Retort for hecklers
 

Despite the considerable improvements I've made to my average fuel economy due to improved diving techniques, I still get occasionally ribbed and chastised.

This most commonly comes by way of, "you drive like my grandma(pa)". :rolleyes:

I can't help but respond with, "have you ever considered that perhaps they were on to something?"

I just say: Wern't you complaining about gas being $4 a gallon a minute ago and now you want to burn even more gas?

"Deal with it" sometimes works

Here is one I like.

Discuss the degree of intercourse you have had with their ancestors/siblings/offspring. Be very specific.

"you drive like my grandpa"

Maybe that is why they lived so long.

regards
mech

Grandma didn't get good mileage.

You think you're doing "better" but we both still get to work at the same time- and I only had to buy half as much gas to do it.

.

Show them the math.

The average person drives 15,000 miles a year. Your records show that is about what you will end up driving.

So...

15,000 divided by 16mpg (EPA) average = 937.5 gal. x $3.13 = $2,934.37

15,000 divided by 20.7mpg your 90 day avg. = 724.63gal. x $3.13 = $2,268.11

A savings of $666.26 (how devilish) :p

Based on a average person that works 40 hrs. 52 weeks a year or 2080 work hrs.

$666.26 divided by 2080 hrs. = $0.32 per hr. after tax. raise (not bad)

Or...

$666.26 divided by 15,000 miles = $0.044 per. mile saved.

Or, as I like to think of it. Paying (rewarding) myself...!!!

As a added plus, less brake wear and unwanted driver awards (speeding tickets) and higher insurance all lend a hand towards saving money.

Remember all money saved is "After tax money". ;)

Should gas go back up to $4.13 (most likely will) :(

Your yearly savings would then be $1,036.09. :eek: :)




29.4% over EPA with your vehicle is doing good. :thumbup:


However, you should plug in other vehicle mpg averages into the math above to see what your leaving on the table.

Take a car that can get 40 mpg.

15,000 divided by 40mpg = 375 gal. x $3.13 = $1173.75 fuel cost per year.

Or, half as much as your spending now.

With a car like a Mirage that is capable of (adjusted nut behind the wheel) 50 mpg straight out the box. You could be driving a new shiny car with the difference saved should you choose.


Math lesson over.

:)


>

I just convert their mileage and my mileage into cents per mile and compare how many miles a dollar takes them and me down the road (just like like throwing a dollar bill out of the window every "x" miles you drive down the road). Then I take a popular local destination, calculate how much it costs them in gas to drive there and how I could drive there, take the amount of money they paid for their gas to get there, use it to pay for my gas, and still have "X" dollars left over to buy a burger and fries.

Alright, lets do the math shall we. Based on working an 8 on 6 off bi-weekly schedule:

It takes 3.14L of gas to take the KLR to and from work or $3.78/per work day. (gas at $1.20/L)
It takes 8.85L of gas to take the Chev to and from work or $10.62/per work day.
We could include a Starbucks or Timmies run for about $5.50/per work day.
Car/Bike insurance combined for the year is $7.55/per work day.
Truck payment works out to $39.25/per work day.
Rent, $37.21/per work day.
Food and all bills and anything I missed, $37.50/ per work day.


Combined, it all comes to 48% of my after tax earnings per day at work to live! The rest goes into the bank to spend or save however I wish! I think I can afford that. :thumbup:

How does it look from the inside of your glass house now?

http://badges.fuelly.com/images/sig-us/168429.png
http://badges.fuelly.com/images/sig-us/191876.png

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.

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 :)

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.

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.

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.

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

:confused:

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.

.

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. ;)

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.

-

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. :D