It does, actually. People ask me why my car exceeds EPA estimates, regularly (highway, city, mixed, doesn't matter, all are well above EPA estimates). As I said before, I'm not intimidated by engine noise or G-forces. Before I even knew why it was a good idea, I was naturally running my engine at higher RPMs. Just the way I drive. Although conservative, I am not a sloth. I'm a DRIVER, not a rider. If I had a slush-box, my fuel efficiency would really suffer for the exact reason that it would be harder for me to keep the engine RPMs up, and do so in a manner that would be smooth.
If other people can't read, how is that my problem?
HOLY CRAP, I've mentioned before, any second grader could do it. But for those who haven't graduated from first grade yet, here's your sign . . .
Start with a full tank, zero your trip odometer, drive hundreds of miles at a constant speed. Yes, that is hard sometimes, but you can hold a constant speed for about 99% of the time if you are a decent driver and traffic isn't too terrible. Cruise control helps, when traffic is light enough. (yes, my 5-speed manual has cruise control, aftermarket) Then fill up the tank full. Take the number of miles you travelled and divide by the number of gallons it took to re-fill the tank. If you're having trouble with the math, use a calculator.
Yeah, it's amazing. I've read many posts over several years from people I don't even know stating that their cars get better mileage at speeds above highway speed limits. All of those experiences posted perfectly mirror my own experiences going back over the past few decades. When I discover a perfectly logical scientific explanation stating that what I (and many others) observe happening is what SHOULD happen, all of a sudden people are hell-bent on attacking me as the bearer of good news!!! That's truly ironic.
Bury your head in the sand and keep believing that I'm wrong. Shout it at the top of your lungs. Try to convince yourself that you won somehow by remaining ignorant. Meanwhile, I know exactly where to set the cruise control from now on. I'm betting I -exceed- 42MPG this weekend, easily, in a car rated for 30MPG highway by the EPA. When it happens, I will post the results here so that fifteen bazillion people can call me a liar again.
(Ok, so I'm a masochist.)
Keep driving your cars slow. Keep trying to convince yourself that slower is better. Some of you will be right on that. The rest of you? The oil companies will LOVE you. I KNOW how to make my car match the EPA estimates. I choose not to. Why waste fuel unnecessarily? Just to try to prove somebody wrong? How childish. -Dave
