[armycopter]

As a long-time gas guzzler, I've only recently been introduced to the concept of reducing fuel consumption. The state of our economy, and more importantly, the state of MY economy has somewhat forced my hand. I have to say that although I never gave a lot of thought to fuel consumption, I am having a lot of fun, and saving a lot of money, now that I'm involved. I've always been into recycling (cardboard, plastic, aluminum, etc) but gasoline was never high on my list.

Up until about a month ago, I drove a great big Chevy Silverado Z71 extended cab pickup truck that gave me approximately 14mph around town and 17 or 18 on the highway (if I was lucky). When the engine died on it, I was fortunate enough to "cash for clunker" it and i decided now was the right time to start reducing my fuel consumption. Although not the best car for high FE, I picked up a 2009 Chevy Aveo for a pretty good price. It has been quite a period of adjustment driving such a small car but I'm starting to really love it.

The first tank out of the dealership yielded me 31 mpg without any changes to my driving habits and with the AC on. I was pretty happy considering what i was used to in the Silverado. I've noticed that since the car has been broken in, my FE has been steadily increasing. My last tank yielded 38.8 MPH with a mix of around town and highway driving. The AC was off.

I am interested in getting this vehicle up over 40mpg and I decided I could probably do that just be modifying the way I drive. I purchased a scangauge from this site through the group buy plan and will install it once it arrives.

I hope to learn a lot from other members of this forum.

Take care