I’m enjoying a chuckle too because I am male, not female. My bearded face on my website gives it away, but my first name can be misleading on these posts. Frankly, when there isn’t a mix up, I’m surprised.

If anyone is interested in a comprehensive list of fuel efficiency suggestions, I have 38 of them that range from driving more efficiently, to alternatives to driving, and also include buying gas at lower cost. They can be found at: http://www.frugal-living-freedom.com/save-gas.html

Good fortune to all,

Clair

- What do you mean by parking your car? Turning ignition off at long stoplights?

- If it reduces your consumption of fuel for the same amount of distance you drive… how does that not lower your mpg?

*edit – oops, I get it, you don’t drive your car to begin with.

by driving no faster than 60, no jackrabbit stops and most importantly, minimimzing braking, i achieve an average 38 miles per gallon and have gotten as much as 42 miles per gallon.

so it’s definitely worth it.

I drive 55 mph on the interstates and I “draft” trucks. No, I don’t ride their bumpers because, quite frankly, I want to live. I ride about 150 ft back, which still gives me plenty of stopping distance, and it won’t upset the semi driver.

A while back, MythBusters did a show on it, and it only confirmed what I had thought all along.

A car can draft a tractor trailer at up to 200 ft away, and still increase gas mileage by up to 10%. It’s when the cars get really close, that they dramatically (30%+) improve mileage. Although, if you get too close, you are likely to end up an ornament on their trailer, and it’s just plain unsafe.

Going 55 mph has it’s drawbacks, and in my State, the minimum Interstate speed is 45 mph. I have yet to be given a dirty look or gesture, as most people just pass without incident. Others, I have found, actually slow down and match my speed.

I get a kick out of the drivers that fly by me at 80 mph, only for me to catch up with them at the first stoplight exiting the freeway to downtown. They just blew a couple of bucks in gas out of their tailpipe, and still don’t beat me by more than a minute or so.

I commute 70 miles one way to work every day, so anything I can do to improve gas mileage is worth every penny.

Take it for what it’s worth. But I am able to spend the $15 or so that I save on other things besides gas!

At 40 to 45 mph, your transmission is locked up, your engine is running at an efficient rpm, and you aren’t fighting a lot of air in front of the car. Of course, those slower speeds are not safe or practical on the freeways because they often have a 45 mph minimum speed, and many vehicles will be passing you doing 30 to 40 mph faster.

Nevertheless, at highway speeds, mpg clearly goes down as speed goes up.

The drawback comes if you try to drive across the country at 5 mph below the speed limit. This adds many hours to the driving time, and each day you’ll have to drive longer to compensate. Sometimes you just can’t spare the extra hours, and being longer behind the wheel can also be unsafe.

The following factors (some of which are mentioned above) come to mind when it comes to getting better fuel economy:

-drag
-air temperature
-head winds
-tire inflation
-engine tuning
-altitude
-humidity
-AC on
-windows down
-anticipating hills to stay in top gear
-staying with the flow of traffic
-anticipating the need to reduce speed or stop
-finding an alternate low traffic route

The key is to identify what gives you the biggest return on investment for the driving that you need to do with your vehicle. Grab the large savings and don’t worry too much about fine tuning it to a science.

I find that leaving the car parked doesn’t improve my mpg, but it greatly reduces my consumption of fuel, and that saves me way more money than any fuel efficient driving technique.

Clair

You cruise on neutral for 1.5 miles home? Very impressive, I roll about 0.5 mile home every night. And I thought I was the only creepy one driving home late at night at speeds as slow as 2mph.

Also it helps when ur car is about to come to a complete stop at the peak of a hill, I like to “bump” the car forward by quickly pulling my body forward as hard as I can and then pushing the car for an extra jolt.

This week I’m going to experiment by opening the door and pushing the car with my legs as I reach hard to cross uphills.

there is also a sweet spot in your accelerator. most people are continually accelerating to maintain speed even though you do not need to do so.

A side note: If you’ve got a choice between AC and opening the windows on the highway, it’s been said that AC gets better milage. An open window impacts the air stream and creates drag. But there are so many variables, so it’s great that you’re all aiming for better milage in any case.

So far i’ve only been able to do it once starting out at 29 miles per hour. I could pull it off every day if no one else was around me, but going 2-3 miles an hour on that last stretch can really piss some people off!

haha…that, and gangsta looking cadillac creeping by late at night doesn’t look good if a cop should see me…it would be pretty hard to explain what i’m trying to do

I just in general try to drive more conservatively. Less braking in general and not as much stop and go. So even on surface streets I try to not gas and go. Instead just drive calmly and I get 30 mpg, before I’d get maybe 27-28. And it’s all city driving.