Driving at 55 MPH - Save Gas??

[craftemp Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close craftemp]

A friend of mine recently took a road trip from New Jersey to mid-Pennsylvania.
This is a route that she drives frequently..
She saw a report saying that if you drive at 55MPH versus 65/70/75 etc - you will save fuel
She tried it and said that she cut her fuel use in HALF...
Anyone tried this.
I do mostly local trafic and have no driving trips scheduled in the near future - would love to hear input on this
Judy

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

We had a thread on something I beleve called Hyper threading but I can not find it. This is basicly the same thing, Slowing down saves gas.

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

It was called Hypermiling...here is the thread.

I'm usually in a hurry, so I could never do it. It's supposed to cut your gas mileage dramatically

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

It was called Hypermiling...here is the thread.

I'm usually in a hurry, so I could never do it. It's supposed to cut your gas mileage dramatically

Thats why I could not find it, I was looking for Hyper threading.

[BWolf Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BWolf]

I've heard that Extreme Hypermilers run the risk of being lynched.

Doing what the OP's friend did makes some sense. Driving a more moderate speed and accelerating more slowly will increase gas mileage.

If you don't mind rocks cracking your windshield, find the "sweet spot" behind a semi and do some drafting.

[GeoPatSK Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close GeoPatSK]

55 saves Gas; 70 saves time

According to US News and World reports:

Drive 60 on the Highway, Not 75 will save gas:

On the highway, stay close to the speed limit, and keep your speed as constant as traffic allows. Most cars reach optimal gas mileage at about 60 miles per hour. Speeding up increases wind resistance against the car, making the engine work harder and burn more gas. According to the EPA, each 5 mph over 60 that you drive decreases fuel efficiency by up to seven percent.

10 Easy Ways to Save Over a Grand on Gas - U.S. News Rankings and Reviews

My problem is when I go on long trips I prefer the savings in Time rather than in gas. 6 hours at 15 mph increase goes an extra 90 miles, saving me an hour and a half!!

[Joe L Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe L]

It's definately true. Recently we drove from NY to Atlanta. I drove down and my wife drove back. We filled up the tank almost twice the amount of times going to Atlanta. (I drive a bit fast).

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

My problem is when I go on long trips I prefer the savings in Time rather than in gas. 6 hours at 15 mph increase goes an extra 90 miles, saving me an hour and a half!!

I have to agree with that statement. That's why I could never hypermile either!

[idahodude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close idahodude]

It definitely does improve mileage, but generally, I would rather get there faster. I will admit that I am slowing down a bit, though, particularly if it's not going to be a terribly long drive.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

A friend of mine recently took a road trip from New Jersey to mid-Pennsylvania.
This is a route that she drives frequently..
She saw a report saying that if you drive at 55MPH versus 65/70/75 etc - you will save fuel
She tried it and said that she cut her fuel use in HALF...
Anyone tried this.
I do mostly local trafic and have no driving trips scheduled in the near future - would love to hear input on this
Judy

I REALLY doubt that she cut her fuel consumption in "half". To do that would mean her car would get phenominal gas milage. If she was getting 25 mpg then she'd pretty much double her milage to 50 mpg. I don't know a lot of cars out there rated at 50 mpg. If car companies could put that on their stickers you can bet they would!

It's more likely that, if she was accustomed to driving 80 mph and could slow herself down to 55 mph (assuming where she lives she could get her car up to 80 mph and maintain it) she'd improve her milage 10 to 20%. Depending on the number of miles she were to drive in a week, it could seem like she's filling her car up half as much as she was before but, I seriously doubt she cut her consumption in half.

[ricki999 Member Find all posts View Profile Close ricki999]

Wonder if Mythbusters has tried to figure this one out?

[AGRADELEOUS Member Find all posts View Profile Close AGRADELEOUS]

It definitely works. We just got back from Wisconsin, the wife's minivan had a previous best tank average of 25.2mpg, and we usually drive in the 75-80mph range. Kept it under 70 the whole interstate drive, the first tank we ran through averaged 26.9! 25.4 for the whole trip, that's including the city driving and Chicago traffic.

[somerville Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close somerville]

It definitely works. We just got back from Wisconsin, the wife's minivan had a previous best tank average of 25.2mpg, and we usually drive in the 75-80mph range. Kept it under 70 the whole interstate drive, the first tank we ran through averaged 26.9! 25.4 for the whole trip, that's including the city driving and Chicago traffic.

1.7 MPG difference is sure a lot smaller than original post that where an acquaintance claimed driving 55MPH doubled her mileage.

Surely, a lot of us lived through the 55MPH speed limits of the '70s and early '80s. There is no doubt that driving slower will increase MPG, but not to the extent claimed in the original post. However, I for one do not want to return to that era of mandated speed limits.

As for hypermiling, those guys were driving hybrids. As long as they stay on battery power, they are going to greatly increase gas mileage.

[AGRADELEOUS Member Find all posts View Profile Close AGRADELEOUS]

Maybe it doesn't seem extreme, but when you take all the factors into consideration, it's still quite surprising. That's around a 6-7% increase by simply dropping 5-10 mph from your average speed. I didn't drive 55, I drove around 68-70 instead of 75-80. At 55, maybe mileage would have gone up 10, 15, maybe even 20%, who knows. That on top of the fact that the van has 80k miles now, as opposed to around 15k for the previous best, I'd say the increase was pretty impressive. If you really expect to double, or even increase your mileage by 50% by driving 55 instead of 70, then at some point someones might sell you some oceanfront property in Arizona!