Fuel Economy

[Jem_hadar]

Originally Posted by YANGSTER

u lazy bum....why cant u just park ur car and walk-in....i always find the line inside is way faster...and u dont have to smell others' exhaust.

Actually no. Its on a retarded busy corner by two highschools and a main street. There is no parking real estate present AT ALL. You gotta drive thru or dont go at all.

Unless you wanna park over a block down the road. Ya right, like thats happening. This one's Its on my way to work. I'm not driving outta my way to another so i can simply walk in. Convenience WINS!

Originally Posted by Pavel Olavich

Fix the bagel and coffee at home and take it with ya....that alone will save you tons of $$ over time, and you can use that $$ for better purchases.

True, will save me lots. But NOTHING (to me) beats a Tim Horton's bagel. Making it at home is a weak comparison. The money you save isnt worth the taste I lose.

Plus, i do enjoy a morning coffee to perk me up, and the only coffee i actually dont mind drinking is Timmys.

The stuff at work KILLS me... brutal.

[hystria]

Originally Posted by Racer X-8

The government estimated mileages leave no room at all for any agressive driving at all. None. If you don't drive it very gently, you won't get the 39mpg. 36.6 is above average for any kind of mixed driving. If it was 100% highway, well...

three main things I've noticed will drag the Yaris mpg down :
1) Hotdogging. Enjoy it, but you will pay in reduced mpg. You knew it, come on.
2) Cold temperatures drag the mpg down during the cold engine (rich mix) time, drops mpg 1 to 1.5 less.
3) Using the AC drops mpg 1 to 1.5 less. It really is a little engine...

It is true, what hurts most is the size of the engine. it can be economic only when driven smoothly. For some reason I enjoy smaller engines... There are even something like 1.3 and 1.0 Yaris engines. Those don't have that much power, somewhere about 60-70Hp I guess, but then who really needs 100Hp

90% of the time most people will only use 50% of the available engine power

[Racer X-8]

Originally Posted by hystria

90% of the time most people will only use 50% of the available engine power

Yup, and as for the other 10% of the time, they don't really NEED to. I'm getting a kick out of all types of people (especially soccar moms) out-doing themselves in their strained efforts to get ahead of my anemic arse, just gunning the piss out of their Explorers to get in front of me (me not even trying), exhaust fumes sickly spewing out their tailpipes enough to choke the life out of any small animal nearby, then slowing down, thinking they have won some kind of fight or something, only to watch me coast on by them, later on down the road... Petty, shallow, insignificant fools that they are...

[Pavel Olavich]

5) Jack Rabbit starts, or even starts that are a bit more then normal
6) Warming up the car in the mornings.

[ChinoCharles]

Popular Science shot the "warming up the car" myth out of the sky years ago. Just don't wail on it before its warm. Actually, letting the car sit to warm up will hurt your mileage on newer cars. This isn't the case on small blocks, but the 1NZ is so far from that its comical.

[Pavel Olavich]

Originally Posted by ChinoCharles

Popular Science shot the "warming up the car" myth out of the sky years ago. Just don't wail on it before its warm. Actually, letting the car sit to warm up will hurt your mileage on newer cars. This isn't the case on small blocks, but the 1NZ is so far from that its comical.

True...these days the need to warm up a car is no existent....why people do this, and waste gas is beyond me...the car certainly don't need it, so long as you don't drive hard while it's cold.

[Chris07LB]

Originally Posted by Pavel Olavich

True...these days the need to warm up a car is no existent....why people do this, and waste gas is beyond me...the car certainly don't need it, so long as you don't drive hard while it's cold.

Some people dont wanna freeze their ass off in the middle of the winter, when they have to drive.

[churp]

I'm happy with the 36.6...it fits well with the revised EPA figures for next year. Quite a while back I had a '71 Honda 600 coupe which I got 30 mpg any way I drove and was happy, even though I did see one get 60mpg in a economy rally. I just feel the driving habits required to get the 42+ mpg in my area would be unsafe....rolling hills and winding roads have a tendancy to make impatient people pass where they shouldn't

[nsmitchell]

I hate fast food drive thrus. I never use them unless my wife pitches a fit. It's usually faster to go inside.

I also got 39.7MPG on my trip to Durham,NC. I'll be going to Blacksburg Monday. GO VIRGINIA TECH!!!

These highway trips are fun! I'm in no rush (company time) so I do the speed limit to get some awesome mileage, but they pay me $.37/mile. Cha Ching!! This trip I maintained 60-65MPH.

[Black Yaris]

Do you think 20 inch wheels would effect gass mileage?

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by Black Yaris

Do you think 20 inch wheels would effect gass mileage?

Yes, and in a negative way.

The larger the wheel the more it weighs, and the more energy it takes to make it turn one full revolution.

[eTiMaGo]

Originally Posted by BailOut

Yes, and in a negative way.

The larger the wheel the more it weighs, and the more energy it takes to make it turn one full revolution.

Gonna be a bit of a nitpick, but that's not exactly true, it takes more energy to change the speed of the rotation, basically to overcome inertia. A heavier wheel has more inertia, so more power is needed.

Best way to think of it is a spinning top. When you have a small, light top, it takes very little twist from your fingers to get it spinning. But spin a big heavy top and you really gotta give it some push.

Hope that clears it up!

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

Gonna be a bit of a nitpick, but that's not exactly true, it takes more energy to change the speed of the rotation, basically to overcome inertia. A heavier wheel has more inertia, so more power is needed.

Right you are. I guess I oversimplified my answer. It's always a balance between educating someone and leaving them rocking in a fetal position. hehe

Originally Posted by Racer X-8

Yup, and as for the other 10% of the time, they don't really NEED to. I'm getting a kick out of all types of people (especially soccar moms) out-doing themselves in their strained efforts to get ahead of my anemic arse, just gunning the piss out of their Explorers to get in front of me (me not even trying), exhaust fumes sickly spewing out their tailpipes enough to choke the life out of any small animal nearby, then slowing down, thinking they have won some kind of fight or something, only to watch me coast on by them, later on down the road... Petty, shallow, insignificant fools that they are...

I know your pain! Almost every single day on the uphill side of my over-the-mountain commute someone strives with all their vehicle's might to pass me, riding my tail and swerving like a mad man. When they finally pass I have to roll up my window to try and keep the noxious fumes out, and it also helps to deaden the noise of their screaming engine.

With few exceptions I catch up to them 5 or 10 minutes later on the downhill side. The funny thing is that I'm doing exactly the speed limit in the highest maintainable gear the whole time.

In other words I get from point A to point B just as fast as they do but I do so with much less energy, waste, stress, and wear and tear.

When I drive in the city I get even more exasperated. You'd think someone started handing out trophies for those that get to the next red light first. I can be approaching a solid red light that's going to be red for at least the next 60 seconds and too many times someone - usually in an SUV or big truck - feels the need to pass me in those last 50m before the line of traffic, as if their very presence and force of will can make the light change faster, or like a puppy somewhere will die if they don't get to the back of that line of traffic in the next 5 seconds.

Then they sit there at the light, idling their over-sized engine for the next 60 seconds, getting 0 MPG for that time. The light turns green, that imaginary lady in the tight shorts waves her handkerchief and they're off on the 1/4 mile hoping for a < 10 second run, pretending that the next light isn't 1/8 mile away and also just turned red.

[Razr]

Just to add to eTiMaGo's post; a heavier wheel will also store more energy, so much of the additional energy it takes to spin it up will be repaid when coasting. The real detriment is in stop/start driving, where you can't capitalize on the intertial payback.

Additionally, a heavier rotating mass will always take more braking force to stop, so that's a constant downside, as in imperical terms, braking is always akin to throwing away energy (well, unless you have a regenerative charging system of course).

[Black Yaris]

just another addition to the whole inertia thing...
http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssc...aws/u2l1b.html

[Racer X-8]

My wagon wheels are teh bomb!!1! Their extremely narrow, hard patch minimizes rolling resistance. All drag racers use them for their front wheels. So do those experimental low energy cars, like the ones that are all covered in solar panel arrays. Planes. I don't think they'll fit on a Yaris though... The trade-offs, I'm guessing, might be unreliable traction, very low tread life, and an extremely geeky-looking Yaris. Best kept to wagon racing, eh?

[Black Yaris]

This should do ya for some good MPG, ultra light weight and very nice ride

[Black Yaris]

to tell you the truth I don't care.... when I stuff it, and so does the SUV right next to me on the e-way, I just laugh... I keep up with him and I am using 1/2 the gas... that is all that matter to me :)