|
I admire the car. Think it a very nice choice.
As to 50-mpg? (Shrug).
The game is against one’s self. The recorded average. Consistency is planning. Planning is simply reasoned steps. Each one. But it’s done badly where cars are concerned. Short versus long term focus (as long term hasn’t the emotional content).
Example: 900-miles in a day. (Not good). Doesn’t matter there’s two drivers. Driver or passenger, 600-miles is the wall. Thus the plan takes place inside the legs of the trip. Each stop is beginning and end. Each stop is time & distance related. (Safety; an alertness fill up).
Best performance is in maintaining distance from others. This comes from cruising below the cars, and is awareness of the idiot packs. Cruise control is cancelled when that happens. Drift down fairly quickly. Re-accelerate on a downslope.
This is a rhythm that can be kept up all day. It’s a graduated response to conditions. (I do this for a living. Already past 120k miles this year).
I know it’s tempting to control every single possible action. But that is fruitless. The basics suffice. No lane changes at a constant speed. Never a barrier to others (watch mirrors and manage flow of others). Count acceleration and deceleration events. Don’t minimize so much as taper into & out of.
Look at your average speed. That’s the reality check for getting the most out of the 600-miles. Total trip time, and total drive time. They aren’t the same.
Find the reasonable time/distance equation for your car. What IT wants.
There’s a zen moment that hasn’t anything to do with MPG. The catbird seat.
My 9,000lb pickup can do 33-mpg at Interstate legal speeds. So what? (The average is from 24-27. What matters to me is that my average speed stays above 50-mph; though that isn’t at all the travel speed).
There are penalties for faster or slower. Neither gains me so much as hurts me (or my loved ones). Find the catbird seat. Let the miles take care of themselves.
Good luck
.
|