Fuel Economy

[eTiMaGo]

Originally Posted by BailOut

Yes, and in a negative way.

The larger the wheel the more it weighs, and the more energy it takes to make it turn one full revolution.

Gonna be a bit of a nitpick, but that's not exactly true, it takes more energy to change the speed of the rotation, basically to overcome inertia. A heavier wheel has more inertia, so more power is needed.

Best way to think of it is a spinning top. When you have a small, light top, it takes very little twist from your fingers to get it spinning. But spin a big heavy top and you really gotta give it some push.

Hope that clears it up!

[Razr]

Just to add to eTiMaGo's post; a heavier wheel will also store more energy, so much of the additional energy it takes to spin it up will be repaid when coasting. The real detriment is in stop/start driving, where you can't capitalize on the intertial payback.

Additionally, a heavier rotating mass will always take more braking force to stop, so that's a constant downside, as in imperical terms, braking is always akin to throwing away energy (well, unless you have a regenerative charging system of course).

[Black Yaris]

just another addition to the whole inertia thing...
http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssc...aws/u2l1b.html

[Racer X-8]

My wagon wheels are teh bomb!!1! Their extremely narrow, hard patch minimizes rolling resistance. All drag racers use them for their front wheels. So do those experimental low energy cars, like the ones that are all covered in solar panel arrays. Planes. I don't think they'll fit on a Yaris though... The trade-offs, I'm guessing, might be unreliable traction, very low tread life, and an extremely geeky-looking Yaris. Best kept to wagon racing, eh?

[Black Yaris]

This should do ya for some good MPG, ultra light weight and very nice ride

[Racer X-8]

Originally Posted by hystria

90% of the time most people will only use 50% of the available engine power

Yup, and as for the other 10% of the time, they don't really NEED to. I'm getting a kick out of all types of people (especially soccar moms) out-doing themselves in their strained efforts to get ahead of my anemic arse, just gunning the piss out of their Explorers to get in front of me (me not even trying), exhaust fumes sickly spewing out their tailpipes enough to choke the life out of any small animal nearby, then slowing down, thinking they have won some kind of fight or something, only to watch me coast on by them, later on down the road... Petty, shallow, insignificant fools that they are...

[Black Yaris]

to tell you the truth I don't care.... when I stuff it, and so does the SUV right next to me on the e-way, I just laugh... I keep up with him and I am using 1/2 the gas... that is all that matter to me :)

[Racer X-8]

Quoted from Men In Black: a classic qoute that I for some reason love to quote!

Edgar/Bug: Y'know, I've noticed an infestation here. Everywhere I look, in fact. Nothing but undeveloped, unevolved, barely conscious pond scum, totally convinced of their own superiority as they scurry about their short, pointless lives.
Zap-Em Man: Well, yeah. Uh... don't you want to get rid of 'em?
Edgar/Bug: Ah... in the worst way

Did you know who played the Bug? hehe... my favorite character!

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

Gonna be a bit of a nitpick, but that's not exactly true, it takes more energy to change the speed of the rotation, basically to overcome inertia. A heavier wheel has more inertia, so more power is needed.

Right you are. I guess I oversimplified my answer. It's always a balance between educating someone and leaving them rocking in a fetal position. hehe

Originally Posted by Racer X-8

Yup, and as for the other 10% of the time, they don't really NEED to. I'm getting a kick out of all types of people (especially soccar moms) out-doing themselves in their strained efforts to get ahead of my anemic arse, just gunning the piss out of their Explorers to get in front of me (me not even trying), exhaust fumes sickly spewing out their tailpipes enough to choke the life out of any small animal nearby, then slowing down, thinking they have won some kind of fight or something, only to watch me coast on by them, later on down the road... Petty, shallow, insignificant fools that they are...

I know your pain! Almost every single day on the uphill side of my over-the-mountain commute someone strives with all their vehicle's might to pass me, riding my tail and swerving like a mad man. When they finally pass I have to roll up my window to try and keep the noxious fumes out, and it also helps to deaden the noise of their screaming engine.

With few exceptions I catch up to them 5 or 10 minutes later on the downhill side. The funny thing is that I'm doing exactly the speed limit in the highest maintainable gear the whole time.

In other words I get from point A to point B just as fast as they do but I do so with much less energy, waste, stress, and wear and tear.

When I drive in the city I get even more exasperated. You'd think someone started handing out trophies for those that get to the next red light first. I can be approaching a solid red light that's going to be red for at least the next 60 seconds and too many times someone - usually in an SUV or big truck - feels the need to pass me in those last 50m before the line of traffic, as if their very presence and force of will can make the light change faster, or like a puppy somewhere will die if they don't get to the back of that line of traffic in the next 5 seconds.

Then they sit there at the light, idling their over-sized engine for the next 60 seconds, getting 0 MPG for that time. The light turns green, that imaginary lady in the tight shorts waves her handkerchief and they're off on the 1/4 mile hoping for a < 10 second run, pretending that the next light isn't 1/8 mile away and also just turned red.

[Racer X-8]

Yup, you got it. And those are the first to holler about how we have to solve the rising price of gas, and now, global warming... freakin idiots - the general masses are nothing but a bunch of freakin idiots. Just like the Bug said...

54 fifll-ups
19,000 miles
35.7 mpg avg (US)
It's going up again with the warm spring weather. (pre-AC days)

[Lickitung]

I'm on my second tank, but this is the first tank that I've calculated. I got 33 mpg, that was 100% city driving and almost always using the a/c (it's hot here in Arizona). While I hope the mileage gets better, it's still loads better than my old Chevy S10.

[zerofloat]

Originally Posted by BailOut

Great job, zerofloat! That's very close to my second tank (38.96 MPG).

I just fueled up for my 5th time today and got 46.40 MPG.

Come join me at CleanMPG.com and we'll get you up in the mid-40's without breaking a sweat!

Bailout THANKS for the link to CleanMPG.com, picked up some great tips there. Last two fills were 40 and 43 MPG

[Racer X-8]

Originally Posted by Racer X-8 from my 1-2-07 post #910

Okay here it is, hehe. A couple things I can point out:

The downward trend in the beginning is mainly I think due to the drop below $1 per gallon just after the 9-11-01 attack. The price of gas dropped un-naturally low for some reason.

The major spike in 2005 was from the shortages due to Katrina.

The last thing I see is - it looks like we're in for a major price hike again... soon...

US $$$ per US gallons. Regular gas - the cheapest I could fairly easily find.

Here we go again. This price gouging is repeating last year's precisely by date and pricing...

[nsmitchell]

I just filled up yesterday and my last 2 tanks averaged just shy of 40MPG. Then I got my BIG TICKET!

[swng]

Reality (I presume other cars have been similarly affected):
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calcu...umn=1&id=22749
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calcu...umn=1&id=22750

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by swng

Reality

True that, and it's a shame. The original EPA numbers were designed on how we were all supposed to drive. The reality is that we became a nation full of jerks that use aggressive driving to fulfill some dangerous desire for domination.

The funny thing is that the original EPA numbers are not hard at all to achieve in any vehicle. All it ever took was accelerating lightly (most folks punch it), braking lightly (most folks speed to the stop and then stand on their brakes), anticipating stops and traffic events (most folks don't look beyond the next light or further than 3 cars ahead of themselves), not speed (most folks treat a speed limit sign as a challenge) and not allow excessive idling (but everyone sits in the fast food and bank drive-thrus and at stop lights with their engine idling, and a few truly lost souls still idle their car for several minutes in the morning "to let it warm up").

A general apathy regarding fuel economy that continues to this day never helped, either. Just the other day I was chatting with a lady that was getting her VW Bug's oil changed. She had the biggest bike rack I've ever seen on her car but I noticed that is was easily removable (it just had twist tabs to release the gripping arms).

I asked her if she normally kept the rack off to help her mileage and just put it on during the times she actually needed it and she told me she keeps it on all the time. I whipped out my phone's calculator and showed her how much this was costing her per year in wasted fuel - USD $180 (60 gallons) - and she just shrugged and said she didn't like taking it off and putting it back on.

[Doug007]

I keep my tires inflated to 36-37 psi, use Mobil 1 5-30 and drive fairly conservatively. My best mpg in my Yaris S sedan was just yesterday, Reno to the Central Valley of CA - 47.7 (much downhill, good tailwind:). Overall, I have a combined mpg of 41, which I track on the following website:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

The Yaris is the first vehicle I've ever owned that not only met, but exceeds the EPA rating.

[acrbill]

Got my first 30MPG tank. It doesn't sound impressive but I am working 6 miles from home and I drive in true city traffic with no expressway travel.