[trikkonceptz]

Way before I began these practices I was of the opinion that no vehicle could achieve its posted window sticker numbers and they were a scam.

Obviously I am wrong about this and have seen the errors in my ways. Well so has my job. I work at a dealership and although I get teased all the time for the modified front end on my Vibe they recently began using me to help customers get their mileage up to at least sticker by showing them better driving techniques.

Well today we had a grouch of a customer come in for the third time complaining that his Sport trac was getting no better than 6.9mpg as documented by the fuel meter. After not finding anything mechanically wrong with the truck they turned to me to see if I could calm this guy down.

First thing I noticed was that his tires were flat, then I asked if I could get better results with him in the truck would he agree that the problem was with the way he drove and not the truck. He agreed, claiming he was a safe driver. I advised that a safe driver and one conscious of FE are two different animals.

SO first I took him to the back and showed him his tire pressure. I was shocked that the four corners read; 15,17 fronts 22,25 rear. I quickly picked them up to sidewall max with his approval. Then we went for a 20 minute drive.

The route covered 10 miles city driving and 10 miles highway driving. All I did was obey the posted Speed limits and coast to a stop in gear, A/c on and everything.

My results; 17.7 city 23.9 hwy @ 65mph. He then cried that I drove like a grandma, to which I replied, "If you still think you have a leg to stand on with a lawsuit against anyone about this, remember this drive and remember that I was driving the speed limit."

So apparently "Safe Driver" to him meant as fast as possible without getting caught for all these years.

Regardless, even my work takes this more serious now and uses me to help them difuse problems such as these.