Thrifty or "green"?

[wesman1299]

I recently had a friend ride in my car with me and, appaled by my driving techniques, called me an "environmentalist nutjob." Now, I did not take offense to this nor did I really care about his opinion of my driving. My motivation for saving fuel is strictly for financial purposes. My mindset is that no matter how much money I have or how much money I am making, I will assure that as little of it as possible goes to paying for fuel.

Not that I have anything against environmentalists or people who hypermile in hopes of saving the environment, but I would like to ask the people of this forum what motivates them to hypermile. Is it for financial purposes? Or is it because you are passionate about the environment? Or (if you're like me), has it turned into a form of entertainment to track your fuel consumption over time?

[Sporty Modder]

Mine is def financial. The wife and I are living on a fixed income of $600, $500 of that pays our rent, power, and phone bill allowing only $100 for fuel in a month.

[gone-ot]

...the "Scrooge" in me wants ALL the miles I can get from each & every co$tly gallon of gasoline I buy and use.

...I'm frugal to the max!

...besides, being "green" belongs to Kermit-the-frog.

[euromodder]

My motivation isn't financial, despite our high fuel prices.

In 2011 I've done 23.664km @ 4.70 L/100km or 1.113 L
In 2008 I've done 23.565km @ 5.72 L/100km or 1.348 L

That's 235 L / year difference (62.1 gallon), which saved a mere 295 euro that year, or only 25 euro/month.

Not much of a reward for using 17.5 % less gas, is it ?
That's the law of diminishing returns at work, when you start above 40 mpg .

[MetroMPG]

All of the above?

Except: I suppose it could be argued I don't really do it to save money, otherwise I wouldn't have 4 eco-cars. But not spending a pile of $$$ on fuel is definitely a big factor.

I do it because the subject matter is inherently interesting. And it's fun pushing the envelope - a personal challenge & educational too.

EDIT: PS rusty memory bank is suggesting this discussion may have taken place in an older thread. No big deal, though - bunch of new people around since that happened.

[some_other_dave]

I think my motivation is very similar to the OP's. It started out in large part financial in nature, because I didn't want to spend as much money on gas as I was. I was also aware of the environmental benefits, and considered them a bonus.

Now, it's a challenge and entertainment on its own. When I get s--t from some of the other MINIacs, I tell them, "You enjoy your car the way you want, and I'll enjoy mine the way I want." Because I truly do enjoy getting better MPG from the car than I have gotten before.

-soD

[redneck]

I do it because the subject matter is inherently interesting. And it's fun pushing the envelope - a personal challenge & educational too.

Ditto for me...

The money I save is just icing on the cake.

>

[War_Wagon]

For me it is interesting and fun to do. I enjoy learning about new concepts and trying to put them into action. I can sure say it's not financial, as my car hoarding habits results in me spending way more on high FE cars than I could ever hope to save!

[taco]

Work way too far from home.
Almost two hours of work pays for gas in my truck. So I am doing everything I can to: A: save money B:find a closer job. One reason I was renting a room. Near work.

[Gealii]

I hyper mile because i just graduated high school and during my time in high school i was constantly taking my car to the red line to the point where 7k miles after i bought it the oil pump quit and at 118k miles it should not have. when i got my next car i liked the body style and everything and if i was driving it easy then it would last longer. If i was bored driving slow i mys well made it a challenge and that's when i joined ecomodder to get better mileage. I am still a redneck at heart and plan on buying a 4wd. When im just driving on pavement ill do my best to get better mpgs but once off-road i can't promise anything