When you can't hypermile...

[wesman1299]

This morning I woke up extremely late for work, and had to throw all of my 'nut behind the wheel' mods out the window while frantically driving to work. It was painful to look at my Scanguage when I shut off the car. It's been bugging me all day to know that I wasted so much more fuel than I needed to just because I woke up late, yet I can't really talk to anyone else about it because nobody else I know is as 'hyper' as I am about saving fuel.

Anyone else with a similar story? Ever have a situation where you can't drive efficiently? How annoyed does this make you feel?

[Kodak]

Yeah, I found myself making some mistakes the other day when picking up a friend. I wasn't as familiar with the route, and I didn't know the transitions too well. The big picture is more important than any one trip.

How bad were you? I suspect that even at your worst, you didn't accelerate to red lights or make any glaring errors - just not on top of your game.

[wesman1299]

I finished the trip getting about 26 MPG. Most other times on this trip I get anywhere between 30 and 32 MPG. I believe most of this had to do with how fast I was driving on the cold engine. I sped out of the parking lot, accelerated hard to each of the stop signs, etc. before I was finally able to get on the highway. You're right about not making glaring errors...I still did my best to coast before red lights and keep the car rolling, although Murphy's law was in full effect. Since I was running late every single traffic light was red. Needless to say I was not very happy having to stop for them.

[brucey]

If you were rushing up to red lights, driving fast, etc. You probably didn't save any time in your commute.

Try driving as aggressive as you can one day on the commute, and then try hypermiling another. The time difference is negligible. I've even came out ahead on some commutes by taking my time.

The only time you can make a difference in time in driving style is long distances and averaging much higher speeds. (Speeding at 90 mph over a long distance, versus just doing the speed limit)

[cfg83]

wesman1299 -

- Idling in line to see a college football game.
- Cargoing stuff to festivals for my wife's jewelry business
- Emergency trips for family health problems.
- Commuting (for a while, but not anymore)

I think the football game was the one that really ticked me off. That was when I was really trying hard, but there wasn't a good "justification" for it in my mind.

CarloSW2

[Daox]

There are times when I've had to drive 'normal'. I still use general techniques, but perhaps not the more advanced ones, so I still save fuel. It bugs me a little, but I don't let it get to me. That is only a little bit of the fuel used over a month or year. What really counts is in your day to day traveling.

[Weather Spotter]

yep I just note in my log how many trips were "time mattered" trips. A few months back I was pushed into a tight time frame for several trips. It sucked to watch my SG and see a great tank ruined by one fast trip.

But then I tell my self that my aerodynamic mods will offset some of my waste

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by wesman1299

This morning I woke up extremely late for work, and had to throw all of my 'nut behind the wheel' mods out the window while frantically driving to work.

Maybe we should add "Set your alarm clock to 5 minutes earlier, then set a second alarm clock to 10 minutes earlier" to the Hypermiling Tips?

I'm only half joking - getting up 5 minutes earlier puts less pressure on you, so you can take your time ecodriving (though hypermiling doesn't really get you there that much later). But then, s**t happens, plus we're only human (or most of us, anyway), so sometimes leaving earlier isn't an option.

[caeaves]

8800 RPM redlines are hard to resist sometimes.

[Angmaar]

I still DWB and DWL if I drive with other people or if I am in a hurry.