Retort for hecklers

[niky]

Used to think it was a shame to drive like a granny. Until I got a whole lot of driving time under my belt and started running around with some hardcore eco-drivers.

And you know who the most hardcore guys were? Racing drivers. To them, it was just another skill to master. Furthermore, the best of them are the smoothest... no abrupt acceleration, braking or lane changing. Maintaining perfect control and minimizing stress on the car are all part of the endurance racer's mindset.

[spacemanspif]

I like to think of it as another form of performance. I have one car to get my "go fast" performance and I am happy with it and the project it has become/will be. But for a car I drive every day, I am looking for MPG performance and that means maximum miles per gallon, vs. the "usual" performance of maximum HP per gallon. I like to tinker and work on car, I don't care if it's to make the car fast or sip less fuel, I'm having fun either way. And ecomodding allows me to play much more since it's a good bit cheaper than the quest for more horsepower

[Fat Charlie]

Efficiency is performance.

I don't live 1/4 mile from work and I do live about 5 miles from a highway where I can get up to 60.

But I can be over 70 mpg by the time I get to that intersection.

[Frank Lee]

redneck, basjoos, star-deceiver: Guys- the math only works on logical people. Believe me, I've tried it and even on engineers- who you'd think would tend to be more logical than most- it's a fail. Look around. Read the news. Clearly most human activity is not driven by logic. One has to appeal to emotion and/or ego to make the case. Making the case for efficiency or thrift is an uphill climb here in Duhmerica- good luck. If you can sell the notion that efficiency and thrift gets you laid or beats the competition in a way that is socially popular, you might have a chance.

[dirtydave]

Most people think it is the cars job to be efficient. But honestly anyone can smash the EPA in any car.

Hypermiling just seems like normal driving now. No need to even explain to others why and what you are doing. I let em hate and I laugh when they don't even know what mileage they get but complain about gas prices or how bad traffic is.

[H-Man]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

redneck, basjoos, star-deceiver: Guys- the math only works on logical people. Believe me, I've tried it and even on engineers- who you'd think would tend to be more logical than most- it's a fail. Look around. Read the news. Clearly most human activity is not driven by logic. One has to appeal to emotion and/or ego to make the case. Making the case for efficiency or thrift is an uphill climb here in Duhmerica- good luck. If you can sell the notion that efficiency and thrift gets you laid or beats the competition in a way that is socially popular, you might have a chance.

You do have to be a smooth operator to get a car to 150% of EPA MPG.

[Frank Lee]

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by niky

Used to think it was a shame to drive like a granny. Until I got a whole lot of driving time under my belt and started running around with some hardcore eco-drivers.

And you know who the most hardcore guys were? Racing drivers. To them, it was just another skill to master. Furthermore, the best of them are the smoothest... no abrupt acceleration, braking or lane changing. Maintaining perfect control and minimizing stress on the car are all part of the endurance racer's mindset.

You absolutely nailed it here. Someone who cannot drive to conditions is not someone who should ever brag, outwardly or implicitly in re themselves or their vehicle.

When I bought my truck, it was to achieve the most work with the longest life at the highest reliability with the lowest cost. One-trick ponies need not apply to meet those goals. Not the vehicle nor the operator.

I've had the "grandad" thing applied to me. I tell them that as I know my grandad could have outdriven any of them I'll take that as the compliment that it unwittingly was.

And let us examine that observation on the old. My observation ithat none of them ever gave any conscious thought to establishing good habits behnd the wheel decades earlier. Sure, one should back off with age and conditions encountered, but it is no excuse for mindlessness. They've simply not the energy to "drive like everyone else" (what the brain-dead call "keeping up with traffic") and never learned the laws or how to use them when staring out, and to renew that over time.

.

[Grant-53]

I say smooth is fast having been a mechanical engineer and road racing aficionado in a previous decade. The motto of Navy SEALs is "Slow is fast." A big part of racing now is managing fuel and tires. Just let them pass, then pull up and wave at the next stop signal.

[niky]

Yeah... it's so internalized now it irritates me when people decry, incredulously, "NO WAY ARE YOU GETTING 20 KM/L (47 mpg) FROM THAT!"

Then I have to go off on a micro-lecture of how anticipation, patience and a light right foot can do wonders for your economy... without you ever having to master the black art of hypermiling. Most of them think going just 10 mph slower is way too boring. Me, I see it as SOP.

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Then again, I have the advantage of being able to "get my rocks off" on the track a few times a year. Long enough for all the joint pain, bruised ribs and dehydration to remind me why I don't drive there more often.