The gas mileage conundrum...

[Norm Peterson]

Why not? People drag race pickup trucks; what's wrong with hyper-miling a V8 Mustang?

Nothing that isn't wrong with hypermiling in general (and there is plenty wrong about it).


Norm

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[JimmyTwoTimes]

Nothing that isn't wrong with hypermiling in general (and there is plenty wrong about it).

Such as?

 

[Norm Peterson]

Tailgating trucks, buses, and in trains . . . pulse and glide . . . coasting down hills in neutral/engine idling (maybe).,

And that's just while I was opening up the thread.


Norm

 

[Norm Peterson]

If you've ever seen the Mythbusters episode about drafting other vehicles and mpg, well, let me suggest from a 40 year ago experience that they picked the wrong vehicle to follow. And that they almost managed to mention something surprising anyway (something that I'm sure the show's legal team would never have allowed them to sneak anything more past editing than they did).


Norm

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

If you've ever seen the Mythbusters episode about drafting other vehicles and mpg, well, let me suggest from a 40 year ago experience that they picked the wrong vehicle to follow. And that they almost managed to mention something surprising anyway (something that I'm sure the show's legal team would never have allowed them to sneak anything more past editing than they did).


Norm

I have watched that Mythbusters, actually -- obviously drafting a semi that close is dangerous the way they do it, but I have been known to fall in behind a semi in traffic for mileage purposes if I'm on a long highway run. Not so close as on Mythbusters, or anywhere near it, but if I have the option to be in traffic 50 feet behind a passenger car or 50 feet behind a semi, I'll usually go with the semi. That's, I think, one place where adaptive cruise control can really come in handy.

Agreed that drafting is dangerous and shouldn't really be done; there are a lot of other hypermiling techniques that aren't, though. Putting it in neutral on declines, using momentum on gentle inclines rather than giving it gas (while obviously making sure there's nobody remotely close to you behind you), always leaving the windows up, always leaving the A/C off if it can be avoided, sticking right at 55 mph (or whatever the speed limit is on highways that have higher speed limits than that), using the "pretend there's an egg between your foot and the gas pedal" throttle technique... all of those things can be helpful. It helped me get tanks as high as 35 mph on my V6 Mustang on straight highway cruises.

 

[peetucket]

This thread is interesting. I have a manual GT convertible on order. Our other car is a Prius. The Prius is a great commute/family car, and I love the great mileage. We currently carpool, so the GT will be mostly for fun. I understand the GT will get terrible mileage compared to the Prius, and I am ok with that.

On the other hand, if my job situation changes, and I need to use the GT as a commuter car, I will try and get the best mileage I can out of it when commuting. Not because I need to (financially I can easily afford the car and the gas even when it gets above $5 here in California), but because I want to.

Will I have fun on weekends and not care about getting 10 MPG? Yup. Will I drive it gently to school most weekdays with my kid in the back and try and get 22 MPG? Yup. Not sure why this has to be either/or for some folks.

As others have said, just because you have the money, doesn't mean you have to spend it all the time. In fact, there are plenty of "wealthy" folks who have no savings because they buy a huge house, lease ridiculously expensive cars, and generally have bad financial sense. The San Francisco bay area is full of people who live way beyond their means. All it takes is the next downtown in the housing or stock markets for some of these folks to be in serious trouble. I'd prefer to save when possible and ride out the bad times without worrying about anything. And buying a GT convertible is hardily frugal, but part of the reason I can do this without breaking a sweat is my previous awareness of what is worth spending money on and what is not.

Plus it is better for the environment to save gas (and I am not kidding and absolutely realize the ridiculousness of this statement once I am driving a GT!). At least our combined Prius/GT mileage will be in the 30s somewhere...

 

[GordieBobfish]

I'm just curious about what would motivate someone to put a lot of effort into making a relatively inefficient car efficient when there are other, less expensive, cars on the market that offer similar creature comforts with way more mileage "out of the box".

I'm not against good mileage, like I've mentioned my main commuter car is a Jetta Diesel and I purchased that car purely for the incredible mileage it gives me on my ~80 mile round trip to/from work. The fuel savings alone in that car over my truck I had prior more than paid back the car.

I could drive the mustang as softly as humanly possible and probably still get 30 mpg less than my Jetta, so if mileage is the primary concern then a mustang just seems like a strange choice is all.

Once the new car excitement wears off a bit ill go back to commuting in that car and the Mustang will sit save for nice days/weekends.




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[peetucket]

I'm just curious about what would motivate someone to put a lot of effort into making a relatively inefficient car efficient when there are other, less expensive, cars on the market that offer similar creature comforts with way more mileage "out of the box".

For me, it was mostly because I wanted a convertible with a manual transmission, decent performance and handling, comfortable/nice interior and back seats for the kids. There are very few options out there that fit this criteria while staying around $40k or less. May have bought the V6, but decided I wanted the premium features/interior. Considered the Ecoboost, but decided I plan on keeping this car for the very long term, and wasn't convinced of the turbo/direct-injection combo just yet. So a long trail of decisions led me to a very impractical car.

As the car talk guys would say, I am planning for a great mid-life crisis.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

I'm just curious about what would motivate someone to put a lot of effort into making a relatively inefficient car efficient when there are other, less expensive, cars on the market that offer similar creature comforts with way more mileage "out of the box".

I'm not against good mileage, like I've mentioned my main commuter car is a Jetta Diesel and I purchased that car purely for the incredible mileage it gives me on my ~80 mile round trip to/from work. The fuel savings alone in that car over my truck I had prior more than paid back the car.

I could drive the mustang as softly as humanly possible and probably still get 30 mpg less than my Jetta, so if mileage is the primary concern then a mustang just seems like a strange choice is all.

Once the new car excitement wears off a bit ill go back to commuting in that car and the Mustang will sit save for nice days/weekends.

Nobody whose "primary concern" is gas mileage will be buying a Mustang. But just because it's not a "primary concern" doesn't mean it's not a "major concern." If all these guys who talk about great performance really just had performance as their only concern, none of them would have bought Mustangs because they'd all be driving Ariel Atoms or Caterhams. So maybe their primary concern is performance, but it certainly isn't their only concern.

My thoughts when I was buying a new car: Must be rear-wheel drive (I hate hate hate FWD or FWD-based AWD cars). Must be "cool" -- I want people to say "hey, nice car," not to be ashamed and have to look sheepish at what I'm showing up in. Must be a reliable car, and not be in the shop 200 days a year like some sort of Jaguar. Preferably American union-made. Preferably naturally aspirated (also hate forced induction).

That kind of narrows the playing field of what you're going to find. Mileage certainly wasn't my primary concern in buying a car; if it was, I would have bought a Mazda 3 (I would never buy a hybrid because my experience with cell phones leaves me to believe that the batteries won't last five years, let alone 20). But that doesn't mean I don't care at all about it.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Putting it in neutral on declines

Last I knew, this practice wasn't even legal in most places. Never mind that it isn't smart to throw away however much passive speed control you get from engine compression braking.

I'm just curious about what would motivate someone to put a lot of effort into making a relatively inefficient car efficient when there are other, less expensive, cars on the market that offer similar creature comforts with way more mileage "out of the box".

Because for some people, life is too short to drive boring cars no matter how efficient they might be or how many creature comforts they have. When the fun is in the driving experience, efficiency and features are all but irrelevant.


Norm

 

[Herr_Poopschitz]

One of the wealthiest guys I know lives in the plains states, made around 200k/year before retiring...drove an 80s S10 w/ a 4 cylinder, and wore faded generic brand polos and worn out jeans.

You'll never be wealthy if you spend it...so why not try to maximize fuel savings?

I find it can be fun to see just how far a tank can go...it's a performance metric just like track times.... If I can do simple, inexpensive, non-obtrusive mods to get better mpgs, I'll try them out too as a matter of curiosity and experimentation.

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