For you Hypermilers and other MPG h4xx0rz

[1stToyota]

Originally Posted by 47_MasoN_47

Do you guys just put up with the impatient a-holes honking and screaming at you when starting off at redlights and stopsigns? I generally find myself letting the car get up to 2500 RPM or so when starting because the person behind me looks like they are going to have an aneurysm. Do the rest of you have to put up with that crap? Maybe the drivers in my area are just a-holes. I know the vast majority of people here have no idea how to drive.

Don't take it too hard. Maybe they're not yelling at you as much as the Yaris..they probably just think your little car is nutless.

[BailOut]

I accelerate moderately rather than slowly, but shift at 2,000 RPM. This is the olive branch that I offer to all of the egos around me.

However, I live in the right lane, and once I'm doing the speed limit, or 55 MPH on the highway, I don't give a flying frack what anyone behind me thinks or wants. I've never been honked at but I have been passed by many an intent driver while coasting in to a RED light at low speed. Go figure.

[Henry G.]

If youre doing the speed limit, in the slow lane then they have nothing to say.
BTW the guy blasting past you in the fast lane is me....

[47_MasoN_47]

Thanks for the tips, I've noticed that as Loren said it does help a lot not to be first in line. It's much easier for me to keep it below 2000 RPM accelerating when I'm somewhere in the middle.

I took a trip to Nashville on Tuesday and was letting it roll just to see how it would do (I was going about 80 the whole time). I just filled up today but haven't had time to do a mileage check. I'm pretty sure that even with the fast driving I got better mileage than I normally do in town.

[Loren]

Yeah, people are a little rude sometimes when you try to drive anywhere near the speed limit. I try to keep it at 5 over, I think that's reasonable. If they don't like that, they can find a way to pass me. And if they tailgate too closely, I just slow down.

[Yaris Hilton]

Having done it myself most of my life, and often quite flagrantly, I'm not being self-righteous here, but doesn't it seem insane to set legal speed limits and disregard them? Worse, to regard those who follow them as rude transgressors of etiquette? Or even as dangerous obstacles? Seems like a simple proposition to me, either you obey the law or you break it. Break that one and you might as well break any other. I think the popular disregard of speed limits is something that has promoted a lot of other illegal activity. Lots of speed limits are unreasonably low, as I well know from obeying them, and it seems that the traffic engineers must set them that way so the scofflaws driving 15 MPH over them will be reasonably safe. That just encourages disrespect for the law. Strange situation we've set up in this country.

[47_MasoN_47]

I agree that some of the speed limits are setup just so people who speed won't do it excessively. There is a road near my house that is about 5 miles long and almost perfectly straight except for 1 S-turn that has a speed limit of 25 the whole way down it. I generally try to follow the speed limits when in town (yeah I break them a lot on the interstate) but I just can't drive 25 down that long of a road.

[Yaris Hilton]

There's one a mile long, straight and open, posted at 25 right in my neighborhood. Cops run radar on it all the time. Many people want to run about 45 on it, which I think reasonable, actually, but with the reputation it has for radar most folks stick to 30-35. When I'm coming down the steep hill and sharp off-camber lefthand turn to get on that straight and then braking to turn into my neighborhood the 25 is more than enough, though, and that's where I've usually got some jerk in a big pickup 3 inches off my bumper, then barely clearing me as he blasts around WFO as I turn. I always hope the cops will get folks like that, but they generally don't.

[Henry G.]

I drive 50 miles of 2 lane country road everyday as part of my commute. When someone comes roaring up behind me and I have nowhere to go due to cars in front of me I just pull over and let them tailgate the other person. Sometimes it works tactically as they then pull over and I get by them as they were slowing me down. Tailgating or being tailgated in this car is bad news...

[47_MasoN_47]

I finally got around to checking my mileage from the Nashville trip I took with my fiance last week. I drove around for 2 days back at home in town after the trip (ran 1 bar out in town), so the results are somewhat skewed I'm sure. I'm very happy with the results though. Even going an average of 75-80 on the Interstate and having some quick accelerations in downtown to get in with the flow of traffic I still got 37.9mpg. The actual MPG for the trip was probably closer to 38.5 if I had to guess, since generally I get 31 in town. It was awesome driving all the way to Nashville, running around, and coming back to Florence on one tank of gas and having some to spare! Normally in my Ranger we had a gas station we always stopped at on the way to Nashville, then a BP I stopped at in Athens on the way home. I was normally running at about 3100RPM or so going 75, so I wasn't sure how the mileage would do, glad to see it was as high as it was! I'm sure I could have gotten better mileage if I had driven slower, but we didn't get started until an hour.5 later than we wanted (I slept late and failed it) so I was running hard to get there quickly so we'd still have time to do what we wanted. Luckily the trip went well and we even had 20 minutes to spare before the final mall we went to closed haha.

[Loren]

That is largely true. The person who is inclined to tailgate you is going to do so whether you're going 5 under the speed limit or 20 over. They don't think about it, they don't even realize they're doing it, it is just their habit to be "2 car lengths" off of the car in front and that is that. For those of us who know better, it's terribly annoying. All you can do is add some space in front of you to make up for the space they aren't leaving behind you.

[devinlamothe]

Originally Posted by Loren

That is largely true. The person who is inclined to tailgate you is going to do so whether you're going 5 under the speed limit or 20 over. They don't think about it, they don't even realize they're doing it, it is just their habit to be "2 car lengths" off of the car in front and that is that. For those of us who know better, it's terribly annoying. All you can do is add some space in front of you to make up for the space they aren't leaving behind you.

Yes tailgating is one of my worst pet-peeves. Actually, just the other day this rather angry looking fellow was tailgating me so close he obviously wasn't paying attention, and when I was slowing down for a RED LIGHT, he was speeding up, didn't see in time, and swerved off the road and into a ditch. Serves him right, though, I hate tail gaters!!!

[Kaotic Lazagna]

^ I concur, serves him right.

I slow down a bit when someone tailgates me. If you want to annoy me on purpose, I might as well have some fun back. lol.

[Woody_Woodchuck]

I accelerate moderately at lights of from stop signs if there is traffic behind me. Meaning I accelerate faster than I would if no one was behind me or no one coming up behind me on the road I am turning onto. There are several places I have to accelerate rapidly to avoid making other vehicles brake to avoid back ending me. Sure I lose mileage but there are places I can make it up along the way.

I try not to be an accident waiting to happen while hypermiling. If it is a busy 2-lane road I will drive the speed limit at a constant pace and DWL instead of FAS coasting or P&G. If no one is behind me I can make up tank mileage.

Bottom line I accelerate according to traffic around me. I try not to be a bottleneck or make other drivers need to do something stupid to get around or avoid me. I try and be a courteous driver who just happens to be trying to get a 60 mpg weekly commute tank. Not there yet though, last week was 58.05 mpg for 286.9 miles. You can get good mileage and be a courteous driver!

[roadrunner]

Originally Posted by Woody_Woodchuck

Bottom line I accelerate according to traffic around me. I try not to be a bottleneck or make other drivers need to do something stupid to get around or avoid me. I try and be a courteous driver who just happens to be trying to get a 60 mpg weekly commute tank. Not there yet though, last week was 58.05 mpg for 286.9 miles. You can get good mileage and be a courteous driver!

That is like perfect Woody! I am the same with great mpg.
Roadrunner

[RUFFSTUFF]

I'm beginning to like it here. In this corner we have arguments over "hypermiling" or some attempt at that... in the other corner we have people arguing over engine mods and forced induction for 100hp wheezer motors... and I swear I saw somewhere where there was a discussion on which tires give the best gas mileage! Damn... I think everyone has lost the big picture. Yaris = car = cheap = just drive it and STFU.

Other than that, keep up the good work.

[devinlamothe]

My view is if I am following the posted limit I should not be inconveniencing anyone. If you are speeding, too bad, you are going to fast and need to slow down. This is why I stay in the right hand lane. If someone really wants to race to the next red light, they can go around me.

That being said, I will NOT make a turn if I have to 'gun' my engine, I will wait until it's safe to make a steady turn at a moderate speed.

Remember, everyone on the road is equal except for emergency vehicles. I don't care what people say, we all share the road and we all have to be safe as well as courteous. But this does NOT mean speeding, etc.

[Woody_Woodchuck]

I drive the speed limit as my max on the 4-lane and go to 10 mph under the limit, depending on traffic. If it is heavy I will speed up to the psl, if sparse traffic I will go 10 under. I look at it this way, folks are going 10+ mph over the limit, if I go 10 under they are coming up behind me at 20+ mph. Pretty scary to have someone texting or on the phone barreling that fast up to me and I will be causing them to do something else stupid to go around me. Sure it is their fault for being a speeding moron but I just want to give them clear sailing to fly by me and go on their way. I have other more remote sections of my commute where I can make up the lost mileage and be safe.

I have one Yield intersection that I do have to accelerate pretty rapidly to merge with traffic. It is on a 2-lane road and if I waited for there to be even a quarter mile with no one coming I would be there for hours. Traffic can back up fast and even a 3 or 4 minute wait (not uncommon) for a spot to go there can be 10 or 30 vehicles behind the lead vehicle. I bite the bullet on this and consider it just part of my commute. Yes, there is an alternative route but even with the accelerating here I use less gas than going around it. Sure I would have a much better mpg average using these go-arounds but using more gas to get a higher mileage average.