From Autoweek... As an AutoWeek staffer--and as a car guy who grew up in America's muscle-car heartland--I've experienced my share of scary rides in automobiles... That said, I recently experienced the scariest ride of my life, in a car that barely broke 40 mph the entire time that I was riding shotgun. My driver: Wayne Gerdes, the apparently famous extreme-mileage driver from Illinois who is credited with coining the phrase "hypermiling." As we embark on the summer driving season, with everyone from AAA to the Alliance to Save Energy exhorting us to take steps to save fuel, I urge you to heed their advice to keep your tires properly inflated, avoid jackrabbit starts and consider alternative transportation options. At the same time, I even more strongly urge you to never practice the kinds of high-mileage techniques that Gerdes preaches.
Never? Or never in medium to high traffic situations? Saying you should never hypermile in any situation is a rather careless statement.
Hypermiling rewards are just not worth the risks: AutoWeek Magazine There appears to be a vigorous set of comments about that article and under that article. That is probably the best place for them. Bob Wilson
+1 I leave for work and have early work hours. I leave around 4am (25 minute drive as sub 41mph speeds) so I won't bug speed deamons. 1/2 the drive is on a 6 lane (3 each way) road .. with no one one it, so who am I bothering by hypermileing at that time of the morning, besides us chickens. The humor is, I've been pulled over a couple times because the cops think I must be drunk (plus, what else they got to do at that hour ) ... as the speed limit on the 6 lane road is 60mph. Eventually they recognize my prius (only car on the road) & leave me alone.
OH COME on now..............just about every morning, i get up and battle the southbound traffic on the 5 freeway. From the hollywood area to the 110 interchange, you can hypermile all you want "because" the cars are NOT going faster than 40 mph. So, dont say "DONT EVER" and realize your opportunities. They come in different times and you should take advantage of them as soon as they arise.
Is the title to this thread severely deceiving? Every time I read it, it shounds like "the Prius only gets 51mpg, and Toyota gave the Lexus a 57mpg!" Anyways, that's what I keep thinking when I see the title to this thread. My best mpg records ever have been during rush hour. On our 5 lanes in each direction freeways here in SoCal, I get in the second lane from the right (where the trucks drive) and just cruise along at a constant velocity and no one bothers me. Cruising at a constant 30mpH for an hour produces VERY good mpg. All the people that are in a hurry and impatient drive in the left two lanes (translation: accelerate fast then slam on the brakes), and the far right lane is the merging lane, which always impedes the flow of traffic as three cars entering the freeway try to squeeze into one spot.
wayne's style of driving, extreme as it may be, gives two messages. one; the potential you can get out of any car by simply driving conservative two; that you can only get good mileage by extreme measures now why is the same event eliciting two so very different in fact, polar opposite conclusions?? well, that is simply a programing glitch of the human psyche...
