Thread: Rolling Roadblock

Originally Posted by slickwill

I had to drive to Omaha and back today to take my sister-in-law to the airport. 120 miles each way. The speed limit on I-80 is 70mph. Normally I cruise at about 77-79mph. Today, I slowed it down to 68-69mph purely for the sake of gas mileage. It went from 28mpg to 34.8mpg. A big difference for 10mph. It's the first time in life that my speed has been influenced by gas mileage but I don't think it will be the last. (2005 Nissan Sentra SE-R SpecV with 6 speed)

Funny how that works. I did the same in the truck tonight on my drive to training. Last tank I had 650 kms roughly on about 62 Liters of fuel. big difference from my normal 125ish km/h

But like you said, not likely to last too long. I just want to try and get accustomed to driving slower for when I get hauling my trailer around.

The same applies to towing (or more so) plus towing to fast is dangerous.

I always knew I'd get better mileage by slowing down a bit (or a lot) but have never been able to convince myself that the extra time on the road was worth the improved mileage. I wasn't in any hurry today but my checking account has been suffering so I decided it was time to start changing some habits. In all reality it probably only saved a TINY bit of money but over a lifetime it could make a big difference in the amount of fuel I consume.

6 mpg with a 12 gallon tank is 72 miles and at 34 mpg that's two gallons per tank or $7 a tank less you'd be spending.

Or, 536 gallons v 441 gallons over 15000 miles. $335 savings per year.

...and the extra amount of time really isn't that much over shorter, more common commutes.

I was the slowest thing on the road. Even the semi's were going by me. For $335 a year though my ego could get used to it.

I stand to save over $2000/yr by commuting with my bike instead of my Odyssey. (19-23mpg vs 40-48mpg)

I even tried to take local streets home last night and never broke 30mph on the bike... just to see if I can stand to take a 50cc (80+mpg) scooter to work instead. Took me almost twice as long but its suprisingly doable. Even for me.

The Real test will be the more crowded commute TO work.... which I'll try today or tomorrow.

-jh