The picture above is of my beloved car, Skittles. It was named Skittles because on a roadtrip, I spilled a bag of the aforementioned candy all over the floor of said car, and when my friends rode in my car, they found a lot of Skittles. Hence the name.
ANYWAY, Skittles is a wonderful little inline four-cylinder car. In a car the size of Skittles (pretty small), that generally means fuel efficient. Skittles is rated for 22 miles per gallon in the city, and 29 for the highway. I’ve been able to coax Skittles into giving me 34 miles per gallon on a trip once. For a long time, I thought that was pretty good stuff.
Until I read this.
After reading the numbers, and being broke because of the price at the pump myself, I decided to give it a try. Here’s what I found:
Yesterday, I had to drive from Monument, CO, to north of downtown Denver. The drive today included a small pass (a climb from 7000-8000 ft.), so several long hills. There was also a lot of stop and go traffic in Denver. I took note of what I’d read, so I cut down on AC usage, coasted on hills, and accelerated slowly. I also slowed down my average speed by about 5-10 mph.
I filled up back home when I had 119.9 miles on the trip ticker. I topped off my tank with 2.5 gallons of gas. You can do the math, but that’s nearly 48 mpg.
And yes, the all hallowed Prius hybrid is rated for 45 mpg on the highway by the EPA, so I’m now comfortably in hybrid territory. Take that, hybrid!
I’m very excited about this discovery. Admittedly, perhaps not the most accurate measurement, but I’m guessing it was within a couple mpg’s, which is still great for me. I will say that it was a bit tiresome being so intentional about driving, and because of the lack of AC it did get a bit balmy inside (something I don’t plan on making a permanent habit, since studies show it doesn’t make too much difference), but I think overall it was definitely worth it.
So, my thoughtful readers, do you think that you’d cut down on some driving habits to save several hundred dollars a year? I’m still trying to decide if I have the patience for it. The race car driver in me says no; the wallet in my pocket says yes. I suppose I’ll find out.
2 Comments
June 17, 2008 at 9:23 pm
That is awesome-48 mpg! Gas is a killer, and I’ll definitely be giving that website a good read. Thanks for posting it! Hope you’re doing well! I enjoy your blog.
June 23, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I don’t have my own car, but I’ve taken to not driving as aggressively when I do drive and going the speed limit or just 5 above. I do like driving fast, but honestly, its not really worth the wasted gas with prices the way they are.