Busting the non believers

[trikkonceptz]

Way before I began these practices I was of the opinion that no vehicle could achieve its posted window sticker numbers and they were a scam.

Obviously I am wrong about this and have seen the errors in my ways. Well so has my job. I work at a dealership and although I get teased all the time for the modified front end on my Vibe they recently began using me to help customers get their mileage up to at least sticker by showing them better driving techniques.

Well today we had a grouch of a customer come in for the third time complaining that his Sport trac was getting no better than 6.9mpg as documented by the fuel meter. After not finding anything mechanically wrong with the truck they turned to me to see if I could calm this guy down.

First thing I noticed was that his tires were flat, then I asked if I could get better results with him in the truck would he agree that the problem was with the way he drove and not the truck. He agreed, claiming he was a safe driver. I advised that a safe driver and one conscious of FE are two different animals.

SO first I took him to the back and showed him his tire pressure. I was shocked that the four corners read; 15,17 fronts 22,25 rear. I quickly picked them up to sidewall max with his approval. Then we went for a 20 minute drive.

The route covered 10 miles city driving and 10 miles highway driving. All I did was obey the posted Speed limits and coast to a stop in gear, A/c on and everything.

My results; 17.7 city 23.9 hwy @ 65mph. He then cried that I drove like a grandma, to which I replied, "If you still think you have a leg to stand on with a lawsuit against anyone about this, remember this drive and remember that I was driving the speed limit."

So apparently "Safe Driver" to him meant as fast as possible without getting caught for all these years.

Regardless, even my work takes this more serious now and uses me to help them difuse problems such as these.

[SVOboy]

Wow. I can't even imagine how he drove to get 6.9 MPG.

Way to go, though,

[Clev]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Wow. I can't even imagine how he drove to get 6.9 MPG.

Way to go, though,

This is the kind of self-competition that I'm really enjoying. I can spend thousands of dollars to get my Accord into the 12's, and what do I achieve? Nothing; thousands of other Accords are modded in the same way, and some yokel with a warmed-over Camaro can achieve the same thing.

Getting an Accord to 45 mpg, on the other hand, not only is an accomplishment among Accords, but an accomplishment among all cars--just as 70 mpg is an accomplishment in a Metro (yeah, I'm talking about you, MetroMPG.) :-)

Last fillup is 35.70... with no mods so far except tire pressure. Working my way there!

[dremd]

Great story

I'll bet that there are lots of people around here that get that kind of mileage. Err Drives me nuts.

[dentprone]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Wow. I can't even imagine how he drove to get 6.9 MPG.

Like 99.9% of the SportTrac drivers out there.......

[Concrete]

Awesome!
this is how you change the world - convincing people one at a time
even if you did not get thru to this waster
you just left an impression on everyone else at the dealership

Great Job


BTW what is the EPA rating for that Sport track?

[bbjsw10]

Great story!! You should have filmed it and stuck on Youtube. That is awesome dealership is using you for this purpose. "Safe Driver" pulling 6.9mpg that is funny, safe compared to a Demo derby maybe. Gas, Brake, Gas, Brake.

[trikkonceptz]

Originally Posted by Concrete

Awesome!
this is how you change the world - convincing people one at a time
even if you did not get thru to this waster
you just left an impression on everyone else at the dealership

Great Job


BTW what is the EPA rating for that Sport track?

13 city 20 hwy for a 2WD

Yeah now I'm the Manager with the funny looking non Ford that gets 45mpg+

What really surprises me is how entrenched some of the mechanics are with information that may not be accurate and their unwillingness to accept change.

I check my pressure every 2 days and whenever I do it, the tire tech, who is also a master technician tries to tell me to let air out of the tires because they are going to blow out. I acknowledge him as I dial up the Nitrofill to 55psi ... LOL

He keep telling me I'll get better traction by lowering the PSI and I keep telling him I'll do it as soon as I go driving on the frozen lake here in South Florida.

[groar]

Congrats,

Denis.

[wagonman76]

Very cool, great story. Its just amazing the masses of people out there without a clue. You were not even doing anything abnormal and getting much better mileage. Good to see ecodriving getting recognized in a positive light.