Not long ago, I posted on some of the tips the Car Talk guys gave on saving on your gas mileage. So I thought I'd see if I could influence my own.
Some of you may recall, about six month ago, I bought a 2004 SRX with about 30,000 miles on it from a guy at work (to those of you who remember my post on that, I still haven't picked a name for it). This car, as the song goes "has eight cylinders and uses them all". It is a performance vehicle, and is very responsive when you goose the gas pedal. It also eats a lot of fuel, and if I choose to pass someone on an uphill grade at 90 miles an hour (no...I would never do that), I seem to watch the gauge drop before my very eyes.
My last car was an El Dorado. I bought it when it had 2000 miles on it. Before that, I had a four door, four-cylinder five-speed Saturn. I owned each car for six years. I loved the Saturn, except for it's lack of responsiveness. I always felt vulnerable trying to get into fast moving traffic, and feel that not being able to accelerate rapidly really poses a danger.
One day, we were in Bradenton on a Sunday, and the alternator went on my car. We somehow got it to the Saturn Dealer, and while they were fixing it, we wandered around the Cadillac dealer next door. Their featured special was polo green (forest green, metallic) ElDo with tan leather interior. Thumpedythump. It was radically marked down (last year's model, used by a Cadillac executive, but tons of bells and whistles, 12-CD trunk-mounted Bose stereo). We took it for a test drive, and to make a long story short, wound up trading the Saturn in. The dealer told us it was the first time he could ever remember anyone trading from a Saturn to a Cadillac. I don't know why not, but I remember him saying that.
I loved that car.
A couple of years ago, my friend Mike bought the SRX, and he and his wife debuted (it's a word, though sort of an iffy one) the car at our annual department holiday party, and I got to take it for a test drive. Yeehaw. Then I sort of forgot about it, figuring to keep the ElDo until it or I gave up the ghost. But after two years (I understand this is a pattern with Mike) he decided to sell it and get a truck. So after much soul searching, I decided to buy it. My neighbors, Sam and Jan, bought the Eldo, so I can visit it whenever I want.
So, where was I?
I consider myself a defensive driver. I'm pretty laid back, but enjoy the response I get from the car if I want to get in front of someone who doesn't want to let me merge, or to get away from someone who is driving funny (not haha).
For my last tank of gas, I tried to improve my gas mileage. Here's how it went:
I turned the thermostat from 73 to 75 degrees.
I did not accelerate on hills.
I tried to keep the tachometer under 2000 RPM. (Impossible to do at all times, but I kept it to a minimum.)
I allowed the car's momentum to slow it down as I approached a light or stop sign, rather than stopping at the last minute.
I kept my cruising speed on the highway to about 65 MPH.
In other words, I just stayed in the right lane and drove as if the car had 6 or even 4 cylinders, accelerating painfully slowly to merge.
Results:
Normally, I fill the tank at about 270-280 miles, and take about 17 gallons, for a pitiful 16.2 MPG (Note that this is city driving. It gets much better on the highway, as Sandy and I will demo when we drive to Roan National Park in Tennessee next month.)
I started watching the tachometer and turned up the thermostat partway through my last tank, and got 303.2 miles with and needed 16.7 gallons to fill the tank, for an average of 18.1 MPG.
This time, I started from the time I filled the tank, and was quite good about following the rules. I got 340.3 miles out of a tank, but I let it get pretty empty. It took 18.03 galons to fill up, for an average of 18.9 miles per gallon.
Bottom Line: Yes. I saved a little money and postponed the trip to the pump. I also had no fun whatsoever driving. I guess it would be like riding Barbaro and never giving him his head. The experiment is over, but I know I won't go back to my old habits. (You can never go back, can you?) So I'll always be cognizant of those rules, at least, and my guilt will probably compel me to eyeball that tachometer and slow down from time to time. And I'll probably keep the interior a little warmer than I had.
But the next time I'm trying to merge and some jackass accelerates to keep me from being able to, he's going to eat my fumes.
Vrooom.
No doubt about it.
Congrats on the SRX. I too owned a Saturn and I also drove a Cadillac - an El Dorado - during that time. I liken it to a magic carpet that did my bidding with the tap of my foot - no hemming and hawing. The Saturn was definitely relatively unresponsive.
I went on the cheap and got as my next car a Hyundai Elantra. It's not a Caddy but it's got significantly more oomph than the Saturn, AND an MP3 player (very important). Not an SRX but I can get lots more computer gadgetry with the money I saved. Gas too, I guess, but that's not as much fun to think about.
Posted by: Stryder | May 26, 2006 at 02:13 PM
Way to go girl. The SRX sounds amd looks like a very nice vehicle. I drive a 1995 Buick Gran Sport. Yep I know it is OLD but it is in mint condition, is all paid for and I like it. I also do not do a whole lot of freeway driving any more, so it is fine for around the Island.
Posted by: keewee | May 27, 2006 at 10:31 AM