So after hitting about 150 miles on this tank I decided that yeah driving at 75 like a lot of people is cool (10 above the limit) with the occasional pushing to 80 to pass because well I don't like driving behind others for too long especially when they don't maintain a constant speed. But honestly, do I NEED to drive at 75? I read those articles about hypermilling and so I decided to give it a shot.
Driving to work is a PITA for me sometimes when I'm stressed... well not really but for someone who gets road rage from time to time I get annoyed on our 6 lane highway (3 each way) where the left is a HOV lane meaning only 2 lanes are accessible to traffic. It's against traffic so the road is flowing smoothly but there's still a good # of cars where it's dense but flowing. There's a good # of people who push 75+ in the middle lane but you know that when only 2 lanes are accessible to most traffic that there are those people who feel that a slowpoke driving 55 - 60 is not enough in the right lane so they decide to pass at a meager 62mph and it slows the whole lane down. Or there are those jerks who line up with the guy in the right lane when there's like 2 miles of open road in front (just get behind the guy int he right lane so the rest of us lining up behind you can cruise at 70+), and don't make us pass from the right when cars are entering.'
Ok so I decided to take a breather for the week and be that jerk who drives 60 - 65. I tried the right lane and sometimes it's too fast for people and I have to pass on the middle. I feel like a jerk for staying on cruise control to pass and it takes a while sometimes because not everyone drives at constant speeds so they speed up on downhills and slow down on uphills, but if I really can't pass them efficiently I'll tap the gas a little more. Yeah it took me a little more than an hour to drive my girlfriend back last night as opposed to the usual 50 minutes but wow, it's an amazing feeling not to have to try to get ahead of others or try to pass or whatever or complain that people are driving too slowly in the 2 left lanes, etc. I guess I become the one people complain about. For once I drove like 90% of my trip in the 2nd lane from the right as opposed to the usual 2nd from left and pass using the HOV (at night) lane.
Oh and I started turning off the AC whenever possible which is a huge factor, and I don't know if it helps but I usually leave my headlights on 24/7, but I started turning that off except at night.
Results?
Before I was lucky once to get 400 miles on 15 gallons of gas, but usually I don't get that far.
Yesterday I filled up at 433.6 miles with 14.2 gallons.
OMG 30mpg. I'm trying this for the whole tank now because I just filled up last night. Let's see how far we can push this.
BTW, car is a 1998 Toyota Camry 4 cyl. I remember getting 442 miles on this car on a trip down to LA before gassing up but I guess that's when I drove slow (in high school), and I have always told myself I must've read the odometer wrong or something because I've never attained such mileage again... well it's true. I guess in the past like 4 years I've been driving too quickly.
Cliffs:
1) Tried to tell self to drive 65mph or slower and no more lead foot on the gas pedal
2) Before: 400 miles, 15 gallons at best, usually a little worse
3) Yesterday: 433.6 miles, 14.2 gallons, and I only started slowing down 150 miles into this tank.
Driving to work is a PITA for me sometimes when I'm stressed... well not really but for someone who gets road rage from time to time I get annoyed on our 6 lane highway (3 each way) where the left is a HOV lane meaning only 2 lanes are accessible to traffic. It's against traffic so the road is flowing smoothly but there's still a good # of cars where it's dense but flowing. There's a good # of people who push 75+ in the middle lane but you know that when only 2 lanes are accessible to most traffic that there are those people who feel that a slowpoke driving 55 - 60 is not enough in the right lane so they decide to pass at a meager 62mph and it slows the whole lane down. Or there are those jerks who line up with the guy in the right lane when there's like 2 miles of open road in front (just get behind the guy int he right lane so the rest of us lining up behind you can cruise at 70+), and don't make us pass from the right when cars are entering.'
Ok so I decided to take a breather for the week and be that jerk who drives 60 - 65. I tried the right lane and sometimes it's too fast for people and I have to pass on the middle. I feel like a jerk for staying on cruise control to pass and it takes a while sometimes because not everyone drives at constant speeds so they speed up on downhills and slow down on uphills, but if I really can't pass them efficiently I'll tap the gas a little more. Yeah it took me a little more than an hour to drive my girlfriend back last night as opposed to the usual 50 minutes but wow, it's an amazing feeling not to have to try to get ahead of others or try to pass or whatever or complain that people are driving too slowly in the 2 left lanes, etc. I guess I become the one people complain about. For once I drove like 90% of my trip in the 2nd lane from the right as opposed to the usual 2nd from left and pass using the HOV (at night) lane.
Oh and I started turning off the AC whenever possible which is a huge factor, and I don't know if it helps but I usually leave my headlights on 24/7, but I started turning that off except at night.
Results?
Before I was lucky once to get 400 miles on 15 gallons of gas, but usually I don't get that far.
Yesterday I filled up at 433.6 miles with 14.2 gallons.
OMG 30mpg. I'm trying this for the whole tank now because I just filled up last night. Let's see how far we can push this.
BTW, car is a 1998 Toyota Camry 4 cyl. I remember getting 442 miles on this car on a trip down to LA before gassing up but I guess that's when I drove slow (in high school), and I have always told myself I must've read the odometer wrong or something because I've never attained such mileage again... well it's true. I guess in the past like 4 years I've been driving too quickly.
Cliffs:
1) Tried to tell self to drive 65mph or slower and no more lead foot on the gas pedal
2) Before: 400 miles, 15 gallons at best, usually a little worse
3) Yesterday: 433.6 miles, 14.2 gallons, and I only started slowing down 150 miles into this tank.