It goes to eleven

The guy is using some dangerous techniques. I have to believe that Rush Limbaugh would lampoon the poor guy, but the basic concepts are certainly applicable to anyone driving anything. Most people aren't going to drive with the windows rolled up, the AC off, and no fan, much less take a 25 MPH curve at 50 MPH, but it's really simple to stretch the tank for a few more miles. Tired of dropping all that money at the gas station? Getting good gas mileage isn't only dependent on the car: it's mostly dependent on the driver.

In a previous post I pondered about why one could get 50 MPG 20 years ago but today it can only be done in a hybrid car. This article explains a lot.

In a related note, learn about hypermiling. Here's the wikipedia article about Hypermiling.

It's unfortunate that the media didn't pay more attention to this politician admitting her true beliefs:

A car that gets 41/55 MPG sounds pretty great, right?  You could have been doing this back in 1983. That's right, Honda's 1983 Civic got 41 MPG im the city and 55 on the highway, and other variants and years of the Civic also had good gas mileage. See this chart of all of the years.

How is it that the 2007 Civic hybrid doesn't really beat these figures with its 49/51 mileage? I suppose that it could be changes in the areas of emissions and safety that add weight, complexity, mileage-sucking mechanics.