Weight Reduction for better FE

[theholycow]

That may well be the first time I've ever seen hard data from an actual experiment. Bang up job!

This pretty much confirms what I've been saying all along -- you need a significant perecentage of weight difference to make a measurable FE difference. Taking 50 pounds out of a 3000 pound vehicle will simply not yield a worthwhile increase (unless that 50 pounds was just wasted space).

So, if you have a 2,300 pound Civic, and you think you can yank out two hundred pounds (more than you'll get from removing the backseat, trim, spare tire, and buying wheels)...go ahead. It might be easier to just drive around with never more than half a tank of gas, which weighs ~6 pounds per gallon.

Can anyone else provide hard data for different types of vehicles? The effect may differ in vehicles with different power-to-weigh ratios, for example, or different MPG-to-weight ratio...