Speed limiter/Governer in a newer car?

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

It may be the easiest approach if the vehicle is driven by only one person who's committed to that approach. Not the case with most commercial vehicles that get their ECMs reflashed in order to limit speed, usually operated by multiple drivers (plus there are those who are simply careless when driving a vehicle they don't actually own).

Another thought. Nobody ever wanted to drive my 1.6L non-turbo diesel mainly because it felt like you're dragging around a boat anchor. If I get a fast, new, zippy car then everyone is going to want to give it a spin when they can. But if it also feels like it's dragging around a boat anchor I'll be it's only driver, at least in theory.

[freebeard]

PS. As of today I'm leaning towards trading in all three cars for a Prius Prime because of the tax credits. About $4500 federal and $5000 state. That knocks the price down to close to that of a new Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris.

What do you think you can get for the Superbeetle? I need to sell mine on to finance the Arcimoto FUV later this year. I want to powdercoat a set of wheels and put them on (for about $400) and raise the price $1000.



Insofar as the topic at hand, if you carry a smart phone someone should make an app that will ring the number if it exceeds the legal limit at it's current location — until it slows down. Should they not?

[oldtamiyaphile]

Speed limiters are just another annoying thing -you have to set them above your desired speed anyway as in the real world you need to be able to maneuver in traffic, build speed before hills and the like. If you really must consider a HUD.

Originally Posted by freebeard

Insofar as the topic at hand, if you carry a smart phone someone should make an app that will ring the number if it exceeds the legal limit at it's current location — until it slows down. Should they not?

GPS already does that.

[teoman]

You asked about a modern / newer car. Most cars have these and I think they work well.

Even the cruise control on the civic may be good enough with the econ mode engaged. (Late shifts permitting a bit of speed drop climbing up hills, optimized AC, remapped gas pedal, the car really becomes more unresponsive which is good for econo driving).

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by freebeard

What do you think you can get for the Superbeetle? I need to sell mine on to finance the Arcimoto FUV later this year. I want to powdercoat a set of wheels and put them on (for about $400) and raise the price $1000.

I've seen a few going for $6,500 up to $9,900. I'm going to put mine in the paper for $10,000. If I can't get at least $7,000 then forget about it. I'll just keep it. Maybe it's not worth that much but it is to me.

Originally Posted by freebeard

Insofar as the topic at hand, if you carry a smart phone someone should make an app that will ring the number if it exceeds the legal limit at it's current location — until it slows down. Should they not?

Maybe those already exist. I don't know. I guess my problem is that I don't carry around a smartphone!

[freebeard]

Mid-book is $8600. High book value is $19,800 — that would be for a pan-off over-restoration. I'd like to get $10K as well, as the weather warms up I'll un-cocoon it and see how it's running.

That would put me at less than $2K short of the base price of the FUV. I want to sell a 36hp case to finance the powder coating. It could conceivably fetch $800, netting another $500 to put toward the FUV. Or I could put two new [painted] rear fenders on the Super.

Then I can proceed to putting the 1776 stroker and 5-speed in the 1958 Baja.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Mid-book is $8600. High book value is $19,800 — that would be for a pan-off over-restoration. I'd like to get $10K as well, as the weather warms up I'll un-cocoon it and see how it's running.

That would put me at less than $2K short of the base price of the FUV. I want to sell a 36hp case to finance the powder coating. It could conceivably fetch $800, netting another $500 to put toward the FUV. Or I could put two new [painted] rear fenders on the Super.

Then I can proceed to putting the 1776 stroker and 5-speed in the 1958 Baja.

Awesome! I hope everything pans out for you.

As of right now, I'm looking to put both the Bug and Leaf up for sale and take advantage of both Colorado and Federal tax credits towards a new Prius Prime. If I can get sell a car and put a down payment that lowers car payments on a Prime to as low as $250 per month I'll jump on it and hopefully sell the other car within the next couple years and pay off the debt.

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary

With the new job too far away for the Leaf, the Golf with a busted transmission and the Bug not wanting to get started up without leaking like the Exxon Valdez I have been contemplating selling all and getting a newer car.

However, with the amount of miles I'm planning on driving (about 24,000 per year) I feel that it's going to be more important than ever to reduce both fuel consumption and wear and tear. Obviously one way to do that is to drive slower. A block behind the accelerator pedal seems like a good start. But what about top speed? Note that I may not be the only one driving this car, yet I'm the one that's going to be paying for it. And even when I do drive there's always that temptation to go a little faster. Let's say I get a newer Toyota or Mazda and limit top speed to 55mph. Is there anything that would work correctly with modern electronics? Any ideas as to what I could fabricate myself?

Open to all ideas and criticism.

Your questions presuppose you already understand your mix of driving. An analysis. I don’t see it in the problem presentation.

DHS notes 90% of us go to 90% of the same places 90% of the time.

This insight is the source of the largest savings. Corollary (to what I’m perceiving as random) is the percentage of miles by the primary driver; as if it’s 2/3 or more, then ignoring the secondary drivers is apt.

1). Cut the annual miles
2). Drive remaining miles with better habits.

A. Go after the DHS 90% today. Find out what portion of your engine hours is devoted to that.

B. IOW, I don’t believe your record-keeping is up to par. MPG is nice, but it’s less than half the cost per mile on a typical American vehicle.

C. Wanting a device to relieve you of your responsibilities as a driver is shameful.

D. Whatever the source of the majority of miles — one use — is ripe for your understanding of Time.

- Have you used MapQuest or other tools to determine the most fuel efficient route? Shortest is not always best. Highest average miles-per-hour usually wins. (It has next to nothing to do with the speed limit, or how fast you think you’re going).

- Take any day and travel to & from that destination at NEVER above 5-mph BELOW the posted speed limit. If it’s 35-mph, you do 27-mph. Etc.

What was the total time for each leg of the journey?. Use the stopwatch function of your phone. Do NOT try to “make the light, or whatever”. On that day the driver and car are crippled.

- This is the travel time to that destination. And then back again, tested both directions. THIS is what you use to trip plan. And add fifteen-minutes to be early, and/or account for problems en-route. It’s does not include the Starbucks drive-thru.

- If your vehicle does not have an engine hour meter, that is the device problem to address. An average mph of 27 or greater for the year means an adequate job is being done. Preferably, 30-mph. This is a reflection of steady-state driving. .

- Otherwise, having tackled the ostensible reason for a car (earn an income; and personal convenience) the next step is in avoiding cold starts. Individual trips. Where most fail. Where Americans want someone else to do the work for them.

No trip is unplanned. Not to the DHS 90%. List all those places. Use tool mentioned above for fuel efficient routing. The goal here is to reduce that errand running penalty to as low as possible.

My highway average is 24-mpg. Diesel_Dave noted that the only difference between highway and city driving is the period (time) of steady state. I took that challenge and upped already good 18-mpg city to 22-mpg. I didn’t do anything fancy (though you should understand I’ve been driving for economy for 45-Years), as it’s establishing new habits that matters. The penalty to me was if I forgot something. Had to wait until next Saturday.

No one else will exert for us the self-discipline needed. One is a man or not.

Figure on a calendar quarter or 13-weeks. Habits one must be willing to make for the long term. Stunts like EOC and the like aren’t called for. It’s mainly learning how to read the flow of traffic: never stop, and never idle.

This would entail “analysis”, and the harvest of low-hanging fruit. The easy stuff. It will also make your question[s] moot. You’ll know the answer by:

1) Records
2) Plans
3) Tests

as you will have confirmed what you find reasonable.

The really short answer to your “question” is to continually ask whether the trip is necessary. But that’s aggravating.

The key for me was that outside the workweek I made one long roundtrip on Saturday to do errands, and then the vehicle was retired until Monday. With that goal my annual mileage became very clear.

It solidified my desire to enjoy my weekend from no later than 1500 on Saturday until 0630 on Monday.

Time. Control it. Engine hours & personal. Time in the vehicle isn’t a goal.

.

[George Tyler]

Originally Posted by Stubby79

If it hasn't been pointed out...if you prevent the gas pedal going down all the way, I doubt your engine will ever be able to hit peak efficiency. In theory, you want to floor it (at least up until just before fuel enrichment kicks in) to get up to speed most efficiently.

Yes! this is a very important point. It would be best to not have a throttle, cut fuel when up to speed, if it was practical. The throttle is the enemy of good fuel consumption as it forces the engine to do work drawing air past the restrictive throttle, I noticed this when I ran out of fuel. With the engine turning but not firing, opening the trottle results in less engine braking, felt by deceleration. This is one of the reasons diesels get better consumption.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by slowmover

The really short answer to your “question” is to continually ask whether the trip is necessary. But that’s aggravating.

Thanks for your help! Although I'm still reading through it and not understanding all of it.

But anyhow I am trying to lessen the amount I drive. I suppose how I do it is different than in Fort Worth. For one, there aren't many options for alternative routes here in the mountains. Usually there is only one route, or you go three or four times the distance the long way around. I might be able to choose between a couple different routes in each town, most of which are just a mile or two wide, but that's about it.



So for one I'm trying to stay with friends whenever I have to keep driving the next day in a certain part of the state. This was actually necessary with the electric car because it takes too long to charge and because it gets to cold at night sometimes to drive it. But even with a gasoline car I can knock off 130 to 260 miles per week just by staying in the next town with a blowup mattress and a sleeping bag.

I've gotten pretty good about forcing myself to drive as eco as possible in the electric car, but mainly because I have to. For an example, going from Montrose to back to home I have a total of 6,000ft ascending and then 4,000ft descending for 65 miles between charging stations. In order to do that in the Leaf I have to drive 35mph. Now some have ridiculed me for wanting to limit my gasoline car speed to 55mpg, but I do think 35mph is a bit more crazy, especially on narrow single lane highways with speed limits sometimes as high as 60mph or even 65mph.

Originally Posted by slowmover

the next step is in avoiding cold starts.

It's somewhat hard for me to plan for trips, other than the highway drives between towns, because my line of work means going to different addresses that change every day. But I do stop at each address for anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, and in weather as cold as -40°F (-40°C). And this means I end up with several cold starts all day long, which was another thing that made me want to get an EV, the idea being I'd use the EV around town and the diesel out of town. But now the diesel is broke and EV is limited to a 20 mile radius from my house due to the weather. (I even ended up having to call a tow truck just yesterday for attempting to drive 65 miles between charging stations in my Leaf in -15°F weather .)

Maybe I won't try to modify a car to only do 55mph. But I'm trying to decide what car to get and how to drive and take care of it to get the best fuel mileage as possible and best life out of it too while driving in these freezing cold, tall mountains.