than at iele as the EMU switches the fuel off completely
on zero throttle until revs drop to idle.. Don't neutral a modern car!

Interesting! (Not that I plan on ever owning a modern vehicle if I can
help it)

Doesn't have to be THAT modern - the Lucas injection on my 19yo Saab does
that.

Almost *any* fuel injected car does it.

You can tell really..rev it up in neutral and take your foot off..revs
drop until the idle sensor 'catches' it and it will stabilise after
falling to maybe 500rpm at 600-700rpm usually.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Almost *any* fuel injected car does it.

You can tell really..rev it up in neutral and take your foot off..revs
drop until the idle sensor 'catches' it and it will stabilise after
falling to maybe 500rpm at 600-700rpm usually.

Mine has the feature, but not that obviously.

It really shows on a freezing morning when the idle is ~2000 RPM, and I
try to drive down the gentle hill from my house in first. And at 2000
it's giving lots of power, but at 2050 none at all!

When it's warm it's hard to tell it's happening - it comes in gently
somewhere just above idle.

Andy

Andy Champ wrote:

When it's warm it's hard to tell it's happening - it comes in gently
somewhere just above idle.


I tried it this morning. When warm, revs drop rapidly to a little over
1000, then gently down to the 750 warm engine tickover. No overshoot.

Andy

Andy Champ wrote:
Andy Champ wrote:

When it's warm it's hard to tell it's happening - it comes in gently
somewhere just above idle.


I tried it this morning. When warm, revs drop rapidly to a little over
1000, then gently down to the 750 warm engine tickover. No overshoot.

Andy

You must have a different algorithm in your ECU then!

In article ,
Adrian writes:
Jules gurgled happily,
sounding much like they were saying:

Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon.

Not if coasting downhill in neutral.

Actually. modern shift cars with engine management will use less fuel
on the overrun than at iele as the EMU switches the fuel off completely
on zero throttle until revs drop to idle.. Don't neutral a modern car!

Interesting! (Not that I plan on ever owning a modern vehicle if I can
help it)

Doesn't have to be THAT modern - the Lucas injection on my 19yo Saab does
that.

Also observed another related effect with my (would be 12 year old)
Ford. When idling, if the car is moving at all (coasting in neutral),
the idle speed was increased to 1100RPM. About a second after the car
comes to a complete halt, the idle speed dropped to 750RPM. I presume
this increase is to ensure there's enough power for servo brakes and
steering.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]