Go Green, Save Gas, Increase Your Car's MPG

Want to reduce your weekly Gas bill; slow down.

I saw an old 2006 report from Consumer Reports that indicated a Toyota got 5mpg [miles per gallion] better at 65mph [miles per hour] than at 75mph, and another 5mpg better when travailing at 55mph. Or, change your maximum speed from 75mph to 55mph and go 10 more miles on a gallon of gas [$3.80 for my car].

My vehicle runs about 19.9 miles per gallon, nominal combined city highway. This week I figured I would put those numbers to the test. I reduced my maximum speed to 75 mph highway, consistently via the cruise control. I won't say how fast I was going previously, but I was never passed. Anyway, travailing back and fourth to work this week; 22 miles highway / 8 miles city, I only saw the gas consumption number grow to 20.4 mpg. Half a mile per gallon isn't any good, my time is more important than that.

Than I realized that my computer was averaging the mpg over the last computer reset point, 3 hundred miles ago. I reset the cars computer and drove home using RT 1 instead of US95. The highway had some construction which pushed me to RT1. The maximum speed on US1 was 50mph, I kept it under 60, but there were street lights too.

I ended the trip home with a 25mpg reading. Less than what was reported by Consumer Reports, but the several lights on the trip hurt me.. Over the next several days I'll keep the speed at or under 75mph and stay on the highway. But remember I started at 19.9mpg, less than 17mpg if I punch it.

I drive a supercharged V8 Ford Mustang with a Roush supercharger, the chip was changed out and it requires premium gas to provide over 400 hp [horse power]. One trip home is not much of an experiment, so I'll go back to I95 and stay under 75mph over the next week. I'll post the changes in miles/gallon as I put more miles on the car and computer. Check to see if any comments were added to this posting [those are the updates]. Save money and slow down on the highway.....

Aerodynamic drag increases with the square of speed; The faster you go, the more energy it takes to sustain that speed [mpg]