The Art of Zen Living

I have to tell you right up front that writing about hypermiling is annoying.  I get really excited because I know that I’m seeing gains, but by definition, the better I do with it, the longer between stops at the gas station, which means I don’t get to write about it as often as I’d like.

I bet you’re just as frustrated as I am about how seldom you get the chance to stop for gas.

Right before we left for Disney, I topped off my tank.  I only needed about 4.5 gallons (I have the exact figures in my glove compartment, in my car, parked at mom’s since I’m in the truck that’s going to Atlanta tomorrow).  The last time I’d filled my tank, I’d also over inflated my tires to somewhere between 42 and 45 PSI - it’s hard to tell on the little gauge I have.  The mileage boost was 3.8 MPG.  Over the course of a tank, that’s like getting a free gallon of gas!

Follow me inside for the review and total mileage gain from following a few simple tips…

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Back in April, I traded my beloved 1990 Volvo 240 DL for a more fuel efficient 2000 Toyota Corolla.  Over the course of 4 tanks of gas, I found I was averaging around 31 miles to the gallon if I mostly avoided running the AC, or 30 miles to the gallon if I was mostly running the AC.  Both of those numbers seemed pretty good compared to what I was getting in the Volvo.  Then I started reading about “hypermiling”. Hypermiling is a combination of strategies designed to help maximize your fuel economy. I started wondering just how effective some of these techniques are. So the last time I filled up, I decided to test it out.

I’m not the first blogger to try this out, but I wanted to make sure I was checking milage over the course of a tank of gas. My thought process was that if you are just looking at the “Average Mileage” readout for a single trip, you might get lucky.  Not that it isn’t good to have great mileage on a single trip, but from a budgetary standpoint, good mileage on a single trip isn’t all that useful.  There’s a second reason I measured the total mileage for the tank - I don’t have an “average mileage” readout in my car.  I have to do the long math - this many miles and I just pumped in this many gallons, that means I’m getting x miles per gallon!

OK, so the math isn’t that long.

Short answer: I got an extra 46 miles out of my tank of gas.  I always fill up when the little “low fuel” light comes on, and it always takes right around 10 gallons.  If gas is $4 a gallon (today I paid $3.949 per gallon) then an extra 46 miles per tank is SIX DOLLARS per tank back in my pocket.  I drive a lot less than I used to (another good technique for saving money on gas!) but if I was still commuting to work and using a tank of gas a week, we’re talking over Three Hundred Dollars per Year saved by doing a few simple things.

I was talking about this with my father, and I found it a little painful to watch the grin creep across his face as I described some of the techniques.  I was calling it “hypermiling”, and he was calling it “driving like dad does”.  We were both right.

Details on exactly what I’m doing inside!

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