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Old 09-11-2013, 10:22 PM   #2 (permalink)
MetroMPG
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 22,534

Blackfly - '98 Geo Metro
Team Metro
Last 3: 70.09 mpg (US)

MPGiata - '90 Mazda Miata
90 day: 54.46 mpg (US)

Appliance car Mirage - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (base)
90 day: 57.73 mpg (US)
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Many peope OVER estimate the speed at which aero drag becomes a significant factor in fuel consumption.

Have a look at the aero & rolling resistance calculator in the Tools section of the Garage (link is below the header, top of page). It will shed a lot of light on this issue.

E.g. the default values on that page are for my car (98 Firefly/Metro) in stock form. Notice the speed at which aero drag accounts for *half* of the fuel burned? 30 mph. Not insignificant. At 45 mph, over *70%* of fuel consumption is spent overcoming aero drag.

Drag reduction is worth pursuing unless all your driving is stop & go.

Another thought: The average speed in the Shell fuel economy competitions is probably in the neighbourhood of 20 mph... yet just look at how much effort goes to aero there.
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The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to MetroMPG For This Useful Post:
aerohead (09-12-2013), BamZipPow (09-14-2013), Cd (09-12-2013), Jyden (09-13-2013), slowmover (09-16-2013), UltArc (09-11-2013)