Teen with lead foot checking in for rehab...
 

I'm just a 17 year old with a lead foot (like most other teen guys) and am trying to change my ways. I used to drive like a jerk and such never worrying about gas mileage, but then I got into an accident (rear-ended at a traffic light not my fault) and figured that I could afford to save some fuel. So anyways here I am.

Don't really have any good shots of my car but I'll post my bone stock altima anyways. I just made up the nickname "4x4" because of the horrendous wheel gap.


http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...0/IMAG0109.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...0/IMAG0024.jpg
Don't worry my mirror is now fixed.

Do you guys suggest that I get rid of the sunroof deflector for FE?


Look forward to learning from this site. :thumbup:

The sun roof i can't answer.
But I also had to have lead foot removal surgery done on me.
The continuing therapy i am using is my Cruise Control.
When i get on the freeway i set it at 55mph and let it stay there. Cruise Control is not the best way to save gas, but i found it to be the best way to remove my lead foot.

My cruise Control can be activated at as low as 30mph, so - needless to say - I have also started using it on city streets.
All of my driving is done on business days.

The end results of this Lead Foot surgery:
Before:
Highway - 85+mph
City - 55Mph
1 Tank Of gas - 4 Business days

After:
Highway - 55Mph
City - 35Mph
1 Tank Of Gas - 7 to 8 business days

For an added challenge i see
1 - how far i can coast w/o CControl or gas pedal before i lose my nerve and step on the gas
2 - how slow i can go on the city streets before people honk at me.

So I'm still driving like a jerk, but I'm doing it in a completely different way and saving gas while i do it.

I hope your lead foot surgery goes just as well as mine.

Yea, remove the deflector, it's probably doing the same thing as a roof rack. creating drag. I think more young people should drive eco-friendly, less crashes, go farther, and if you get gas money from your parents, less hassle from them.

That's a nice car you got there, especially for being 17. I think about cars before 18 should go like this-if you paid for it, that's great, if not, then you should be even more responsible than you would if you paid for it.

I see kids all the time around here with nice cars ('05-'08) while they still have their permit's at 15, who drive them like they don't care, act like they're on a race track, and think along the lines of "whoops, hit a tree... oh well, i don't care, I didn't pay for it" and think it's just stupid. You obviously care about your vehicle, and what happens to it, so it sounds like your responsible.

I think your first car should be simply.. a beater. One that runs good, is falling apart, and you can tell your kids stories on how one day the bumper fell off while you were driving it, or that the front end was crooked from the rest of the car. And when you get in a wreck, or fender bender, it doesn't matter, it was crappy, and probably had dents to begin with. plus you don't have to worry about getting a scratch in it all the time.

I don't know if that was and still is your first car. And I'm not baggin' on ya, I wish that my car was even crappier and cheaper that what I got, We just found it for a good price, (2k) and was in good condish, ran good, and my mom didn't want me driving around a non reliable car. :rolleyes: pshhh, That's what I wanted!!!

I'm not that far off in age than you, in fact, I'm younger at 16, so don't think I'm some old hag who doesn't like teenagers, I'm just a teenager that realized that were all stupid... even I'm stupid, I made vinegar and baking soda grenades today and exploded them on the street. That's how stupid I am.

Good thing is, your wanting to drive more economically, I don't know why people insist on flooring it to the next stop light anyway. your gonna get there and have to stop no matter what anyway, so might as well just go smooth.

I like driving slow simply because... I like driving. if I drive fast, that's less time I have behind the wheel. why get to school faster anyway? we don't like being there, so might as well enjoy driving to it while we can.

Of course I'm courteous though, if I've got friends or family, I drive a little faster, but not much. instead of driving 50-55, I'll go 60 for them. still accelerate like a turtle though.

I think of it as a game, try and see how constant of a throttle I can keep on the highway (not constant speed) and see how far I can coast and etc. Newer vehicles, I've found out, have really touchy throttles, my pedal has more resistance because of the nasty stuff that has built up at the throttle plate, (from the 13 years of commuting) and is really easy to keep a constant throttle. just try and make it fun.

Welcome to the site! Always nice to see some similarly youthful youths around, :)

Aw you dang whipper snappers. :D

Welcome to the site :thumbup:. Nice car. I had a Maxima, great car and was able to pull some good numbers from it. I think on the sun roof if you use it quite a bite keep it if not lose it. I know there expensive but if you can swing for a scangauge it will pay for itself in no time and can help answer questions if mods are working out or not. It looks like you already figured it out but changing driving habits is the biggest bang for the buck.

Ecomodder has certainly cured my lead foot. I actually enjoy driving slow behind someone else, reveling in the fuel savings increase, instead of being angry.

Welcome to the site.

For Different Point Of View, my first car, beat the hell out of it.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...00/goodone.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...0/IMAG0007.jpg
I wish it had lasted, got it for only $900. I had so many plans for it since it didn't cost much I had money to spend. But the heavy rims and uncared for engine gave me horrible gas mileage and the reliability didn't say honda so I had to get rid of it. People keep thinking that I'm spoiled or something with a nice car but my parents just got a really really nice (5k under book) deal on the car from a friend and so for the same money I got a newer car.

Also, 2k for the jeep doesn't sound bad at all.

Ankit-You don't have to justify your ride. That's not why we are here. If you are interested in saving gas then you come to the right place. Poke around you'll find lots of info to help with the FE quest. There's a great search engine at the top of the page to help you look for things and if you have questions just ask. Look forward to watching your gas logs as you move forward.:turtle::turtle:

yea, I wasn't justifying your vehicle. if it's cheap enough, why not? lol.

Does that Altima have an instant MPG instrumentation, or not? I was mad when I was told that they've never been in a ZJ WITHOUT an instant MPG indicator on the overhead console:confused: what's up with that? whoever bought the thing was friggen cheap, it didn't even have 4 wheel drive!!! but they bothered to get an auto tranny.... what kind of people were they!? buy a car if you want an auto tranny, not an SUV...


Have you inflated your tires to max yet? that actually seems to help.

ankit -

Welcome to EM!

Very cool Accord. The same thing almost happened to me a longggggggg time ago. I had some $ in my pocket and I was looking at a 1966 Mustang in shiny dark blue. But, my friend bought it instead and became the unhappy victim of a money pit. It was a terrifying-fun ride, but not worth the coin.

Another person I know got a 4 cylinder (2003?!?!?) Altima for maybe $4K. Seems like these cars are good value for the money.

And yeah, I think the sunroof deflector needs to go.

CarloSW2

No it has an average MPG computer and it hasn't really shown a movement in numbers ever. It stays at 25.8-26.5 MPG even when I'm driving on highways. Needless to say it's not very accurate :p

Done, max is 44 psi so I inflated them to 50 psi. I'm guessing that is alright. :D

I don't think that was a 2003. Maybe somewhere around a 1999 but even that is pushing it. But if he/she did get it for $4k, props to them since that is a steal, as long as it was in working condition.

Try lowering it as well, that always helps out. I'm not sure if there are any quality coilovers for the Altima but it's worth looking into. Also, I'd look into light-weight wheels to reduce rotational mass/unsprung weight.

Actually, I've seen a few without the overhead gauge. I like having it. You should be able to get better mileage without the extra 4x4 weight and stuff. And the ZJ only came from the factory with a 5 speed in 93, while a few 94s slipped through...

I thought that after 95 they quit making the manual tranny, but some of the very early models had the choice.

I know that 93 came standard, and 94 more autos came in, until the revision in 96' with the new grille style, as well as the front bumper and integration of fog lamps into it. (early zj's had them on the front bumper).

I cant really tell from your pic, but I think yours is pre-96'?


Oh, and I'm going mudding this week, which equals BAD FE for those wondering. I really wish though that they'd gotten the 4 wheel drive. If your buying a Jeep, might as well make them all 4 wheel drive. I've seen a few without the overhead gauge as well, but when someone else thinks its odd that yours doesn't have it. then it makes you think.

Allright so I filled up yesterday and got around to logging the mileage today. What a surprise! Last tank I got 20.55 MPG, slightly under EPA estimated 21 city. (my driving usually consists of 80:20 Suburb/City:Suburban highways) We don't have real interstate or parkway like highways here. Well this tank, I didn't idle at all, traffic lights or warm up to melt ice off of the car. Along with driving technique change, and slightly warmer weather got 26.07 MPG! So excited, almost reached my 27 MPG goal, next goal will be 30 MPG.

Very nice! Keep it up and you'll have 30 in no time (or as soon as it gets warmer). :)

Definitely pull the deflector. It's adding frontal area PLUS wake turbulence, while giving nothing in return. If you use the sunroof a lot, it may be worth the trouble, but when I had a car with a sunroof, I never ever used it, and it ate up precious headroom.

Driving habits are everything in hypermiling. It's one thing to have the slickest car possible e.g. Basjoos, but even so he's hypermiling a hypermiler car: the average driver couldn't do better than 50mpg with that car, he's easily pulling in much higher numbers due to better habits.

Hypermiling is a totally different kind of performance driving. The results are a bit less sexy than loud noises and high speed, but 20 years later your car will stilll be in running condition and you'll have burned thousands fewer dollars in fuel.

Welcome to the community!

ankit -

:thumbup:, Great Job!

CarloSW2

i drilled a hole thur the gas pedal on my son's car, and bolted a wooden block underneath half the thickness to the floor. he never did figure out why he was saving gas.

^ thats a really good idea

That right there sais it all..

I have extreme road rage..
I set the cruize and crank the tunes all the way past the gas stations.. :turtle:

On a very similar note I have bent throttle pedals / adjusted throttle cables on several cars for teen drivers. (At the request of their parents.)

Couldn't that put your son in danger? For example if he was avoiding a Big Rig merging onto a highway or something?

I think I'm going to curl up my floor mat underneath the pedal so I have time to fight the urge to romp on the pedal. :thumbup:

Okay so I was driving somewhere today and I discovered something amazing! I knew my trip meter gave an average reading of the MPG but it was unaccurate and until now it rarely moved (stayed at 24.6 all the time). Well I hit the trip reset button and tadaaa, I almost have an instant MPG thing, it tells me what kind of MPG I got for the previous 45 seconds of driving. So every 45 seconds of driving I know what MPG I got and I feel it's like a cheaper version of the Scangauge because atleast now I know what techniques help with FE (55 mph v 60 mph, etc)

So excited to play with this for a while. Hopefully I can use it to help me reach 30 MPG next tank.

Nice find!

Now do you have to keep hitting the odo reset button every 45 seconds or is it automatic?

yea.. average mpg's stay pretty much the same if it's got a lot of trips and stuff on it. Instant is the way to go to get it good, average is to see how you've been doing.

Didn't you try and look in the owners manual to switch between instant/average/outside temp? (if it has temp)

ankit -

That's what I was thinking. I like the idea of increasing resistance in the pedal because I think it could always be overcome by adrenaline (fear), :D .

CarloSW2

Interesting ideas - I have a few years until my 4 yr old is Driving - But i have to take notes now.

Site Note -
ankit - I am "officially" ahead of you in 90 day average. ( atleast for now)
: )

Automatic, I guess there are two modes, a whole trip kind of average that never ever ever changes and a 45-60 second interval that tells me what FE I got for the last bit of driving.

I'm talking full highway trips to cold city drives, it never changes. :D

No I pretty much just learn as I go because the car didn't come with a real owner's manual so i just got one off of the internet for free but it is not the same. :(

I will have to get working on that. But it has been raining for the last couple of days so IDK. :D

MMMkay, so I got a new engine courtesy of Nissan Corporate because of a recall. But, it has not been broken in yet so I will have bad FE for a while. In addition to this, they must have unplugged my battery because all of the presets on my radio and the trip meter have been reset. Now I have no way to track the current tank's FE.

well make sure to give it a good break in. drive it slow, and some short hard throttles at O/D will benefit in a good break-in as well. (don't let it downshift and rev up high :thumbup:

hmm i sure would not mind a recall engine ( as mine is 8 yrs old). LOL

The break in period can help you assess the "slowest" you can drive..
IE what is the minimum speed you need to coast JUST to the light.. or JUST to the turn.
afterall you do not want to hurt the engine.

as an asside - it gives me more chance to pull ahead : )

I wish I could get one as well. mines 13 years old. and I need the oil leaks fixed! :D

Yea, they even threw in a free 100k mile warranty. Yea the FE is not looking too good after another couple of days of driving. I hope it doesn't take another 8k miles to break in.

on newer cars it shouldn't, not 8k at least, maybe the first 300-3000miles, depending on the car. it should say in the owners manual (I don't know about the downloadable one).

K well I haven't done much driving this summer because I just haven't been home too much. A couple of tanks in between this got messed up because I wasn't home and I wasn't able to get the miles driven or gallons filled up since I wasn't using the vehicle.


But I finally broke 28 MPG!!!!!!!!! I thought by this time of the year I would have had 30 MPG, but it just takes too much self-control to drive :turtle: all the time. I'm getting better at it. :D Thanks guys, whenever I get off track I get on this site and it inspires me to get better FE.

30 MPG here I come.

Filled-up today before Gustav hits. 29.7 MPG. So close to 30 MPG I can taste it.

Congratulations! I drove as if I was practising for a rally special stage (with no brakes, to keep it safer and sportier) until the 1st day of The current War. Then I decided that hypermiling, with lots of coasting, etc, was just as entertaining and a lot smarter. It probably helps that I've ridden a bike a lot, where I really learned when it was worth pushing on the go pedals, and when I'd just have to brake anyway. I still get to "preserve my momentum" on curves, as before, but what really makes my day is cruising along for a minute or so in traffic with the engine off, anticipating things well enough to stay within a car length of were a motor would have put me.