["Open Mike" is the often off-topic Editorial page of TOP. It appears on...oh, never mind.]
This is such an old-guy thing to say I can't believe I'm going to say it.
But then, sometimes the old are wiser than the young. If they've been paying attention, and have an affinity for a currently unpopular notion called truth.
Here's the weird little-advertised fact: if you drive at 55 MPH instead of 65 MPH your car is much more efficient. Just that little tiny increase in speed will drop your mileage efficiency by close to 10%.
I drive on 55-MPH roads all the time, because that's the State speed limit for two-lane roads around here. And around here, every place is far away from everyplace else. Every time I drive to town (16 miles round trip) I set the cruise control at about 65. Seems to be about what I can get away with. I've passed crouching cop cars at 65 and it doesn't trigger them to pounce.
But, wrong move, Poindexter.
Using an online calculator, I entered my car's highway mileage, an average number of highway miles driven per day, and the current price of gas. Unbelievably, I'd save almost $200 a year just by driving 55 instead of 65! No other change.
Most gasoline-powered cars reach peak efficiency right around 55 MPH. Lower speeds don't lower efficiency all that much, but at higher speeds, efficiency drops off fast. Drive 75 instead of 55 and your vehicle's efficiency will fall off by 25%. You'll get to your destination somewhat more quickly, but you'll burn more fuel, generate more pollution, and spend more money.
Are you really in such a hurry? Chillax*.
I'm setting my cruise control for 55 MPH from now on when I go into town. On the bad side, speeders coming up behind me will be annoyed, and will be impatient to find a place to pass me. On the good side, I won't be the speeder coming up behind other people, getting "flustrated" (as my friend Terry says**) and impatient with them as I try to pass them.
The round trip will take me two and a half minutes longer. I think I can afford that.
Mike
[CORRECTION: The math was wrong in the first version of this post. That is so very much not a surprise. Good with words, not good with numbers. —Ed.]
UPDATE: I drove to Geneva for dinner and groceries tonight, and clocked the trip from Penn Yan to Geneva via Pre-emption Road...it was 13.8 miles at a posted speed limit of 55 MPH. There is a short stretch of posted 30 MPH through the town of Bellona (it's down in a hollow). According to the car's trip computer, going exactly the speed limit the whole way, I averaged exactly 40.0 MPG. I usually get about 36–37 MPG in local driving.
Curb weight of the car (which is based on a Civic and has a Civis Si drivetrain) is 2,978 lbs. and the engine is a 2.4-liter naturally-aspirated I-4. So it's not particularly small and isn't known as a mileage champ. I thought 40 MPG was pretty good.
* Chill + relax; first known use, 1999. "A portmanteau...is a linguistic blend of words, in which parts of multiple words...are combined into a new word, as in smog, coined by blending smoke and fog, or motel, from motor and hotel." (Wikipedia)
**A perfect portmanteau, combining "flustered" and "frustrated." Flustration is a state in which we want to spend less of our time as we age.
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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
Phil Service: "Drag (air resistance) increases with the square of speed. Internal combustion engines are most efficient at moderate RPM—presumably somewhere around the RPM corresponding to maximum torque, but I suppose it might also depend on load. When I was a teenager living in England, I was an avid reader of Autocar magazine. They published very detailed road tests that included gas consumption at various constant speeds. As I recall, best mileage was almost always at about 50–55 MPH. There seems to be something about the combination of drag and engine efficiency for most cars that produces an optimum in that range. (Tire rolling resistance is another factor that affects fuel consumption. That's one of the reasons for the switch to radial tires from bias-ply. It's also a reason for increasing tire air pressure.) I'm pretty sure there is a penalty for going slower, but it is much less than that incurred at higher speeds. It seems to me that back in the 'gasoline crisis' years of the 1970s, the whole point of the nationwide 55 MPH speed limit was gasoline conservation."
John Krumm: "Best milage I ever got was on the Alaskan Highway in a Prius. Fifty-five limit, and around sixty miles per gallon."
kirk Tuck (partial comment): "Dearest Michael, a heartfelt warning. If you attempt to drive 55 on any of the major highways in Texas you will quickly be the target of life-threatening road rage that would be unimaginable to those living in the pleasant and un-rushed Northeast and Midwestern U.S. Our speed limit on most highways here is at least 70 mph and in Texas that seems to mean 'mandatory minimum.' When I drive back and forth to San Antonio from Austin; about 150 miles round trip, I get in the right lane and set the adaptive cruise control to 70. The cars in the two lanes to the left fly by at 85 to 90 mph. Ninety-five seems to break the speed that triggers our law enforcement into action....
"Seriously, if you plan on driving between major urban areas of Texas get yourself a big cup of strong coffee and drive like your life depends on going with the flow. We understand about the fuel economy issues, that's why gasoline is much cheaper here...."
Omar: "A few years ago, I got tired of the occasional speeding ticket. I decided to force myself to drive the limit at all times. A few observations:
1. Driving the limit made almost zero difference to my commute times. Previously, it had been 25 to 30 minutes of pushing all the time in bumper to bumper traffic to maximize speed. After, it was 27 to 30 minutes of relaxing driving with the road wide open in front of me. I spent less time waiting for lights to change, less time under the speed limit behind slower drivers. It doesn't make sense, but that's what I've observed.
2. Gas mileage may be better, but I had judged it to be a non-factor for my driving distances. A coffee a day was all I expected to gain. Definitely, I became a smoother driver, so maybe less wear and tear on brakes, etc.
3. I did a major trip across Canada and back through USA. The higher speed limits in the west made driving the limit easy. It was only southern Ontario and once I got back to Wisconsin and east that I noticed drivers being aggressive around me. That never bothered me because I can be just as aggressive as the next guy so I'm never intimidated. In Montana, I actually passed people at the speed limit. That really surprised me.
4. In order to maintain concentration, I focused on precise driving. Always staying in the middle of the lane, even on turns; never tailgating; attempting to anticipate lights, slowing down using the gas pedal instead of the brakes. I am probably more alert now than I was before.
5. My original goal was to drive the limit for a few weeks to reset my internal speed limit to one closer to the actual one. I kept this up for several years and am glad I did it. Lately, if I have passengers, I will drive at 10km (6 mph) over when the road is clear. I have decided not to make my orneriness the problem of my passengers.
6. The biggest gain is a huge reduction in stress. I find there are fewer people cutting me off than before. I drive my way, I don't tailgate anymore, I don't get so stressed out, and I actually enjoy driving again. The view with the road open in front of me is so much nicer than staring at bumpers trying to push the other guy to go faster which never worked, and never will work."
