OK, the title for this blog may be a bit misleading, but not REALLY!
I have been conducting an experiment for ways to seriously increase the mileage I get on my mommy-mobile (that's right, folks, my minivan). For those of you that know me, you know that I commute from Sperry to Bartlesville every single workday! I really thought I had tried about everything but about two weeks ago, I stumbled onto something that WORKS and is FREE!
As all of you know, you have an RPM reader thingy on your dash (Yes, I know NOTHING about cars, leave me alone, LOL!). By NEVER allowing my RPM to go above 2 I have saved an insane amount of gas. I will get to the actual amount later.
What does this change for you?
1. Slower acceleration, period. Whether you are starting up from a red light or a stop sign or getting onto the highway, you have to accelerate slowwwwwwly. Watch your RPM! Yes, you will annoy people. You will get honked out. You will get "the finger" (my personal favorite, always makes me giggle!), but you are going to save money!
2. Slower highway driving and cruise control (if you have it). I max out at about 65 mph and still have my RPM under 2 when I use my cruise. Its not that bad, and if you don't have a few extra minutes to get somewhere, just plan it better!
OK, are you ready for the numbers???
Prior to my 2 RPM rule, I was getting 19.2 miles per gallon with my mommy ride. After I am getting 24.1!!
Let's do dome math...
That's 4.9 miles per gallon of gas. It usually costs me $42 to fill up my tank twice a week. At about 2.60 per gallon, my car holds about 16 gallons of gas. I am getting 78.4 extra miles per tank!
How much money am I saving?? I am not a math person, so please help me with the math if you are!! :)
Be blessed as always! The Freebie Junkie :)
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Very insightful. I knew keeping the RPMs at 2 or below was better for milage but never realized just how much. Thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I, too, drive a minivan and I LOVE my mommymobile. My dream van is the Sedona which, incidentally, is named after my daughter who was 2 when it came out. :)
thanks again.
Misti
You're basically gaining 3 1/4 gallons of gas per tank...savings of $8.45 at $2.60 a gallon. Yes. Human calculator. At your service.
ReplyDeleteThanks Twiz, and Misti! I LOVE the Sedona! Maybe my next car.... :)
ReplyDeleteGotta share, I had someone tell me in person after reading my blog, that they didn't think it was worth it to slow down...
Wow....