I agree, thats something I was thinking about on the way home today. There are basically 2 good ways I can go to work. I usually go the way that is 25 miles and 50% highway, and gets me about 29 mpg. There is another way that is more like 75% highway and would get me more like 30 mpg, however it is 30 miles so the added distance outweighs the mpg gain. The in-laws live that way so I only go that way when Im stopping by there.
Also there are other things that sometimes outweigh fuel efficiency. I typically run my tires at like 30 psi. I could pump them up and pick up another mpg, but that makes the car get beat up a lot harder by these horrible Michigan roads, and ends up costing me more in repairs.
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Originally Posted by Arminius
In addition, there is another twist in calculating FE. For example, my present average is about 41-42 mpg. I can easily get 46 mpg if I take another route to and from work. However, that particular route is long enough to cost me an extra 12 more cents a day in gas than the route with lower mpg, which is shorter. Therefore the FE of the engine and the FE of the route are in conflict.
My ego makes me want to take the higher mpg route so that I can brag about my efficiency. Logic and my conscience demand I take the more efficient route, which has lower mpg.
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