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Old 04-18-2009, 06:34 PM   #110 (permalink)
1337
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: UC Berkeley
Posts: 229

[SOLD] Highway Warrior - '00 Mazda Protege LX 1.6L Manual
90 day: 35.93 mpg (US)

Basic Miata - '06 Mazda Miata Touring
90 day: 30.93 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by trikkonceptz View Post
I am learning very quickly that education is the key. We will never see it on a state / city level, so it must be passed on through the underground.

Case in point, I take alot of crap from my fellow Scion club members. Every week they ask me how many MPG's I'm getting and they laugh and continue to tell stories about their hwy racing venues.

Well this car unlike the Vibe is not modified and they are astonished at how just driving can affect MPG's. Well last week we took a trip, one that could have been covered by a single tank of gas, less than 300 miles. SO I take off with the caravan and literally get left in the dust as I am doing 55mph in the right lane while they race around and such.

Well long story short I get a call to pull over for gas, I declined in order to prove a point. The result, I arrived to the show 15 minutes BEFORE they did and one of them got a ticket for reckless driving.

That woke them up enough to where now I am coaching each one individually on how they can make small changes in their driving without modding their cars and still see considerable improvements.

They now understand, and from what I have read here, many lash out in anger without understanding. You do not have to understand why I drive 55 in 70, just understand what benefits it brings then choose to ignore the benefits, instead of making judgments on the driver.

There are unsafe slow speeds on a hwy, but their are also rules of the road, like slower traffic keep right. If you think that you need to make a point and drive slow in the middle lanes, truck lanes or even the left lane, then you are the problem. The way I drive is not intended to make a statement, it is intended to save me fuel, aggravation & maintenance costs. And at least one person a week learns that from me and it's reciprocated with at least as many thank yous. Even if they just slowed down from 80 to 70.

So great discussion, let's keep it going ..
That's awesome!

I drove to Chicago a couple weeks ago, and a friend came along too. He and I both needed to take an exam and fill out some paperwork for a company where we will both be interning this summer. I drove the speed limit (65 mph) on the highway for the whole trip, but he kept urging me to go faster.

We made it to the office in Chicago in plenty of time, and we ran a few errands around Chicago too. When we got back to Champaign, he was astounded that we did 400 miles for $20. Since we were splitting the cost of fuel, he was less cranky about my driving when he only had to pay me $10.
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2006 Miata Touring 5MT
2006 VW Jetta TDI 6AT (Sold to buy Miata)
2000 Mazda Protege 1.6L 5MT
2002 Mercedes C230 Coupe 5AT (Water damage, totaled)

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