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From: doug@edge.UUCP
Newsgroups: sci.misc,rec.autos
Subject: Re: Economical driving
Message-ID: <759@edge.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 15-May-87 17:33:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: edge.759
Posted: Fri May 15 17:33:03 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 17-May-87 08:46:29 EDT
References: <397@its63b.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Edge Computer Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ
Lines: 25
Xref: utgpu sci.misc:252 rec.autos:1501

> It is generally a well known fact that if you drive a car using the 
> accelerator a bit like an On/Off switch then you are very likely to waste
> fuel. The most economic driving style is gradual acceleration and 
> gentle braking.

Generally well-known, but a "fact"?  I'm not so sure.

Holding a constant cruise speed by flapping the accelerator up and down
is obviously stupid, and the economics are (to me) unimportant.  And
I don't see that braking gently saves any more fuel than leaving four
big black marks on the street (although the latter is a bit rough on
the tires, which aren't much cheaper than fuel these days :-)

But I have seen many references that the old "drive as if there was an
egg between your foot and the gas pedal" method is an inefficient way to
accelerate.  These references suggest that the proper thing to do is to
smoothly depress the accelerator pedal to the floor (not jab it to the
floor).  Shifting should be done at the lowest practical RPMs.

I don't know how reliable any of these claims are.  I do know that I use
full-throttle acceleration, and I usually get about 1 mile per gallon
better fuel mileage than my wife does from the same car.  And I have a
lot more fun when driving  :-)
-- 
Doug Pardee -- Edge Computer Corp., Scottsdale, AZ -- ...!ihnp4!mot!edge!doug