I give up, It's not worth my time...
 

The only reason I started trying to save gasoline was to save money. I'm not interested in saving the planet or any other grand plan.

With the Hyundai I bought, I can drive conservatively and get about 39 mpg or I can drive aggressively and get about 35 mpg.

The savings for me at 4$/gal. amounts to less than 20$/month driving conservatively.

The time savings driving aggressively amounts to about 20 minutes/day.

My driving style will probably be somewhere in the middle and I'll probably end up getting around 37 mpg.

I know it's kind of a hobby or obsession for some. For those who enjoy the challenge of getting the most out of their vehicles, more power to you. I'll still keep my stats in the garage area and maybe go for good numbers once in awhile just for fun but as far as an ongoing effort, I don't see it happening. It's just not worth my time.

How does everyone else feel about the effort it takes vs. the time involved?

Kevin

Like everything in life, balance is good. I also think driving should be fun so an extra $20 in gas per month is probably worth not stressing about mpg's. The important thing is just knowing what habits and techniques etc, effect your mileage, then you can implement them as you see fit.

Sounds like you know what works for you. That's what's important.

I do it because I really need to save money, but when it comes to small differences like that $20/month, I mainly do it because it's fun. I get bored just driving along and messing with P&G, EOC, DFCO, or any other acronym gives me something to do with my time and excess attention span. Otherwise I might be doing something that distracts me from driving.

With Marvin, it works out at about 20mpg and 20 mins per trip or 25mpg and 25 mins per trip, on a 20 mile trip. So 5 mins saves .2 gallons, which at my prices of nearer $5 a gallon, is about a buck. So those 5 mins extra "pay" 12 bucks an hour, and about $20 a week. Even if gas went down to $3, it would still be worth the $7 an hour or $12 a week. If a clean, renewable fuel came in at under $2 a gallon equivalent, then I guess I'd worry less about being a little wasteful.

Another one bites the dust!

Post like these really cause you to admire the people that were hypermilers back in the $1.99/gallon days.

when i bought my civic it would go 28-32 miles on a gallon of gas and it handled and stopped o.k. and was very noisy on the road. it was 3.5 k with 85,000 miles.

after 3k in parts and about 120 hours of labor it is pretty darned quick, has fantastic brakes, handles stupidly good, is reasonably quiet, and gets 40 mpg or so (i am pretty sure i will get to 45 as an average when the final kinks are worked out). I do only very mild hypermiling, and i love to haul ***. I'm happy, but i am a gearhead so all the work was fun. one person's fun is another persons nightmare.

My Grandpa was a hypermiler before it had a name. I remeber him telling me about getting 40mpg in his 82 Dodge Rampage with the 2.2 liter 4 cyl with a Holley 2 barrel and a 4 on the floor. That was when I was in high school in the mid 80's. I thought he was a nut but I also thought it was pretty cool he could go that far without having to buy gas.

I am a feather footer, not a hypermiler. My Washington state is lovely to travel thru & the slower I accelerate & cruise, the longer I get to see beauty. Such driving is no effort. I cannot see where aggressive driving is restful.

Your aggressive Hyundai Accent driving gets 35MPG? That's pretty good. My wife's non-aggressive winter commute in stop & go highway traffic only got her 32 to 33MPG. She let me take her Accent on 3 day trips over 1400, 3000, 4000, & 5500 foot mountain passes for tanks of 41.5, 42.6 & 45.2MPG.

Similarly, I took my 88 Ford Festiva over the mountains & nailed down 51.8MPG. Compared to a 18MPG gashog, I saved $53 on 1 tank of gas. Despite going 367 miles, my tank fillup wasn't even a full tank & I could have traveled another 150miles.

also remember that being "agressive" on an engine will also wear it faster so you may need to replace that car sooner with a more agressive attitude to driving.

that does depend on how agressive you drive

In my case, its worth the effort. I'd save only 10 minutes driving fast to work.