I Hypermile

04Oct08

For the past few months, hubby and I have become hypermilers. Much to the chagrin of other drivers.. we drive slow, take our time, coast when we can, and do as much as possible to increase our mpg without having to buy a hybrid.

I’m not an extreme hypermiler like Hubby is, but I can get 36mpg in the city and about 44mpg on the highway. My tricks?

- Keep the car moving! When you pull up to a red light, see if you can slowly keep moving (like a rolling stop). When you stop you get zero mpg.

- Go slowly up hills. You don’t have to creep up them, but don’t accelerate like mad to chug it up the hill.. you’ll get there eventually.

- SLOW THE FUCK DOWN! I can’t emphasize this enough. People piss and moan about “oh no! no gas!” well.. there’d be more if people slowed down. You wouldn’t be wasting as much.

- Check your tire pressure. Make sure that it’s properly inflated. Some extremists suggest overinflating, but I don’t participate in that.

Hypermiling is illegal in some jurisdictions, especially “coasting” (which I always do downhill!). So I asked my Georgia State Patrol friend, and she said she never heard that hypermiling is illegal in Georgia, and it’s not illegal to coast.. but it is illegal to go severely under the speedlimit and to draft behind trucks.

So why do all of this? Simple. I gas up the car with Premium every 3 weeks because of this. I have a 30 minute commute to and from work, Mon-Fri. I save mad money because of this and frankly, I see things around me more because I slowed down.


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5 Responses to “I Hypermile”  

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  1. 1 boxercab on October 5, 2008 said:

    I didn’t know that coasting was illegal anywhere, except the highway!?

    I’ve been slowing down too. :)

    Reply
  2. 2 Tanja on October 21, 2008 said:

    Hey Sue,

    I am with ya! 55mi/hour on a freeway is my kind of ride! ;)

    I keep forgetting to tell you; I put you on the list of my links (or “blogroll” as those youngsters like to say nowadays)! I thought you would like to know that…

    Have a great day!

    T.

    Reply
  3. 3 karen wink on October 26, 2008 said:

    my dad (an auto guru) told me to keep it under 2000 rpm if you can. it saves gas. I’m glad to know they have a name for it. FYI: gas is down to ~$2.50/gal here in lake charles

    Reply
  4. 4 Tanja on November 29, 2008 said:

    HI Sue,

    I hope you are OK, I haven’t seen you post for a while….
    How is that Atlanta Czech group coming along ;) ??

    Reply
  5. 5 Tom Sawyer on December 28, 2008 said:

    I guess this story is somewhat dead since gas has went down. However, one thing was not pointed out: this all makes driving boring. I’m one of those people who have to like the car I’m driving because I want to enjoy the drive. No, I’m not one of those lazy Americans and all our cars are manuals.

    I totally understand the point, but for people like me driving itself has to be fun.

    PS – I’m thinking about getting either a Honda Fit or Mini Cooper so I can have fun with the highest MPG possible. :D

    Reply

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