Following up on Darin's "Hall of Shame" thread, how did you end up interested in fuel economy?
I'm not certain what did it for me. I had been wanting my own vehicle for a while - something that wasn't necessarily the "family" vehicle that I wasn't allowed to tinker/experiment with.
I was kind of planning on a muscle car of sorts (was looking at a '69 Cougar), but I also had this semi-guilt over burning a lot of fuel. I didn't agree with single-person SUVs and such plus I wanted to save money from my $160+ a month gas bill due to the Aerostar.
So, I bought the Metro and for some reason have enjoyed every moment of logging fuel and repairs/mods. I guess I mostly needed a new hobby to combat the monotony of constantly being on the computer...and FE is a rather unexplored arena.
It was a bit of a round about trip for me. The first step was my company was bought out and that was the end of all of my company paid gas cards. Step 2 was gas going up to some $2+ price. I was then on the search for my new "gas saver" I found a crap 88 Crx so that is my new daily driver. I also have a 2005 Toyota Tundra with the big bad V-8 that moves a few times a month when I need a truck. I started by calcualting out my MPG every fill up just to see how much money my car was saving me. Here is some math for fun:
1 week to work using Honda at 39 MPG:
500 miles / 39 m/g x 2.60 (low estimate) $/g = $33.1/3 per week to work
1 Week using Tundra
500 miles / 18 m/g x 2.60 $/g = $72.22 per week
Honda savings over Tundra = $38.89 (per week)
Estimated yearly savings: 50 x $38.89 = $1944.5
Not bad considering the car cost me about $1000 to buy and fix and tags and insurance is getting me for about $300 a year.
Now I want to just bump that up a bit and make those numbers even better. Oh ya those calculations are how I talked my wife into letting me get the honda.
I first learned to drive during the gas embargo days of the early 70's. I lived in Berlin, Germany at the time and remember the "no-cars" Sundays that they had in Berlin at this time (i.e. no private cars were allowed on the roads on Sunday; only city buses, police and and emergency vehicles). It was an interesting experience riding my bike down a normally busy city thoroughfare and seeing only an occasional vehicle on the road. Needless to say, gas conservation in driving was emphasized in my driver's education and I have maintained this mindset in my driving ever since (the $4 a gallon European gas prices at the time also helped to encourage fuel conservation).
When I blew my turbocharged motor for the second time and realized I couldn't afford to rebuild it (at the time) and even if I could it would be pissing money into the wind. I'm a tinkerer...I have to fidget with my autombile(s) at least once every few weeks. I had an HF transmission laying around and have two stock EF Civics, so I figured I'd rebuild it for the hell of it (to satisfy my tinker tooth) and stick it into one of my Civics. Then I found this site and it's all downhill from here...
First of all I am very cheap and always tring to save money here and there.
Gas was going up to $2.50 (spring '05) and I realized maybee if i don't drive as fast as possible all the time I might save money. So i decied to drive somewhat slower to save on gas (and I started tracking my mpg). After huricane katrina (fall '05) I started to get a bit more serious
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2008 EPA adjusted:
Distance traveled by bicycle in 2007= 1,830ish miles
Average commute speed=25mph (yes, that's in a car)
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