Hyper-miling

If you read Fark or Digg you have probably come across the recent spate of articles about Wayne Gerdes and the recent expansion of the hypermiling movement.

I have been trying it out pretty seriously the past week and a half, and boy, let me tell you. My Grand Prix gets 20 MPG if I am lucky, it is so heavy, it usually does more like 18 under normal conditions. I usually fill the tank about once every eight or nine days. The last seven days, where normally I would go through almost an entire tank of gas, I have thus far only used about half a tank. That means that my mileage at present is sitting at about 35MPG. That's better than my wife's VW Golf. I'm sold.

• Drive slowly (I don't go over the speed limit, and try to keep it below 60 at all times)
• Accelerate slowly (the slower the better)
• Don't accelerate up hills
• Do accelerate down hills, or coast.
• Coast in neutral as often as you possibly can
• Using the brakes is essentially turning gas into useless heat. Do it as little as possible.
• Never idle the car (it starts up quickly enough, idling is completely useless)
• Conserve momentum, don't slow to a stop unless you absolutely have to.
  

I have thus far saved about 5 dollars. If I can keep this up, I will save about 30 bucks every month. That is enough for a brand new video game every other month.

W00t.

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