This single tip saves 20% gas!

[JP&R]

I think the point of this post is to think about your speed which I do pretty regularly. I tend to drive between 65 and 75 and usually stay somewhere between 69 and 72. Here is an example of my mileage doing that yesterday.

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[MaverickDragon]

It took a REALLY long time to shrink with all the brake lights ahead of me.

I really miss the traffic in California cities... Like a painful boil...

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

I really miss the traffic in California cities... Like a painful boil...

All in all... the bottom line is the cost per mile in California is no higher than anywhere else.

The denser traffic basically forces you to get really high miles per gallon.

I get this completely keeping up with the natural flow of traffic.

How many Texans out there are going 750 miles on 14 gallons?

Takes 111 miles to move the gas needle in my hybrid.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

That's pretty good.
How much time did it take to do those 111 miles? That way we have an average mph.

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

That's pretty good.
How much time did it take to do those 111 miles? That way we have an average.

I'd say about 3 hours.

Three separate 1 hour trips.
So three "cold" starts. Cold being relative. And three ramp ups and ramp downs.

 

[MaverickDragon]

All in all... the bottom line is the cost per mile in California is no higher than anywhere else.

The cost per gallon in California is another matter entirely..
With a hybrid, it's true that stop and go helps mpg's as long as you aren't running the AC or the heater.

Just before I moved from the tarnished state, I went to a Dodger baseball game in LA.
It was over late and I got onto the 405 southbound from the I-10 westbound about midnight.
I only needed to go to the first exit, just over a mile away.
That took me 4 freekin hours. That .25 miles per hour was the last straw. I moved soon after.

The last time I visited CA to pick up a flea-bay motorcycle in 2006, I spent over 3 hours to go 2 miles. A hybrid could do okay mileage wise, but it's still a GIANT waste of time sitting in traffic.

Needless to say my next trip to SoCal will be... NEVER.

 

[urwatuis]

I'm reading this post for the first time 3 days after the OP and there are 13 pages of comments! Who knew there would be so much discussion over gas mileage and highway speeds.

I avoid the interstate highways almost completely. I am generally in no rush to go anywhere. Life is too short. The back roads are more scenic. I just start out a little early and relax. Oh and my gas mileage goes up into the 40's and 50's.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

I'm reading this post for the first time 3 days after the OP and there are 13 pages of comments! Who knew there would be so much discussion over gas mileage and highway speeds.

I avoid the interstate highways almost completely. I am generally in no rush to go anywhere. Life is too short. The back roads are more scenic. I just start out a little early and relax. Oh and my gas mileage goes up into the 40's and 50's.

Not many route options out here in the West.

 

[First Sergeant]

Not many route options out here in the West.

Same here in Idaho. To get to the northern part of the state, there is ONE road. Hwy 95. You can get to McCall on Hwy 55, but it dead ends in New Meadows where I used to live. Then its 95 on up! I know a few old logging trails, but who wants to take a week to get to Sandpoint? Ha!

 

[MaverickDragon]

I agree, it's a lot more relaxing to take back roads, but those are few and far between...
In northern Arizona there are parts of Route 66 you can take, but I-40 is the only practical way to go east, as it's the only route in some parts.

 

[MaverickDragon]

I'm reading this post for the first time 3 days after the OP and there are 13 pages of comments! Who knew there would be so much discussion over gas mileage and highway speeds.

Some of us enjoy typed conversation more than others..
Just like a back road ambling through the countryside, some threads meander through more than one topic over time.

 

[urwatuis]

Just like a back road ambling through the countryside, some threads meander through more than one topic over time.

that sounds like a line from a poem

 

[babytruk]

that sounds like a line from a poem

….or a country song.

 

[MaverickDragon]

Maybe a bit of both..

 

[First Sergeant]

….or a country song.

Haha! But here are the "perfect" lyrics in a country western song, written by John Goodman, performed here by David Allan Coe, (among many others). Have to listen to the entire song to get to the 'gist".

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