ChickenLady's Blog

OK, aren't gas prices high enough with out a bunch of people out there who are completely clueless as to how their vehicle functions wasting gas for the rest of us?

What am I talking about?  I am talking about the people out there who are on the freeway driving only 45 miles an hour because they THINK the are saving gas.  They are NOT.  They are wasting gas; they are tying up traffic and they are wasting the gas of poor suckers like me who keep getting stuck behind these morons and can't get around them for miles because even though the traffice is supposed to be moving a posted speeds, it is still heavy enough to make it difficult to get around these people.

For the mechanically uninformed:  There is a reason why every car comes with two sets of figures for estimated MPG.  One set for highway driving and one set for city street driving.  It's called OVERDRIVE and every modern vehicle has it.  When OVERDRIVE kicks in, it lowers the rpm's of your engine.  Lower rpm's = lower fuel consumption.  Overdrive does not kick in until your vehicle is traveling at 55 MILES PER HOUR!  Therefore, if you are only traveling 45 miles per hour you are using MORE gas than you are at 55 miles per hour.

And just a little more information; higher rpm's also = more wear and tear on your engine.

And while I'm on a wasting gas rant, I have also noticed that there are a bunch of folks out there suffering in this heat rather than running their A/C in another misguided effort at saving gas.  Again, at highway speeds, you are WASTING gas by not running the A/C.  Why?  Because with the windows down, you are disrupting the areodynamics of your vehicle.  With the windows down, you create more wind drag on your car because air flow is not only disrupted, it gets trapped inside of the car causing the rear windshield to behave like an air brake.  With the windows up, air flows cleanly around, over and under your car which increases your MPG.  So why suffer? 

Things can be different if you are driving around on the city streets depending on the size of your car, the size of you engine and the size of your A/C compressor.  For instance, if you have a full size, say SUV with a V-8 engine and the large A/C compressor that goes with it, running the A/C will have little or no effect on your MPG on the city streets.  However, if you only have a 4-cylinder engine, the determining factor on if running the A/C will use more gas is based entirely on the size of your A/C unit.  If you have a very small A/C unit, you will probably use more gas on the city streets versus a vehicle with a full size A/C unit.

And another point since I am on my soap box:  With gas prices so high, WHY am I still seeing folks sitting in their cars with the engines running while someone else runs into the store?  Get OUT of the car and go INTO the store with them!

Whew.  OK, I'm done.