$10 a gallon gas? on the Peoria.com Forums - Page 2

We may need to Lily!

They are too hard to get on and off in a hurry when I am using my new pump

Lily, those articles are factually incomplete. For a lot of automobiles driving a little bit slower can save you gas, as a lot of cars are optimized around 55 mph or 65 mph. The articles are an over simplification. Going 85 mphs can be more efficient than 55 depending on the gear ratios versus the engine. With the right gears, your engine could be working less at 85 than at 55.

Best thing to do is to test it out to see where your car is best suited.

I will stick with what the engineers say versus to Money mag reporter.

mahkno i understand what you're saying but i know that in my own car, i've gone from 24 mpg to 29 in the last few weeks just by slowing down. i couldn't believe it either but i had the husband do the calculations.

now tell me this: if i was to actually test my car out to find the best speed for max gas mileage, how do i do that? is there a way?

I have my doubts about Mahkno's assumptions. There is a certain amount of horsepower needed to overcome resistance and keep a moving vehicle at any given speed. Earthbound vehicles experience resistance from the tires contacting the surface (fairly constant) and from wind resistance (drag), which increases exponentially with velocity. To maintain a higher speed, you simply need more horsepower. More horsepower = more gas. Gear ratios may play a role, but they are not the sole determining factor. I doubt that all other factors being equal, a typical factory vehicle can get better mileage at 85mph than at 55mph.

i love you, av8r!

So Do I !!

hey HEY! back OFF! he's MINE!

I believe you Lily but that statement does not automatically apply to all vehicles.

AV8R... yes there is more than simply gear ratios involved. What do you consider a 'typical factory car'? Virtually all cars today can be tuned differently depending on where it is being sold. There is nothing 'magical' about 55 mph. It is a marketing objective, particularly among domestic car makers. Your 'typical factory' car sold in Europe has a higher speed for efficiency than the same car sold here.

I'm still trying to figure out Lily's locking gas cap post. Where the h*ll are you parking your car Lily? LOL I haven't seen anyone syphoning gas in years, lol.

BTW.....If I knew someone who bought a locking gas cap, I'd crack it off of there and syphon their gas just for the fun of it, lol.

dave, i've read recently that gas syphoning is becoming the thing to do now that gas is so high. this and pump and runs. maybe not here yet but other parts of the country are seeing an increase in this.

Accidental drive-off's have increased ALOT because of the pay-at-the-pump option. People swipe their card thinking it went through and it didn't. The attendant authorizes the pump after the person lifts the handle.....then the customer drives-off thinking that they paid. Happens all the time. If they don't get the plate number....there's nothing they can do about it.

Actually for finding the best gas milage you have to figure HP, Drag, gear ratio, downforce,torque, aerodynamics (slipstream) and engine asperation.

I don't have the exact equation but most modern cars are very aerodynamic and have a specific downforce and slipstream. At a certain speed the slipstream (air mosving past you) actually lessens the downforce (air hitting and pushing your car down) in turn causeing the total drag to decrease. This happen in most sports cars, about 80+ the car all of a sudden smooths out and just floats. It has everything to do with how the air curls around the car.

Hp vs drag will give you basic numbers, but turbo and ram air systems actually work much better at higher RPM so even though the drag increases the effeincy of the engine increases faster.

There is really no easy way to tell the ideal speed for your car. My car gets about 29MPG at about 82 MPH as opposed to 26 MPG at 65. I tested it on a few trips to Chicago once i was in a group doing 80-85 the entire way average 82.5. And I figuured out my mileage was 29mpg. THen again I went up and was stuck behind a cop going presiclly 65mph (bastard cop)the entire way and I got 26.

The only way to know for sure it to just test it. The mathmatical formulas for each car are insanely complex and chances are if they do have a higher speed optimum mileage the manufacturer will never tell you.

WIth the national speed limit at 75 they aren't going to tell you that you need to drive 85 to get the best gas mileage.. even if it true.

On a side note, if gas does go to 10 dollars a gallon it will give us EVERY reason to move to hydrogen. At that point its cheaper to create hydrogen and build H2 engines, then continue using gasoline.

Once we move to hydrogen we will become completely energy independant.

But Nightfall...

How do we get the Hydrogen? Yep, presently you have to either burn massive amounts of fossil fuels or go with nuclear energy. Emissions from coal fired plants are far far dirtier than those from an automobile. Not only would this negate any clean advantage from using the hydrogen but would be worse because coal emissions requirements and enforcement are so poor relative to automobiles.

Nuclear presents its own problems. While I have no serious problem with nuclear power, it does seem irresponsible to build new plants without having a long term plan or destination for nuclear waste. Currently nuclear plants are storing the waste on site because there is no place to go. Some plants are literally over flowing with waste. It is contained but not overly secure. Yucca Mtn in Nevada still is not open.

The only thing that will make Hydrogen really viable in the long run is fusion. We are still a few years away from that, if it ever happens.