save gas in a drive-thru?
 

i spose the right response is to just go inside, but any good methods for saving a few drops while waiting online at a mcdonalds :p

turn off your car and push

The local taco bell's drive thru is at a downward slope. So I cut the car off, stick it in neutral and let it roll. Might have to open the door and give it a little kick so that you can start rolling, depending on your drive thru. I've gotten to the area of the parking lot where you get ready to get back onto the main road with my car off. Then of course I'd have to turn it back on and drive home.

Because of this eco-friendly drive thru (they didn't intend for it to be so, of course) I probably save fuel versus parking reversing out of the spot etc.

I roll into an uphill parking spot so I can coast out w00t.

I second the engine off as much as possible option, unless the line's fast moving.

The only time I go through a drive through line is at night, when both the restaurant's only open via the drive-thru lane, and I'm too lazy to make something myself. Since there's minimal staff, and you often can't go inside the restaurant to order and take-out, the lineups in the night shift are often SLOW. My favourite A&W that's open all hours just has two people in on nights, and this makes for a 5-10 minute drive through just 60-80 feet of asphalt.

In my case, since I've a diesel, and I work in a shop, I turn off my car's engine except to move ahead. My main concern isn't my own fuel use, it's just... courtesy. Both engine noise, and the fumes the staff manning the window have to endure, ought to be minimized.

Barring nightime when a restaurant's closed up... Park the car and go inside*. I don't notice much difference in time either way, timewise.

* Unless you drive naked. In that case, stay in the drive through, please!

i dont know, some females could pull it off. :thumbup:

thefirebuilds -

Even before I was an Ecomodder, I rarely made use of the drive-thru. Park and walk in for me.

ankit -

I wish the In-N-Out Burger had a downward slope! The other day I did the walk-up and while I was waiting, I heard and smelled a Harley's noxious exhaust while I was waiting.

CarloSW2

One of my early blog entries (April of 2006) was about this subject. I estimated that if everyone in the U.S. stopped using drive through windows, we could save 0.007% of our oil imports.

And how much excess weight would be saved per person if they stopped eating fast food altogether?

Last time I hit a drive through was probably 3-4 years ago.

I usually put my car into Neutral and this lowers the engine idle speed. Does this reduce gas consumption or am I just a nut?

Jordan_Nave -

Probably not much. If you are on the flat, the line is straight, and the car weighs less than 2500 lbs, you could open the door and push it with your feet. The best situation is a slight incline and let gravity do the work.

CarloSW2

That is what I figured

Once I get the CitiCar really running right, I MUST take it through a drive-thru, just for the laughs!

(And no gasoline use, did I mention that? Cuz, you know, it's electric. Doesn't use gasoline, in a drive-thru or anywhere else. And it's funny looking.)

In hot weather, that is a perfectly valid hypermiling tactic. Then you don't have to use the A/C as much and reduce the Lenz's drag by reducing the current drawn... Of course, it's for truly dedicated hypermilers only...

Keep in mind the basic CHEM 107 knowledge - in other words, the carbon released from the animals originally was captured by the plants they eat. The only non-carbon-neutral part would be the use of fossil fuels in processing, manufacturing fertilizer, etc. Organic meat should be more carbon-neutral as they don't use synthetic chemicals.

Soy is a much better source of protein as far as the environment is concerned, though. And the quality of that protein is pretty competitive with that of animal protein. Not to mention that the reduced fat content would avoid the unwanted weight gain that would spoil your looks (especially for those going for the "celebrity skinny" look) and reduce gas mileage. (Yes, I'm serious about the part about reducing gas mileage. Extra weight needs more energy to accelerate.)

Not to discount your reference to chem 107, as I honestly didn't have that in mind (thank you for bringing that up), but I've just always thought and knew that there is nothing carbon neutral about producing corn and feeding it to cows. The fossil fuel and chemicals wasted in the production of beef (and dairy products for that matter) would be the only thing up for "violation" of non-carbon neutrality. Not to mention all that water. I could go on, but I did realize this was slightly off topic, so my link was intended simply to allude to the fact that yes, of course the answer to saving gas at a drive-thru is not using it at all, but the whole idea of going to any fast food joint defeats the purpose of saving gas/resources and helping to "green the planet". Yes meat and cheese are delicious, no they are not "green". Some people may be here to save gas AND conserve as many resources as possible, others may be here exclusively to push their mileage to the limit. Both reasons have merit, I just think it's important to consider reason #1 if you hadn't. I've only recently gotten behind reason #1 myself. It seems to me that trying to save gas at a drive thru while the things you buy there will cost more gas than you will save in your life at drive thrus is reasonably superficial.


That's just what I think...

Except that I may want that beef topped with cheese, but no rational person "wants" to waste gas. There can be a reasonable compromise between being nice to the environment (which should only be done to serve humanity) and doing those things we enjoy that might not be the most ecofriendly.

I'd say meat consumption is reasonable; a 2 ton truck with open windows and a gun rack going 95 isn't.