I checked out an article on
www.crxmpg.com, the one about Acceleration and Fuel Economy (
http://www.crxmpg.com/accelmpg.html) and have a comment.
When I hear of a jack rabbit start, I think of someone running to the redline, or banging the gears to the point of barking with each gear change. More like someone interested in a 0-60 time than a 60mpg.
I have tried both methods mentioned in the article and like the "brisk" acceleration technique. Basically, I try to get into top gear as reasonably quickly as I can, without sacrificing other factors, like speeding up just to have to slow down.
Several factors I always keep in mind when driving my truck (5 speed) is to get rolling in first gear, then quickly shift to 2nd. If possible, I prefer to keep rolling, and just start off in 2nd. First gear is the strongest, and therefore, the worst economically. I run 2nd until I can reasonably get into 3rd and and prefer to do a bulk of my acceleration in 3rd, then skip right to 5th.
I appreciated that someone took the time to actually gather some numbers, kudos, SVOBoy.